Our fearless leader here at Wolfbane Blooms is a man of many talents and boundless passion. He fills his time with activities like putting Christmas light up on his house, taking Christmas lights down from his house, finding creative ways to hang non-season-specific lights in his backyard, and chopping all sorts of things with the axe he happens to own and wield to the delight of his neighbors and friends.
But perhaps one of his best and most specific skilled passions—something he’s almost disturbingly good at—is finding the best content you didn’t even know you needed to see on YouTube. Many a moon have I spent tearing through a curated playlist of Dub It Out videos or vintage game show compilations because of Ric Slager, and somehow, I feel as if nary a second was wasted.
Lately Ric’s been real into commercial compilations—something about nostalgia for the decade’s vibe rather than for anything specific or personal, you get it—and lucky for us, there’s been some tasty horror crossover. You see, in a time before YouTube and three-minute theatrical trailers you could watch from your living room, actual commercial-esque ad spots for horror films would appear in between episodes of Cheers and Happy Days. Those shows, specifically? I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there. But they definitely aired at some point, and you couldn’t fast-forward through them. And with regard to this list, those same rules apply.
Below, we’ve put together 10 of the best horror film commercials from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Please enjoy responsibly.
Scanners! what an amazing ad!