Forgotten 80's Science Fiction Movies Many People Won't Admit to Loving
by Breumaster | created - 07 Feb 2018 | updated - 12 Mar 2018 | PublicThere are a few SciFi-movies made in the 80's that were popular at their release. Some of them were reasonably illogical or even trashy, but even today they got some fans. Which of them below would you like to buy, rent or stream for a retro-evening the most?
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I want to thank Peter and urbanemovies for their suggestions.
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1. Looker (1981)
PG | 93 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Three of four models, who had plastic surgery done by Larry after a computed list, are dead. Neither the cops nor Larry believe they're suicides. Larry investigates and stays with the fourth model. Who's behind the lists and murders?
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Albert Finney, James Coburn, Susan Dey, Leigh Taylor-Young
Votes: 6,177 | Gross: $3.28M
2. Outland (1981)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
A federal marshal stationed at a mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy. He gets no help from the workers or authorities when he finds himself marked for murder.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Sean Connery, Frances Sternhagen, Peter Boyle, James Sikking
Votes: 32,327 | Gross: $17.37M
3. Tron (1982)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Director: Steven Lisberger | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan
Votes: 129,129 | Gross: $33.00M
4. Swamp Thing (1982)
PG | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
After a violent incident with a special chemical, a research scientist is turned into a swamp plant monster.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, Ray Wise, David Hess
Votes: 16,286
5. WarGames (1983)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 110,549 | Gross: $79.57M
6. Brainstorm (1983)
PG | 106 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.
Director: Douglas Trumbull | Stars: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson
Votes: 13,098 | Gross: $8.90M
7. Videodrome (1983)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky
Votes: 102,798 | Gross: $2.12M
8. Dreamscape (1984)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A man who can enter and manipulate people's dreams is recruited by a government agency to help cure the President of the United States of his nightmares about nuclear war but stumbles upon an assassination plot.
Director: Joseph Ruben | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert
Votes: 18,124 | Gross: $11.48M
9. Airwolf (1984 TV Movie)
85 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A scientist who created a super-helicopter has defected to Libya, taking the machine with him. A secretive government agency hires an ex-Vietnam War pilot to go to Libya, steal the chopper, and bring it back.
Director: Donald P. Bellisario | Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, David Hemmings
Votes: 5,214
10. Dune (1984)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis, Leonardo Cimino
Votes: 178,598 | Gross: $30.93M
11. Runaway (1984)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In the near future, a police officer specializes in malfunctioning robots. When a robot turns out to have been programmed to kill, he begins to uncover a homicidal plot to create killer robots... and his son becomes a target.
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes, Gene Simmons, Kirstie Alley
Votes: 14,473 | Gross: $6.77M
12. Iceman (1984)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A prehistoric Neanderthal man found frozen in ice is revived by an arctic exploration team, who then attempt to use him for their own scientific means.
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, John Lone, Josef Sommer
Votes: 6,000 | Gross: $7.34M
13. The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A United States Navy destroyer escort participates in a Navy "invisibility" experiment that inadvertently sends two sailors forty years into the future.
Director: Stewart Raffill | Stars: Michael Paré, Nancy Allen, Eric Christmas, Bobby Di Cicco
Votes: 16,733 | Gross: $8.10M
14. C.H.U.D. (1984)
R | 88 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A bizarre series of sudden disappearances on the streets of New York City seems to point toward something unsavory living in the sewers.
Director: Douglas Cheek | Stars: John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, Kim Greist
Votes: 13,946 | Gross: $4.65M
15. Night of the Comet (1984)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
Director: Thom Eberhardt | Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell
Votes: 24,078 | Gross: $14.42M
16. Starman (1984)
PG | 115 min | Romance, Sci-Fi
An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel
Votes: 51,945 | Gross: $28.70M
17. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,386 | Gross: $2.02M
18. Enemy Mine (1985)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During a long space war, the lives of two wounded enemies become dependent on their ability to forgive and to trust.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James, Richard Marcus
Votes: 51,372 | Gross: $4.27M
19. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985 TV Movie)
TV-G | 94 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Marauders raid the Ewok village and steal a power supply they believe to be magical. Wicket helps Cindel escape the evil witch Charal, and they befriend a hermit who may help them save the village.
Directors: Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat | Stars: Wilford Brimley, Warwick Davis, Aubree Miller, Siân Phillips
Votes: 10,759
20. The Wraith (1986)
PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Horror, Romance
In a small town in Arizona, a mysterious man/spirit descends from the sky and manifests in a sports car and targets a local violent road-racing gang of motor heads, headed by a ruthless bully who'll do anything to get what he wants.
Director: Mike Marvin | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid
Votes: 19,199 | Gross: $3.50M
21. Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A spoof of low budget 1950s science-fiction movies, interspersed with various comedy sketches and fake commercials making fun of late-night television.
Directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss | Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Michelle Pfeiffer, Arsenio Hall, Donald F. Muhich
Votes: 12,622 | Gross: $0.55M
22. The Running Man (1987)
R | 101 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.
Director: Paul Michael Glaser | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown
Votes: 167,421 | Gross: $38.12M
23. Innerspace (1987)
PG | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A test pilot is miniaturized in a secret experiment, and accidentally injected into a hapless store clerk.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy
Votes: 65,024 | Gross: $25.89M
24. Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A Southern California girl befriends three furry aliens after their spaceship lands in her swimming pool.
Director: Julien Temple | Stars: Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans
Votes: 25,190 | Gross: $3.92M
25. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 43,403 | Gross: $8.25M
26. Robot Jox (1989)
PG | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the distant future, mankind has forsaken global wars for battles of single combat. The world has been divided into two opposing super powers, with each side represented by trained champions.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo, Robert Sampson
Votes: 7,288 | Gross: $1.27M
27. The Blood of Heroes (1989)
R | 90 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Sport
In a future where most of mankind and technology is wiped out, six people travel from place to place playing a brutal form of football with a dog skull. They hope one day to play in the league in a city.
Director: David Webb Peoples | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, Delroy Lindo, Anna Katarina
Votes: 7,562 | Gross: $0.88M
28. The Abyss (1989)
PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester
Votes: 192,846 | Gross: $54.46M
29. Critters (1986)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of small but vicious alien creatures called Crites escape from an alien prison transport vessel and land near a small farm town on earth, pursued by two shape-shifting bounty hunters.
Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes
Votes: 39,250 | Gross: $13.17M
30. Solarbabies (1986)
PG-13 | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In a post-apocalyptic future ruled by the military, a group of renegade teenage orphans find a legendary orb, Bohdai, that can supposedly bring the rain back to dried up Earth.
Director: Alan Johnson | Stars: Richard Jordan, Jami Gertz, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas
Votes: 4,950 | Gross: $1.58M
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