While it was a little before my time to see most of these movies in theaters (I was only 5-6 years old in 85), I grew up with the movies from this era—watching them over and over on HBO and VHS. That may biased me with nostalgia, but I feel like a lot of these movies have held up better than many other movies from the 80s.
I will always remember all of the neighborhood kids getting dumped at our house during the summer where we watched “Pee Wee’s Bug Adventure” on VHS over and over again until our supply of Freezie Pops ran out!
Great, great reminder..."Re-Animator" especially for me. Stuart Gordon with "Re-Animator" - and the later hugely underrated "From Beyond" - reignited a national interest in the works of Lovecraft...and Barbara Crampton.
Re-Animator is so much fun. A truly great Lovecraft adaptation… and From Beyond is almost just as good. I’m worried these movies are getting a little lost to time.
Great list, great writeup, great year. I was glad to see Clue and Real Genius get a shout, two of my all time favorites.
Another underrated classic from 1985: Better Off Dead, a truly unhinged screwball comedy and John Cusack at his all time most fun.
And a true all-time great that I would be remiss not to mention: Ran, Kurosawa's in-color masterpiece.
... Also Come and See came out that year and is considered one of the best movies ever (at least by Letterboxd) but I have regrettably yet to see it, so there's that.
"It was the worst accident I ever seen. Sounded like a garbage truck fell off the empire state building." Haha. I can't ever forget Large Marge. Peewee's Big Adventure has always been one of my favorites. Solid year. I would throw in Friday the 13th Part V, too. Not a classic, but good gory goofy fun. Hehe. Awesome post, Shad.
As someone that was born in 1985, I will forever defend anything released that year!!
While it was a little before my time to see most of these movies in theaters (I was only 5-6 years old in 85), I grew up with the movies from this era—watching them over and over on HBO and VHS. That may biased me with nostalgia, but I feel like a lot of these movies have held up better than many other movies from the 80s.
I will always remember all of the neighborhood kids getting dumped at our house during the summer where we watched “Pee Wee’s Bug Adventure” on VHS over and over again until our supply of Freezie Pops ran out!
This is you gotta love growing up in the 80s!
What a time! It kills me knowing that my nieces and nephews will never experience that! But alas, more memories for us then…
Nice list. Really could be no other choice for number one than Back to the Future though. And I love that Clue got a shoutout.
After Hours is a close call (has really risen up the ranks for me), but BTTF is almost impossible to beat.
Great, great reminder..."Re-Animator" especially for me. Stuart Gordon with "Re-Animator" - and the later hugely underrated "From Beyond" - reignited a national interest in the works of Lovecraft...and Barbara Crampton.
What a decade.
Re-Animator is so much fun. A truly great Lovecraft adaptation… and From Beyond is almost just as good. I’m worried these movies are getting a little lost to time.
Trouble in Mind by Alan Rudolph would be my personal 1985 favourite.
I have never seen this. Good cast, looks pretty interesting. Definitely fits the 1985 vibe. Adding to my watchlist.
Great list, great writeup, great year. I was glad to see Clue and Real Genius get a shout, two of my all time favorites.
Another underrated classic from 1985: Better Off Dead, a truly unhinged screwball comedy and John Cusack at his all time most fun.
And a true all-time great that I would be remiss not to mention: Ran, Kurosawa's in-color masterpiece.
... Also Come and See came out that year and is considered one of the best movies ever (at least by Letterboxd) but I have regrettably yet to see it, so there's that.
These are great suggestions. Not sure how I missed Better Off Dead, love that movie and its style of humor.
Ashamed to say I have not seen Ran or Come and See (two super beloved movies). I need to correct that ASAP!
Always good to have homework! When you do watch Ran, I recommend you find the largest screen possible.
I'd add Runaway Train, The Sure Thing, Fright Night, and Legend.
These are all good ones. I still need to see Runaway Train, which famously introduced us to Danny Trejo.
"It was the worst accident I ever seen. Sounded like a garbage truck fell off the empire state building." Haha. I can't ever forget Large Marge. Peewee's Big Adventure has always been one of my favorites. Solid year. I would throw in Friday the 13th Part V, too. Not a classic, but good gory goofy fun. Hehe. Awesome post, Shad.
Also like Friday the 13th Part V. That’s another good one… Thanks for reading, Parker!
“And when they pulled the driver's body from the twisted, burning wreck. It looked like this...”
If that monologue isn’t some of the best screenwriting of all time, I don’t know what is.