City of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

One of the best known directors of Italian horror films, Lucio Fulci's signature is over-the-top scenes of all out gore.  This film manages to deliver a bit more substance than that with an incredible dense helping of spooky atmosphere.  The name of the movie (probably intentionally) makes it sound like some sort of Dawn of The Dead spin-off (or rip-off).  This is fairly misleading though and the mismatched expectations are probably the cause of it's somewhat underrated status.  Although it was released on videotape under the name Gates of Hell, which makes quite a bit more sense.  Because you see, this is a supernatural horror tale involving demonic possession and strange unexplained happenings.  No real zombies in a John Romero sense.  It proceeds in the end into something in the manner of an adventurous quest.  Also has a fantastic soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi.

Trancers (1984)

Directed by Charles Band

Excellent sci-fi adventure movie taking influence from Terminator and Bladerunner. Clearly low budget but the story and acting in the main roles are well done. The main role is played by veteran B actor, Tim Thomerson, who largely carries this movie, he is so good in this part.  Playing opposite is Helen Hunt in one of her earliest roles (funny that both Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser who later played together on the sit-com Mad About You, both started in sci-fi movies in the early careers). There have been a whopping FIVE (and a half) sequels.  I'm not going to say I've seen them, the impressions of others seem fairly poor.  Director Charles Band and Helen Hunt (good sport that she is) returned for the second one but had nothing to do with the increasingly poor follow-ups.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Directed by George Miller

The third of George Miller's Mad Max movies, it's definitely not as bad as the fanboys regard it today. Modern fans may be surprised that the contemporary reviews were all very positive for this movie which makes sense given that it basically provides much of the style and thrills similar to The Road Warrior. It suffers mostly from a limp second act that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the movie. But it's made up for fairly well in the third act with a return to a Road Warrior style chase sequence.  It's most successful in the unique post-apocalyptic world it creates further fleshing out ideas from the previous movies.

Raging Bull (1980)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

The story of boxer Jake LaMotta from his fighting years to his later years as a nightclub owner.  It might just be Scorsese's best picture.  Great story, great storytelling, looks brilliant.  Uses the black and white to maximum effect.  Scorsese often tells stories about violent characters that don't fit into society that well.  This is one of the best examples.

Mommie Dearest (1981)

Directed by Frank Perry
 

Based on Christina Crawford's tell-all memoir of the same name dealing with her abusive relationship with her mother: Joan Crawford. Faye Dunaway as Joan, gives one of the most dreadfully over-acted performances in history. Instead of trying to give an accurate portrayal of child abuse, or making any attempt at giving a screen legend a fair and balanced portrait, showing her accomplishments along with her faults, what we get is this controversy baiting picture with very little resemblance to the actual subject. People familiar with Crawford's movies won't find much to recognize of the iconic actress here. Dunaway's Crawford is a grotesque cartoon more similar to Cruella de Vil than any real person. Her over-acting is so absurd it succeeds in making a joke of something that should be no laughing matter, the serious subject of child abuse. The validity of the claims of the memoir become irrelevant in the face of such an unbelievably over the top performance. I defy you not to bust out laughing at some of the scenes of this movie. Not surprisingly this has rendered the movie a significant cult hit because like a train-wreck it can be difficult to look away.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Directed by Mike Hodges

Very much a spiritual successor to campy space adventure Barbarella with a little bit of Star Wars influence thrown in the mix.  The link would be producer Dino De Laurentiis.  Fun Fun Fun.  Loads of great people in here and a soundtrack by Queen!  One of the films mentioned in the documentary on Jodorowsky's Dune.

Fright Night (1985)

Directed by Tom Holland

By this time the Hammer Studios Dracula franchise was a thing of the past and there hadn't been much in the way of vampire movies since then. This movie was one of the first to bring vampires back in a big way and boy did they do a good job. Rife with 80s cultural markers and featuring incredible pre-CGI special effects, this one is a classic.

Also notable is Amanda Bearse playing a teenager in this movie when only two years later she played the pretentious neighbor on Married With Children.

Scrooged (1988)

Directed by Richard Donner

Clearly the idea behind this movie was an attempt to give the big budget effects laden Ghostbusters treatment to the classic A Christmas Carol story.  The problem is, it just doesn't work at all.  The Christmas ghosts are all more scary than funny and Murray's feeble jokes fall flat making his role as a jerk TV executive particularly unlikable.

Cherry 2000 (1987)

Directed by Steve De Jarnatt

I really wanted to like this movie, it has a decent plot idea and I love Melanie Griffith but .... it's like it can't decide what it wants to be.  A kitschy spoof of 50s sci-fi and culture?  Or a grim and gritty post-apocalyptic future?  It's attempt to marry these two ideas makes for a fairly incongruous result.

It's a shame because with a little more post-production polish you can imagine it could have been at least like B-movie classic level. It's like they ran out of money towards the end of the production. So many scenes just fall flat or are almost surreal in how little sense they make.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)

Directed by Lou Adler

A bit slow moving but pretty entertaining if you are a fan of music of the period.  I would say it's a pretty honest depiction of a developing punk band and the reaction from the clueless media.  Everyone was portrayed very well from a punk perspective anyway.  The band actually sound kind of like The Slits and their look is something like Siouxsie Sioux.  At the end they get a Go-Go's style makeover which is realistic, and actually pretty cool.

I can see why they never gave it a proper release as the pacing does lag a bit.  They should have cut it with a little quicker pacing.

The Return of The Living Dead (1985)

Directed by Dan O'Bannon


Highly underrated sort of unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Some write it off for breaking some of the rules of Romero's zombie films. This is a huge mistake because this is a true 80s horror classic by none other than Dan O'bannon (worked with A. Jodorowsky on Dune, and R. Scott on Alien). Fantastic special effects, punks, T&A, and a brilliant 80s soundtrack.

Mala Noche (1986)

Directed by Gus Van Sant 

This is Gus Van Sant's debut film.  Set in late '80s grungy Pacific Northwest, it has a certain appeal to fans of that era.  I didn't know much more than that when I watched it.  So, the story is basically about a gay guy that pines after a completely uninterested straight latino dude.  So, that's OK, it seems like it could be something edgy and different.  At some point it might get onto something interesting. 

No. 

Unfortunately most of the characters in the movie are fairly obnoxious and unlikable. The movie never works very well because there is no identifiable or even half-way interesting character to help give you your bearings. Why the main character, Walt, pursues this guy doesn't ever really make any sense and just makes you not like him even more. The object of his affection, Johnny, obviously does not care for him at all and on top of that he's an immature and childish jerk, what exactly this guy sees in him is just a source of near constant bewilderment and irritation throughout the movie.

Thief (1981)

Directed by Michael Mann

 
Michael Mann's directorial debut is a stylish heist film starring a brusque James Caan.  Worth it for the extensive heist sequences given a high-tech edge by the futuristic Tangerine Dream soundtrack.