80's Movie Theatre

80's movies possessed a style and flair that set the decade apart from all others, and influenced how movies are still made to this day. Before you dismiss the above as the ranting of an overenthusiastic film fan, consider the following:

Friday the 13th, one of the 80's most recognized horror franchises, brought the slasher genre to the spotlight, leading to a massive flood of similar genre entries throughout the 80's. Though the flow has been stemmed some since then, the genre remains a favorite among horror fans to this day.
Releases such as Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds put teen/college sex comedies on the map. Twenty-plus years later, box office hits such as the American Pie series prove this genre remains a favorite to this day.

Of course not every 80's movie was quite so influential or timeless. A couple examples of genres that came on strong in the 80's and then lost momentum since then are:

The fantasy genre (often referred to as sword and sandals flicks). In the early 80's releases such as Conan the Barbarian and Clash of the Titans took the box office by storm, paving the way for quite a few other entries. Although not entirely dead, the fantasy genre hasn't been the same since the early to mid-80's.
Post-apocalyptic films. Mad Max became a household name in the 80's (as did Mel Gibson, whose career was launched by this series), but other popular films such as Escape from New York also met with significant success. The genre also harbored many lesser-known imitators such as 2019: After the Fall of New York.
Patriotic Cold War films. The action genre was steadily fueled by entries such as Rambo and Missing In Action, where elite commandos returned to Vietnam to rescue POWs and win the battle against communism. Other movies such as Rocky IV pitted a proud America against its infamous nemesis, the U.S.S.R.

This wouldn't be an 80's website without reviews of the major influential films, of course, but our goal is to be a repository for all 80's goodness, not just the roads well-traveled. As such you'll find many reviews of lesser-known film gems that you may have initially overlooked or have since forgotten.

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