Child's Play (1988)
1988 · MovieKaren Barclay finds a way to get her son Andy the Good Guy doll he wants, not knowing what the seller was actually carrying.
Ranked by HorroRated · Updated October 19, 2026
Best Horror Movies of 1988
HorroRated has reviewed 12 horror movies released in 1988, ranked here best first. Child's Play (1988), Dead Ringers (1988) and Killer Klowns from Outer Space lead the list, all rated Legendary.
Chucky's Good Guy doll, a pair of Cronenberg twins in Dead Ringers and space invaders who look like they escaped a circus all arrived in 1988. Frank Henenlotter's Brain Damage added a chatty parasite named Aylmer who keeps his young host hooked.
1988 horror movies, best first
12 films- Pick
PickDead Ringers (1988)
1988 · MovieBeverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twin gynecologists who share everything, including their patients without those patients ever knowing which brother they're actually seeing. One woman changes the arrangement permanently.
PickKiller Klowns from Outer Space
1988 · MovieAlien creatures shaped like circus clowns land in a small town and start harvesting the population using cotton candy cocoons. Two teenagers try to warn people.
PickJack's Back
1988 · MovieA copycat killer starts recreating Jack the Ripper's murders exactly one hundred years later, and a young doctor becomes the prime suspect. His identical twin knows he's innocent, and starts seeing things that suggest something far stranger is going on.
PickBrain Damage
1988 · MovieAylmer, a creature that has attached itself to a young man in his apartment building, injects an addictive fluid into his brain. The arrangement has costs.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
1988 · MovieKirsty Cotton is in a psychiatric hospital and the horror from the first film has followed her there. A new doctor is very interested in the puzzle box.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
1988 · MovieMichael Myers wakes up after a decade and returns to Haddonfield, this time fixated on a small girl named Jamie Lloyd.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers
1988 · MovieCamp Rolling Hills has a new counselor with very clear standards for camper behavior. Violators keep vanishing into the woods.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
1988 · MovieFreddy is accidentally brought back and picks off the survivors of the last film, then Kristen's friends. Shy Alice inherits the strengths of every friend he kills, and it might be enough to stop him.
Death Spa
1988 · MovieMichael's state-of-the-art health club runs on a computer system that handles everything from the sauna to the tanning beds. His dead wife has found a way to log in.
Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood
1988 · MovieA teenager with telekinetic abilities accidentally wakes Jason from the bottom of Crystal Lake.
Return of the Living Dead Part II
1988 · MovieThe same military canisters from the first film turn up in a suburb, the same gas escapes, and the dead start moving again.
No 1988 films match that filter right now.
1988 in Horror, by the Numbers
- Reviewed
- 12 films: 5 Legendary, 5 Recommended and 2 Worth a Look
- Average score
- 3.7 of 5 tapes, against 3.3 across all 519 movies in the archive
- Leading subgenres
- Supernatural (7 films), Slasher (6)
- HorroRated Picks
- Child's Play (1988), Dead Ringers (1988), Killer Klowns from Outer Space and Jack's Back, plus 1 more
- Streaming in the US
- 11 of 12, 10 of them free, as of November 10, 2026
Ranked by HorroRated score, then Picks, then newest release. How the year lists work
Before you press play
Frequently Asked Questions About 1988 Horror Movies
What is the best horror movie of 1988?
Five films from 1988 share HorroRated's top verdict, Legendary, and all are HorroRated Picks: Child's Play (1988), Dead Ringers (1988), Killer Klowns from Outer Space and Jack's Back, plus 1 more. They're tied, so the list shows the newest first, starting with Child's Play (1988).
What's the best horror comedy of 1988?
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Legendary) is HorroRated's top-rated horror comedy of 1988, ahead of Brain Damage. Compared with the rest of the archive, 1988 leaned hardest on dark comedy: 5 of the 12 films on the list. The most common kind that year is supernatural horror, with 7.
Which 1988 horror movies can you watch for free?
Child's Play (1988) (Tubi), Dead Ringers (1988) (The Roku Channel) and Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Tubi), plus 7 more: they stream free in the US as of November 10, 2026, with ads or a library card.
How does 1988 compare with other horror years?
Among the 20 years with their own HorroRated list, 1988 ranks 5th by average score, 3.7 of 5 tapes, with five rated Legendary. The highest-rated year is 2022, at 3.9.