Prince of Darkness (1987), one of my favourite John Carpenter movies. A terrible ancient secret is awakening. Very creepy, great visuals, lots of weirdness and dread. Interesting haunted house variant. Donald Pleasence is superb.

My review:

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/10/prince-of-darkness-1987.html

Gor (1987) removes everything provocative and interesting and original from John Norman's excellent first Gor novel. It becomes a stock-standard barbarian warrior adventure movie that lacks pace and energy. Very tame and very disappointing.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/09/gor-1987.html

Too Beautiful To Die (1988), an incredibly underrated giallo set in the glittering but empty world of high fashion and supermodels in Milan. I love the over-the-top 80s aesthetic. Very stylish, very decadent, very fetishistic. Great stuff.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/08/too-beautiful-to-die-1988.html

In The Black Cat (1981) Lucio Fulci takes Poe's story as a starting point and then builds a new story. Two young lovers have vanished. A crazy professor (played by Patrick Magee!) talks to the dead. He has a psychic link to his cat. Great movie.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-black-cat-1981.html

Paul Verhoeven goes medieval in Flesh + Blood (1985). Very dark, grim, grungy. Rutger Hauer in anti-hero mode as a 16th century mercenary (he butchers a nun early on). Uncomfortable viewing. Not a trace of romanticism or idealism. Great movie.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/08/flesh-blood-1985.html

Charles Band's Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn is a 1983 post-apocalyptic scifi movie with a bit of a western vibe and a Mad Max vibe. There's also crazy mystical stuff, dimension-jumping and a great villain. Cheesy fun.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/08/metalstorm-destruction-of-jared-syn-1983.html

Vampire Hunter D (1985), groundbreaking sci-fi/Wild West/vampire anime that can't quite match the visual splendour of the 2000 sequel but offers brilliant concepts, vampiric eroticism, great world-building and lots of mayhem. Superb stuff.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/07/vampire-hunter-d-1985.html

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Antonio Margheriti's Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983). About a prehistoric hunter but that's not really what's going on. Looks terrific. Fast-moving, action-packed. Feisty sexy women. Has monsters and villains and crazy twists. Terrific.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/06/yor-hunter-from-future-1983.html

Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop (1987), a dystopian cyberpunk scifi thriller with some interesting emotional nuance and some black comedy. And done with old school special effects. A dystopian future that now seems disturbingly prescient. Great movie.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/06/robocop-1987.html

King Solomon’s Mines (1985) is an unfaithful but hugely enjoyable adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's classic lost world tale. It looks great, Richard Chamberlain is a one hero, Sharon Stone is cure and adorable. J. Lee Thompson directs with style and wit. A great beer and popcorn movie.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/05/king-solomons-mines-1985.html

John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) is a slightly divisive Arthurian movie but its strengths outweigh its weaknesses and Boorman couldn't make a dull movie if he tried. Boorman claimed this movie kicked off the sword-and-sorcery boom.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2024/05/excalibur-1981.html

Krull (1983) is more a sword-and-planet than a sword-and-sorcery film and has a lot in common with Star Wars. It includes every fantasy cliché imaginable but it looks fabulous and has energy, enthusiasm and style. And lots of action. Pure fun.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2016/06/krull-1983.html

Carny (1980) is Jodie Foster's best movie. A quirkily romantic offbeat film about a girl who has to decide if the carny life is what she's been looking for. Superb performances. Emotionally powerful without sentimentality. Great movie.

My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2024/01/carny-1980.html

The first half of Bob Rafelson's 1981 The Postman Always Rings Twice promises to be the best-ever adaptation of Cain's novel, with the right of mix of sleaziness, sweatiness and desperation. The second half is a trainwreck.

My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-postman-always-rings-twice-1981.html

Never Say Never Again (1983), Sean Connery's disappointing return to the role. A remake of Thunderball, it has its moments and it’s not terrible but it’s no more than a very average spy thriller and you expect a lot more from a Bond movie.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2023/11/never-say-never-again-1983.html

Sinbad of the Seven Seas is a 1989 Cannon Films adventure fantasy with such a troubled production history you’d expect it to be a trainwreck. In fact it’s magnificent. It makes very little sense but it’s crazy fun from start to finish.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2023/10/sinbad-of-seven-seas-1989.html

The Terror Within, a 1989 Roger Corman-produced Alien rip-off set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Competently done despite the cheap monster effects. The action scenes are well-staged. Exciting violent fun with some good suspense.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-terror-within-1989.html

Star Slammer (AKA Prison Ship) is a 1986 Fred Olen Ray movie so you know it will be crazy goofy fun. A women-in-prison movie set on a prison spaceship but done in good-natured tongue-in-cheek fashion. Fun and silly and exciting and amusing.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2023/09/star-slammer-1986.html

Aenigma (1987), a fine late Lucio Fulci film (I do like late Fulci). Seriously surreal and twisted. Unsettling and perplexing but in a way that is original and distinctive. It takes place in a nightmare world in which reality plays little part.

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2023/09/aenigma-1987.html

The Sea Wolves (1980) an old-fashioned war adventure movie in the very best meaning of the term. With Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven, Trevor Howard, Patrick Macnee. There's a refreshing lack of cynicism

My review: https://princeplanetmovies.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-sea-wolves-1980.html