Top 10 Bad ¿80s Movies That We Love | SPIKE

So many bad movies came out of the ‘80s that it’s hard to keep track of them all. But some of these bad movies actually became cherished treasures of cinema history--after they had 20 years to lose the stench of their initial lameness. Like a once-annoying ex-girlfriend, here are 10 movies that we’ve grown fond of after a lot of time and distance.

Source: United Artists

10. The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew

Source: MGM

This movie was weird at best and incoherent at worst when it came out in 1983. Strange Brew brought us the strangely appealing duo of Doug and Bob McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, respectively. Moranis would soon go on to much bigger and better things the following year when he co-starred in Ghostbusters as the obnoxiously loveable Louis Tully.

This film has since become a symbol of national pride for Canadians and a must-see for beer and hockey lovers everywhere. What made no sense in the ‘80s makes even less sense now, and it’s that much cooler because of it.

9. Teen Wolf (and Teen Wolf Too)

Source: MGM

You hear the title and you think, “There’s no way this is going to be a good movie, Michael J. Fox or no.” And when you watched it in 1985, depending on how much you liked Michael J. Fox, you still thought the same thing. But 24 years later Teen Wolf has become pretty rad, and it’s a bonus that there’s a Teen Wolf Too starring Jason Bateman who, back in the ‘80s, the television networks and movie studios apparently believed was interchangeable with Michael J. Fox.

We all know Michael J. Fox went on to rock the hell out of the Back to the Future trilogy, along with a few other gems of the ‘80s. And Jason Bateman has had an improbable comeback of his own this decade with Arrested Development. But what’s really great is that when you watch Teen Wolf now, you can really appreciate it for all its crappy effects, ridiculous concept, and hilariously silly ending (same goes for the second). The fact that we get to see younger versions of Fox and Bateman jump around in wolf outfits, knowing the more respectable success they’d have soon after (or, in Bateman’s case, much later in life) makes these movies that much more awesome.

It’s always fun to see future stars in their humble beginnings, particularly when those beginnings involve fuzzy faces and fangs.

8. Bloodsport

Source: Columbia TriStar

Bloodsport has a lot going for it--incredible fight scenes, exotic locations, and painful injuries--but acting, writing, and speaking lines in intelligible English were not the high points of this film. 21 years later, all the flaws that made Bloodsport seem amateurish and simple are glossed over by the sheer badassness of the movie. This film has some of the most brutal fight sequences of the last 20 years, and the fact that Jean-Claude Van Damme could actually fight like a mofo enhances the realism, making up for everything else.

JCVD is in perhaps the best form of any of his films, and it’s also great watching this film knowing it was his first as a leading man. The Muscles from Brussels may not know how to move us with his words, but Bloodsport is a testament to the fact that he knows how to inspire us with his kicks.

7. Weird Science

In light of John Hughes’ recent death at the much-too-soon age of 59, it’s tempting to say that everything he wrote and directed in the ‘80s was awesome. And the funny thing is, one could probably say that and get away without taking too much crap from anyone. But Weird Science was definitely one of the bad ones, at least at the time. Looking back on it 24 years later, however, gives the movie a sheen it lacked when it was released.

This movie is great simply because of how damn weird it is – hence the title. It takes all the high school movie tropes that Hughes more or less invented, and then turns them all on their heads. Between the magical Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), who Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) invent, and the powers Lisa unleashes on their behalf, pretty much nothing in this movie happens that isn’t just plain…weird. It stands out as the black sheep amongst Hughes’ panoply of classics, and as such we’ve come to love it.

6. Scanners

Source: 20th Century Fox

Scanners seemed like just another Cronenberg B-movie at the time, but now there’s no such thing as “just another” Cronenberg movie. The man rose from a modestly successful career making films like Rabid, The Brood, and The Fly to making films like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. It’s as if he’s emerged from the pod of the '80s a completely remade filmmaker.

That said, Scanners was possibly the best of his '80s sci-fi films (The Fly being the only other movie of that period that really contends with it). And with the passing of 28 years, Scanners has, like a fine wine, become sweeter with time. The heads exploding. The people catching fire. The eyeballs bursting from their sockets. Time has shown that Scanners might just be one of Cronenberg’s best films. We just had to wait 30 years to figure that out.