Blair's career took a new turn in 1979 with her starring role in the musical drama "Roller Boogie", which established her as a sex symbol. The following year, she co-starred with Dirk Benedict in "Ruckus", playing a young woman who helps a maligned Vietnam veteran evade antagonistic locals in a small town. She also starred in a number of successful low-budget horror and exploitation films throughout much of the 1980s: She starred opposite Peter Barton and Vincent Van Patten in the slasher film "Hell Night" (1981), followed by roles in the women-in-prison film "Chained Heat" (1983), playing a teenager in a women's prison, and the exploitation thriller "Savage Streets" (1984), in which she plays the lead of a female vigilante street gang who targets male rapists. In a review of "Savage Streets" published by "TV Guide", her performance was deemed "her best since "The Exorcist" (1973)... and that's not saying much." Also in 1983, Blair posed nude in an issue of "Playboy".