Sleepaway Camp (1983)

This is the greatest 80s slasher movie because it’s so offbeat that anything can happen. It’s ultra-campy and barely logical—and every bit of that merely gets sucked up into the film’s tornado of weirdness. It’s set in your usual 1980s summer camp o’ death. The kids are having fun and hashing out their various dramas out in the woods when they start dying off violently. A few stabbings, a drowning, a freak bee-stinging and a ghastly moment with a curling iron follow. Who’s the killer? It’s not that cute, quiet and slightly creepy little wallflower girl, is it? The surprise ending here can still bring a house down over thirty years later. Let’s also mention the great sleeper performance by Desiree Gould as the queasily creepy Aunt Martha. She plays the part like it’s 1930 and she’s emoting broadly for primitive microphones hidden in potted plants. Or she could be a character in a John Waters film. Whatever she reminds you of, the moment she arrives on screen tells you immediately that you’re in for something strange ahead.