The horror of the 80s brat pack horror movies

There were so many awesome horror movies in the 80s. There were so many awesome teen movies in the 80s starring members of the brat pack. And then there was Parasite starring Demi Moore and The Wraith starring Charlie Sheen….

PARASITE (1982)

In the early 80s, before he began Full Moon Features, Charles Band went retro and brought back 3D with Parasite while going futuristic by setting it in 1992 so he could have a post-apocalyptic world and laser guns. Okay. So Charles wasn’t the best at predicting the future.

But he did cast Demi Moore in her first movie role. Maybe 3D made this mess a little more fun. I wish it had been in 3D on DVD.

Some doctor has a parasite inside him when he comes to a rundown hotel. He soon meets Demi…and a punk rock gang. These punks torment the scientist and soon release a second parasite the scientist had locked away. Now Demi has to help him capture the parasite so he can study it to figure out how to get the other parasite out of his belly.

Tom Villard is the first thug to get attacked by the sharp teethed parasite slug. You may recognize Tom. He sings “page 5” and “Oh. I think I’m going to throw up!” in “Reproduction” in Grease 2. He starred in the horror flick Popcorn. But most importantly, he was the video game creator who gave Dorothy a job on The Golden Girls and also got stranded on a deserted island with the girls in another episode. Sadly, he passed of AIDS in the 90s.

Also Cherrie Currie from The Runaways is in the movie…the second person to get attacked by the parasite. This slow and sloppy movie gets a little fun at the end when the slimy parasite is running around chomping on people and exploding from their faces. Awesome gore effects.

THE WRAITH (1986)

The Car meets Knight Rider meets Grease 2. There’s this gang of punks (sounds familiar) that terrorizes locals by forcing them into drag races…and keeping their cars when they lose. Randy Quaid is the sheriff who so wants to nail these guys, especially since he believes the leader of the pack killed a young man.

But justice is about to be served in an otherworldly way. A mysterious and sexy black car shows up with a futuristic driver all in black and keeping his identity hidden behind a helmet. Nope. It’s not Maxwell Caulfield—he only starred in The Boys Next Door with Charlie Sheen. Anyway, this driver begins killing off members of the gang off one by one. The Wraith is a supernatural drag race slasher movie.

Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen is a new guy in town. He rides a motorcycle. He befriends the brother of the young man who was killed. He also moves in on Sherilyn Finn, ex-girlfriend of the young man who died and current girlfriend of the leader of the pack. Uh-oh.

As the body count rises, the brother, Sherilyn, and everyone else begins to suspect Charlie is also the man in the sexy car….

Unless you like car races, The Wraith gets really repetitive. But the soundtrack is amazing: Ozzy Osbourne, Ian Hunter, Motley Crue, Robert Palmer, Nick Gilder, Lion, Honeymoon Suite, Bonnie Tyler, Billy Idol, and more. 80s soundtracks made every movie better….