1980s
Buddy Buddy (1981) IMDb WikiData
Buddy Buddy
director: Billy Wilder actor: Jack Lemmon / Walter Matthau
other title: Amigos, Amigos, Negócios a Parte / Victor la gaffe
During a high-profile Mafia testimony case in Riverside County, a hired killer checks into a hotel room near the courthouse, while his depressed neighbor contemplates suicide over marital problems.
Prom Night (1980) TMDB IMDb WikiData
Prom Night
director: Paul Lynch actor: Leslie Nielsen / Jamie Lee Curtis
other title: Non entrate in quella casa / Blodig midnat
At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years prior.
The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981) IMDb WikiData
Wojna światów - następne stulecie
director: Piotr Szulkin actor: Roman Wilhelmi / Krystyna Janda
other title: The War of the World: Next Century / Wojna światów - następne stulecie
Poland, Christmastime. A band of hyperintelligent, bloodthirsty Martians take over the country and enlist hapless television newscaster Iron Idem as the voice of their propaganda machine. But when Iron dares to go off message, he makes an enemy even greater than the aliens—the state itself.
Society (1989) NeoDB IMDb TMDB Douban WikiData
Society
director: Brian Yuzna actor: Billy Warlock / Connie Danese
other title: Society - The Horror / Dark Society
Bill Whitney is worried that he is different to his sister and parents. They mix with other upper-class people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing.
Flaming Brothers (1987) Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
江湖龍虎鬥
director: Joe Cheung Tung-Cho actor: Chow Yun-Fat / Alan Tang Kwong-Wing
other title: Hermanos de fuego / 江湖龍虎鬥
Two blood brothers, who have grown up on the streets of Macau, are bound together by a special code of honour. However, this bond ultimately leads them into brutal conflict when they struggle to leave the violent world they live in.
Programmed to Kill (1987) TMDB WikiData IMDb
Programmed to Kill
director: Allan Holzman actor: Robert Ginty / Sandahl Bergman
other title: Projeto Sibertron: Programada para Morrer / Retaliator
A middle eastern female terrorist is captured by the CIA in Greece, after an attack on a marketplace. Transported back to the USA, the terrorist undergoes an operation where she is transformed into a cybernetic killing machine. Now the CIA have a secret weapon to send back to the Middle East, but how long can they control her?
Millennium (1989) IMDb WikiData
Millennium
director: Michael Anderson actor: Kris Kristofferson / Cheryl Ladd
other title: Milénio / Millennium - Die 4. Dimension
An investigator seeking the cause of an airline disaster discovers the involvement of an organisation of time travellers from a future Earth irreparably polluted who seek to rejuvenate the human race from those about to die in the past. Based on a novel by John Varley.
Assassin (1986) IMDb WikiData
Assassin
director: Sandor Stern actor: Robert Conrad / Karen Austin
other title: Special Terminator C.I.A. / Asesino
A retired agent from an Intelligence Agency is contacted by the Agency in order to stop an ultra-secret robot who is killing some government officials. That will be not an easy task, because the robot looks human and it was specifically built to be an efficient killer, not to mention that it is almost invulnerable.
Too Rye Ay Spotify
Dexys Midnight Runners
release date July 22, 1982 publisher: UMG Recordings
Jan. 23, 2026 listened
There is so much more to Dexys than just "Come On, Eileen", and you don't even have to go far to find it: Plan B, Jackie Wilson Said, I'll Show You etc right on the same album.

Hardcore Celtic speed soul FTW! :)
1980s DexysMidnightRunners Pop Soul UK
Band of the Hand (1986) TMDB
Band of the Hand
director: Paul Michael Glaser actor: Stephen Lang / Michael Carmine
other title: I 5 della squadra d'assalto / De 5 fra Miami
An Indian Vietnam veteran trains five street punks in the Everglades to fight vice in Miami.
Stand by Me (1986) NeoDB IMDb Douban TMDB
Stand by Me
8.1 (12 ratings) director: Rob Reiner actor: Wil Wheaton / River Phoenix
other title: Conta Comigo / Stand By Me - Das Geheimnis eines Sommers
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys’ adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
Rambo III (1988) NeoDB Douban IMDb WikiData TMDB
Rambo III
director: Peter MacDonald actor: Sylvester Stallone / Richard Crenna
other title: Rambo 3
Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for his help on a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines but must reconsider when Trautman is captured.
High Hopes (1989) NeoDB Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData
High Hopes
director: Mike Leigh actor: Phil Davis / Ruth Sheen
other title: Belle speranze / Grandes Ambições
Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.
Bizarro Spotify Discogs NeoDB
The Wedding Present genre: Indie Rock / Post-punk / Pop-punk / Noise Pop
release date Oct. 23, 1989 publisher: RCA
The Wedding Present's second studio album—and first "proper" album for RCA—came soon after the Ukrainian John Peel Sessions / Українські Виступи в Івана Піла folk music side project.

Technically speaking, only one single was taken from the album, "Kennedy", which provided the band with their first Top 40 hit, reaching #33. In early 1990, The Wedding Present re-recorded "Brassneck" with Steve Albini, which reached #24 in the UK charts. The single and its B-sides were later included on U.S. release of the album, and are also included on the Singles 1989-1991 compilation. The US CD version contains the Wedding Present's cover of "Box Elder", an early song by then unknown American band Pavement. A remastered CD version, released by BMG Camden in 2001, also features the B-sides of the "Kennedy" single, including a cover version of the Tom Jones hit "It's Not Unusual".
The Sure Thing (1985) IMDb WikiData
The Sure Thing
director: Rob Reiner actor: John Cusack / Daphne Zuniga
other title: Sacco a pelo a tre piazze / Garota Sinal Verde
Gib, a beer-guzzling slob, and Alison, an uptight Ivy-Leaguer, are an unlikely duo stuck together on a cross-country trip during Christmas break. At first they get on each other's nerves but, as time passes, they find their divergent natures complement each other. Now they need to realize what they've already found before it's too late.
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) NeoDB IMDb WikiData Douban TMDB
Rambo: First Blood Part II
director: George P. Cosmatos actor: Sylvester Stallone / Richard Crenna
other title: Rambo 2 - La vendetta / Rambo - First Blood 2
John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.
Jan. 10, 2026 watched
Bombastic right-wing fantasy with one bemulleted, besteroided manly man single-handedly undoing the US defeat in Vietnam caused by, you know, people not "Real American" enough. (Yeah, my comment's a little bit political. But just a tiny sliver compared to the politics of the Rambo franchise.) But I loves me some action!

Re-watched in #FridayThrillerClub watch party on Mastodon
1980s Action CharlesNapier GeorgeCheung GeorgePCosmatos
True Stories (1986) IMDb WikiData
True Stories
director: David Byrne actor: David Byrne / John Goodman
other title: Historias verdaderas / True stories
A small but growing Texas town, filled with strange and musical characters, celebrates its sesquicentennial and converge on a local parade and talent show.