The ultimate 80s movie

Lost Boys, by far..

Near Dark wins for me. That movie held nothing back, and I watch it during the appropriate holiday every year. It sets the standard for how vampire movies should be done, in my opinion.

Highlander would be my second choice. The story is great, the cast is simply outstanding, another film I never get bored of.

Some of my favourites

King Soloman's Mines

Beverly Hills Cop

The Three Amigo's

And from a more punky side of the 80's:

One ring to rule them all just cannot be. It's not which color you prefer over others question, nor is moral/immoral binary choice.

Breezed through the thread, some were already noted as awsome, however some were for whatever reason skipped. Hopefully I won't repeat a title, but seems to me too many were not mentioned yet.
IMO each of these deserves to be watched before dying and I'm aware you've never even heard of some (tried to sort them per release year):

The Shining (1980)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
Das Boot (1981)
Escape from New York (1981)
Scanners (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
The Verdict (1982)
The Meaning of Life (1983)
Zelig (1983)
The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Threads (1984)
Back to the Future (1985)
Brazil (1985)
Ran (1985)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Jean de Florette (1986)
Labyrinth (1986)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Man Looking Southeast (1986)
Manon of the Spring (1986)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Evil Dead II (1987)
My Life as a Dog (1987)
Akira (1988)
The Miracle Mile (1988)
The Vanishing (1988)
They Live! (1988)
Batman (1989)
The Decalogue aka The ten commandments (1989, aired as miniseries although it's de facto a superlong movie broken into parts)
The Killer (1989)

This is not some full list "watch only and ignore everything else" from 80's. But if someone is going to dig through 80's goldmine of movies, start with these.

They don't embody the 80's but 2 of my favorite movies of all time are Excalibur and Conan the Barbarian.

For true 80's movies, has anyone said Time Bandits or Revenge of the Nerds yet?

For some reason I will always stop to watch War of the Roses if it's on TV.

For some reason I will always stop to watch War of the Roses if it's on TV.

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That's such a strange movie. I love it, but I find it too cruel to stand watching it all the way.

I see Joxer has They Live in his list. Greatest fist fight of all time.

Hastar said:

I see Joxer has They Live in his list. Greatest fist fight of all time.

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It goes on for like 20 minutes.

There is so much more to that one, especially in today's world.
It's one of those age defying masterpieces. For whatever reason JDR still didn't watch it although I replied to at least one of his posts with stills and gifs from the movie.

Bah, it's one of Carpenter's weaker efforts - but it's campy fun.

The Thing, Halloween, Mouth of Madness and Big Trouble are the great ones.

Of course, only two of those are from the 80s.

It's quite coincidental that this thread exists, as I have been having a regular 80's film extravanganza on many weekend nights over the past summer. It's amazing what you can find when you really dig deep; it quickly becomes apparent just how much one really missed growing up.

I'll try not to cheat and select too many; in fact if I looked at my humble film collection and was allowed to only keep one, it'd probably be The Dark Crystal (1982). Just the music alone and the slow hypnotic atmospheric mood, teleport me immediately back to a particular time.

Ok, one more - Robocop (1987) That film was a true potent impact on one's young imagination for the sheer ferocity of its incredible violence. I'd never seen anything like it and doubt I will again. Fun thread!

Never watched Dark Crystal. I also never watched Krull.

I feel like I need to correct that soon.

That would be a fine double-bill.

Back To The Future
The Goonies

Krull still holds up. I watched it a few months ago and still loved it. Sure some nostalgia there but it's good fun. Dark Crystal wasn't for me but it's done very well and they are making a series out of it.

Hastar said:

I see Joxer has They Live in his list. Greatest fist fight of all time.

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Sorry, but the best fist fight of all time is found in 'The Quiet Man' starring John Wayne. Check it out if you can find it; it's VERY old!!

Some more of my favorite movies from the 1980's.

Corwin said:

Sorry, but the best fist fight of all time is found in 'The Quiet Man' starring John Wayne. Check it out if you can find it; it's VERY old!!

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If someone starts 50s movies, I'll definetly put it on the list. Although I don't share the same sentiment when it comes to "combat", then again when did I care about combat in games anyway. This movie however has other strengths that make it desirable in one's dvd home collection.

There is something odd. I've skipped one title deliberately because it's aired almost every christmas everywhere so I'm sick of it. But it was a decent action movie. How come noone picked Die Hard as the ultimate 80s movie?
I mean, @crpgnut; would say he can't possibly identify with the geriatric MC so he couldn't watch the whole movie, but cmon people, there must be someone who'd praise Bruce Willis' role as performance of the decade.

re: Die Hard
Not really a fan of Bruce Willis, tbh. (the guy is actually a big jerk in real life too, a little digging on the internet turns up a ton of stories about it)

While I do agree Die Hard is a great action movie, however, I would not place it above some others already mentioned.

Hell, I think Stallone was a bigger and better action star than Bruce Willis ever could be, and Arnold of course - in my eyes - was the King of 80s action movies.