11 Very Weird And Very Awesome 80s Movies

So dangerous it’s good? Nope – these 80s cult classics could also be trashy, dated, weird, disturbing, juvenile, and violent, however they’re additionally a number of the most satisfying movies ever made; they’re simply darn good.

Weirdness Scale: 10/10

Effectively, the opening sentence of its Wikipedia plot abstract is, “A cocaine deal in Miami is interrupted by a bunch of motorcycle-riding ninjas led by Hashito, who steal the medication and journey again to Orlando to social gathering.” That gang of motorcycle-riding ninjas finally does battle with our heroes, an 80s rock band made up of ninja faculty college students. Typically unseen since its unique launch, Miami Connection had basically disappeared till it was resurrected by Drafthouse Movies and rereleased in theaters in 2012. It seems to have been written, filmed, and carried out by individuals who had, at finest, a tenuous relationship with human civilization.

Awesomeness Scale: 7/10

By any believable measure, this is without doubt one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. The appearing is unimaginable; the dialogue is alien to human ears; the struggle scenes are sub-awful; and the lengthy, choreographed music scenes – sure, the lengthy choreographed music scenes – are… properly, they’re freaking superior. The forged has an admirable sense of positivity within the face of their obvious inadequacies, and though I feel the filmmakers weren’t completely “in on the joke” per se, they clearly didn’t take themselves too significantly. Miami Connection ventures right into a weird stage of audacious badness that may’t be ignored.

Weirdness Scale: 10/10

Presumably, when you’re the kind of individual to take a look at a listing like this, you’re greater than casually conversant in Evil Lifeless II. On the off-chance you aren’t, this sequel to 1981’s Evil Lifeless has a far totally different vibe than its predecessor. Whereas the unique was a chunk of nightmarish terror, director Sam Raimi basically created a live-action cartoon along with his follow-up. Evil Lifeless II is hilariously gory slapstick – profoundly unique and splendidly perverse.

Awesomeness Scale: 10/10

This is without doubt one of the most daring, entertaining, and impressed movies to return from the 80s. Raimi’s anything-goes spirit creates some unforgettable sequences, and his camerawork is constantly ingenious and kinetic. The movie strikes at a Looney Tunes tempo and options some nice results, in addition to some that present the constraints of the finances – however the proceedings are far too enjoyable for anybody to care. I want I might decide to something in life the best way that Bruce Campbell commits to his starring function.

Weirdness Scale: 9/10

Troma is an indie movie studio that mixed gory horror with juvenile humor to shocking success, beginning with their cult hit The Poisonous Avenger. Type of like Frankenstein meets Magnificence and the Beast meets Superman, however up to date for the 80s technology (in different phrases, extra aerobics gear, dangerous music, occasional nudity, and horrible jokes), The Poisonous Avenger is a bullied nerd who will get dropped in a vat of nuclear waste and turns right into a deformed freak who battles crime and falls in love. Get pleasure from the kind of gleeful dangerous style solely present in films the place drunken youngsters deliberately run over a baby’s head for laughs.

Awesomeness Scale: 7/10

This was Troma’s quintessential achievement, an ode to offensive humor and low-budget gore that serves as one of the entertainingly tacky exploitation flicks ever made. That is the darkish facet of the 80s that Reagan didn’t need you to find out about. When you dig it, I like to recommend one other Troma favourite – Class of Nuke ’Em Excessive.

Weirdness Scale: 9/10

The gist, by way of The L.A. Occasions: “Deal with Williams and Joe Piscopo play a zombie cop and his jocular associate, up in opposition to a shadowy scientific syndicate that revives corpses and undead hooligans for its legal endeavors.” The plot actually is mindless in any respect, however that is the image for you when you’ve ever needed to see the LAPD preventing off reanimated animal corpses in a Chinese language butcher store.

Awesomeness Scale: 6/10

A movie destined for cult standing if there ever was one, that is an especially entertaining motion/comedy/horror/sci-fi/buddy cop movie. Shamelessly over-the-top in its excesses (though additionally often satirical of its style influences), Lifeless Warmth’s joys embrace splendidly gory make-up and results. The comedy is uniformly terrible (Joe Piscopo is simply unspeakably dangerous), however even that’s oddly interesting.

Weirdness Scale: 6/10

Do you’re keen on Michael Ironside, perpetually terrifying villain from Whole Recall and Starship Troopers? Are you excited and presumably aroused on the prospect of watching him play a significantly deranged cross-dressing, misogynistic custodian/assassin? Did I point out William Shatner?

Awesomeness Scale: 7/10

This unexpectedly efficient low-budget Canadian slasher drips with dread-inducing suspense. The thrills are gratuitous, the spirit vilely nihilistic, and the plot holes gaping, which is simply the best way I prefer it. However there’s additionally reliable talent concerned: the performances far exceed expectations (together with two nice feminine leads). Michael Ironside makes a memorably horrifying stalker/killer, and the try to supply a backstory for the villain elevates this movie above its friends.

Weirdness Scale: 7/10

A mere plot description of this crime-thriller starring Jeff Bridges as an alcoholic, disgraced former cop would sound fairly pedestrian. However, that plot description would in all probability miss the next tantalizing particulars: Andy Garcia as a Scarface-wannabe gangster who serves snow cones out of his automotive trunk, a beautiful mid-80s Rosanna Arquette vomiting on Bridges’ crotch, and the road of dialogue, “The streetlight makes my pussy hair glow at midnight.”

Awesomeness Scale: 6/10

The ultimate movie from underrated director Hal Ashby (who supposedly inspired the actors to adlib all the things and was fired after filming), I discover 8 Million Methods to Die endearingly daft. Opening with one of the bold monitoring pictures I’ve ever seen, the film stays enjoyable all through, together with a ridiculously over-the-top shootout in the direction of the top between a bunch of screaming morons. The plot is totally illogical and threadbare, however, if not fairly a hidden gem, that is actually a worthwhile curiosity.

Weirdness Scale: 8/10

Fairly bizarre, even so far as the apocalyptic Australian action-punk style goes: we observe the plight of a pair who discover that what they thought was a drive-in theater is known as a government-sponsored focus camp for wayward youths. They change into trapped within the drive-in, pressured to take care of the gangs of degenerate punks that inhabit it like prisoners.

Awesomeness Scale: 9/10

Lifeless Finish Drive-In blew me away the primary time I noticed it. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith creates a vivid alternate universe with the form of unbelievable element and visible talent solely present in celebrated classics like Blade Runner (admittedly, Lifeless Finish Drive-In may be very by-product of Street Warrior, nevertheless it’s additionally a lot quirkier and offbeat). The narrative has its flaws, however the visible model is great: concurrently grungy and exquisite, full of visible prospers involving crazed punks, graffiti, weird costumes, and junk – in any case, the drive-in seems to be just like the chaotic car parking zone of a Misfits live performance. That is gutter artwork.

Weirdness Scale: 7/10

Arnold Schwarzenegger performs Ben Richards, a cop framed for mass homicide in a futuristic society that condemns felons to compete on a recreation present the place they’re hunted and slaughtered. So far as I can inform, The Working Man is ever-so-loosely primarily based on a Stephen King novel (written below the pseudonym Richard Bachman) and extra closely primarily based on a bong hit I took throughout my junior yr of highschool. There are opera-singing villains, chainsaw murders, exploding heads, Jesse Ventura, and the road of dialogue, “I hope you allow sufficient room for my fist as a result of I’m going to ram it into your abdomen and break your goddamn backbone!”

Awesomeness Scale: 7/10

As an unapologetic Schwarzenegger junkie, I’d argue that there’s A-Listing Arnie fare (Terminators 1 and a pair of, Whole Recall, Predator, Conan the Barbarian, maybe True Lies) and his cheesier B-Film fare. Of the latter, The Working Man is his most interesting providing this facet of the unfortunately-not-streaming Commando. Richard Dawson is nice because the archetypical sleazy recreation present host, and the film supplies some second-rate dystopian fervor alongside the motion and one-liners. Suffice it to say I personal this film on Blu-ray and I don’t actually have a Blu-ray participant.

Weirdness Scale: 7/10

I’ve written earlier than about how this vastly underrated Nightmare sequel is known as a potent allegory about closeted teen Jesse coming to phrases along with his orientation, with none apart from Freddy representing his repressed homosexuality (as Jesse so eloquently reminds us, “He’s inside me!!!”). Even so far as slasher flicks doubling as homosexual youth parables go, this movie is fairly uncommon.

Awesomeness Scale: 8/10

It’s additionally so nice and so, so underappreciated. The movie’s surprisingly weighty subtext retains your mind occupied when you get pleasure from all the visceral thrills and low-cost scares related to the collection. It additionally justifies the atmospheric dream sequences by which the Nightmare franchise specialised. After all, Nightmare 2 can also be extremely tacky and hilariously dated, but when that kind of factor dissuades you, what the hell are you continue to studying this for?

Weirdness Scale: 9/10

The titular reanimation refers back to the strolling undead, and never, like, Madagascar 2 or one thing, so this film is loads bizarre and many gory. Subsequent to Evil Lifeless II, that is essentially the most well-known horror flick on this checklist, and for good cause: I imply, the place else are you going to see a severed head get to second base on a university co-ed?

Awesomeness Scale: 9/10

I imply, Re-Animator is absolutely simply the bee’s knees: outrageously ugly and darkly humorous, the movie expertly walks the identical tightrope between horror and slapstick comedy that my love life often balances. The forged is nice, the route impressed, and there are sufficient bare, decaying corpses to final you a lifetime (properly, at the least a three-day weekend).

Weirdness Scale: 8/10

In case your reminiscence of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s two Conan flicks is hazy and interchangeable, let me lend you a hand: the primary (Conan the Barbarian), is the grim, self-important (albeit extremely entertaining) affair by which Arnold at one level will get crucified. The second, Conan the Destroyer, is the fully bat-shit insane and foolish one which has Wilt Chamberlain using a horse and Andre the Large in a rubbery monster swimsuit that makes him seem like an amphibious intercourse organ.

Awesomeness Scale: 7/10

Once more, 7’1” Wilt Chamberlain on a horse and Andre the Large in a rubber lizard swimsuit! Conan and a collection of goofy sidekicks straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon cross swords with a collection of more and more unusual villains on this sequel. When you love when Arnold is in wacky, B-movie mode, you’ll completely get pleasure from this goofy flick.