112 articles
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.
Eliminators
Eliminators (1986 film), also known simply as Eliminators, is a Peter Manoogian science fiction action film from Charles Band's Empire Pictures about the cyborg Mandroid, released 31 January 1986.
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.
Flight of the Navigator
Flight of the Navigator is Disney's 1986 sci-fi family film directed by Randal Kleiser, starring Joey Cramer as a boy who vanishes in 1978 and returns eight years later unaged after a faster-than-light trip aboard the alien ship Trimaxion with robot Max, voiced by Paul Reubens.
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.
Innerspace
Innerspace (1987) is a Joe Dante sci-fi comedy, also known as El chip prodigioso, in which miniaturized pilot Dennis Quaid is injected into hypochondriac Martin Short; it won the 1988 Oscar for Best Visual Effects but underperformed at the box office.
Invaders from Mars (1986 film)
Invaders from Mars (1986) is Tobe Hooper's Cannon Films remake of the 1953 alien-invasion classic, written by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, starring Karen Black and Hunter Carson, grossing $4.8 million on a $12 million budget.
Kin-dza-dza! (Кин-дза-дза!)
Kin-dza-dza! (Кин-дза-дза!) is a 1986 Mosfilm satirical sci-fi comedy by Georgiy Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze, in which two Muscovites are teleported to the desert planet Pluke, with 15.7 million Soviet viewers and a cult chatlanian vocabulary including "Ku" and pepelats.
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.
Labyrinth (1986 film)
Labyrinth (1986) is a Jim Henson-directed fantasy film, executive produced by George Lucas, starring David Bowie as Jareth and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah; a TriStar box-office failure that became a cult classic.
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.
Legend (1985 film)
Legend (1985) is Ridley Scott's fantasy film, written by William Hjortsberg, starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. Released in Europe in 1985 with Jerry Goldsmith's score and in the US in 1986 recut to 89 minutes with Tangerine Dream music, it flopped but became a cult classic.
Leviathan (1989 film)
Leviathan (1989 film), also known as an undersea Alien, is a George P. Cosmatos horror film written by David Peoples and Jeb Stuart, about deep-sea miners who uncover a sunken Soviet ship and a mutating genetic experiment.
Lifeforce (film)
Lifeforce is a 1985 British science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, loosely adapted from Colin Wilson's novel The Space Vampires, about space vampires attacking London.
Liquid Sky
Liquid Sky (1982) is Slava Tsukerman's cult independent sci-fi film, also called a post-punk New Wave classic, in which aliens feed on orgasm chemicals in 1980s New York, starring Anne Carlisle in a dual role.
Looker
Looker is a 1981 American sci-fi thriller written and directed by Michael Crichton, starring Albert Finney, about models murdered so Digital Matrix can use CGI doubles and the LOOKER hypnotic-advertising system; first shaded 3D CGI human in film.
Mac and Me
Mac and Me is a 1988 American sci-fi comedy directed by Stewart Raffill, an E.T.-style story of a stranded alien and a wheelchair-using boy, infamous for heavy McDonald's and Coca-Cola product placement, a $6 million gross, and two Razzie Awards.
Making Mr. Right
Making Mr. Right is a 1987 Orion Pictures sci-fi romantic comedy directed by Susan Seidelman, starring John Malkovich as scientist Jeff Peters and his android Ulysses, with Ann Magnuson as PR expert Frankie Stone; released 10 April 1987, 98 minutes, PG-13.
Man Facing Southeast
Man Facing Southeast (Hombre mirando al sudeste) is Eliseo Subiela's 1986 Argentine science fiction drama about Rantes, a psychiatric patient claiming to be an extraterrestrial; Oscar entry, nine Cóndor de Plata awards, Kino Lorber 2016 release.
Megaforce
Megaforce is a 1982 American action science fiction film directed by Hal Needham, starring Barry Bostwick, about an elite military unit that intervenes when governments will not.
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn is a 1983 Charles Band 3-D science fiction film, also called Metalstorm, starring Jeffrey Byron as ranger Dogen on desert planet Lemuria, released by Universal on 19 August 1983.
Millennium (1989 film)
Millennium is a 1989 science fiction film directed by Michael Anderson, starring Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd, adapted by John Varley from his short story Air Raid and 1983 novel, about time travelers rescuing doomed airline passengers.
Morons from Outer Space
Morons from Outer Space is a 1985 British sci-fi comedy directed by Mike Hodges, written by and starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, about dim aliens from planet Blob who crash-land in England and become celebrities; a box-office flop also once titled Illegal Aliens.
My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ)
My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 Studio Ghibli animated film about sisters Satsuki and Mei befriending the forest spirit Totoro, released with Grave of the Fireflies and later adopted as Ghibli's logo.
My Science Project
My Science Project is a 1985 American teen science fiction comedy film directed by Jonathan R. Betuel, about an alien device that opens a time warp.