Casey Chong looks at eight great cult sci-fi movies from 1985….
1985 was a big year for a certain sci-fi movie called Back to the Future, which made over $210 million in the stateside alone. Robert Zemeckis’ genre-defining, time-travel masterpiece remains a cinematic icon to this day. However, the year also saw a handful of other sci-fi movie releases, some of which became a hit (Cocoon) and others like Enemy Mine and Explorers which were largely shunned by the audiences at the time. Below is our pick of the essential sci-fi movies that were released in 1985 beyond from Back to the Future…
Re-Animator
Certainly not for the squeamish, Stuart Gordon goes all out in the name of Lovecraftian horror with sci-fi elements in Re-Animator. The movie gives us the one and only Jeffrey Combs in his iconic unhinged role as Herbert West, the mad medical student who is determined to make a scientific breakthrough for bringing back the dead to life with his experimental serum.
Gordon’s genre know-how direction is all about embracing the anything-goes, B-movie vibe of a sci-fi horror laced with a pitch-black comedy. It’s over-the-top bloody and gory and a technical achievement in practical effects thatdoesn’t waste time with unnecessary excesses, thanks to its overall assured pace. The cult success of Re-Animator spawned two more movies including Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator.
Brazil
Terry Gilliam’s misunderstood sci-fi masterpiece failed to attract sizable audiences at the time of its release but it was since hailed as one of the best of its kind. Gilliam, who also co-wrote the screenplay, brings his unique vision of a dystopian future filled with bureaucratic nightmares and the topsy-turvy absurdity of an unfortunate, low-level government employee played by the sympathetic Jonathan Pryce caught between daydreaming and facing the mundane reality.
Beyond Gilliam’s stunning visual palette and all things quirky humor that becomes one of the director’s signature filmmaking touches, there’s a distinct narrative depth that owes to the Orwellian tropes revolving around the totalitarianism and oppression within the social and political system in the world of Brazil. The movie’s mammoth running time of nearly 2 ½ hours may be a turn-off for some audiences but Gilliam’s layered direction between stretching his imagination and laying out the subtle commentary is a one-of-the-kind cinematic experience worth checking out.
Enemy Mine
The late Wolfgang Petersen has given us some of his most genre-defining works from Das Boot to In the Line of Fire and Air Force One. Then, there’s the sadly underappreciated Enemy Mine, which was released a year after the big hit of The NeverEnding Story. Enemy Mine was plagued by behind-the-scene issues including original director Richard Loncraine, who had already shot some footage but ultimately got fired before Petersen took over the project. Instead of picking up whatever Loncraine’s existing footage has left behind, he decided to re-do everything from scratch.
Despite his best effort, Enemy Mine tanked at the box office but the movie deserves better with Petersen, working from Edward Khmara’s adapted screenplay from Barry B. Longyear’s novella of the same name, effectively combining themes of harmony and unity, overcoming prejudice and universal empathy in this sci-fi thriller. Essentially a two-hander for most of the movie, evidently in the conflict between the human fighter pilot Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and a reptilian humanoid Drac named Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr., looking unrecognizable in full prosthetic makeup), Petersen does a good job bringing out the best in these two actors. The mismatched dynamic between these two characters is what elevates Enemy Mine from a mere sci-fi tale of survival.
The Quiet Earth
This New Zealand import explores the what-if scenario of how the world would look like after a global catastrophe wiped out almost all human existence. Directed by Geoff Murphy, who would go on to helm Hollywood productions such as Young Guns II, Freejack and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, he opens his movie with an attention-grabbing moment: a man (Bruno Lawrence) finds himself awakened in a room one morning, only to find out he’s all alone in the city. The first 35 minutes or so delves into Lawrence’s lonely character, who plays Zac Hobson, who is trying his best to kill time by keeping himself busy (at one point, he feels comfortable putting on a woman’s dress). Lawrence’s one-man show is a top-notch acting performance as he successfully captures the mixed feelings of isolation, frustration and self-joy.
The Quiet Earth subsequently introduces two more characters: a young woman named Joanne (Alison Routledge) and later, a Maori man named Api played by Pete Smith. Adapted from Craig Harrison’s 1981 novel of the same name, the movie also highlights the added themes of human instincts, trust and racial tension between Zac and Api before the story culminates in a surrealistic, yet ambiguous finale.
Cocoon
Believe it or not, Robert Zemeckis was initially going to direct Cocoon but Fox studio executives got cold feet after their negative reactions over the early cut of Romancing the Stone (which would go on to become a hit anyway). Ron Howard, whose last movie Splash did big numbers at the box office, replaced him instead and Howard’s deliberate direction proves to be the right fit for turning Tom Benedek’s screenplay about a group of seniors at the retirement home discovering a Fountain of Youth-like swimming pool that has giant rock-like cocoons lying on the bottom into a heartfelt sci-fi fable.
Thought-provoking themes of aging and rediscovered youth along with the universal subjects of life and death are beautifully explored through the eyes of these seniors played by Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, and Hume Cronyn. Casting this older generation of actors is far from nostalgia bait as Howard brings out the best in their performances. The special effects, particularly the glowing alien beings, may have dated by today’s standards but it’s hard to deny the underlying positive charm of the depiction of the otherworldly creatures. Cocoon was one of the big hits during that year and an unfortunately Ron Howard-less inferior sequel called Cocoon: The Return followed three years later.
The Stuff
The title refers to the mysterious white goo with shaving cream-like texture which tastes sweet and addictive. This goo soon becomes an overnight sensation as a must-have dessert and everyone in America can’t just get enough of this “stuff”. Writer-director Larry Cohen embraces the over-the-top silliness of his bizarre premise, which satirizes its relevant theme of consumerism and how an impossible-to-ignore product can dictate or influence a lot of people no matter young or old.
The white goo in The Stuff not only made the people crave for more but also controlled their minds and appetites and even kills when necessary. Think of it as part of the white, sticky blob coming from the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man capable of suffocating its victim or even bursting out of one’s mouth. The movie benefits from a game performance led by Michael Moriarty as the skeptical former FBI agent-turned-industrial saboteur investigating the origin of the titular white goo.
Lifeforce
Leave it to Tobe Hooper for something odd, sleazy and grotesque as seen in Lifeforce, which combines sci-fi horror about vampirism a.k.a. the space vampires executed in an unabashedly B-movie vibe. In Lifeforce, he doesn’t shy away from his ample display of sex and nudity courtesy of the frequently naked Mathilda May as the female alien in a human body.
Hooper’s over-the-top and vulgar direction may have been a turn-off for mainstream audiences expecting Lifeforce to be more traditionally executed, given its prime summer movie release date at the time. But genre fans who are game enough for no-holds-barred sleaziness and gory mayhem, where the latter is especially true in the second half that focuses on the apocalyptic city-wide vampiric infection all over London.
SEE ALSO: Lifeforce: A Movie Only Cannon Could Have Made
Explorers
Joe Dante’s follow-up to his highly successful Gremlins sees the director explore the Amblin-style sci-fi fantasy featuring then-newcomers Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in their feature film debuts. Explorers touches on the familiar themes of wish-fulfillment and reaching for the stars – both literally and figuratively – as the story delves into the (mis)adventures of three pre-teen boys (the third one played by Jason Presson) building their own homemade spaceship using the scrap materials with the help of Phoenix’s science whiz’s computer programming.
The first half boasts a promising build-up from the establishment of these three characters to the initial spaceship adventure around the neighborhood. Both Hawke and Phoenix prove to be the stars-in-the-making at the time, showing us a glimpse of these two’s early acting prowess that would shape their career. However, the movie stumbles once the story takes place in outer space and the introduction of the cheeky aliens isn’t exactly the kind of payoff that (most) audiences hoped for. But even with the shortcomings, Explorers resonates a lot in depicting the kids’ point of view and sheer imagination in daring to dream big.
Casey Chong
