Nostalgia. Some of us are affected by it immensely. Others appear, at least, to be immune to its sway. I am of the former category myself. The older I grow, the more sad I get about the loss of my youth. My wife gets angry about it when I say that, but I think she misunderstands. I would not trade what I have today. Not for the poverty or innocence of yesterday. But who among us does not long for the days when our bodies, minds and hearts were younger? I’m happier, more satisfied and successful than I’ve ever been in my life.
And we tend to cloud the reality of our past years with rose-colored glasses. I forget the hungry nights and the dead-end jobs and the lack of respect I had for myself. I remember the good times.
1986 was a pretty good year for me. I got my first VCR and I got a marginally better job than I had ever had before. Horror was hot and I was in love with the books and movies that were coming out. Splatterpunk was new and vital and home video was kicking into high gear. The Cinema of Transgression was festering in dark corners of New York City. I began reading Fangoria Magazine regularly, as well as Cinefantastique. And best of all, The Twilight Zone and Night Cry were putting out the best short horror fiction.
And there was still one functioning drive-in theater in my hometown.
Like I say, good times. I often mark the times of my life by the movies I watched. These are the movies I enjoyed from 1986. Some are veritable classics and others are pretty damned good. Some are okay crowd-pleasers and still others are pieces of crap. Yet I had fun watching them all. This was back when I still had a lot of local friends and ‘most every weekend there were several people at my house watching videos. Quite a few of these are films I would doubtless skip today, but I hung out with a lot of ‘regular guys’ and we watched a lot of generic action films and comedies and the like. If my memories of the time spent watching them are fond, then I listed it. Some were by myself on cable, others were rented by myself and others. Some were seen at the drive-in and I saw many of them at indoor theaters.
As much as I tried, I doubt that this is a truly comprehensive look at all the films I loved from ‘86. It’s doubtless that I’ve missed a few. But it’s a pretty clear look at where my cinematic head was twenty one years ago.
So take a stroll down Memory Lane with me and come back to those days of long ago. When VHS was still new and a marvel and most of us spent way too many hours in video stores. When there was still a whiff of the down and dirty exploitation movies from the 1970’s.
Note: The * denotes films that I still love and consider to be great today.
Aliens*
Apology
April Fool’s Day*
Armed Response
At Close Range*
Avenging Force
Back to School*
Bad Girls’ Dormitory
Bad Girls in the Movies
The Best of Times
Betaville*
Big Trouble in Little China*
Black Moon Rising
Blue City
Blue Velvet*
Born American
Breeders
Bullies
Castaway
Cathode Fuck
Chopping Mall
Class of Nuke ‘Em High
Club Paradise
Cobra
The Color of Money*
Combat Shock*
Crawlspace
Critters
Crocodile Dundee
Crossroads*
Dead-End Drive In
Deadly Friend
Death Valley 69
Def Con 5
The Delta Force
Demons
Down by Law*
Eliminators
F/X
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off*
Film House Fever
Fingered*
Firewalker
The Fly*
Fortress
From Beyond*
Girls School Screamers
Go to Hell
The Golden Child
Goodbye 42nd Street
Gothic
Gung Ho*
Half Moon Street
Hamburger: The Motion Picture
Hannah and Her Sisters*
Heartbreak Ridge*
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer*
The Hitcher
Hollywood Harry
Hollywood Vice Squad
Hoosiers
Horrible Horror
In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro
Invaders from Mars
Iron Eagle
Jake Speed*
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI*
The Jet Benny Show
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
The Karate Kid, Part II
King Kong Lives
The King of Sex
Kiss Me Goodbye
The Ladies Club
Las Vegas Serial Killer
Let’s Get Harry
Link
The Majorettes
The Malibu Bikini Shop
Matador*
Maximum Overdrive
The Money Pit
The Mosquito Coast*
Mountaintop Motel Massacre
Murphy’s Law
My Chauffeur
The Naked Cage
Neon Maniacs
Night of the Creeps*
No Retreat, No Surrender
Nomads
Out of Bounds
The Park Is Mine
Parting Glances
The Phantom Empire
Platoon*
Pretty in Pink*
Psycho III
Quiet Cool
Raiders of the Living Dead
Raw Deal
Rawhead Rex
Reform School Girls
River’s Edge*
Seize the Day*
Separate Vacations
Sid and Nancy*
Slaughter High
Something Wild*
Sorority House Massacre
Soul Man*
Stand by Me*
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The Supernaturals
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2*
The Tomb
Trick or Treat
Troll
True Stories
Truth or Dare?
Vamp
Vendetta
Wired to Kill
Witchboard
The Wraith
Youngblood
The Zero Boys
Zone Troopers
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