Many of the cult classics, horror icons, and sci-fi staples of the 80s became that way due to their incredible creature design. It was a decade of impressive make-up and stunning, often grotesque, practical effects. However, in many cases, the monsters are only as important as the hero there to slay them.
Nothing sells an icon more than seeing them take on some kind of otherwordly terror or monstrous creature. The 80s was full of iconic beast-slayers, but which one was the best. Here are the ten best monster killers from the 1980s, ranked.
10 Derek - Bad Taste
In Peter Jackson's debut feature, a young man named Derek finds out that his small town has secretly been overrun by monster aliens. Upon this realization, he does what anyone would do, and sets out to kill them all with a chainsaw. While his creativity with kills like diving chainsaw first all the way through a creature's body makes him formidable, its the fact that Derek just loves chainsawing monsters that really cements his place on the list. He is all smiles while ripping and tearing through the monsters.
9 Luke Skywalker - Star Wars
While this may seem like a weird choice, Luke kills some notable monsters throughout the Empire Strikes Back and then Return of the Jedi. While trapped in its ice cave, Luke dispatches a large yeti-esque beast called a Wampa. Then, when dropped into a pit in Jabba's palace, he kills the massive troll type creature called a Rancor.
This isn't counting the plethora of aliens he kills when fighting at the Sarlacc pit a little later, as it feels like it'd be a little insensitive to call the dozens of alien races in Star Wars monsters just based on their looks. Those other two, though, they definitely count.
8 Tommy Jarvis - Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
While some might argue iconic slasher Jason Voorhees's status of "monster," in this specific entry, he is literally brought back from the grave, bringing with him a zombified appearance. Tommy Jarvis is the central character of three consecutive Friday the 13th films, concluding with him battling Jason in this one. He not only consistently escapes death at the hands of the famous killer, but he also seeks him out and even openly mocks him.
The other argument would be that Jarvis doesn't technically kill Voorhees, but he does have the bravery to face him head-on and then wins, which has to count for something. Plus, he did technically kill Jason once already in the fourth film, so hasn't he done enough.
7 Nada - They Live
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper's most famous role is his drifter turned terrorist hero character in John Carpenter's action horror film. When given special glasses, the character realizes that his town, and maybe the whole world, has been overrun by alien creatures hiding in plain sight.
He then takes a page out of Derek's playbook and decides to kill every single one he sees, only instead of a chainsaw, he opts for a shotgun, and instead of sadistic glee, he delivers cool one-liners.
6 The Bounty Hunters - Critters
While at first glance, the small creatures of Critters seem like nothing more than animalistic alien rodents, but the truth is that these furballs are intelligent and deadly criminals from another planet. They only end up on Earth after escaping a prison transport ship and crash-landing.
Like with many escaped criminals, there are bounty hunters sent to collect (or disintegrate) them. The bounty hunters of the Critters universe are shapeshifters equipped with massive weapons capable of blowing holes through buildings. The hunters are the best monster killers space has to offer.
5 The Monster Squad
The only team on this list that got together specifically for the purpose of killing monsters, and despite being teens, they do a pretty swell job at it. When their town is overrun by the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Mummy, this group decides to fight back any way they can.
That translates to shooting them with arrows, hitting them with blunt objects, blowing them in half with a stick of dynamite, and obviously, kicking them right in the nards. Not bad a bad first showing for the squad.
4 R.J. MacReady - The Thing
One of Kurt Russell's most iconic roles is in John Carpenter's horror film about a shape-shifting monster that can disguise itself as its victims. The claustrophobic film follows a research team trapped in the arctic as they try to survive the creature's attacks.
MacReady kills multiple forms of the beast as it moves from body to body, but his aim with a flamethrower isn't all that lands him a place on the list. He also has plans and strategies, that mostly work for him. The scene where he tests the blood of his fellow-men showcases that he is adaptable and focused on survival.
3 Dutch - Predator
The skilled commando that leads the team in Predator proves in the first twenty minutes of the movie that he's probably the best human killer on this list, but this list is about killing creatures. Fortunately, this versatile soldier, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger excels at killing monstrous alien bounty hunters as well.
While he is clearly outmatched for most of the film, in the finale Dutch outsmarts the titular monster and manages to take it on in a mostly fair fight. An incredible feat considering it took out his whole team single-handedly. It is a travesty Dutch never came back for a sequel, so we only have the one kill to judge him off of, as he would likely fare well against any monster.
2 Ash Williams - The Evil Dead
He's one of the greatest monster-slayers of all-time, but unfortunately, he knows it. Ashley J. Williams, made famous by Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead films, is a cocky but capable demon slayer. While in the first film he struggles to kill his demon enemies, barely managing it via shotgun, shovel, and chainsaw, in the sequels he clearly gets the hang of it.
In the second film, Ash replaces his hand with a chainsaw and saws the barrel off his shotgun, then goes to work. He becomes courageous and even throws some quips around, fully settling into his action-hero role.
1 Ellen Ripley - Aliens
The best monster killer of the 80s is also the most reluctant of the bunch. Ripley, Sigourney Weaver's character from the Alien franchise, barely manages to kill the single alien that terrorizes her crew in the first film, but much like Ash before her, in the second film, she goes full-on badass.
The finale of Aliens sees the furious Ripley duel wielding a flamethrower and plasma rifle, wiping out the vicious xenomorphs like they are bugs. Then, when faced with the actual alien queen, she turns a robotic forklift into a makeshift mech-suit and takes the fight straight to her. Preceded, of course, by an iconic line I'm not allowed to write here.
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