Hidden Hobby Horror Gems | Ranking Movie Cards of the 1980s and ’90s

Revisiting the Best Junk Wax Movie Packs

You can call it the “Junk Wax Era” all you like, but for some of us, that mid-’80s-to-early-’90s period was a golden age, especially for horror-themed movie cards. Films that formed our core childhood memories — Gremlins 2, Little Shop of Horrors, and more — were forever immortalized in trading card form. 

And what better time of year than now to buy a stack of 35-40-ish-year-old sealed wax packs from these movies and open them? And then immediately apply a somewhat arbitrary ranking system?

Our purpose today is to open packs and reminisce. The rankings just might help guide you to the nostalgic pack that’s right for you.

The Packs

• Jaws 3-D (1983)
• Gremlins (1984)
• Return to Oz (1985)
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
• Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
• Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
• Gremlins 2 (1990)
• Robocop 2 (1990)
• The Addams Family (1991)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

An honorable mention goes to Fright Flicks, an assortment of horror scenes paired with funny captions (we had a thorough look at the best of the set back in 2023). Because it wasn’t just one film, it didn’t fit snugly into our ratings scale and therefore had to be eliminated. But the judges are confident it would have run away with the win. 

The Ratings Scale

Each pack was graded on a scale from 1-10 in the following categories:

1. “Classic-ness” of the movie (Has it held up over time, even as a cult classic?)
2. Card design (Is it pretty?)
3. The “writing” of the front and back (How clever are the captions and backs?)
4. Horror vibes/fun factor (Are these packs fun for an October open?)

Without further ado, let’s get to it.

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10. Return to Oz Stickers

• Classicness: 3
• Design: 6
• Writing: 6.5
• Vibes: 4
• Total: 19.5

I’m not sure how popular this movie actually was (it feels like it could be a cult classic, but I don’t think it ever became one), but it does have some horror vibes to it. The bizarre Wheelers, for instance, will haunt your quiet moments intermittently for the rest of your life. Plus, the wrapper design is elite.

The set of cards, though, is mostly filled with kid-centric stickers. The backs (which could technically be the fronts), have a nice design — almost exactly the same as the Little Shop of Horrors set, interestingly — and re-tell the story of the movie pretty well, but this set serves as little more than a nostalgia trip if you loved the movie as a kid. 

9. Harry and the Hendersons

• Classicness: 5
• Design: 6.5
• Writing: 4.5
• Vibes: 4
• Total: 19.5

I look back on this movie fondly, but the card set is sadly unspectacular. There’s a very cool ivy/tree border, and the back has the same vibrant color patterns as the Gremlins 2 cards.

The blurbs on the back are pretty milquetoast, though, and the Halloween/horror feels aren’t happening here. Does it make me want to see the movie again? Yes. Would I want to buy a box and open it for fun on Halloween? No. 

8. Robocop 2

• Classicness: 4
• Design: 5.5
• Writing: 7
• Vibes: 4
• Total: 20.5

I don’t remember much about Robocop 2, and rifling through one pack of cards does little, unfortunately, to remind me of the plot. There’s some real gore in here, though, so it qualifies as “horror.” And the titling on the fronts is clever and funny. 

7. Ghostbusters 2

• Classicness: 6
• Design: 7
• Writing: 4
• Vibes: 4
• Total: 21

You have to love the TV-style roundedness to the card design here. Plus, inserts like “Wide Screen SFX Shots” and the sketch cards of characters were ahead of their time.

Still, for a set of cards dedicated to a fun movie like Ghostbusters 2, it lacks that zaniness we’ve come to expect. 

6. Gremlins

• Classicness: 8
• Design: 5
• Writing: 5
• Vibes: 5
• Total: 23

This is a good set for fans of the movie. You’ll have a fun trip down memory lane, especially if you haven’t watched it in a while. It’s kind of “meh” otherwise, although the stickers have a very cool look to them.

5. Little Shop of Horrors

• Classicness: 7
• Design: 5.5
• Writing: 6
• Vibes: 7
• Total: 25.5

This set has a great look and a busy front with the “word bubbles” (technically rectangles) keeping things peppy. It has all the great scenes and represents the movie well.

Overall, this is a fun set that lives somewhere between “forgettable” and “great,” and it feels like something you could have fun flipping through on a cold Halloween night. 

4. Gremlins 2

• Classicness: 6.5
• Design: 8
• Writing: 6
• Vibes: 7
• Total: 27.5

The Gremlins 2 set has a subtly fantastic design. It appears kind of simple at first, but then you notice a cartoon Gizmo or Gremlin in the bottom corner of every card, with Gremlin footprints going across the bottom. The backs are colorful and fun, too.

It’s a clean set of cards with a feel to it that matches the movie. 

3. The Addams Family

• Classicness: 7
• Design: 7.5
• Writing: 6
• Vibes: 8
• Total: 28.5

These cards are colorful, have a very cool border, and the design pops as you flip through them. The backs are high-quality and have great writing, recapping the movie with some flair and clever turns of phrase.

If I had one beef, it would be that the photos on the cards could be better or more iconic. But this is still a fun set that most people should enjoy. 

2. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

• Classicness: 6
• Design: 9
• Writing: 8
• Vibes: 8
• Total: 31

This might be the most underrated set from this period. The cards are really well-designed, there’s a sharp red foil element to the “Dracula” on top, the backs are colorful, and the inserts with concept art are great.

There’s also a definite PG-13-ness to the cards. The blurbs on the back are written in a straightforward manner, rife with beheadings, stakings, and, of course, concubines. A lot of the cards in these rankings are campy and fun; this set is more high-brow and matches that 1992 Hobby transition to elevated design and presentation. 

1. Jaws 3-D

• Classicness: 6
• Design: 10
• Writing: 6
• Vibes: 9.5
• Total: 31.5

Jaws 3-D likely isn’t a movie you stop on as a “must watch” while scrolling through the streaming menus. But holy cow, what a great set of cards it spawned.

The set is essentially a giant 3-D comic book of the movie, and every pack has free tiny 3-D glasses. Even the design, once you get past the 3-D-ness of it all, has some very neat 1950s/60s Topps vibes to it. Come equipped with a handful of Jaws 3-D packs to your Halloween shindig, and watch the party transform. 

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