The Adventures of Hercules (1985)
Greek Mythological Hero
Sequel to the bad movie classic of Cannon Films’ Hercules starring Lou Ferrigno and only a marginally less terrible film that its predecessor
Films of 1985
Airwolf (1985)
Hi-Tech Helicopter
The pilot for a tv series that was theatrically released outside of the US. A blatant copy of Blue Thunder, this concerns the hijacking and retrieval of a hi-tech helicopter
Alice in Wonderland (1985)
Alice in Wonderland TV Adaptation
From Irwin Allen, the creator of Lost in Space etc, a tv version of Alice in Wonderland, conceived as an all-star musical that comes out as ponderous and leaden in Allen’s hands
Angel’s Egg (1985)
Anime/Surreal Journey Across an Alien World
One of the earliest works of anime director Mamoru Oshii, later famous for Ghost in the Shell. This is a plotless, almost dialogueless work about a young girl journeying across a strange planet that is more surrealism than SF
Asterix vs Caesar (1985)
Animation/Comic-Book Character
One of the sillier among the animated Asterix films maintained at a high-level of slapstick and with badly dubbed voices that do not suit the characters
Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)
Island of Malevolent Doll Creatures
A forgotten curiosity from the 1980s VHS era where shipwreck survivors wash up on an island where they are attacked by malevolent dolls. A film deservous of a no star rating if there ever was one
The Aurora Encounter (1985)
UFO Encounter in the Old West
A low-budget cute alien film made in the aftermath of post-E.T., this purports to be based on the true story of a UFO and alien visitor who landed in 19th Century Texas
Baby – Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)
Dinosaur Discovered
Disney family film about an expedition to Africa to find a dinosaur. This was made before Jurassic Park and so the effects are physical and variable but the film has an undeniable tenderness
Back to the Future (1985)
Time Travel
This was a huge hit at the time and has become one of the most indisputable pop culture artifacts of its era. The film takes a clever time travel plot and infuses it with an effortless energy to prove a considerable winner
Barbarian Queen (1985)
Sword and Sorcery
One of a series of low-budget sword-and-sorcery films of the 1980s. This predates both Red Sonja and Xena with its depiction of a fierce warrior woman. Produced by Roger Corman
Beautiful Teacher in Torture Hell (1985)
BDSM Erotica/Imprisonment
An imprisonment thriller with a difference, a work of Japanese BDSM erotica where a young teacher is imprisoned and erotically tortured. Quite out there and different to anything Western erotica turns out
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Disney Animation/Sword and Sorcery
Forgotten Disney animated film that was not a success at the time it came out. It seeks to tell an epic fantasy tale in the J.R.R. Tolkien vein but ends up falling too much in the shadow of Star Wars
The Blue Man (1985)
Astral Killer
Canadian-made horror from the heyday of the VHS era about psychic vampires terrorising people via astral projection in order to steal their bodies
The Boys Next Door (1985)
Teens on a Killing Spree
This caused quite a shock when it came out, a Penelope Spheeris film with Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield as two teenagers who feel they have no future and go on a killing spree in Los Angeles
Brazil (1985)
Dystopian Black Comedy
Terry Gilliam’s satire on Nineteen Eighty-Four is a darkly brilliant work – it is a madly out of control film but is filled moments of wild imagination and black-than-black humour than make it an unnerving ride
The Bride (1985)
Frankenstein Film
Lushly mounted remake of Bride of Frankenstein with Sting as Frankenstein and Jennifer Beals as the Bride. More costume drama than it ever is a horror story.
Bridge Across Time (1985)
Jack the Ripper Resurrected in the Modern Day
Film made just before the centenary of the Jack the Ripper killings that imagines the Ripper being resurrected at the site where London Bridge has been relocated in Arizona
Cat’s Eye (1985)
Stephen King Anthology
An anthology of three Stephen King stories, this comes out with extremely variable results where what were originally a series of tight and mordant tales end up strangely overblown
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
Chocky’s Children (1985)
Children and Invisible Alien Companion
The first sequel to Chocky, the classic mini-series about a boy with an alien invisible companion, this expands the concept out with the introduction of other children
Cocoon (1985)
Alien Visitors/Rejuvenated Geriatrics
Ron Howard film clearly inspired by the success of E.T.. This story about seniors being rejuvenated after swimming in a pool that has an alien pod in it received critical kudos during its day but the film operates as a simplistic and naive wish-fulfillment fantasy
Creator (1985)
Cloning and the Meaning of Life
Biochemistry professor Peter O’Toole tries to clone his late wife. A sublime film that has a way over-the-top eccentricity and sparkles with an exuberance of life
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
Android Boy
Barret Oliver plays an android boy on the run from his creators who shelters with a human family. This promptly employs all the cliches of the post-E.T. film
Day of the Dead (1985)
Zombies
The third and most undervalued of George Romero’s original trilogy of zombie films, an explosively bared to the bone series of apocalyptic confrontations containing some of the best performances and writing in any of his films
Defcon-4 (1985)
Nuclear Holocaust and After
A breath of originality in a decade overrun with Mad Max copies, a clever and original little film in which the crew of a space station return to Earth after the nuclear holocaust
Demons (1985)
Possessed Undead Take Over a Cinema
Italian horror directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento, an Evil Dead-inspired work about the possessed dead taking over a cinema, all conducted with a ferocious enthusiasm
The Doctor and the Devils (1985)
19th Century Grave Robbers
Anglo-horror director Freddie Francis returned to make this period adaptation of an old Dylan Thomas script about the body snatchers Burke and Hare. A literate script boosted by a fine cast
Dreamchild (1985)
Real-Life Alice in Wonderland Reminisces
Dennis Potter scripted film with the great Coral Browne as the aging Alice Liddell, who inspired the fictional Alice in Wonderland, who imagines the creatures come to life to show her the hidden message in the book
Edge of Darkness (1985)
Nuclear Power/Environmental Thriller
One of the great tv series of the 1980s, a powerful and incisive snapshot of Thatcherite England, the backroom politics of the nuclear power industry and the environmentalist movement. A brilliantly written show featuring great performances
The Emerald Forest (1985)
Amazon Rainforest Drama/Magical Realism
John Boorman film with Powers Boothe searching for his son who has been snatched by Indians in the Amazon. A mystical film, the first to bring issues of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest to public attention
Enemy Mine (1985)
Human-Alien Enemies Stranded on a Hostile Planet
SF film with Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr as human and alien who are enemies but are forced to cooperate to survive after crashlanding on a hostile alien planet
Explorers (1985)
Teenagers Build Spaceship
Joe Dante’s successor to Gremlins and a box-office flop. This nevertheless evokes a genteel sense of wonder in its story with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as teen inventors who build a backyard spaceship
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
Slasher Film
The fifth and arguably the worst of the Friday the 13th films. Jason is resurrected and engaged in much butchering, before an end reveals it was someone else altogether
Fright Night (1985)
Vampire Next Door Neighbour
Slick well made film that successfully transplants the vampire to modern suburbia. Made with a top-drawer arsenal of effects, including taking a leaf from An American Werewolf in London and showing a detailed man into bat transformation
Ghoulies (1985)
Malevolent Satanic Creatures
A copy of Gremlins produced by Charles Band’s Empire, featuring much slime and cheap-looking creatures. A surprise hit on video shelves; three sequels followed.
Girls School Screamers (1985)
Haunted House
Catholic schoolgirls are being killed in a big old haunted house. This was unable to find a release in its original form whereupon it was bought up by Troma, given a much more sensationalistic title and released with extra gore scenes
Hard Rock Zombies (1985)
Resurrected Heavy Metal Band
Deranged entry in the 80s fad for heavy metal horror films where a band are resurrected from the dead to play an all-important concert, while fighting off conservative townspeople and a very much alive Adolf Hitler
The Heavenly Kid (1985)
Teen Angel
Lightweight fantasy film with Lewis Smith as a 1950s rocker who is sent back from the afterlife to act as a guardian angel to help a nerdy Jason Gedrick stand up for himself
The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985)
Backroads Brutality
Wes Craven makes a sequel to his earlier Backwoods Brutality classic but the result is a mess that is all over the place and counts as one of Craven’s worst films
The Howling II (1985)
Werewolves
The first of a string of bad follow-ups to Joe Dante’s classic. Sybil Danning plays the werewolf queen and displays her impressive chest measurements, while Christopher Lee was somehow persuaded to appear
Identified Flying Object (1985)
Cute Artificially-Intelligent Helicopter
Low-budget director Ulli Lommel makes a film about a teen who befriends an artificially intelligent rogue military helicopter in what becomes E.T. by way of Blue Thunder
Igor and the Lunatics (1985)
Crazed Cult Followers
Another shabby Troma release concerning the activities of a crazed cult. This features some nasty deaths but little else
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
Action/Communist Invasion of the USA
A ridiculous action film from Cannon Films written by and starring Chuck Norris in which he singlehandedly arms himself and defeats a Communist invasion of the USA
King Solomon’s Mines (1985)
Adventure Film
Cannon Films’ remake of the H. Rider Haggard adventure novel was made to exploit the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark but that does not excuse what an awful film it is where everything is played up for excruciating camp humour
Ladyhawke (1985)
Mediaeval Fantasy/Lovers Under Animal Transformation Curse
A beautifully made Richard Donner mediaeval fantasy with two lovers suffering a curse that transforms them into animals only able to touch in person for a second at dusk and dawn
The Last Dragon (1985)
Gonzo Martial Arts/Disco Film
A completely insane film that reads as a disco version of The Karate Kid via the 1970s Blaxploitation fad with the addition of mystical martial arts and played so over-the-top it defies belief
Legend (1985)
Adult Fairytale
Hugely underrated Ridley Scott film that was a box-office flop. Scott attempts to reconstruct the fairytale as something dark and primal and creates moments that are superlative cinema
Lifeforce (1985)
Soul-Sucking Alien Vampires
Tobe Hooper’s space vampires film wildly divides audiences and was a flop for Cannon Films. You have to applaud its ambitious conceptual grasp even if it bites off more wild ideas than it is ever capable of coherently presenting
Light Blast (1985)
Action Film/Laser Weapon
From the director of the original Inglorious Bastards, an action film with Erik Estrada as a cop pursuing a blackmailing scientist who has a powerful laser weapon
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Post-Holocaust Action
The third of the Mad Max films sees the series becoming increasingly more mainstream in focus, along with the conscious resignation that it is impossible to top the previous film
The Magic Carpet (1985)
Children's Arabian Nights Fantasy
Amiable Danish-made Arabian Nights fantasy for children that has the benefit from being shot on location in Turkey
The Mark of Cain (1985)
Evil Twin Psycho-Thriller
An obscure Canadian-made thriller about an evil twin
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
The Midnight Hour (1985)
Halloween Special
Classic Halloween tv special. As with most of its ilk, it places the focus on a light-hearted treatment where the monsters are no more serious than Halloween revelers
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
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
Mr Wrong (1985)
Haunted Car/Stalker
New Zealand-made ghost story where Heather Bolton buys a second-hand car only to find it is haunted
Murder in Space (1985)
Murder Mystery Aboard a Space Mission
TV movie that had a unique selling point – a whodunit set aboard an international space mission – where viewers were invited to guess who the killer was
My Science Project (1985)
Teenagers Activate Time Vortex Device
Disney film about a group of teens who find that heart of a UFO that opens up a time warp at their high school
The New Kids (1985)
Teenage Revenge and Brutality
Sean S. Cunningham, director of Friday the 13th, transplants a 70s revenge exploitation film into a high school setting. Featuring a dynamic performance from a young James Spader
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part II: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
Dream-Invading Boogey Man
The first and worst of the A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels. The dream logic becomes incoherent, while the film is twisted out of shape to become a bizarre gay Coming Out parable
Nothing Underneath (1985)
Giallo Film
A superior example of the giallo film. Not quite up with the works of Dario Argento, this still has considerable stylishness, along with a plot that borrows from Eyes of Laura Mars
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
The Oracle (1985)
Cursed Ouija Board
From cult director Roberta Findlay, this is a film about a haunted ouija board. What is going on doesn’t make a lot of sense but Findlay serves up a series of bizarre deaths that prove entertainingly absurd
The Peanut Butter Solution (1985)
Gonzo Children's Film
Strange Canadian children’s film about a boy who goes bald and is then given a peanut butter solution that causes wild uncontrolled hair growth
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
Phenomena (1985)
Giallo Thriller/Insect Telepathy
Another of Dario Argento’s giallo thrillers filled with all his trademark artily extravagant deaths. At the centre of the film is a teenage Jennifer Connelly who can psychically communicate with insects
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 Quiet Earth (1985)
Last People on Earth
Evocative New Zealand-made Last People on Earth drama. Although the film reaches a frustrating ending that leaves much unanswered, the earlier scenes showing a man alone in a deserted world have an uncommon poetry
Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985)
Animation/Magic Horse Saves the Universe
Slight but colourful animated film for the very young based on the popular series of Hallmark cards and Mattel toys about a magical horse
Re-Animator (1985)
Resurrection of the Dead/Splatter Black Comedy/H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation
This was one of the classic 1980s splatter films. Stuart Gordon throws most of H.P. Lovecraft’s tone out the window and goes for hilariously black comedy served up with outrageously over-the-top effects
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
Red Sonja (1985)
Warrior Woman/Sword and Sorcery
A disappointing adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s warrior woman character. This is beautifully designed but suffers from a non-acting Brigitte Nielsen in the title role and an insulting need to water the toughness of the character down
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)
Martial Arts Super-Spy
Film adaptation of the popular Destroyer novels about a martial arts super-spy that proves enjoyably tongue-in-cheek. Clearly launched as an attempt to make another James Bond type series, this was not successful but is so appealing you wish had it been
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Zombies/Black Comedy
Spinoff of Night of the Living Dead that emerged from a complicated copyright split with George Romero. Director Dan O’Bannon substitutes black humour to deliver an hilariously different take
Return to Oz (1985)
Wizard of Oz Sequel
Almost forgotten Disney-made sequel to The Wizard of Oz, this takes a far darker outlook than the version you knew
Santa Claus – The Movie (1985)
The Santa Claus Story
The producers of the Christopher Reeve Superman films turn to making a Santa film but this proved a massively over-budgeted flop
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
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1985)
Italian Muscleman Adventure
Cannon Films produced remake of The Seven Samurai as an Italian gladiator film starring Lou Ferrigno
Shadey (1985)
Psychic Photography
An incomprehensibly, baffling film about a psychic that leaves you wondering what people were thinking when they were making it, let alone how it obtained funding
Silver Bullet (1985)
Werewolf/Stephen King Adaptation
Overlooked but not entirely unworthwhile Stephen King adaptation about the hunt for a werewolf preying on a small town
Sky Bandits (1985)
Flyer Adventure/Alien Artefacts
Preposterous Australian-made Indiana Jones ripoff involving alien artifacts and Easter Island that would be a bad movie classic if it were not so absurdly entertaining
Slaughter High (1986)
Slasher Film
A cheap and very poorly made British variant on the slasher film with much unintentional laughter potential, including a 36 year-old Caroline Munro cast as a teenager
Spacerage: Breakout on Prison Planet (1985)
Interstellar Prison Escape
SF action with Michael Paré convicted to a prison planet from which he attempts to organise the prisoners to make an escape. This is essentially a Western that takes place in SF terms
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
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
Animation/Space Opera
The first animated film in 3D, a blatant copy of Star Wars that proves occasionally engaging
The Strangeness (1985)
Underground Horrors
One of the first women-directed horror films. Also one of the first on the subject of people venturing underground and encountering cave monsters
The Stuff (1985)
Possession by Sentient Fast Food
One of the films of cult director Larry Cohen in which he makes a body snatchers film involving sentient fast food. As to be expected from Cohen, this also becomes a sharp and witty satire
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
Thou Shalt Not Kill … Except (1985)
Crazed Cultists
Film made by several Sam Raimi associates about a crazed cult with Raimi making an acting appearance as the cult’s leader. This wades in much gory enthusiasm
The Tomb (1985)
Revived Mummy Queen
Film from B-budget director Fred Olen Ray that is sold in a way that would have you believe it is a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark but in reality is no more than a dull and cheap revived mummy queen film
Trancers (1985)
Time-Travelling Detective
One of the more enjoyable films from Charles Band with Tim Thomerson giving a highly entertaining performance as a hard-boiled detective travelled back from the future
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
Uforia (1985)
UFO Religion
Appealingly eccentric comedy set in the American Midwest where supermarket cashier Cindy Williams gains a cult following after preaching that the UFOs are coming
Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Anime/Post-Holocaust Vampire Hunter
Cult anime about a monosyllabic vampire hunter moving across a hallucinatory post-apocalyptic dispatching mutants and vampires
A View to a Kill (1985)
James Bond Film
The final outing as James Bond for a visibly aging Roger Moore, the fourteenth Bond film all told. One of the more anonymous among the giant unserious cartoon shows the Moore Bond films became
Weird Science (1985)
Two Geeks Create the Perfect Woman
John Hughes cornered a certain 80s market on teen angst with films like The Breakfast Club. He also made this head-scratching oddity in which two nerds create the perfect woman
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Teenage Sherlock Holmes/Adventure Film
Steven Spielberg produced film about an adolescent Sherlock Holmes often feels like it is Holmes being pitched as an Indiana Jones adventure but comes with some beautifully made touches