Top 10 Cult Classic Mid-80s Fantasy Adventure Flicks
As any nostalgic 25 - 30 year old will tell you the mid-80s were a truly magical cinematic time for any kid to grow up in. In the wake of George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy, we were bombarded with a cluster of imaginative, mystical live-action fantasy adventure films, which eagerly promoted a genuine sense of mischievous fun and adventure.
Tales of typically normal excitable youngsters going on epic adventures that lifted the heart stirred the soul and haunted our dreams. But it was the palpable sense of adventure that really convinced, giving us youngsters an achievable sense of daydream adventure - long before the internet or Xbox-claimed adolescent imagination.
Why the mid-80s? Give us another span of time where there was an equally audacious flux of films that dared to lift the lid on Pandora’s Box to capture our imagination and fiendishly tape into our most primal kiddie fears? So forget the CGI-bloated likes of Harry Potter, Golden Compass and the new Narnia adventures and let us divulge to you hecklerspray’s definitive Top 10 Cult Classic Fantasy Adventure Flicks from the Mid-80s…
1. The Goonies (1985)
How could you possibly compile an ultimate mid 80s film tribute list without including this cult classic from Superman helmer Richard Donner? It’s the tale of a group of young suburbanites going on a (frankly ludicrous) adventure to thwart the council from demolishing their family homes by seeking hidden pirate treasure in booby-trapped underground lairs. But what makes it more believable is its incredibly gifted and likable young cast. Move over Harry Potter, these kids have charisma! With the likes of Mikey, Chunk, Mouth and Data on your team you won’t need magical powers to accomplish a distinguishing characteristic. And yes that’s No Country For Old Men’s Josh Brolin playing Mikey’s teenage brother! And who could forget The Fratellis? The archetypal kiddie movie bad guys, headed by super-bad ass (but sweet as pie in real life - if you believe the cast commentary) old trouper Anne Ramsey. And it’s got Spielberg on executive producing duties and a great cheesy but catchy Cyndi Lauper music video to go with it – what more could your young hearts ask for?
2. Return To Oz (1985)
We weren’t really fans of the original Wizard of Oz movie but when Fairuza Balk came waltzing along with her talking chicken Billina and C3PO-type robot companion Tik-Tok we were overwhelmed by the results. And it was fucking scary too! What with those sinister, sub-Starlight Express Wheelers skirting around, those crumbling and gruesome claymation monsters and that hideous witch Mombi, with her eerie glass cabinet selection of limitless heads. No annoying musical numbers, no cowardly lion or clumsy scarecrow, (well not until later on anyway), just a gothic nightmarish adventure with startling baroque imagery in a mysterious, distant land where you will find ham sandwiches hanging on trees and an old man modelling red slippers.
3. Labyrinth (1986)
In our opinion Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly was never better than when she played the feisty 15-year-old babysitter Sarah in Jim Henson’s spellbinding adventure. David Bowie camps it up as the glamorous Goblin King, along with a slew of Henson’s imaginative puppeteer creations – and we don’t mind those catchy dance numbers either.
4. Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Anyone remember the haunting chanting of the Egyptian Rametep? The hallucinogenic stained-glass window knight that suddenly broke away from its frame to demonstrate the impressive power of early CGI? Or the opening shocker where a turkey dinner comes alive to attack its consumer? Well that’s all from this cult special effects Oscar-nominated Sherlock Holmes prequel adventure – which was subtitled (Indiana Jones style): The Pyramid of Fear. Dreamt up by early Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus, (with Spielberg once again on producing duties), this was a notable highlight for the young cast of unknowns involved and proved a chilling sweeping and deadly adventure, a world away from the archetypal cosy Peter Cushing/Basil Rathbone movie outings.
5. Explorers (1985)
Explorers was the warmhearted tale of a trio of kiddie science geeks who – masterminded by computer whiz-kid River Phoenix, (debuting alongside a painfully young Ethan Hawke) - convert a junkyard carousel car into a floating capsule capable of travelling into outer space. Although looking more like a glorified wheelie bin than anything NASA would conceive the capsule is their gateway to adolescent freedom and they use it like any other teenage kids would use it: to travel the world, explore the universe and of course peep on girlies getting undressed.
6. The Lost Boys (1987)
“Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire” went the encouraging tagline to this impressionable coming-of-age puberty flick (masking as a vampire movie). The Lost Boys is about two teenage brothers who rub shoulders with a leather-clad clan of blood thirsty vampires following their relocation to a new town in sunny California. A sequel is currently in the works, (welcome back Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog), but the original still holds up today as an irreplaceable nostalgic horror fantasy adventure… and Kiefer Sutherland is still the cool kid you wanna be when your strange.
7. Dark Crystal (1983)
Set in a dark and vast mystical world this is the penultimate moment when muppet maestros Jim Henson and Frank Oz ventured into the limitless realm of the feature film. It’s a testament to the sheer power of suspension of disbelief that we willingly surrender our soles to a land populated entirely by puppet creations, ranging from the grotesque eagle-like entities of the feared Skekses to the almost sickly sweet Gelfings. It’s not exactly ‘live-action’ but we like it.
8. Flight of the Navigator (1986)
This is the film that embraces the journey of a 12-year-old whizzkid who goes on a bombastic time-travelling adventure when he’s abducted by an alien space-capsule, piloted by a robot that looks bizarrely like your dentist’s examination lamp. But it’s a heck of a lot of fun even 20 years on! Hell, it’s even got a young Sarah Jessica Parker in it as an annoyingly friendly (when hasn’t she been annoying?) laboratory assistant.
9. Highlander (1986)
If you don’t get too distracted by Christopher Lambert’s dodgy Scottish vocals, or the ridiculously complex plot, then Highlander is still a thrilling adventure yarn to rival Flash Gordon. And just like that said sci-fi film it’s got a truly marvellous signature score by Queen. Fuck the sequels, reassert yourself with the masterly original.
10. Repo Man (1984)
Alex Cox’s superb science fiction film stars a young Emilio Estevez as Otto: a punk rocker who becomes the ultimate car repossession professional after helping to steal a wanted vehicle. The twist in the tale is that there’s some strange glowing object inside the boot of the car that’s got the attention of government agents and UFO enthusiasts alike. With classy support from veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton this was the film that put the ‘punk’ into punk rocker.
[story by Oliver Pfeiffer]
Amazing list.
Hey I wonder if anyone could help me. I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember the title of this movie. ALL I CAN REMEMBER (when I watched it as a child) were lizard/dinosaurs attacking a city made of stone, and hundreds of people throwing rock boulders off the top at the ‘beasts’ that were climbing up the walls of the city. It was an old movie in the same vein as Jason and Argonauts etc. stop motion etc. if anyone knows the title please tell me as its driving me crazy.
sorry just a question if anyone can help im trying to find out a family fantasy movie’s name. their was a brother and sister in it the find a midget who has special powers he brings them back to his plant they have to help him do something, the people on his plant are mystical and magical some are dressed in white and doing circus acrobatics if anyone can help i know its not a lot to go on but if yo could i thank u so much
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
whats that 80’s movie ”Nouki” or something? it was about these two little aliens. i cant remember the name! argh… Nooki … Noukki… Nuki…. argh, its not on IMDB
ok i am glad to see someone gave mention to masters of the universe heman was great for my brothers and i to play growing up and i am sad to see no one gave mention to EXCALIBER one of the greatest king arthur stories there was but everybody pretty much covered the best movies in the 80s but u know i also gotta give mention to Conan u gotta give it up to conan remember the cartoon on tv my brother and i used to play that all the time and there were quite a few japan anime like one of my all time faves Vampire Hunter D and then there was Ninja Scroll but u know i tell people all the time and always complain that they dont make good movies like back then and u cant forget the Ninja Turtles and im surprised i didnt see too many people give the hobbit propsbut im glad to see labyrinth made it on there and remember the Ewok movies ive been looking for those everywhere
theres several movies and i love just sitting and talking about movies im a movie buff movies and fantasy world was our lif growing up im glad to see other people around my age bringing me back to the day man those were the days no worries only how i was gonna kill the bad guy tomorrow or if we were gonna be robots flying in space or fighters and wizards on a quest
wow… a.d.d. much? remember, punctuation is your friend…
What about Back to the Future and Ghostbusters?????!!!!!!! How on earth can you miss these two fantastic movies???
I would agree that at least half of the entries (”Labyrinth,” “The Lost Boys,” “The Dark Crystal,” “Highlander,” and “Repo Man”) are cult classics on some level, and a few others are still worth a look after all these years (I’ve just added “Return to Oz” to my Netflix queue), but I would have removed “The Goonies” from the list altogether and replaced it with “The Princess Bride.” I know quite a few are fond of “The Goonies,” but I find it incredibly annoying. Very similar to having a bunch of kids constantly bugging you all at once . . . I just want them to go away!
Cant Forget Caravan Of Courage or The Battle For Endor, loved them.
Where is Karate Kid and Big foot !!!!!!?????
Adventures in Baby Sitting was fairly 80’s and fantasy, I don’t know that it was classic at all, but reading these post made me think of it, but for me it was Blade Runner. 82 is almost mid 80’s, yeah?
does ANYONE know the movie where the princess is captured in a castle that is shaped like a hand???? This is killing me!!! The guy that goes to save her winds up at some witch’s lair and she’s all young and pretty and has an hourglass and a mirror or something. and there’s cobwebs all over her lair… I need to know what this movie is, I can’t find it anywhere!!!!!!!!!! anyone!!!
Are you referring to Brothers Grimm?
It’s been a long time, but that sounds like never ending story to me, maybe part two if not the first one?
It’s called Kull….And should be on this list….It’s AWESOME…Definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it.
sorry, meant Krull
The movie you are thinking of is Krull…great movie as far as 80’s fantasy goes…hope you come back to see this.
I myself can’t remember a movie made in the 80’s…it was a dark fantasy that had a scene where the hero is crucified at the end of a dinner table…and all the lords of the realm are feasting around oblivious to his suffering. He eventually pulls out the nails binding him to the cross and fights his way out…saving the girl as well….it was a long time ago I saw this and it may not be completely as I said it…but if anyone has an inkling as to what this movie was I’d appreciate it. ^_^
KRULL
I already own Return to Oz, Labrinth, The Dark Crystal. I’ve seen most of tyour list.
You really should have added The Brincess Bride (I know that one by heart) Willow, The Neverending Story.
Frankly a cult classic list should be made from the best “cult Films” not just ones YOU like.
oh and Sam that movie is The neverending story…and its been mentioned already quite a bit.
Ferris Bueller and the Hobbit
YES!! Time Bandits! Thank you, I have been trying to remember the name of that movie for over a year! One of my favorites. Great list overall, except I never felt quite the same way about Goonies as other people seemed to.
Okay, so I can’t remember this movie to save my life. It starts out in the 80’s everyday life and then somehow gets to this mystical land with a white horse named Merimous(?) and a boy who saves an old town. Anything ring a bell? I can’t figure it out.
But Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, Willow, Legend, Ewoks… those are all great 80’s movies.
Okay, some of these i can agree with but some, eh.. Especially for a top 10 list of Cult Classics? Dude seriously, The Repo Man? Your list has a few key movies on it like The Lost Boys & Labyrinth, but you’re merely skimming the surface here with your PG list. Bladerunner, The Road Warrior, The Shining, Time Bandits, Fly, not to mention some of the greatest cinematic classics & most watched movies ever: The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi. As far as anime goes, I agree with you Ozzy_420 Ninja Scroll & Vampire Hunter D are certainly on my shelf but not released until the 90’s but Akira should no doubt be on any Top 10 list. Other greats but hard finds are Heathers, The Legend of Billie Jean & Gift w/ Perry Farrell & girlfriend Casey (not for the faint-hearted) but genious film.. Could go on forever but I’ll end my rant now………
I know there’s a new one out, and this is from the 70s and all but Last House On The Left.
Thank you anyway for the list. Finally I know the name of the movie I want to watch again, Labyrinth. Since I was too young when watched this movie, I fail for searching it.
Many Thanks
Ugh. Repo Man.
Does anyone remember a movie that had a teenage kid trying to save a princess from a dark evil guy? There is a big white puffball chewbacca rip off who is friends with a sword fighter or something. Also I remember a part where the teenage kid is put under some sort of spell. He thinks he is with a women but it is actually a huge spider that someone stabbs alot which makes green slime come out.
hey does ANYONE remember an adventure movie where there is a man leading a group of teenage kids from danger. i believe the man uses a hawk for guidence, and in one scenario, the kids were being chased, they had Rollerblades on, then finally they had to rollerblade fast enough to jump a ledge to cross over. they helped each other doing this, then they found themselves on a hill, and then got in some really big Car Tires, then they rolled down the hill! lol movie probably came out somewhere in the late 80’s or early 90’s. this movie has been on mind for years! please help!
The movie is SolarBabies M8 hope that helps you out
ummm….I think you forgot one. HEAVY METAL!