67 articles
2010: The Year We Make Contact
2010: The Year We Make Contact is Peter Hyams' 1984 MGM/UA sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, adapted from Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two, starring Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, and Keir Dullea in a joint Soviet-American Jupiter mission.
Alien 2: On Earth
Alien 2: On Earth (Alien 2: Sulla Terra) is a 1980 Italian unofficial Alien sequel directed by Ciro Ippolito as Sam Cromwell, starring Belinda Mayne; alien-infested blue rocks attack cave explorers.
Altered States
Altered States (1980) is Ken Russell's American science fiction film, adapted by Paddy Chayefsky (credited as Sidney Aaron) from his 1978 novel, starring William Hurt as a scientist whose sensory deprivation and hallucinogen experiments transform him physically.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is the 1985 Robert Zemeckis time-travel comedy starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the top-grossing film of 1985, Oscar winner, and start of a trilogy, musical, and franchise.
Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) is a Roger Corman New World Pictures space opera, a Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven retelling directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, written by John Sayles, scored by James Horner, with James Cameron on art direction; $2 million budget, $11 million gross.
Blade Runner
Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott's neo-noir adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, stars Harrison Ford hunting replicants in 2019 Los Angeles; a box-office disappointment that became a cult classic and cyberpunk landmark.
Born in Flames
Born in Flames is Lizzie Borden's 1983 American independent feminist science fiction film, set in near-future New York ten years after a social-democratic revolution, following the Women's Army and pirate radio stations in revolt after Adelaide Norris's death.
Brainstorm (1983 film)
Brainstorm is a 1983 American science fiction thriller directed by Douglas Trumbull, starring Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, and Cliff Robertson; it is Wood's final film.
Brazil (1985 film)
Brazil (1985) is Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire starring Jonathan Pryce as bureaucrat Sam Lowry, with Robert De Niro; famous for the Gilliam–Sheinberg release battle and its 142-, 132-, and 94-minute cuts.
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (The Ewok Adventure) is a 1984 ABC made-for-TV Star Wars film directed by John Korty, starring Warwick Davis as Wicket, with 65 million viewers and an Emmy for visual effects.
Clash of the Titans (1981 film)
Clash of the Titans (1981) is a MGM/UA fantasy film directed by Desmond Davis with Ray Harryhausen's final stop-motion effects, starring Harry Hamlin as Perseus, Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and Medusa and the Kraken as adversaries.
Cocoon (film)
Cocoon (1985) is Ron Howard's science fiction comedy-drama about Florida retirees rejuvenated by alien cocoons in a swimming pool, starring Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, and Hume Cronyn; it won two Oscars and grossed $76 million domestically.
Condorman
Condorman is a 1981 Walt Disney live-action comedy directed by Charles Jarrott, starring Michael Crawford as comic artist Woody Wilkins, who becomes his own superhero to help a Soviet spy defect; it flopped, costing Disney a $9.5 million write-off.
D.A.R.Y.L.
D.A.R.Y.L. (Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform) is a 1985 Paramount science fiction family film directed by Simon Wincer, starring Barret Oliver as an android boy with a computer brain who escapes military destruction and returns to his foster parents.
Deathstalker (1983 film)
Deathstalker (1983) is a Roger Corman-produced sword-and-sorcery film directed by James Sbardellati, starring Rick Hill, Barbi Benton, and Lana Clarkson, shot in Argentina for about $500,000, spawning three sequels and a 2025 remake.
Def-Con 4
Def-Con 4 (DEFCON-4) is a 1985 Canadian post-apocalyptic sci-fi film directed by Paul Donovan, starring Lenore Zann, Maury Chaykin, and Kate Lynch as satellite crew survivors of nuclear war.
Dragonslayer (1981 film)
Dragonslayer (1981) is a Disney/Paramount dark fantasy directed by Matthew Robbins, starring Peter MacNicol and Ralph Richardson, whose dragon Vermithrax Pejorative was animated by ILM using go motion; a box office flop later acclaimed for its effects.
Dreamscape (1984 film)
Dreamscape is a 1984 American science fiction thriller directed by Joseph Ruben, starring Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer, about psychics who enter others' dreams.
Dune (1984 film)
Dune (1984) is David Lynch's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, starring Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides. A $40 million Dino De Laurentiis production that grossed about $31.5 million, it was panned by critics, disavowed by Lynch, and became a cult film before Villeneuve's 2021 remake.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (also E.T.) is Steven Spielberg's 1982 Universal/Amblin science fiction film, written by Melissa Mathison, about a stranded alien befriended by boy Elliott; it won four Oscars and was the world's top-grossing film for a decade.
Electric Dreams (film)
Electric Dreams is a 1984 Virgin Pictures romantic sci-fi comedy directed by Steve Barron, starring Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, and Bud Cort as the voice of sentient computer Edgar, a love-triangle film later compared to Her.
Enemy Mine (film)
Enemy Mine is a 1985 Wolfgang Petersen science fiction film starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr., based on Barry Longyear's 1979 novella, about enemies stranded together; a costly flop that became a cult favorite.
Escape from New York
Escape from New York is John Carpenter's 1981 dystopian action film starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, sent into a prison-walled Manhattan to rescue the President; it spawned Escape from L.A. and a Snyder remake in development.
Explorers (film)
Explorers is a 1985 Joe Dante Paramount science fiction film, written by Eric Luke, starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, and Jason Presson as boys who build a spaceship; rushed production, $24 million budget, $3.6 million gross.
Extra Terrestrial Visitors
Extra Terrestrial Visitors, original title Los nuevos extraterrestres, is a 1983 Spanish-French sci-fi horror film by Juan Piquer Simón, also released as Pod People and famous as MST3K episode #303.
Frankenweenie (1984 film)
Frankenweenie is a 1984 Tim Burton live-action Disney short in which a boy revives his dog Sparky with electricity; shelved at first, released in 1992, remade in 2012.
Galaxy of Terror
Galaxy of Terror (1981), also released as Planet of Horrors and Mind Warp: An Infinity of Terror, is a Roger Corman-produced sci-fi horror film directed by Bruce D. Clark, infamous for its giant maggot rape scene and for James Cameron's early work as production designer.
Guest from the Future
Guest from the Future (Гостья из будущего) is a 1984 Soviet five-part children's sci-fi TV film by Pavel Arsenov, based on Kir Bulychev's novella One Hundred Years Ahead, starring Natalia Guseva as Alisa Seleznyova; televised March 1985, it sparked "alisomania" and a 2024 remake.
Krull (film)
Krull (1983) is a British science fantasy film directed by Peter Yates for Columbia Pictures, written by Stanford Sherman, starring Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Liam Neeson, and Robbie Coltrane, with a James Horner score; a box office failure that became a cult film.
Ladyhawke (film)
Ladyhawke is a 1985 American medieval fantasy film directed by Richard Donner and starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer as two cursed lovers, a knight and a lady, kept apart by a bishop's spell.