80s Cinematic Horror v1 — LoRA Description
Trigger word: 80sc1nh0rr0Cr@ft1d

If you’re drawn to the cinematic lighting and atmosphere of early 1980s horror films like Poltergeist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, or even E.T., this LoRA aims to recreate that visual essence. It focuses on environmental mood and lighting, often avoiding characters to maintain a pure cinematic aesthetic.

If you’d like to add characters to your shots and find the facial lighting isn’t quite matching, pair this with my 80s Horror Character Lighting LoRA. You may still want to combine other LoRAs to reduce the waxy CG look that Flux sometimes leans into.

All example images were generated using a default Flux development setup—no upscaling, all first-pass outputs. I've found that setting CFG to 1 creates brighter, softer scenes, while CFG values around 3–4 intensify the LoRA’s stylistic impact.

This style draws from the techniques used by legendary cinematographers like Allen Daviau and Dean Cundey, who pioneered the “80s Cali sun” look. Often shot with Panavision lenses on Eastman Kodak 5247 film, these scenes used high dynamic range natural light—balanced with fog filters, bounce boards, and overcast skies—to produce soft, diffused shadows and a golden haze. The result was a dreamy, slightly surreal feel that heightened both nostalgia and suspense, especially in everyday suburban settings.

For darker, more atmospheric scenes, filmmakers layered moody purple and blue gels with practical tungsten sources to create eerie contrasts. This often involved side lighting or backlighting interiors with deep blue while maintaining a warm amber glow from a lamp, hallway, or TV. The interplay between cool and warm tones added a visual unease—creepy yet pastoral—enhancing the supernatural tone without abandoning the domestic setting. These split-spectrum techniques are central to this LoRA’s look.

Included below are sample prompts used during training. For best results, use a similar format—layered, cinematic, and grounded in real-world lenses and film stocks.

Training Prompt Example 1
1980s suburban street, warm midday sun, brown rooftops and manicured lawns, muted color tones, telephoto lens compression, overhead angle from distant hillside, still camera, Panavision 35mm, Eastman 5247 film, Matthew F. Leonetti cinematography, calm domestic setting with underlying unease.

Training Prompt Example 2
Overcast afternoon in suburban cul-de-sac, 1980s California neighborhood with red tile rooftops and rugged foothills in background, soft natural lighting, muted tones with warm accents, distant haze, kids riding bikes on sidewalks, shot on 35mm Kodak 5247, Allen Daviau cinematography, California 80s lens style, peaceful and grounded atmosphere with cinematic framing.

Training Prompt Example 3
Overcast suburban street, soft flat daylight, muted green lawns, mid-century homes with white siding and red steps, wide lens, gentle shadows, 35mm film, naturalistic color grading, Dean Cundey cinematography, quiet stillness of early morning.

Training Prompt Example 4
Wide aerial view of sprawling suburban neighborhood at sunset, sun low on horizon casting warm amber glow, overcast haze softening mountain backdrop, earthy browns and desaturated greens, static high-angle composition, 1980s California suburbia, Panavision lens, Eastman 5247 film, atmospheric calm with distant unease.