The 80s was the best decade for Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, and cult films.

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Data West said:
If you really want to talk up the 1980s.

HK action movies pretty much embarrassed everyone else and still do to this day..
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I wanted to be the first to say this . John Woo firing from all duel wielding cylinders, Arnie and Sly were engaging in a dick measuring contest for who can be the biggest, buffest, badass in cinema, Jackie started to hit his peak oh and it was the start of Van Damme's good period of films. I could also add that the 80s had the best posters too but that's not that important. Am I missing anything?
 
NinjaBoyLao said:
These are Fantasy Film right so Yup.
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SNAP! Neverending Story was awesome as hell, and still is.

Slayven said:
Martial Art movies in general. Remember Don Wilson and Cythia Rothrock?
I am probably the only one that watched the Beastmaster tv series from start to finish.
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Don "The Dragon" Wilson is what you meant. Shame he never made a great film. But Cynthia Rothrock was awesome.

And I watched the Beastmaster series off and on, but never saw all of it. I wrote it off originally because it didn't have Marc Singer as Dar.
 
Bleepey said:
I wanted to be the first to say this . John Woo firing from all duel wielding cylinders, Arnie and Sly were engaging in a dick measuring contest for who can be the biggest, buffest, badass in cinema, Jackie started to hit his peak oh and it was the start of Van Damme's good period of films. I could also add that the 80s had the best posters too but that's not that important. Am I missing anything?
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Michael Mann's glorious 80's as fuck films.
 
It's kind of amazing how much obscure stuff you can find from the 80's that might actually end up entertaining you. I mean, it's probably not gonna be high quality stuff, but that's never stopped me.
 
Fancy Clown said:
They're fun goofy stuff but I'd take the 70's contributions of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the giallo slashers over the panoply of 80's slashers
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That's what I like about '70's movies. They didn't have any of the classic Hollywood sensibilities like the '50's and '60's, and also didn't have the slicker production values of the movies from the '80's (out side of a few exceptions like Star Wars an Alien). Grittier and less polished slashers from that era.
 
MrCunningham said:
That's what I like about '70's movies. They didn't have any of the classic Hollywood sensibilities like the '50's and '60's, and also didn't have the slicker production values of the movies from the '80's (out side of a few exceptions like Star Wars an Alien). Grittier and less polished slashers from that era.
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Dat new wave influence
 
MrCunningham said:
That's what I like about '70's movies. They didn't have any of the classic Hollywood sensibilities like the '50's and '60's, and also didn't have the slicker production values of the movies from the '80's (out side of a few exceptions like Star Wars an Alien). Grittier and less polished slashers from that era.
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I am with you there. I mean I love Nightmare On Elm Street and other 80s horror movies, but they only refined (and in a sense dialed back the insanity) of 70's slashers. In the 70's they didn't care one bit, and the pay off was pretty incredible.

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DontBeThatGuy said:
I was surprised by how much I ended up disliking this movie.
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Read the book if you haven't. It is pretty awesome, and makes a helluva lot more sense than the film did. It isn't going to win any awards, but it is a really fun pulp horror novel.

Then, after that, read the Repairman Jack series since they are connected.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
Hmmm. Beastmaster is only $8 in HD on iTunes. I think I know what I am watching tomorrow afternoon.
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Fun Fact, Beastmaster is a Don Coscarelli film.

Who made Phantasm, the first ( and best of) is another win for the 70's.

And if anybody else is a phantasm fan but did not know, there is going to be a fifth film, Ravager, co-written and produced by Don, but he is not directing.
 
Fancy Clown said:
They're fun goofy stuff but I'd take the 70's contributions of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the giallo slashers over the panoply of 80's slashers
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I'll take both.

However, other than the Giallos TCM and Halloween were like two of basically the three slasher films in the 70s (the other being the most unsung of the bunch Black Christmas)

And there were a ton of Giallos in the 80s including Tenebre.

The American Slasher heyday was the 80s.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
SNAP! Neverending Story was awesome as hell, and still is.


Don "The Dragon" Wilson is what you meant. Shame he never made a great film. But Cynthia Rothrock was awesome.

And I watched the Beastmaster series off and on, but never saw all of it. I wrote it off originally because it didn't have Marc Singer as Dar.
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I have never watched a Don The Dragon Wilson film mainly because the man sounds like a b movie actor and he makes films that sound like something the Simpsons would make up to parody films like his. I mean seriously Bloodfist 1-8 trained to kill?!? Dude's fucking with me. He must have made the worst movies ever or the best worst movies ever. One of these days I'll watch one.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
Too bad The Keep wasn't one of them. The movie had everything in its favor, including an awesome horror novel as the basis and a killer cast, but it was awful in the end.
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Best part of the movie was the soundtrack. Did not care too much for how they butchered the book, F.paul Wilson's Adversery cycle is one of my all time favorite horror series.
 
Matty77 said:
Best part of the movie was the soundtrack. Did not care too much for how they butchered the book, F.paul Wilson's Adversery cycle is one of my all time favorite horror series.
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It also had moments were it looked pretty cool, but the story and the pacing were just a mess.
 
I prefer 1988's version of The Blob, with Kevin Dillion and the greatest mullet to grace the movies to the McQueen original.

Speaking of Kevin Dillion and sci-fi 80's movie, there's this really obscure film of his called Remote Control that I have no doubt some of you will get some enjoyment out of. (if you can find it, but there as ways)

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excelsiorlef said:
I'll take both.
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There's still lots of argument for the '80's. But whenever I think 80's, for me its all prosthetics and practical effects. Evil Dead 2 (my favorite from the decade), Hellraiser, The Thing, Nightmare on Elmstreet, etc. 70's movies didn't have this luxary, outside of some exceptions like The Exorcist. So they had to rely heavier on themes that were more grounded in reality.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
You gotta double feature it with Deep Star Six.
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Done.

excelsiorlef said:
I'll take both.

However, other than the Giallos TCM and Halloween were like two of basically the three slasher films in the 70s (the other being the most unsung of the bunch Black Christmas)

And there were a ton of Giallos in the 80s including Tenebre.

The American Slasher heyday was the 80s.
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Yeah fortunately we don't have to choose. But quality over quantity and all that, none of em came close to touching Halloween in my book. But the 80's slasher mania let me get De Palma's Blow Out so they're all good in my book.

Slayven said:
It cheesy fun, 1989 everyone was trying to do an Abyss type movie. Deepstar Six was great too

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.
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But the abyss didn't have that thing or that videodrome-esque toothy handgina so it LOSES

DontBeThatGuy said:
Dial back those expectations back a bit, lol. I had some fun with it though.
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I refuse to believe that home alone guy fighting deep sea lovecraftian monstrosities will be anything short of incredible
 
MrCunningham said:
There's still lots of argument for the '80's. But whenever I think 80's, for me its all prosthetics and practical effects. Evil Dead 2 (my favorite from the decade), Hellraiser, The Thing, Nightmare on Elmstreet, etc. 70's movies didn't have this luxary, outside of some exceptions like The Exorcist. So they had to rely heavier on themes that were more grounded in reality.
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I take it you never seen an Argento movie?
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Lord_Balkan said:
There are more.

And plenty more like Alice Sweet Alice, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House On The Left, and not to mention all the Hammer horror films before that helped popularize blood /gore in movies.
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I'm not suggesting that these movies didn't have blood and gore. I just mean that 80's horror is more focused on special/ practical/ animattonic/ prosthetic effects laden than the stuff in the 70's.
 
MrCunningham said:
I'm not suggesting that these movies didn't have blood and gore. I just mean that 80's horror is more focused on special/ practical/ animattonic/ prosthetic effects laden than the stuff in the 70's.
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Fair enough. Yeah I do agree with that. Man I just miss the 70s and 80s. Funny enough, my job is making video games but I hate CGI in movies. CGI has killed a lot of modern horror imo.
 
Data West said:
The non-horror Halloween movie
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This, The Explorers, The Goonies and such are how you do the whole "family movie with a bite" thing RIGHT. You have kids that act like real kids, swear, make lewd jokes, perhaps some underage drinking/smoking, BUT the stories never lose heart. You don't have to have young pre-teens or teens in movies act like assholes and annoying shits just to say, "That's how teens are! Blarg!". No, you can write good stories and show they are MORE than a 2-dimensional stereotype. You can show different facets to the characters so they feel like interesting, living people, not just "Durrr, I'm a stereotypical cliche with no depth other than that which is required for me to fit within my stereotype!".
 
Data West said:
The non-horror Halloween movie
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Fuckin A!
Lord_Balkan said:
There are more.

And plenty more like Alice Sweet Alice, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House On The Left, and not to mention all the Hammer horror films before that helped popularize blood /gore in movies.
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When I was in high school, I had a t-shirt with that Zombie poster. I got into trouble once for wearing it to school. Fools didn't appreciate it like they should. But hey, it was the mid 90s.
 
Semblance said:
Return of the Living Dead needs more love.
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Yep, it's one of my favorites from that decade(Did you watch the documentary? it's great). But the shameful thing is that I actually liked the sequel more when I was a kid. I guess the ending of the original didn't sit right with my young ass, whatever, sequel sucks, the original is dope.
 
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