The most underrated movies of the 1980s

John Carpenter has some movies considered stone-cold classics, like “Halloween,” or are established cult classics, like “Big Trouble in Little China.” Under the radar, though, you can find “The Fog.” It’s a little short on substance, with no real lead character and a plot that is somewhat thin. However, “The Fog” is a strong vibes-based horror movie. It has a great feel to it, the score is killer, and there’s all that fog.

Before his career took off, Robert Zemeckis made a couple good comedies that didn’t hit with audiences at the time. One of those is “Used Cars.” The movie stars Kurt Russell as an unscrupulous used car salesman caught up in a sibling rivalry. It’s funny, but it’s also successfully dark in its humor. After “Used Cars” flopped, Zemeckis directed “The Jewel of the Nile” to prove he could succeed in Hollywood, and the rest is history.

When it comes to Albert Brooks, “Lost in America” and “Defending Your Life” get a lot of love. We’d argue “Modern Romance” is his best directorial effort, though. We’re dropped into the romantic life of Robert and Mary, a couple who is clearly on-again, off-again, and we get to watch one of those interregnums play out. It’s about as astute and well-observed as cringe comedy gets.

Carl Reiner didn’t seem picky with his directorial efforts, but he and Steve Martin were quite the creative pairing. While “The Jerk” is largely considered a classic, “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” is a lot of fun. It’s a silly send-up of noir movies, and part of the hook is that scenes from actual noir movies are spliced in, with Martin’s dimwitted P.I. interacting with, say, Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney.

Yes, Peter O’Toole was nominated for an Oscar for “My Favorite Year,” but he was nominated eight times so that doesn’t really keep this one from being underrated. After all, period pieces set in 1954 don’t readily stand the test of time for audiences. The movie focuses on a writer for a Sid Caesar-style TV show and is tasked with keeping an eye on an Errol Flynn-esque actor he loves and has shoehorned into a cameo on the show. Why is the eye-keeping necessary? Said actor is a petulant drunk.

Mel Brooks was best friends with Carl Reiner, and he produced “My Favorite Year.” Now, we have a movie that he starred in. The most-enjoyable thing about “To Be or Not to Be,” a remake of a 1942 film, is seeing actual couple Brooks and Anne Bancroft playing a couple in one of their rare acting appearances together. There is, indeed, fun to be found in this movie about a vaudeville troupe dealing with Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland.

“Repo Man” is a cult classic, but it is as good as any cult classic from the 1980s. We will grant it isn’t for everybody. It’s a snarky, punk comedy. However, it’s not just for snarky ‘80s punk. The movie is distinct, pointed, looks cool, and has a killer soundtrack. Emilio Estevez (and maybe even Harry Dean Stanton) has never been better.

“Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” are the codified joke-a-second spoofs from the Zuckers and Jim Abrahams. “Top Secret!,” though, is also on that level. Val Kilmer is excellent in this riff on both Elvis movies and Cold War spy films. If you like “Airplane!” or the “Naked Gun” movies at all, definitely give “Top Secret!” a shot.

You might think that “C.H.U.D.” is a low-budget horror movie about mutated humans who have turned cannibal…and it is. However, it’s also about as good as such a movie gets. Now, that’s not to say it’s a stone-cold masterpiece, but this is a good horror film with more going for it than you might expect. “C.H.U.D.” is helped by having John Heard and Daniel Stern in the cast. Also, just so you know we’ve thought this out, “C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.” is only for fans of goofy ‘80s horror flicks.

This is the sort of ‘80s movie where distance from the ‘80s may help bolster its quality. “Night of the Comet” has a lived-in ‘80s feel that isn’t distracting or over the top, but is fun in a retro way. Of course, at the time that wouldn’t have been the feel. This was just a low-budget sci-fi movie about two teenage sisters surviving an apocalyptic event of the moment. Now, it’s a cool glimpse of ‘80s cult horror-comedy.

There are a lot of genre films and a lot of comedy films on this list, perhaps because those are movie realms where it is harder to become codified or to be taken seriously. “The Falcon and the Snowman,” though, is a tense drama with a lot more of a prestige feel to it. It’s based on a real story of espionage, and it is directed by John Schlesinger, who won an Oscar for “Midnight Cowboy.” Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn play two privileged teens who decide to sell secrets to the Soviet Union, mostly for money and kicks.

Another Val Kilmer comedy! Before he became a serious actor (overly serious, if we’re being honest), Kilmer was excelling in frothy ‘80s comedies. This is one of the best campus comedies and the best slobs vs. snobs comedies. Part of that comes down to the fact the “slobs” are geniuses who are generally well-intentioned. Also, the “snobs” are mostly William Atherton, who was great at playing wonderfully-unlikeable characters.

“Night of the Living Dead” is the most-important zombie movie in film history. There have been several sequels and reimaginings, and the best of the bunch is definitely “The Return of the Living Dead.” Instead of some eerie horror movie or gory social commentary, it’s an over-the-top, punk horror-comedy. It’s ridiculous, but so much fun. It too has sequels, though they aren’t terribly good.

“The Manhattan Project” was a flop, but it deserved better than that in our opinion. It’s a good teen-centric thriller. A brainy high school student (and his fashionable girlfriend played by Cynthia Nixon), work to expose nuclear experimentation secretly going on in their hometown, even if it means committing treason.

“Gremlins” and even “The ‘Burbs” are ‘80s movies from Joe Dante that have gotten plenty of deserved love. Both have even been adapted into TV shows that conveniently cut Dante out of the creative process. “Innerspace” gets overlooked, though. In this fun sci-fi comedy, Dennis Quaid plays a serious, determined military pilot who volunteers for a secret miniaturization experiment. When chaos ensues, though, the miniature Quaid is injected into an unwitting civilian, played by Martin Short. He plays a Martin Short character, so you probably get the dynamic at play.

One more Carpenter movie, because his ‘80s output deserves two. “Prince of Darkness” is even more underrated than “The Fog.” It’s less known and also better, though of course it still has a killer score. “Prince of Darkness” has a more straightforward plot and clearer characters. Of course, it’s also about a mysterious cylinder that contains the liquid manifestation of Satan, so it’s not exactly paint-by-numbers by any means.

The ZAZ team weren’t the only ones making worthwhile parodies in the 1980s. Keenan Ivory Wayans wrote and directed “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” a parody of blaxploitation movies. This, of course, was a genre ZAZ was not well-equipped to dive into. As with any joke-heavy spoof, not everything hits, but “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” walked so “Black Dynamite” could run.

You know “Say Anything…” is underrated because so many people only talk about it as the movie where the guy stands with a boom box outside the girl’s window. First, we know these people haven’t seen it because he’s not outside her window! Second, this is one of the best romantic comedies (dramedies?) ever made, and one of the best movies about teenagers ever made.

We went into seeing “Earth Girls Are Easy” for the first time assuming it’d be a silly, slight comedy about Geena Davis meeting some aliens. Oh, it is a silly comedy about Geena Davis meeting some aliens (including a pre-fame Jim Carrey), but it is not slight. It’s a musical, for one, and has a lot of satire about 1980s Los Angeles as well. Also, Geena Davis does rule, so there’s that.

We’re bending, but not breaking, our parameters to end with “Back to the Future Part II.” Asserting it is underrated is fair in our opinion, because this movie is better than the original “Back to the Future.” Maybe if you saw the original film when it came out, it was totally fresh, and there was no existing sequel, or sequels, we can see considering “Back to the Future” the best of the bunch. For us, the second film has more entertainment value, and a slightly better story as well. Although, it wasn’t cool for them to use Crispin Glover’s image like that, but with that issue long settled we can still put “Part II” atop the hierarchy.