The year the Berlin Wall came down and Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest.
Some were big in their native countries but only received a limited release in the US and UK.
Others were poorly received but have since been reassessed as cult items.
You could, in truth, sit and pick holes in abundance atAn Innocent Man.
But then its got a core of being really entertaining to it.
Watch An Innocent Man on Amazon
24.
For everyPlanes Trains And AutomobilesorStripes, you didnt have to search hard to find something likeDeliriousorWagons East.
So it proves here.
Watch Whos Harry Crumb on Amazon
23.
How much can a man take… before he gives back?
Like we all didnt know.
One thing, though.
Well,Lock Upis a bit like that with Stallones innocence.
Watch Lock Up on Amazon
22.
Watch Meet The Feebles on Amazon
21.
Watch The Fly II on Amazon
20.
Vampires Kiss
Heres an early example of Nicolas Cage operating at the jazzier end of his acting scale.
attempt to count how many times Cage screams Im a vampire in this film.
Weve included a taster of this gonzo performance above.
Fun fact: director Robert Bierman went on to direct episodes ofThe Bill.
Pure trash from Cannon Films, its also invested with a certain 80s ramshackle swagger by director Joseph Zito.
Watch Red Scorpion on Amazon
18.
As the author, Walken experiences a series of visitations from impish beings with black, almond-shaped eyes.
Are the beings real, or a figment of Striebers imagination?
Watch Communion on Amazon
17.
Its also a blast.
It sounds great already.
Theres another brother though whos been murdered, and the hunt is on to find his killer.
But its also a welcome reminder of how violent, raw, and entertaining 80s action movies could be.
Before focus groups, $100m opening weekends and trailers for trailers became a thing.
As a double bill withPoint Break,Next Of Kinshould adequately fill any evenings testosterone quota.
Watch Next of Kin on Amazon
16.
Having madeRunawaywith Tom Sellecks moustache five years earlier, 1989sPhysical Evidencesaw him recruit Burt Reynolds facial hair.
Well never know which he preferred.
Sometimes, thats enough.
And heres a fun fact: this was apparently first considered as aJagged Edgesequel.
Spoiler:Jagged Edgeis better.
Watch Physical Evidence on Amazon
15.
Are the Klopek family a bunch of murderers, as Ray suspects, or just misunderstood?
Watch The Burbs on Amazon
14.
Best Of The Best
CouldBest Of The Bestfeature the strangest cast in 80s martial arts cinema?
The plots a fairly straight postRocky/The Karate Kidsports drama about rival martial arts champions.
The 1993 sequel, about an evil underground fighting tournament, is absolutely hilarious.
Watch Best of the Best on Amazon
13.
Taking in comedy, suspense and gun-blazing action,God Of Gamblersis a cracking thriller from start to finish.
Watch God of Gamblers on Amazon
12.
What follows is a very hard-edged cop movie, where the shift in locale means a shift in rules.
Watch Black Rain on Amazon
11.
Theres lots of gory action, and one character explodes.
Its all in a days work for Sean S Cunningham, the director of the originalFriday The 13th.
Watch Deep Star Six on Amazon
10.
Sweet Home
Without Japanese chillerSweet Home,the survival horror videogame genre may never have existed.
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa later made the superbPulsein 2001.
Leviathan
From the director ofRambo: First Blood Part II!
Really, theyd have been better off marketingLeviathanon its whos-who of geek actors among the cast.
It includesGhostbusters Ernie Hudson,RambosRichard Crenna andRoboCopsPeter Weller to name but three.
Best enjoyed with a beer and some unhealthy snacks,Leviathanis perfect for an evenings trashy entertainment.
Watch Leviathan on Amazon
8.
If youre pining for moreDaredevil,Blind Furys an eminently watchable stop-gap.
Watch Blind Fury on Amazon
7.
Parents
What were the left-overs before they became left-overs?
Watch Parents for Dinner
6.
Its a shame, then, that the harder-edged Lean On Me tends to get overlooked.
Freeman plays Joe Clark, in a film based on a real story.
Watch Lean on Me on Amazon
5.
Drugstore Cowboy
Gus Van Sants second film as director remains one of his very best.
A life that consists of breaking into pharmacies, and moving from one high to the next.
A pity, and its a further shame that its slipped out of conversation as time has gone on.
Watch Drugstore Cowboy
4.
Watch Society on Amazon
3.
Watch Jacknife on Amazon
2.
Shot in grainy black-and-white, Tetsuo is a startling tour-de-force of body horror and outright surrealism.
Although not for the faint of heart,Tetsuois a must for connoisseurs of extreme cinema.
