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Best Science fiction Movies of the 1980s
#1 The Empire Strikes Back (1980) · ★ 8.4 · 18,538 votes · 2h 4m · action, adventure, science-fictionThe epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined th…
#2 Back to the Future (1985) · ★ 8.3 · 22,492 votes · 1h 56m · comedy, adventure, science-fictionEighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty mu…
#3 The Thing (1982) · ★ 8.1 · 8,235 votes · 1h 49m · horror, science-fiction, mysteryA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.…
#4 Aliens (1986) · ★ 8.0 · 11,229 votes · 2h 17m · action, thriller, science-fictionRipley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story…
#5 Return of the Jedi (1983) · ★ 7.9 · 17,265 votes · 2h 12m · action, adventure, science-fictionLuke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Emperor prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, and t…
#6 Blade Runner (1982) · ★ 7.9 · 15,447 votes · 1h 58m · thriller, drama, science-fictionIn the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their…
#7 Akira (1988) · ★ 7.9 · 5,026 votes · 2h 4m · action, science-fiction, animationA secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.…
#8 Back to the Future Part II (1989) · ★ 7.8 · 14,344 votes · 1h 48m · comedy, adventure, science-fictionMarty and Doc are at it again as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports alm…
#9 The Terminator (1984) · ★ 7.7 · 15,035 votes · 1h 48m · action, thriller, science-fictionIn the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is desti…
#10 Brazil (1985) · ★ 7.7 · 3,844 votes · 2h 23m · comedy, science-fictionLow-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a cas…
#11 Angel's Egg (1985) · ★ 7.7 · 609 votes · 1h 11m · fantasy, science-fiction, animationIn the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.…
#12 Predator (1987) · ★ 7.6 · 9,465 votes · 1h 47m · action, adventure, thrillerA team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.…
#13 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · ★ 7.5 · 12,305 votes · 1h 55m · fantasy, adventure, science-fictionAn alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his b…
#14 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) · ★ 7.5 · 2,214 votes · 1h 53m · action, adventure, thrillerThe starship Enterprise and its crew is pulled back into action when old nemesis, Khan, steals a top secret device called Project Genesis.…
#15 RoboCop (1987) · ★ 7.4 · 5,982 votes · 1h 42m · action, thriller, science-fictionIn a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicat…
#16 The Fly (1986) · ★ 7.4 · 5,167 votes · 1h 36m · horror, science-fictionWhen brilliant, eccentric scientist Seth Brundle makes a huge technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly m…
#17 Mad Max 2 (1981) · ★ 7.4 · 4,327 votes · 1h 36m · action, adventure, thrillerMax Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other…
#18 The Abyss (1989) · ★ 7.4 · 3,612 votes · 2h 20m · action, adventure, thrillerA civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000…
#19 The Secret of NIMH (1982) · ★ 7.4 · 981 votes · 1h 23m · fantasy, adventure, dramaA widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave moth…
#20 They Live (1988) · ★ 7.3 · 3,662 votes · 1h 33m · action, thriller, science-fictionA lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into su…
#21 Videodrome (1983) · ★ 7.2 · 2,558 votes · 1h 28m · horror, science-fiction, mysteryAs the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture…
#22 The Return of the Living Dead (1985) · ★ 7.2 · 2,313 votes · 1h 31m · comedy, horror, science-fictionTwo employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a toxic gas from a misplaced top-secret U.S. Army shipment, causing the dead to rise from a nearby cemetery with an…
#23 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) · ★ 7.2 · 1,728 votes · 1h 58m · adventure, science-fictionWhen a huge alien probe enters the galaxy and begins to vaporize Earth's oceans, Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in order to bring back whales and save the planet.…
#24 WarGames (1983) · ★ 7.1 · 2,260 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, drama, science-fictionHigh school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department…
#25 Re-Animator (1985) · ★ 7.1 · 1,733 votes · 1h 26m · comedy, horror, science-fictionConducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West reveals to a fellow graduate student his groundbreaking work concerning the re…
#26 The Transformers: The Movie (1986) · ★ 7.1 · 645 votes · 1h 25m · action, adventure, science-fictionThe Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack fr…
#27 Escape from New York (1981) · ★ 7.0 · 3,657 votes · 1h 39m · action, thriller, science-fictionIn a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US president crash-lands inside, war…
#28 The Dead Zone (1983) · ★ 7.0 · 1,913 votes · 1h 43m · thriller, horror, science-fictionJohnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years.…
#29 Enemy Mine (1985) · ★ 7.0 · 1,139 votes · 1h 48m · drama, science-fictionA soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band t…
#30 Flight of the Navigator (1986) · ★ 7.0 · 954 votes · 1h 30m · adventure, science-fiction, family12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as per…
#31 Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) · ★ 7.0 · 740 votes · 1h 7m · horror, science-fictionA "metal fetishist", driven mad by the maggots wriggling in the wound he's made to embed metal into his flesh, runs out into the night and is accidentally run down by a Japanese bu…
#32 Spaceballs (1987) · ★ 6.9 · 3,562 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, science-fictionWhen the nefarious Dark Helmet hatches a plan to snatch Princess Vespa and steal her planet's air, space-bum-for-hire Lone Starr and his clueless sidekick fly to the rescue. Along…
#33 The Blob (1988) · ★ 6.9 · 1,111 votes · 1h 35m · action, thriller, horrorIn Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.…
#34 Starman (1984) · ★ 6.9 · 1,057 votes · 1h 55m · fantasy, romance, dramaWhen an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.…
#35 The Hidden (1987) · ★ 6.9 · 517 votes · 1h 37m · action, thriller, horrorWhen average, law-abiding citizens suddenly turn to a life of hedonistic behavior and violent crime, Detective Tom Beck is tasked with helping young FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher deter…
#36 Superman II (1980) · ★ 6.8 · 2,624 votes · 2h 7m · action, adventure, science-fictionThree Kryptonian criminals led by General Zod team up with Lex Luthor to conquer Earth, forcing a depowered Superman to regain his strength and stop them.…
#37 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) · ★ 6.8 · 2,179 votes · 1h 30m · comedy, adventure, science-fictionTwo rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.…
#38 Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) · ★ 6.8 · 1,650 votes · 1h 53m · thriller, romance, dramaWinston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Jul…
#39 Innerspace (1987) · ★ 6.8 · 1,462 votes · 2h 0m · action, comedy, science-fictionTest pilot Tuck Pendleton volunteers to test a special vessel for a miniaturization experiment. Accidentally injected into a neurotic hypochondriac, Jack Putter, Tuck must convince…
#40 Night of the Creeps (1986) · ★ 6.8 · 603 votes · 1h 28m · comedy, horror, science-fictionIn 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a fraternity accidentally thaw the co…