1980's Science Fiction
by loren-22 | created - 20 Jul 2014 | updated - 01 Aug 2014 | PublicIn no particular order
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1. The Last Starfighter (1984)
PG | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
High schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.
Director: Nick Castle | Stars: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Kay E. Kuter, Dan Mason
Votes: 45,999 | Gross: $28.73M
2. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 822,747 | Gross: $32.87M
3. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,166 | Gross: $9.93M
4. Aliens (1986)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
Votes: 762,665 | Gross: $85.16M
5. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,355 | Gross: $13.78M
6. Invaders from Mars (1986)
PG | 100 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A boy tries to stop aliens who have taken over his town and are attempting to brainwash its inhabitants.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Karen Black, Hunter Carson, Timothy Bottoms, Laraine Newman
Votes: 10,579 | Gross: $4.88M
7. Flight of the Navigator (1986)
PG | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
In 1978, a boy travels eight years into the future and has an adventure with an intelligent, wisecracking alien ship.
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Cliff De Young, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 51,675 | Gross: $18.56M
8. Tron (1982)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Director: Steven Lisberger | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan
Votes: 129,223 | Gross: $33.00M
9. Enemy Mine (1985)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During a long space war, the lives of two wounded enemies become dependent on their ability to forgive and to trust.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James, Richard Marcus
Votes: 51,419 | Gross: $4.27M
10. From Beyond (1986)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree
Votes: 30,728 | Gross: $1.26M
11. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,388 | Gross: $13.01M
12. Dune (1984)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis, Leonardo Cimino
Votes: 179,219 | Gross: $30.93M
13. Predator (1987)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo
Votes: 454,560 | Gross: $59.74M
14. The Terminator (1984)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield
Votes: 923,740 | Gross: $38.40M
15. RoboCop (1987)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox
Votes: 282,954 | Gross: $53.42M
16. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 43,476 | Gross: $8.25M
17. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,379,119 | Gross: $290.48M
18. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,120,971 | Gross: $309.13M
19. Cocoon: The Return (1988)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
The seniors return to Earth to visit their relatives. Will they all decide to go back to the planet where no one grows old, or will they be tempted to stay back on Earth?
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Courteney Cox, Hume Cronyn
Votes: 17,329 | Gross: $18.92M
20. The Running Man (1987)
R | 101 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.
Director: Paul Michael Glaser | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown
Votes: 167,584 | Gross: $38.12M
21. Repo Man (1984)
R | 92 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A young punk, recruited by a car repo agency, finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu with a huge, $20,000 bounty--and something otherworldly stashed in its trunk.
Director: Alex Cox | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter, Olivia Barash
Votes: 41,034 | Gross: $3.57M
22. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,783 | Gross: $40.46M
23. Starman (1984)
PG | 115 min | Romance, Sci-Fi
An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel
Votes: 52,096 | Gross: $28.70M
24. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
Director: Stephen Chiodo | Stars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon
Votes: 45,451 | Gross: $15.63M
25. Lifeforce (1985)
R | 101 min | Action, Horror, Mystery
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, beginning an apocalyptic descent into chaos.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Steve Railsback, Mathilda May, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay
Votes: 29,451 | Gross: $11.60M
26. Night of the Comet (1984)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
Director: Thom Eberhardt | Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell
Votes: 24,126 | Gross: $14.42M
27. Escape from New York (1981)
R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 157,407 | Gross: $25.24M
28. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
PG | 101 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Four horror and science fiction segments, directed by four famous directors, each of them being a new version of a classic story from Rod Serling's landmark television series.
Directors: Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller, Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Doug McGrath
Votes: 41,169 | Gross: $29.50M
29. E.T. (1982)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace
Votes: 437,332 | Gross: $435.11M
30. Krull (1983)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet, Krull.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis
Votes: 36,242 | Gross: $16.52M
31. The Abyss (1989)
PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester
Votes: 193,130 | Gross: $54.46M
32. Alien Nation (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Sci-Fi
In 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine.
Director: Graham Baker | Stars: James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Kevyn Major Howard
Votes: 16,660 | Gross: $25.22M
33. Looker (1981)
PG | 93 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Three of four models, who had plastic surgery done by Larry after a computed list, are dead. Neither the cops nor Larry believe they're suicides. Larry investigates and stays with the fourth model. Who's behind the lists and murders?
Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Albert Finney, James Coburn, Susan Dey, Leigh Taylor-Young
Votes: 6,185 | Gross: $3.28M
34. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
PG | 103 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.
Director: W.D. Richter | Stars: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum
Votes: 29,308 | Gross: $6.25M
35. Videodrome (1983)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky
Votes: 102,923 | Gross: $2.12M
36. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya
Votes: 182,430 | Gross: $0.50M
37. Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Not Rated | 80 min | Animation, Action, Fantasy
When Doris Lang is chosen as the next bride for the vampire Count Magnus Lee, she will hire a mysterious vampire hunter known only as D in an attempt to escape her ill-gotten fate.
Director: Toyoo Ashida | Stars: Kaneto Shiozawa, Michie Tomizawa, Seizô Katô, Satoko Kifuji
Votes: 17,515
38. Back to the Future (1985)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Votes: 1,306,064 | Gross: $210.61M
39. Gandahar (1987)
PG | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
An evil force begins to destroy the idyllic paradise of Gandahar, where the citizens are in perfect harmony with nature.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Glenn Close, Christopher Plummer, Pierre-Marie Escourrou, Catherine Chevallier
Votes: 5,298 | Gross: $0.37M
40. Bad Taste (1987)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne, Craig Smith, Mike Minett
Votes: 49,110
41. Xtro (1982)
R | 84 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
An alien creature impregnates a woman who gives birth to a man who was abducted by aliens three years ago. The man reconnects with his wife and son for a sinister purpose.
Director: Harry Bromley Davenport | Stars: Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers, Danny Brainin, Maryam d'Abo
Votes: 8,139
42. Robot Jox (1989)
PG | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the distant future, mankind has forsaken global wars for battles of single combat. The world has been divided into two opposing super powers, with each side represented by trained champions.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo, Robert Sampson
Votes: 7,295 | Gross: $1.27M
43. Morning Patrol (1987)
108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Going alone into an abandoned, living city, a woman tries to cross a forbidden zone swarming with the Morning Patrol and traps. Meeting one of the last city guards, they attempt recall the past and penetrate the zone together.
Director: Nikos Nikolaidis | Stars: Michele Valley, Takis Spyridakis, Panos Thanassoulis, Takis Loukatos
Votes: 1,070
44. The Quiet Earth (1985)
R | 91 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.
Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace
Votes: 27,611 | Gross: $2.12M
45. WarGames (1983)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 110,677 | Gross: $79.57M
46. Night of the Creeps (1986)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them.
Director: Fred Dekker | Stars: Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow
Votes: 26,096 | Gross: $0.59M
47. Ghostbusters (1984)
PG | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis
Votes: 449,722 | Gross: $238.63M
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