10 Weird Sci-Fi Horror Movies Of The 80s
It's hard to believe any of these sci-fi horrors are real.
Movies like Aliens, Predator, Scanners, They Live, Videodrome, and many others prove the '80s was a defining period for sci-fi horror.
But this decade didn't just bring about the best in the genre but also the strangest. After all, science fiction deals with funky concepts, like time travel, parallel universes, resurrection, and turning oneself into a fly.
Although embracing weirdness is nothing new for the genre, there are some features that took things to a whole other level. Rather than dealing with run-of-the-mill zombies or aliens, the entries on this list explore things like homicidal monkeys, man-eating brains, and Alien Jesus. These stories are so off the wall, you'll be encouraged to watch them, purely to see how the filmmakers pulled it off. (Seriously, how do you make a story about a murderous dessert?)
It's worth mentioning these WTF ideas don't reflect on the quality of the flicks themselves. Some entries turned out brilliantly while others proved to be too bonkers for their own good. Whether these sci-fi horrors worked or not, their wacky premise is sure to stay with anyone for quite a while.
10. Spontaneous Combustion
For a long period, humanity was fascinated by the theory that people could implode with no rhyme or reason. The unexplained phenomena has been mentioned in Charles Dickens' novels, Red Dwarf, This Is Spinal Tap, and many other stories. As a result, it was inevitable a horror focusing on this pseudoscientific concept would see the light of day.
Which brings us to Tobe Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion. The 1989 body-horror revolves around an unstable man called Sam (Brad Dourif) who learns his parents were exposed to atomic energy, causing them to spontaneously combust shortly after he was born. Due to his irradiated genes, Sam develops superpowers as an adult, allowing him to summon electric fire when he's angry. When Sam discovers his powers are destroying his body from within, he realises he's running on borrowed time.
Spontaneous Combustion may be Grade-A camp, but it has some great ideas. Rather than depicting Sam as a generic villain, Dourif plays him as a victim coming to grips with an impossible situation. Even when he doesn't want to harm anyone, a single outburst can prove fatal to anyone nearby.
Spontaneous Combustion could've turned out better, but it's worth watching for the breath-taking fire stunts and Dourif's commanding performance.