I take tours through my past with the movies I watched. Books too, and music, but there’s something about movies that make me extra nostalgic. Maybe it’s the communal nature of watching them.
1989 was the end of the 80’s. The end of innocence. Not to the world in whole; that has never been innocent. My innocence. Though I came up in the 70’s, I feel a greater affinity to the 1980’s.
It was the last gasp of the home video hysteria. Fewer were having movie parties. In the mid 80’s, it seemed like everyone was having them. The VHS revolution had still been fresh. In time it was apparent who the faddists were and who were the genuine lovers of cinema.
Researching this, I see that I was becoming more selective in my viewing. I wasn’t renting as many crappy direct-to-video productions with catchy titles. I was weaning off of a lot of studio fare as well. Looking over this list, I’m almost shocked to see that to date I have never watched some sequels of movies I loved, like Fletch and Ghostbusters. I couldn’t gather any enthusiasm over them.
Not to say I didn’t watch my share of turkey’s as this will prove. Still, for various reasons I liked everything I put here. Even while I cringe at the memory of things like Martians Go Home, Star Trek 5 and C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the C.H.U.D. As bad as these movies are, I had a good time roasting them with friends in joyous pre-MST3K abandon.
Horror wasn’t exactly healthy. This was the end of the Decade of Fear and few really good movies were released. The old standbys franchises were in need of serious overhauls: Friday the 13th 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, Halloween 5 and Nightmare On Elm Street 5 are arguably the worst of their respective series’. Craven tried to score another Freddy with Shocker, to the dismay of almost everyone. But Pet Semetery was a good adaptation of King’s novel and was a financial success. Scott Speigel’s Intruder and Cutting Class came in a little too late to cash in on the slasher wave. The cerebral Exorcist 3 was an amazing movie, but it failed to please those that wanted more flying pea soup. J.R. Bookwalter and Tony Elwood’s Killer anticipated the underground movie frenzy that would come just a few years later.
Though I loved many movies of 1980, it was a weaker year than any other of the 80’s. Moviegoers were in need of a change, which would come about shortly. But I have some true favorites, with Great Balls of Fire, Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Santa Sangre and Crimes and Misdemeanors at the top of my list.
Everything changed in the 90’s and I’ll be back to chronicle them. Just don’t expect it too soon. It’s a lot of work to compile these lists and while I tried to be as complete as possible, I’m certain that I overlooked certain gems.
Without further ado…
The Abyss
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
After Midnight
Aisles of Doom
Assault of the Party Nerds
Back Street Jane
Back to the Future 2
Batman
Baxter
Beverly Hills Vamp
Beyond the Door III
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure*
Black Rain
Black Rainbow
Blaze*
Blind Fury
Bloodfist
Blue Steel
Born on the Fourth of July
Breaking In
Brothers in Arms
The ‘burbs*
C.H.U.D. II – Bud the Chud
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
Casualties of War
Cat Chaser
Chances Are
Chattahoochee
Christmas Vacation
Communion
Crimes and Misdemeanors*
Cutting Class
Cyborg
Dead Bang
Dead Calm
The Dead Next Door
Dead Poets Society
DeepStar Six
Disorganized Crime
Dream a Little Dream
Drugstore Cowboy
Edge of Sanity
The Exorcist III
Field of Dreams
Gnaw: Food of the Gods 2
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Great Balls of Fire!*
Gross Anatomy
Halloween 5
Headhunter
Heavy Petting
Hell High
Hollywood Boulevard II*
The Horror Show
I, Madman
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Intruder
Johnny Handsome
Kickboxer
Killer
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
Last Exit to Brooklyn*
Leningrad Cowboys Go America*
Lisa
Lock Up
Martians Go Home
Masque of the Red Death
Meet the Feebles
Mystery Train
New York Stories
No Such Thing As Gravity
Out of the Dark
Parenthood
Parents
Penn & Teller Get Killed*
Pet Sematary
The Phantom of the Opera
Psycho Cop
The Punisher
Puppetmaster
Red Scorpion
Relentless
The Return of Swamp Thing
Road House
Rude Awakening
Santa Sangre*
Savage Beach
Say Anything… *
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills*
Sea of Love
Shocker
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
Society
Sonny Boy*
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Stepfather II
Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls
The Terror Within
Think Big
True Believer
Twister
UHF*
The Unbelievable Truth*
Uncle Buck
Vice Academy
Warlock
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