Film

Troll

A deeply weird 1986 creature feature where a troll infiltrates a San Francisco apartment building to possess a young girl and spawn an army of tiny monsters. It's earnest, surreal, and genuinely strange—less scary than hypnotic, with practical creature effects that have aged into something oddly charming. For people who love '80s horror that's too peculiar to be taken entirely seriously, but absolutely committed to its own logic.

TMDb rating2.5

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Gremlins1984

Small destructive creatures wreak havoc in a contained setting with dark humour and genuine scares. Joe Dante's control of tone—balancing horror and comedy without collapsing into parody—makes the mayhem genuinely entertaining and occasionally unsettling.

But It's been endlessly quoted and referenced, so the shock is gone. The comedy occasionally undercuts the horror instead of complementing it.

Gremlins poster

Poltergeist1982

A family's home becomes a supernatural battleground with escalating, imaginative set pieces. Spielberg's influence gives it real emotional stakes alongside the spectacle, and the practical effects still impress.

But It's extremely well-known and widely available. The middle hour sags before the climax kicks in.

Poltergeist poster

A Nightmare on Elm Street1984

A killer stalks teenagers through dreams with genuine ingenuity and style. Wes Craven crafts real tension and fear from an absurd premise, and Johnny Depp's early turn anchors the human stakes.

But The sequels and cultural saturation have calcified the first film into a reference point rather than a fresh experience. It's slower than modern horror.

A Nightmare on Elm Street poster

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Paprika2006

Both films locate horror in the violation of domestic space as a threshold to another realm. Both commit to internal logic over jump scares, constructing worlds where rules are weird but absolute.

A Japanese anime where dreams bleed into waking reality through stolen technology. Satoshi Kon's visual imagination is boundless—it's surreal, expressionistic, and genuinely disorienting in the best way. The shared logic of internal spaces predicts *Troll*'s apartment-as-gateway concept.

But Animation can feel like a barrier for some viewers. The narrative is deliberately fractured and requires active attention.

Paprika poster
More like this (8)

The Dark Crystal1982

Jim Henson's puppet-built fantasy epic is visually stunning—a fully realized alien world made entirely by hand. The weirdness is the point; it commits completely to its own logic and refuses easy answers.

But There's minimal dialogue and pacing is deliberate. The puppetry is hypnotic but not conventionally comforting to watch.

The Dark Crystal poster

Labyrinth1986

Henson's follow-up is a fever dream of a film where a teenage girl must navigate a sentient maze. David Bowie's performance is genuinely magnetic, and the practical effects create a world that looks lived-in and dangerous.

But The logic is dreamlike rather than narrative-driven. It's visually arresting but narratively slight if you're looking for plot momentum.

Labyrinth poster

Ghoulies1984

Toilet-spawning creatures rampage through a mansion in a film that knows exactly what it is—trashy, committed, and strangely earnest about its ridiculous premise. It's unpretentious fun.

But It's genuinely poorly made, though in a way that's kind of the appeal. The performances are wooden and the effects are cheap.

Ghoulies poster

Critters1986

Fuzzy alien creatures terrorize a rural family with slapstick chaos and practical creature effects that hold up remarkably well. It's confident about being popcorn entertainment—fun and kinetic.

But It's slight and forgettable if you're not in the mood for B-movie pleasures. The script is thin under the creature chaos.

Critters poster

House1985

A haunted house comedy-horror where a war veteran confronts manifestations of his trauma. It's weird, darkly funny, and genuinely unsettling in ways that sneak up on you.

But The tonal shifts between horror and comedy are jarring. Some jokes don't land and pull focus from genuine creepy moments.

House poster

Lady in White1988

A ghost story set in 1960s small-town America where a boy befriends a murdered girl's spirit. It's atmospheric, melancholy, and takes its supernatural mystery seriously while remaining accessible.

But It's slower-paced and more interested in mood than scares. The resolution is sentimental rather than thrilling.

Lady in White poster

Come True2020

Both feature child protagonists as gateways for supernatural incursion. Both use their containment (apartment, sleep lab) as the entire canvas, building claustrophobia into the form itself.

A teenager participates in a sleep study that descends into body-horror nightmare territory. It's hypnotic, visually striking, and genuinely unsettling—more interested in sustained dread than conventional scares. The '80s synth score anchors the otherworldly atmosphere.

But It's very slow. The horror is primarily visual and existential rather than plot-driven, and it won't satisfy anyone looking for narrative clarity.

Come True poster

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities2022

Both value the tactile reality of creatures over CGI abstraction. Both locate strangeness in ordinary spaces and treat that invasion as worthy of genuine investment rather than knowing winks.

Eight standalone anthology episodes of creature-driven horror with practical effects, genuine strangeness, and visual imagination. Each episode commits to its own internal logic the way *Troll* does. Del Toro's sensibility aligns perfectly with '80s creature-feature earnestness without irony.

But It's uneven by design—some episodes will land better than others. A few veer into body horror that's genuinely upsetting rather than entertaining.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities poster

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