Second Sight (1989)
Psychic Detective Agency
An attempt to copy Ghostbusters concerning a psychic detective agency that degenerates into painfully bad slapstick
Comedies
Beverly Hills Body$natchers (1989)
Mortuary and Zombies Comedy
Unfunny comedy set around a morgue where a mad doctor has found a process to resurrect the dead. Sort of like Night Shift crossbred with a PG-rated version of Re-Animator
Erik the Viking (1989)
Norse Myth Comedy-Adventure
Terry Jones of Monty Python fame makes a comedy with Tim Robbins as a non-violent Viking on a quest to bring about Ragnarok. A film that seems to think it is funnier than it ends up being
Big Man on Campus (1989)
Modernised Hunchback of Notre Dame Comedy
An amiable comedy that relocates the basic story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame to a modern American campus about the taming of a scruffy hunchback who lives in the university belltower
My Mom’s a Werewolf (1989)
Werewolf Housewife Comedy
Fairly silly comedy in which housewife Susan Blakely discovers that she is turning into a werewolf. This varies between the over-the-top and the oddly amusing line
U.H.F. (1989)
Cable Station Hijinks/Various Parodies
A series of parody sketches based around the popularity of Weird Al Yankovic who plays the owner of a struggling cable tv station
Mutant on the Bounty (1989)
Space Opera Comedy
This has a cute title pun but otherwise is a feeble SF comedy
Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988)
Genre Spoof
The first of the sequels to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Featuring the first screen appearance of George Clooney.
Roboforce (1988)
Hong Kong Android Comedy
A Hong Kong take on RoboCop with Sally Yeh as crimefighting android. Though produced by and also starring Tsui Hark, a very silly slapstick element comes to dominate what are otherwise imaginative action sequences
Mr Vampire 4 (1988)
Hong Kong Hopping Vampire Comedy
Fourth in the popular hopping vampire saga that spawned six films and an uncredited copycat series, all blending a manic mix of comedy, fantastique moves and Eastern beliefs
Mortuary Academy (1988)
Bad Taste Mortuary Comedy
Intended as a horror riff on the phenomenally popular Police Academy series, this sets a series of gags in as bad a taste as possible around the locale of a mortuary
The Invisible Kid (1988)
Invisible Teen Comedy
An inane invisibility film that plays out as no more than a crude 1980s teen makeout comedy with the addition of invisibility gags
Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
Man Believes He is a Vampire Comedy
Bizarre comedy where Nicolas Cage is a literary agent who believes he is a vampire. Cage gives the most absurdly over-the-top performance ever put on film
Young Einstein (1988)
Gonzo Comedy/Alternate Albert Einstein
Bizarrely surreal comedy directed by and starring Yahoo Serious who plays Albert Einstein as an Australian who discovers surfing and rock
Dead Heat (1988)
Cop and his Zombie Partner
Made not along after the success of Lethal Weapon, this offers a wacky spin on the buddy cop formula having a cop paired with a zombie. The mildly amusing notion is killed by the excruciating comedy relief of Joe Piscopo
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
Alcoholic Millionaire Comedy/Ghost Butler
A completely ignored sequel to Arthur, the non-genre comedy hit with Dudley Moore as an alcoholic millionaire. Included here because butler John Gielgud turns up as a ghost
Vice Versa (1988)
Father-Son Bodyswap Comedy
One of a spate of bodyswap comedies in the mid-1980s where father and son Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage end up swapping bodies
Hot to Trot (1988)
Talking Horse Comedy
An excruciating comedy built out of the basics of Mr Ed where Bobcat Goldthwait gives an imbecilic performance as an idiot who inherits a talking horse
My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)
Alien Visitor Comedy
1980s icon Kim Basinger displays unexpected comedy talents in this tale where she is an alien romancing Dan Akyroyd. Throwaway fluff but it has a comedic silliness that is undeniably appealing
High Spirits (1988)
Haunted Castle Comedy
Neil Jordan has shown himself as an excellent director elsewhere but seems to have little aptitude for comedy when it comes to this raucous knockabout farce about a haunted castle
Vibes (1988)
Psychic Powers Comedy-Adventure
Psychic powers comedy made in the aftermath of Ghostbusters where Jeff Goldblum is upstaged by a kooky Cyndi Lauper
Twins (1988)
Mismatched Clone Twins Comedy
A one-note joke premised on casting Arnold Schwarzenegger and diminutive Danny DeVito as mismatched clone twins. Unexpectedly charming with Schwarzenegger and comedy director Ivan Reitman turning out what are probably their best works.
Scrooged (1988)
Modernised A Christmas Carol
A modernised version of A Christmas Carol that seems to have been construed in the shadow of Ghostbusters right down to casting Bill Murray as Scrooge
Me and Him (1988)
Man and His Talking Penis Comedy
A comedy in which Griffin Dunne’s penis begins talking to him. Contrary to expectation, most of the film is PG-13 but some of the films attitudes and unfunny routines are fairly mind-boggling
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Bimbo Horror Hostess
The film debut of the horror hostess Elvia (Cassandra Peterson), a good natured film containing more bimbo jokes, double entendres and bad puns than one thought possible
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
Idiot Aids Santa Claus
This was the second of Jim Varney’s Ernest P. Worrel comedies. It sees Santa Claus looking for a replacement and Ernest coming to the aid amid a series of comic shenanigans
Doin’ Time on Planet Earth (1988)
Possibly Alien Teenager
A peculiarity from Cannon Films that was a flop, a comedy in which a weird teenager believes he is an alien and suddenly attracts the attention of a bunch of UFO cultists
Mr India (1987)
Bollywood Invisible Superhero Comedy
A Bollywood film about an invisible superhero, this is sparing on effects but should be seen for the lunatic entertainment value it offers, including several surreal song and dance numbers and much frenetic slapstick
Those Dear Departed (1987)
Ghostly Vengeance Black Comedy
An excruciatingly unfunny Australian comedy about a man murdered by his wife returned as a ghost to bring her to justice
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Anthology of Comedy Skits & Genre Parodies
An anthology of comedy skits from several different directors including Joe Dante and John Landis. The result is fairly scattershot with moments of occasional humour falling between laughs that do not come off
Hello Again (1987)
Resurrected Housewife Comedy
A frustratingly insipid light fantasy comedy with Shelley Long as a housewife who returns from the dead where she proceeds to turn the life of her family into chaos
Real Men (1987)
Gonzo Spy Film
A really strange comedy where John Ritter is dragged away by Jim Belushi who claims to be a spy supposedly dealing with aliens
Hunk (1987)
Pact with the Devil for the Perfect Male Body
A lightweight comedy in which nerd Steve Levitt makes a pact with The Devil to have the perfect male body but soon comes to regret his decision
Spaceballs (1987)
Star Wars Parody
Mel Brooks parodies the Star Wars films. As with most Brooks films, the humour is broad and scattershot but occasionally amusing
Teen Wolf Too (1987)
Teenage Werewolf Comedy
Feeble sequel to the unexpected Michael J. Fox comedy hit where Jason Bateman plays his cousin who discovers his inner wolf as he heads to university
Innerspace (1987)
Fantastic Voyage Spoof
Joe Dante pays homage to Fantastic Voyage, the classic film about a submarine journey through the human body. Here Dante plays it as a screwball comedy but his in-joke heavy style failed to catch on with audiences
Mr Vampire III (1987)
Hong Kong Ghost Comedy
Third in the popular series of Hong Kong hopping vampire films. As in the previous entry, a frenetic slapstick element dominates
My Best Friend is a Vampire (1987)
Teen Vampire Comedy
1980s comedy in which teenager Robert Sean Leonard is bitten by a vampire on a one-night stand an has to deal with the complications of turning into one while keeping it a secret at school
Mannequin (1987)
Romance with a Mannequin Come to Life
It is hard to believe this ever received a greenlight, a film in which Andrew McCarthy falls for a storefront mannequin (Kim Cattrall) who comes to life. The comedy has an excruciating inanity
My Demon Lover (1987)
Possession Comedy
The title sounds like that of an erotic horror film but all that we get is an inane teen comedy in which Scott Valentine turns into a demon whenever he gets turned on
Date with an Angel (1987)
Angel Romantic Comedy
A rather charming comedy in which two nerds find an angel fallen knocked down by an orbiting satellite. Much silliness but Emmenualle Beart has an otherworldly loveliness as the angel
Leonard Part 6 (1987)
Gonzo Spy Comedy
Bill Cosby was massive on tv during the 1980s but when he tried to move to film it resulted in this bizarre flop of a gonzo spy comedy starring Cosby as a retired agent forced to return to the field
Nice Girls Don’t Explode (1987)
Pyrokinesis Comedy
Charmingly nonsensical comedy variant on Firestarter where a girl’s dating life is a nightmare due to her causing things to spontaneously combust when she becomes emotionally aroused
Meatballs III: Summer Job (1987)
Teen Comedy/Angelic Intervention
Unrelated to the Bill Murray film in anything but name, this is a moronic teen summer camp comedy in which Patrick Dempsey is aided in trying to lose his virginity by angel Sally Kellerman
Like Father, Like Son (1987)
Father-Son Bodyswap Comedy
An entry in the spate of 1980s bodyswap comedies with Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron as father and son who swap bodies. Enjoyably silly with good performances from both.
The Haunted Cop Shop (1987)
Cops vs Vampires/Hong Kong Comedy
A madcap Hong Kong comedy that takes more than a few leaves from the Mr Vampire films with cops fighting off vampires in a haunted police station. A popular hit.
Vamp (1986)
Vampire Nightclub
Very 80s film that feels like Martin Scorsese’s After Hours rewritten with vampires set around vampire nightclub. The comedy is uneven but there is is a striking performance from Grace Jones as the vampire
Mr Vampire II (1986)
Hong Kong Hopping Vampire Comedy
The first of several sequels to the hopping vampire hit. While the original was an adept and clever blend of fantasy and comedy, this promptly heads for loud and noisy slapstick
The Golden Child (1986)
Asian Supernatural Quest/Comedy
One of Hollywood’s misguided attempts to appropriate the Wu Xia film. This is turned into an Eddie Murphy comedy vehicle where neither his live wire presence nor the fantasy elements gel together
Aces Go Places 4: You Only Die Twice (1986)
Hong Kong Slapstick Action
Fourth in a series of energetic Hong Kong slapstick action capers. The film has no pretence to anything more than providing a new action sequence every five minutes, although by now the level is juvenile
Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
Old Dark House Comedy
Both directing and starring here, Gene Wilder attempts to revive the Old Dark House comedy. By the 1980s, this was datedly creaky, while Wilder’s comedy mugging histrionics are excruciating to sit through
The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV (1986)
Time Travel Back to the Present
Fourth of the original Star Trek films jumps on board the popularity of time travel themes following Back to the Future to have the regulars time travel back to the present for a series of amiable, easy comic encounters
Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
Famous Monster Bash/Comedy
Painfully unfunny comedy from Mel Brooks writer Rudy De Luca with journalists Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley Jr encountering monsters while on assignment in Transylvania
Once Bitten (1985)
Vampire Comedy
One of several vampire comedies that came out in the 1980s , an unfunny effort with a young unknown Jim Carrey as a teen looking to lose his virginity being seduced by vampire countess Lauren Hutton
Cavegirl (1985)
Nerd Time Travels Back to Prehistory Comedy
Witless and inane comedy in which nerdy high school student Daniel Roebuck is thrown back in time to the Stone Age where he romances cavegirl Cindy Ann Thompson
Mr Vampire (1985)
Hong Kong Supernatural Comedy
Hong Kong hopping vampire film that produced a string of sequels. The original is the best, a clever, fast-paced blend of comedy, supernatural and traditional Eastern beliefs
School Spirit (1985)
Teen Comes Back from the Afterlife to Get Laid Comedy
In the vein of frat house comedies of the era like Animal House and Porky’s, this is an embarrassingly cringey film about a teen who is killed while trying to get laid and insists on lingering about to finish the job
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Overgrown Adolescent's Nonsense Adventures
Pee-Wee Herman is someone who polarises crowds to love or extreme hate. The was the first film from Tim Burton who seems charmingly attuned to the kitsch banality of Pee-Wee’s universe
Teen Wolf (1985)
Teenage Werewolf Comedy
This lamely updates I Was a Teenage Werewolf to the 1980s high school, strips all horror elements and has Michael J. Fox’s transformation be regarded as an instant injection of cool. The result was a surprising hit
Real Genius (1985)
Hi-Tech University Hijinks
Highly enjoyable comedy set among the hi-tech hijinks of a group of university science geeks. Val Kilmer owns the show in his second screen performance
Maxie (1985)
Possession by Flapper's Ghost Comedy
Light fantasy comedy where Glenn Close plays a housewife who is possessed by the ghost of Maxie, a Hollywood starlet who is determined to revive her career
Morons from Outer Space (1985)
Idiotic Alien Visitors/Genre Spoof
Comedy about stupid alien visitors largely construed as a vehicle for popular British comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones. Some witty SF in-jokes among a haphazard script
Spies Like Us (1985)
Spy Comedy
Unfunny John Landis film with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as two bumbling CIA agents. This aspires to being one of the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby Road films but only arrives at inane slapstick
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Character Steps Out of a Film
Woody Allen comedy in which mousy housewife Mia Farrow is the fan of a film whereupon lead character Jeff Daniels steps out into the real world to romance her
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
Muppet Movie
The third Muppets film, the last Jim Henson would be involved with, this shows them putting on a Broadway show
Surf II (1984)
Gonzo Comedy
Eccentric 80s frat rat/surfer comedy – part of the weird joke is that there never was a Surf I. Eddie Deezen is a mad scientist turning surfers into zombies with a soda made of industrial waste.
Second Time Lucky (1984)
Adam and Eve Comedy
One of the most excruciatingly painful films ever made – a softcore comedy in which God and The Devil make a bet to replay the Garden of Eden by reincarnating Adam and Eve throughout history. Filled with ghastly over-the-top performances and much eye-rolling innuendo
The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
Black Alien Visitor Comedy
John Sayles responded to E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial and its suburban middle-class fantasy with this wry comedy in which a mute Black alien visitor (Joe Morton) arrives in Manhattan
Sex Mission (1984)
Women-Ruled Future Comedy
A popular Polish comedy in its day about two men who awake from cryogenic suspension in a women-ruled future where men are obsolete. Some of the comedy reads as very dated watching the film today
All Of Me (1984)
Bodyswap Comedy
One of Steve Martin’s finest works, a variant of the bodyswap comedy in which he finds himself sharing his body with Lily Tomlin. Martin’s on-screen contortions are side-splitting
Ghostbusters (1984)
Team of Spook Chasers Comedy
An overrated classic that is nevertheless an undeniable fixture of 1980s pop culture. Overlong, it is largely carried through Bill Murray’s lazy sarcasm and the sterling work from the visual effects team
Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)
Horror Spoof
Parody of the horror genre designed to highlight British comedian Kenny Everett. Some quite funny spoofs, some that aren’t. Vincent Price appears as the leader of a coven.
Splash! (1984)
Mermaid Comedy
One of the earliest films from Ron Howard as director, a bubbly infectiously light comedy with Tom Hanks in a romance with mermaid Daryl Hannah. This was a hit and offered major career breakthroughs for Howard, Hanks, Hannah and John Candy.
Meatballs Part II (1984)
Summer Camp Comedy/Alien Visitor
No-one is pretending that the Bill Murray summer camp comedy Meatballs was a masterpiece but it looks a work of art in comparison to this unfunny sequel, which also throw in a stiff E.T. lookalike
The Happy Ghost (1984)
Hong Kong Ghost Comedy
A popular Hong Kong hit in its day where a schoolgirl gains a ghostly scholar as an invisible companion, resulting in a series of slapstick sequences. Several sequels followed
Bullshot (1983)
British Boy's Hero Spoof
A parody of British boys adventure stories like Biggles and Bulldog Drummond. This is made with a manic silliness that eventually becomes rather entertaining.
The Man with Two Brains (1983)
Disembodied Brain Movie Spoof
Extremely funny Steve Martin comedy where he plays a neurosurgeon who falls in love with a brain in a jar
The Man Who Wasn’t There (1983)
Invisible Man
Cheap and feeble-minded invisible man comedy that was made as part of the short-lived early 80s 3D fad. The first starring role from Steve Guttenberg
Lovesick (1983)
Psychotherapy Romantic Comedy/Freud's Ghost
A comedy in which Sigmund Freud’s ghost pops up to offer advice to psychologist Dudley Moore after he falls in love with patient Elizabeth McGovern
Two of a Kind (1983)
Angelic Intervention Comedy
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John went stellar in Grease. The same flopped when they reteamed in this comedy where they are caught in a bet between God and The Devil
The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
Superhero Spoof
Witty and overlooked parody of the superhero with Alan Arkin as a retired superhero trying to get back into the game. Made before superhero films became big and has a number of charms that were ahead of its time
Aces Go Places II (1983)
Hong Kong Slapstick Action
The second in a series of Hong Kong slapstick action caper comedies where the action is maintained at such a madcap and dementedly over-the-top pace that it frequently heads into orbit
Superman III (1983)
Comic-Book Superhero
The nadir of the Christopher Reeve Superman films, one where the desire to add a comedy element in the form of Richard Pryor overtakes and wrecks what is already a random and unfocused plot
Zelig (1983)
Human Chameleon Mockumentary
Cleverly made Woody Allen mockumentary in which he plays a human chameleon who has managed to appear in the margins of historical events
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
Disaster Movie & SF Spoof
Airplane was a parody of the disaster movie that proved a hit. This was a sequel that expands the action aboard the space shuttle and contains many SF in-jokes but to generally lesser effect
Slapstick of Another Kind (1982)
Alien Twin Geniuses/Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Another failed attempt to film the works of Kurt Vonnegut where Vonnegut’s ironic pessimism ends up as witless slapstick chaos on screen
Full Moon High (1982)
Werewolf Comedy
Werewolf films were all the thing around 1980-1 with hits like The Howling and An American Werewolf in London. This is cult director Larry Cohen’s often extremely silly but not entirely unamusing comedy take
Saturday the 14th (1981)
Genre Parody
Friday the 13th so changed the horror genre that within two years it produced two four parodies of its title. From Roger Corman, this is more of an occasionally amusing parody of classic monster movies than the slasher film
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982)
Period Sexual Rondeau Comedy
One of Woody Allen’s slighter films, a sexual rondeau set at the turn of the 20th Century, although mostly riffing on Allen’s familiar sexual neuroses. Contains minor fantasy elements.
Zapped! (1982)
Psychokinetic Powers Teen Comedy
A psychic powers film like Carrie having been reduced to the crass high school comedy of something like Porky’s
National Lampoon’s Class Reunion (1982)
Slasher Film Parody
Following the highly successful Animal House, this was the second of the films made using the name of the satirical magazine National Lampoon and is a feeble parody of the slasher film
Pandemonium (1982)
Slasher/Horror Parody
The slasher film only really came into existence in 1980 but was so prolifically milked that by even two years later it had spawned its own sub-cycle of parodies. This hits in with a wacky anything goes absurdity but, aside from an amusing Carrie spoof, little of it is funny
Jekyll and Hyde … Together Again (1982)
Jekyll and Hyde Spoof
Extremely silly and at times undeniably funny spoof on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – here Dr Jekyll becomes a coke addict who snorts his formula and turns into a swinger with a giant afro
The Pirate Movie (1982)
Gonzo Pirate Musical
Widely rididculed attempt to market Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance as a teen pop film by way of The Blue Lagoon. A mind-spinning film that seems to have no limit on how silly it is prepared to be, including numerous anachronistic contemporary pop culture in-jokes and fourth-wall breaking gags
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
Gonzo SF
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a multi-media phenomenon that has developed a cult. The tv series with a less-than-stellar BBC budget was not the most effective incarnation of these but still hits the wittily absurd nerve of Douglas Adams’ humour
Under the Rainbow (1981)
Comedy During the Making of The Wizard of Oz
Widely considered a bad film, this is a slapstick comedy starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher set around the dwarves during the making of The Wizard of Oz
The Creature Wasn’t Nice (1981)
Alien Parody
A not very funny science-fiction spoof that has been intended in the vein of Airplane/Flying High but sending up Alien – one where the creature also gets to sing.
Caveman (1981)
Prehistoric Spoof
A comedy spoof of One Million Years B.C. and the whole sub-genre of caveman vs dinosaurs films This proves amiably goofy where Ringo Starr seems perfectly cast as the lead caveman
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
Miniaturised Housewife Comedy
An appealing comedy remake of The Incredible Shrinking Man with Lily Tomlin as a housewife who starts to shrink after exposure to household cleaning products. One of the better films from the usually terrible Joel Schumacher
Mama Dracula (1980)
Vampire Comedy
Produced not long after the success of Young Frankenstein, a Belgian-made parody of the vampire film that falls into excruciating slapstick. Louise Fletcher is absurdly miscast as Countess Dracula