1) I can't believe you haven't said anything about SLEEPAWAY CAMP, specifically the freaky ending. I saw this as an adolescent at a slumber party in the 80's and we had lots of fun mocking the lame kills and acting, but that image of Angela standing naked over her boyfriend's severed head and doing that weird gutteral "hissing" still affects me as a 32 year-old. I don't believe I slept a full night in my own bed for at least 2 weeks after seeing that!
2) A made-for-T.V. movie I saw in the 8th grade called FROM THE DEAD OF NIGHT starring LINDSAY WAGNER and BRUCE BOXLEITNER (I had to visit imdb.com to look up the name of the movie) really freaked me out. LINDSAY plays a woman who has a near-death experience and sees these weird shadowy figures in a tunnel before she's resucitated. Well, the shadowy figures want her back and begin stalking her. I don't remember much else about it, but the thing that really sticks in my memory is a kid on a skateboard who is killed and possessed by one of the spirits and rolls after LINDSAY's character in the dark (I think it was a parking garage, but maybe a dark alley, can't remember.)
3) Another made-for-TV movie that got to me was THE STRANGER WITHIN starring RICKY SCHROEDER and KATE JACKSON. I had a HUGE crush on RICKY from watching SILVER SPOONS as a kid and seeing him play such a convincing psycho really tainted my pristine memories!
Wow–seeing that image made me jump a little in my seat! That ending is SICK (and not the good kind 😉 Thanks again!
Yeah, even when you know what's coming in Sleepaway Camp, those weird animal sounds and the total WRONGNESS of that composited picture actually just WORKS. Great stuff. It also helped that this was one of the only movies about a group of camping kids that actually used real-life kids in the roles–the acting suffered, but the verisimilitude benefited.
And how about Angela's aunt, huh? That's pretty freaky too.
BTW, that "From the Dead of Night" you reference sounds remarkably similar to the maligned horror flick that came out several years back called "THEY." I think it was a "Wes Craven Presents" type thing. Anyway, I didn't think it was as awful as some did, and the plot was actually intriguing.
Vicar, I really liked THEY too and I was really surprised that it got such a bad response. The ending was particularly good I thought.
Note: The director of THE STRANGER WITHIN was none other than TOM HOLLAND (CHILD'S PLAY, FRIGHT NIGHT)!!!Who knew?
I just rewatched this and at 34, it still creeps me out. The curling iron always gave me the oogies too.