Movies released in 1981| ...All the Marbles | Robert Aldrich |
| Absence of Malice | Sydney Pollack |
| Absurd | Joe D'Amato |
| Agatha Christie's Seven Dials Mystery | Tony Wharmby |
| All Night Long | Jean Claude Tramont |
| American Werewolf in London, An | John Landis |
| Americana | David Carradine |
| Arthur | Steve Gordon |
| Ban Geum-ryeon | Kim Ki-young |
| Bewitched | Kuei Chih-Hung |
| Beyond, The | Lucio Fulci |
| Black Cat, The | Lucio Fulci |
| Black Lizard | Chor Yuen |
| Bloody Birthday | Ed Hunt |
| Bloody Moon | Jesús Franco |
| Blow Out | Brian De Palma |
| Boogens, The | James L. Conway |
| Brave Archer 3, The | Chang Cheh |
| Burial Ground | Andrea Bianchi |
| Burning, The | Tony Maylam |
| Bushido Blade, The | Tsugunobu Kotani |
| Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker | William Asher |
| Cannibal Ferox | Umberto Lenzi |
| Cannonball Run, The | Hal Needham |
| Caveman | Carl Gottlieb |
| Centrespread | Tony Paterson |
| Chariots of Fire | Hugh Hudson |
| Clash of the Titans | Desmond Davis |
| Comin' at Ya! | Ferdinando Baldi |
| Condorman | Charles Jarrott |
| Continental Divide | Michael Apted |
| Corpse Mania | Kuei Chih-Hung |
| Country of Beauties, The | Tsai Yang-Ming |
| Coup de Torchon | Bertrand Tavernier |
| Dark Night of the Scarecrow | Frank De Felitta |
| Dead & Buried | Gary Sherman |
| Deadly Blessing | Wes Craven |
| Death Hunt | Peter R. Hunt |
| Decline of Western Civilization, The | Penelope Spheeris |
| Delusion | Alan Beattie |
| Demonoid: Messenger of Death | Alfredo Zacarías |
| Devil, The | Chang Ren-Chieh |
| Diva | Jean-Jacques Beineix |
| Documentary on the Making of 'Gore Vidal's Caligula', A | Giancarlo Lui |
| Documenteur | Agnès Varda |
| Don't Go in the Woods | James Bryan |
| Don't Go Near the Park | Lawrence D. Foldes |
| Dragonslayer | Matthew Robbins |
| Dreadnaught | Yuen Woo-ping |
| Drunken Fist | Kang Beom-Gu |
| Duel of the Century, The | Chor Yuen |
| Emperor and His Brother, The | Chor Yuen |
| Enter the Ninja | Menahem Golan |
| Escape from Galaxy 3 | Bitto Albertini |
| Escape from New York | John Carpenter |
| Evil Dead, The | Sam Raimi |
| Evilspeak | Eric Weston |
| Excalibur | John Boorman |
| Eye for an Eye, An | Steve Carver |
| Eye of the Needle | Richard Marquand |
| Eyes of a Stranger | Ken Wiederhorn |
| Fangs | Mohammed Shebl |
| Faster, Faster | Carlos Saura |
| Fear No Evil | Frank LaLoggia |
| Final Exam | Jimmy Huston |
| Firecracker | Cirio H. Santiago |
| For Ladies Only | Mel Damski |
| For Y'ur Height Only | Eddie Nicart |
| For Your Eyes Only | John Glen |
| Fort Apache, the Bronx | Daniel Petrie |
| Fox and the Hound, The | Ted Berman, Art Stevens, Richard Rich |
| Friday the 13th Part 2 | Steve Miner |
| Frightmare | Norman Thaddeus Vane |
| Frozen Scream | Frank Roach |
| Fruits of Passion | Shūji Terayama |
| Full Moon High | Larry Cohen |
| Funhouse, The | Tobe Hooper |
| Galaxy of Terror | Bruce D. Clark |
| Game of Death II | Ng See-Yuen |
| Ghost Story | John Irvin |
| Gold Constables | Wong Chung |
| Graduation Day | Herb Freed |
| Great Muppet Caper, The | Jim Henson |
| Halloween II | Rick Rosenthal |
| Happy Birthday to Me | J. Lee Thompson |
| Haunted Indiana | Michael White, Frank Haney |
| Heavy Metal | Gerald Potterton |
| Hell Night | Tom DeSimone |
| Hitman in the Hand of Buddha | Hwang Jang-Lee, Park Yun-Kyo |
| Hospital Massacre | Boaz Davidson |
| Hot Bubblegum | Boaz Davidson |
| House by the Cemetery, The | Lucio Fulci |
| Howling, The | Joe Dante |
| Imperial Navy, The | Shûe Matsubayashi |
| Incredible Shrinking Woman, The | Joel Schumacher |
| Inseminoid | Norman J. Warren |
| Intruder, The | David F. Eustace |
| Intruder Within, The | Peter Carter |
| It's Magic, Charlie Brown | Phil Roman |
| Jaws of Satan | Bob Claver |
| Just Before Dawn | Jeff Lieberman |
| Kagero-za | Seijun Suzuki |
| Kamen Rider Super-1: The Movie | Minoru Yamada |
| Karate vs. Mafia | Ramón Saldías |
| Kill and Kill Again | Ivan Hall |
| Knightriders | George A. Romero |
| Last Shark, The | Enzo G. Castellari |
| Leprechauns' Christmas Gold, The | Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr. |
| Lion vs. Lion | Chin Yuet-Sang, Hsu Hsia |
| Looker | Michael Crichton |
| Lunch Wagon | Ernest Pintoff |
| Mad Max 2 | George Miller |
| Madhouse | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
| Madman | Joe Giannone |
| Mahjong Heroes | Lee Pooi-Kuen |
| Malibu Hot Summer | Richard Brander |
| Man on the Brink | Alex Cheung |
| Martial Club | Liu Chia-Liang |
| Masked Avengers | Chang Cheh |
| Mephisto | István Szabó |
| Message From The Future | David Avidan |
| Modern Problems | Ken Shapiro |
| Mommie Dearest | Frank Perry |
| Monster Club, The | Roy Ward Baker |
| Monster of Frankenstein | Yugo Serikawa |
| Monstrous Corpse, A | Kang Beom-Gu |
| Moon Mask Rider, The | Yukihiro Sawada |
| Ms .45 | Abel Ferrara |
| Munsters' Revenge, The | Don Weis |
| Mur Murs | Agnès Varda |
| Murder Obsession | Riccardo Freda |
| My Bloody Valentine | George Mihalka |
| My Dinner with Andre | Louis Malle |
| My Young Auntie | Liu Chia-Liang |
| Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians, The | Oldřich Lipský |
| Mystery on Monster Island | Juan Piquer Simón |
| Mystics in Bali | H. Tjut Djalil |
| Nesting, The | Armand Weston |
| Night of the Werewolf | Paul Naschy |
| Night School | Ken Hughes |
| Nighthawks | Bruce Malmuth |
| Nightmare | Romano Scavolini |
| Ninja In The Deadly Trap | Philip Kwok Chun-Fung |
| Other Hell, The | Bruno Mattei |
| Outland | Peter Hyams |
| Pennies from Heaven | Herbert Ross |
| Permanent Vacation | Jim Jarmusch |
| Pit, The | Lew Lehman |
| Policewoman in New York, A | Michele Massimo Tarantini |
| Polyester | John Waters |
| Porky's | Bob Clark |
| Possession | Andrzej Żuławski |
| Private Lessons | Alan Myerson |
| Prodigal Son, The | Sammo Hung |
| Professional, The | Georges Lautner |
| Prowler, The | Joseph Zito |
| Queen of Black Magic, The | Lilik Sudjio |
| Quest for Fire | Jean-Jacques Annaud |
| Raiders of Buddhist Kung Fu | Godfrey Ho, Ji-un Kwak |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | Steven Spielberg |
| Return of the Sentimental Swordsman | Chor Yuen |
| Roadgames | Richard Franklin |
| Roar | Noel Marshall |
| Ruckus | Max Kleven |
| S.O.B. | Blake Edwards |
| Sailor Suit and Machine Gun | Shinji Sômai |
| Salamander, The | Peter Zinner |
| Samurai Reincarnation | Kinji Fukasaku |
| Saturday the 14th | Howard R. Cohen |
| Scanners | David Cronenberg |
| School in the Crosshairs | Nobuhiko Ōbayashi |
| Scream | Byron Quisenberry |
| Secret of the Third Planet, The | Roman Kachanov |
| Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu | Robert Tai |
| Shaolin Chief Cook, The | Godfrey Ho, Kim Jeong-Yong |
| Shaolin Fighters vs. Ninja | Taylor Wong |
| Sharky's Machine | Burt Reynolds |
| Shock Treatment | Jim Sharman |
| Silver Slime | Christophe Gans |
| Smokey Bites the Dust | Charles B. Griffith |
| Son of the White Mare | Marcell Jankovics |
| Southern Comfort | Walter Hill |
| Space Ninja: Sword of the Space Ark | Minoru Yamada, Bunker Jenkins |
| Spacy | Takashi Ito |
| Sphinx | Franklin J. Schaffner |
| Story of Woo Viet, The | Ann Hui |
| Strange Behavior | Michael Laughlin |
| Stripes | Ivan Reitman |
| Student Bodies | Mickey Rose |
| Superbman: The Other Movie | David Teubner |
| Survivor, The | David Hemmings |
| Sword Stained with Royal Blood, The | Chang Cheh |
| Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan: The Movie | Shohei Tôjô |
| Tattoo | Bob Brooks |
| They All Laughed | Peter Bogdanovich |
| Thief | Michael Mann |
| This Is Elvis | Andrew Solt, Malcolm Leo |
| Thrilling Bloody Sword | Cheung San-Yee |
| Time Bandits | Terry Gilliam |
| To The Stars By Hard Ways | Richard Viktorov |
| Treasure Hunters, The | Lau Kar-Wing |
| True Confessions | Ulu Grosbard |
| Under the Rainbow | Steve Rash |
| Venom | Piers Haggard |
| Vernon, Florida | Errol Morris |
| Warrior, The | Sisworo Gautama Putra |
| Wolf | Sisworo Gautama Putra |
| Wolfen | Michael Wadleigh |
| You Are Not I | Sara Driver |
| Zombie Lake | Jean Rollin, Julian de Laserna |
| Zyzak Is King | Hugh Stegman |