The 1980s was a great decade for mainstream classics that still endure, like Poltergeist, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Back to the Future.
But there are plenty of fantastic ’80s movies that we love today that were not received quite as well upon release.
Watch With Us has put together a ranked list of five of the most misunderstood movies of the 1980s — movies that critics didn’t get, audiences didn’t get or have just been completely lost to time.
First up on our list is Innerspace, an irreverent sci-fi comedy starring Dennis Quaid as a man who is shrunk down to microscopic size.
5. ‘Innerspace’ (1987)
Aviator Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Quaid) volunteers for a top-secret experiment in which Tuck is shrunk down to microscopic size in a submersible pod. Once both Tuck and the submersible are miniaturized, they are transferred into a syringe intended for injection into a rabbit. However, the lab is attacked by rivals who want to steal the ambitious technology for themselves. To protect the experiment, Tuck ends up injected into the body of an unsuspecting hypochondriac named Jack Putter (Martin Short). As Tuck struggles to be rescued from Jack’s body, his colleagues are still impeded by the thieves.
Innerspace is a fantastic ’80s comedy that is way too overlooked, which director Joe Dante attributes to poor marketing of the film at the time of release, despite generally favorable reactions from audiences. Dante further notes that the film began to receive more attention after it hit home video, and since then, it’s become a low-key cult favorite by those in the know. Innerspace is a must-watch for its infectious, madcap energy that seamlessly blends comedy, sci-fi and adventure, hinged on a hilarious dynamic between Short and Quaid.
4. ‘Halloween III: Season of the Witch’ (1982)
Hospital emergency room doctor Dr. Daniel “Dan” Challis (Tom Atkins) and a woman named Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin) team up to uncover a nefarious plot to kill the world’s children on Halloween. Small-town costume creator Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) has plans to implement a deadly Celtic ritual through popular Halloween masks and a hypnotic TV ad jingle. Can Dan and Ellie stop Cochran before his deadly plan is set into motion?
John Carpenter and his producer, Debra Hill, wanted to give their Halloween franchise a fresh spin, so they ditched Michael Myers and reimagined it as an anthology with a new story for each installment. Halloween III: Season of the Witch was set to be the first in a line of brand-new stories, but unfortunately, audiences only wanted the killer they knew and loved, and Halloween III was a bust. The movie has since gained a cult following that appreciates its unique tone, fun standalone story and unforgettablely bleak ending.
3. ‘Body Double’ (1984)
Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) is a struggling actor in Los Angeles, and if things couldn’t get any worse, he gets dumped by his girlfriend. However, it seems like things are finally turning around for him when he’s offered the opportunity to house-sit an incredible mansion in the Hollywood Hills. One night at home, Jake looks through the owner’s telescope and witnesses a woman in a house nearby being murdered. Jake is determined to find the truth of what happened to him, leading him down into the seedy underworld of LA porn with an adult actress named Holly Body (Melanie Griffith).
When Brian De Palma’s Body Double debuted at the box office in 1984, it was not well received by audiences, and critics were torn on the film’s shocking, explicit content. In the years since, however, the movie has grown to be considered one of De Palma’s greatest works, with both fans and critics reassessing the merits of the film’s aesthetic and sexual indulgences. The subversive meta-commentary about movie-making and voyeurism (mirroring the clear inspiration from Rear Window) and highly stylized thrills are just part of what makes Body Double such a masterful work.
2. ‘Star 80’ (1983)
Based on the tragic story of Playboy model Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered at the hands of her husband, Paul Snider, in 1980, Star 80 is directed by Bob Fosse and stars Mariel Hemingway as Stratten. Dorothy has the misfortune of first encountering Snider (played by Eric Roberts) in high school while working at a Dairy Queen, and Snider instantly recognizes Stratten as a star in the making. After successfully wooing her, Snider gets Dorothy to move to Los Angeles with him, where he becomes her manager and lover. Deluded into believing he is Dorothy’s only path to success, Snider becomes more and more controlling over the young woman’s life.
Star 80 had a mixed reaction from critics at the time, likely due to the extremely unsettling subject matter and Roberts’ chilling performance. Star 80 almost feels like a movie we shouldn’t be allowed to watch, but it’s really a fascinating and non-exploitative portrait of control, abuse and misogyny, giving nuanced color to Dorothy Stratten’s life and death. Ultimately, Roberts may have been too good at portraying a malignant creep, which some felt literally kept him from receiving a much-deserved Oscar nod for his performance.
1. ‘The King of Comedy’ (1982)
Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) wants to be a successful comedian like his idol, legendary talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). Unfortunately, Pupkin is an asocial and self-obsessed loser, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he talks and acts about himself and his “comedy skills.” In his efforts to be noticed by Langford, Pupkin goes to increasingly unsettling lengths to not just get Langford to read his material, but to get closer to him, too. When showing up at Langford’s house doesn’t work, Pupkin resorts to drastic measures — kidnapping Pupkin and enlisting the help of Masha (Sandra Bernhard), another disturbed Langford fan.
The King of Comedy was deeply misunderstood when it came out in 1982, receiving a lukewarm reception from critics and effectively bombing at the box office. Over time, viewers have come to regard The King of Comedy as an underrated gem among Martin Scorsese‘s impressive filmography; a disquieting film that cannily aligns you with an extremely unlikable protagonist that nevertheless mirrors behaviors we’d rather overlook in ourselves and in others. It presents a damning look at celebrity obsession that now feels eerily prescient, and features one of De Niro’s greatest performances.
