15 Forgotten 80s Sci‑Fi Movies That Still Hold Up in 2026

Alien Nation wasn't a flop, it spawned a TV show

Only halfway through the Enemy Mine part, and already see two problems: 1st, they were plant people, not reptiles; 2nd the son and the racist guy turning against his own species to protect the species he once hated is the heart and point of the film, not survival

Oh, god! Batteries Not Included! I'd forgotten! It's gorgeous!

Enemy Mine is a grossly underrated film. If you haven't seen, you NEED to. It's an extraordinary work.

I can't recall the channel, sorry, but there's a fantastic breakdown & review of Flight Of The Navigator on YT that goes into the practical effects & the groundbreaking use of perspective. It's almost an hour long, but absolutely worth it.

Saturn 3. The last starfighter. Space camp. The black hole

Outland was a great movie. I watched it many times on Showtime. The ending of Somewhere in Time was incredibly sad. The ending of Enemy Mine was also a tearjerker.

14 and onward won't play for me. But the ads work 😅

20:16 in some interview J.Seymour mentioned she had big crush on Ch.Reeve and vice versa, but they didnt continue further cause Reeve had a girlfriend at that time. So they just stayed good friends. Maybe the chemistry is obvuious in the movie

I saw the movie” enemy mine” it was a damn good movie!!

Enemy Mine is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.

Outlander has been a favorite since I saw the previews for it on TV when I was a little kid, now I know how brilliant it is. No aliens just life on a mining colony. .

I own 12 of these...

Don't agree with your order and some of the picks, but several really good movies, for their day, were in there.

I liked that movie, Runaway. My dad used to watch it, and I really enjoyed it too. It's a great but pretty intense movie.

7:03 - calling an alien reptilian "a people" is a joke.

Theirs a movie from the early 80’d about an alien criminal hiding out on earth. The main character is an alien bounty hunter and you fallow him looking for the alien. I believe the alien can change shape and theirs a hospital scene where you see the aliens true dark hulking form. It get cuts and a bright light comes from its cut. I believe it all takes place in like LA or some other major city in the US. Anyone have any idea about the movies name.

Gene Simmons acting killed Runaway.

I've seen some of these movies, and liked them.
Oh!.....In case you were wondering, the type of being that you can describe Charlie Sheen's character as, is what's called a "Revenant."' According to legend, a Revenant is a type of Ghost, that comes back for vengeance against it's Killers. It shows no mercy, and will not forgive it's murderers. It takes their lives, whether as a group, all at once, or singularly.

They Live (1988)

People naming well known movies in the comments like absolute fools.

I'm only @13:00 and I had total forgotten about the movie, " D.A.R.Y.L. " I vaguely remember it and I know that I really enjoyed it.

Pre CGI movies were so rad! (Who remembers that word!?!?)

Well actually... Alien was a 70s movie. ;)

Tron certainly was not a “cultural phenomenon” at the time. Grossing only $33 million worldwide, the film was considered a flop - at a time when most Disney films WERE flops (only under the Touchstone label did they finally begin to crank out blockbusters). Mediocre reviews. It was only recognized for its ground-breaking effects, but soon forgotten when Jedi and other sci-fi action films hit the screens. I remember boomer comedians even treating it as a joke in the 80s and 90s. It only became a “cultural phenomenon” when Disney began pushing the nostalgia marketing and sequel decades later. Aside from that, only VHS and laser disc collectors kept the film alive (barely) through the late 80s and 90s (I know, I was one of ‘em). Even the arcade game, though cool-looking to kids like myself, was not the most player friendly and soon became vacant at arcades and 7-11s.

26:11 IO??? ganymede or callisto would be more believable, but friggin io???

There are quite a few good 80s scifi movies but Looker and Runaway, for example, are not anywhere near in the same dimension as good. Crichton was a very uneven (on average, I'd say mediocre) writer whose only strong point was that he could come up with cool basic scifi concepts and see it going wrong. He was even worse as a director because he had to deal with human beings who weren't created by him and so weren't under his absolute control.

Why apologise for a romance film?

I saw about 75% of these. A few notes. DARYL looks like a major miss, and only good for the girlies. Slipstream, yes, liked it, and Night of the Comet was a nice surprise, and I haven't seen a movie quite like it, and yes it does resemble Buffy but without all the homo erotica in it. Maybe the best of the whole lot was Brainstorm, and that my girl Natalie was in it just added to it. I don't remember Outland too well, but look at the sets, it just screams Alien.

I remember seeing Looker a long time ago in my early teens maybe younger. The strange gun definitely made an impression on me and the theme tune is very catchy.

Outland is a classic!

The Hidden is SO good!

Saw Runaway coz of Starlog Mag, me & family saw Enemy Mine coz Starlog & father had read original short story; saw Alien Nation coz Starlog; saw Night of the Comet on cable & Daryl, ditto,; Somewhere in Time, cable, ditto, also read book, & stars; Buckaroo on cable, Starlog; Batteries, cable, Starlog; Outland, ditto, cable.

I remember me and Pops going to see Alien Nation. Good ole days.

I've been mentioning Looker and Brainstorm the last ten years, as way ahead of their time, especially as AI, virtual reality, govt and corporate corruption, and the surveillance state get bigger.

They Live

i watched 10 0f these

20:26 reminds me of Total Recall

RIP Michael Crichton good writer and world building creator