’80s Sci-Fi Movies That Still Look Amazing Today

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For as long as movies have existed, filmmakers have used every tool available to create fantastical worlds, especially when it comes to science fiction. As special effects grew more sophisticated, directors had a greater ability to let their imaginations run wild, allowing them to create aliens, flying saucers, cyborgs … anything the mind could possibly dream up. The quality of these effects reached an apex in the 1980s, a time when nascent computer-generated imagery was utilized alongside old school techniques like models, miniatures, and makeup. As modern blockbusters have become increasingly reliant upon CGI, there’s been a growing nostalgia for the days when more practical effects were used. Not just because they were more tactile, but because, in many ways, they just looked better than what’s being offered now.

Today, the ease of computer generated effects has taken away some of the fun of practical movie magic. From the days of silent cinema, there were few things more enjoyable than watching moviemakers pull off the impossible through camera tricks, editing effects, and other slights of hand. Even when you can spot the seams showing, there’s still delight in watching magic take shape in front of your eyes.

Here are 12 sci-fi movies from the ’80s that still look amazing, not just in terms of special effects (both practical and computer generated), but also for their production design, costumes, cinematography, and makeup.

When an American nuclear submarine sinks after colliding with an unidentified submerged object, the American government enlists a civilian oil rigging crew to salvage the wreckage before the Soviets can. Dr. Lindsay Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), who designed the rig, joins the crew underwater, where she butts heads with the foreman, Virgil “Bud” Brigman (Ed Harris), her ex-husband. Also aboard is Lt. Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn), a trigger-happy Navy SEAL who becomes paranoid from high-pressure nervous syndrome, a symptom of deep sea diving. As the crew explores the wreckage, they encounter an alien species that can either destroy humanity or save it.

If there’s one thing the selective James Cameron loves, it’s the water, which features heavily in four of his nine movies. His 1989 sci-fi adventure “The Abyss” was the first time he explored the bottom of the ocean. Shot in massive tanks at an abandoned nuclear facility, the film’s production was notoriously difficult, with both Cameron and Harris nearly drowning. The results, however, are stunning, especially an alien water tendril that recreates Bud and Lindsay’s facial expressions. Created by Industrial Light and Magic, it was one of the earliest fully CGI creatures, and won an Oscar for best visual effects.

• Cast: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff, John Bedford Lloyd, Kimberly Scott
• Director: James Cameron
  
• Rating: PG-13
  
• Runtime: 140 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
  

After narrowly escaping the alien attack on the Nostromo, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) awakens after 57 years in hyper-sleep to learn that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has set up a terraforming colony on LV-426, the site where her crew first encountered the alien eggs. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley agrees to join a team of Marines on a search and rescue mission, on the explicit promise that the company terminate the aliens. Upon arrival, the Marines are shocked to discover that their military-grade weaponry is no match for a horde of vicious aliens.

Expectations were high for “Aliens,” which managed to become the second best film in the franchise. James Cameron succeeded in matching them by shifting the focus from gothic horror into action-adventure. Like the 1979 original, the terrifying xenomorphs are largely portrayed by people in suits, with puppetry used for what stuntmen couldn’t achieve. Legendary conceptual artist Syd Mead employed old-fashioned models, miniatures, and mirrors to construct the colony and a variety of vehicles. The alien queen, which goes head-to-head with Ripley, was a product of special effects wizard Stan Winston, who utilized miniatures, puppets, and people inside a suit to create Oscar-winning effects.

• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton
• Director: James Cameron
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 137 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
  

In the year 2019, Los Angeles has become a depressing, neon-lit city. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a former blade runner, tasked with tracking down humanoid robots known as replicants and “retiring” them. Deckard is called back into action to eliminate four replicants who have returned to Earth in search of their creator, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel). He’s unsettled to meet Tyrell’s latest creation, Rachael (Sean Young), a replicant so good she passes a test meant to distinguish humans from robots. Deckard finds himself falling in love with Rachael and doubting his own personhood as he hunts down a dangerous replicant, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), who’s intent on staying alive.

In adapting Philip K. Dick’s book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” Ridley Scott created one of the most influential movie worlds in cinema history. Made in 1982, before CGI was the norm, it employed matte paintings, models, and multi-pass exposures to create the illusion of flying cars and futuristic buildings. It’s the art direction that is most impressive, mixing noir-style streets and Asian-inspired lights that suggests a world overrun with consumerism and punk rock aesthetics. Both the special effects and the art direction earned well-deserved Oscar nominations.

• Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah
• Director: Ridley Scott
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 117 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video
  

In the small town of Arborville, California, a gelatinous blob with the ability to melt human flesh starts making its way through an unsuspecting population. Teenagers Brian (Kevin Dillon), Meg (Shawnee Smith), and Paul (Donovan Leitch) try to warn the town while evading the Blob, a product of Cold War experimentation that grows deadlier with each person it consumes. The military arrives to try and destroy it, but that only makes the Blob stronger … and angrier.

If the 1958 version of “The Blob” is a classic of Cold War-era cheese, the 1988 remake is a marvel of R-rated horror, using new special effects to transform the gooey space invader into a terrifying monster. Rather than use CGI, director Chuck Russell and his effects team stitched the Blob together through a quilt of silk bags filled with the food thickening agent methyl cellulose, which harkens back to the visuals of the original and improves upon it. More impressive are the nasty effects that are utilized whenever the Blob slowly dissolves someone into a messy puddle. The results took hours to pull off, with each frame more unsettling and gross than the last.

• Cast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca
• Director: Chuck Russell
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 95 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Not currently available
  

Stuck in a polluted, consumeristic, totalitarian future, low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) dreams of flying through the air as a winged warrior rescuing a distressed damsel. When a clerical error at the Ministry of Information leads to the wrongful arrest and death of an innocent man, Lowry finds himself involved with wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro), who illegally repairs air conditioning units. While trying to right the Ministry’s wrong, Sam finds the girl of his dreams, Jill Layton (Kim Greist), is also wanted by the Ministry for suspected terrorism. Sam’s attempts to save her make him a target of the bureaucracy he’s spent his life serving.

Released in 1985, Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” plays like the comedic flip side of Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner,” creating a dystopian futuristic world crumbling under its own weight. The Oscar-nominated art direction, inspired by film noir and German Expressionism, takes an anachronistic approach to technology, such as mixing computers with typewriters. The fantasy sequences are a jaw-dropping mix of miniatures, models, make-up, and in-camera effects. 

• Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Kim Greist
• Director: Terry Gilliam
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 142 minutes
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
  

When his spaceship accidentally leaves him behind, a diminutive space alien takes refuge in the home of suburban kid Elliott Taylor (Henry Thomas). Initially frightened, Elliott eventually grows curious and lures him out of hiding with some Reese’s Pieces. After bonding with the creature, who he calls E.T., Elliott learns he’s trying to return to his home planet. With the help of his older brother, Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and little sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore), Elliott helps E.T. “phone home” before government agents can capture and study him.

When Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” opened in 1982, it surpassed “Star Wars” to become the highest grossing film of all time, breaking the record for the most weeks atop the domestic box office. Part of its impact came from making audiences believe in the bond that grows between Elliott and E.T., which would only be convincing if E.T. felt real. To achieve this, an Oscar-winning special effects team led by designer Carlo Rambaldi employed a series of puppets, animatronics, and people in costumes, all of which blended together to create the illusion of a lovable little alien.

• Cast: Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 115 minutes
• Where to watch: Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV
  

In the year 1997, the United States has been taken over by crime and the island of Manhattan is converted into a prison colony housing the worst of the worst. While en route to a peace summit, Air Force One is hijacked by a group of terrorists and the President (Donald Pleasence) is taken hostage in New York City. Former Special Forces soldier turned convicted felon Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is offered a pardon in exchange for locating the President and returning him to safety. Along the way he encounters a terrific cast, all of whom are worth remembering today.

Throughout his career, John Carpenter often had to make good use of limited resources, and his 1981 action-adventure “Escape from New York” creates a futuristic world on the cheap. Among the talented special effects artists who helped bring Carpenter’s vision to life on a budget was a young James Cameron, who created many of the matte paintings that helped turn Los Angeles into New York. He also had a hand in creating a digital map by taking a model of the city, outlining it with green reflective tape, and shooting it under black light to replicate a computer screen.

• Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau
• Director: John Carpenter
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 99 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Criterion Channel, Kanopy, Apple TV
  

Brilliant scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) has developed a teleportation device capable of transporting living matter from one telepod to another. He decides to test the device on himself, but a housefly is in the pod with him. Although the experiment appears successful, Seth’s DNA starts to merge with that of the fly, and before long, he’s transforming into a hideous monster. His girlfriend, Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis), is desperate to help, but she can’t stop his inevitable deterioration.

While the 1958 version of “The Fly” simply placed a giant insect head over a human body, David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake leans into body horror, charting Brundle’s painful transformation with a gruesome step-by-step. To achieve this, Cronenberg enlisted makeup artist Chris Walas, who depicted “Brundlefly” in a series of stages meant to mimic the aging process: hair loss, teeth loss, fingernail loss. The effects become even more disgusting, with lumps and sores that recall terminal diseases. Brundle’s final form is terrifying, bursting out of Brundle’s skin like the insectoid exoskeletal creature he is, proving to Ronnie he is beyond saving. Walas won an Oscar for his makeup effects, and the results create a remake far better than the original film.

• Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
• Director: David Cronenberg
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 96 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
  

A team of commandos led by Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his top five roles) are dispatched to the jungle to rescue a group of stranded politicians. Upon arriving, Dutch realizes something is amiss, and suspects he’s been set up by his fellow Vietnam War vet, Al Dillon (Carl Weathers). Dillon, now a CIA agent, eventually admits he brought Dutch and his team in to eliminate an enemy camp when the original mission team went missing. Turns out, an alien who hunts people for sport has landed on Earth, and he’s picking off Dutch’s men for special fun.

Released in 1987, John McTiernan’s “Predator” launched a media franchise that continues today, with sequels, video games, comics, and even crossovers with the “Alien” series. It’s understandable, given how viciously cool the Predator is. The brainchild of special effects wizard Stan Winston, it’s an old school movie monster with a man inside a suit (originally played by Jean-Claude Van Damme!) who moves through the jungle at lightning speed and can expertly camouflage itself. The invisibility effect (which earned an Oscar nomination) was achieved by shooting a series of mattes that mimic a lighthouse’s Fresnel lens.

• Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elpidia Carrillo, Carl Weathers, Richard Chaves, Sonny Landham, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Shane Black
• Director: John McTiernan
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
  

In a crime-ridden futuristic Detroit, Omni Consumer Products is looking to privatize the police force with crime-fighting droids. When Officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is gunned down by a gang of bank robbers, ambitious executive Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) decides to use his mangled body to test out his own creation: RoboCop, a cybernetic hybrid. Although RoboCop initially proves a success, he starts having flashbacks to his previous life, and before long begins investigating his origins. Turns out someone at OCP has ties to the thugs who brutalized him, leading RoboCop to exact revenge against the corporation that created him.

Directed by Paul Verhoeven, 1987’s “RoboCop” is as violent as movies come, amplifying the bloodshed to an almost comedic degree. The effects team, led by special effects maestro Rob Bottin, was tasked with creating various gory set pieces, from Murphy’s Christ-like execution to thug Emil (Paul McCrane) getting melted by toxic waste. Bottin also designed the RoboCop costume that covers Weller from head-to-toe, and his iconic gun. The clunky ED-209 was created by stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who spent decades on his perfect stop-motion film, “Mad God.”

• Cast: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O’Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer
• Director: Paul Verhoeven
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 102 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Kanopy, MGM+, Apple TV
  

In a remote part of Antarctica, a group of American research scientists rescue a sled dog from gun-wielding Norwegians. After taking the animal in, it attacks and kills the other dogs in the camp, and the scientists are horrified to learn it’s actually an alien invader with the ability to mimic whatever it has just consumed. Lead biologist Blair (Wilford Brimley) fears the creature could spread throughout the world if it isn’t contained within the camp, leading him to strand the men with no means of escape or communication. Helicopter pilot R. J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) takes command, but paranoia quickly sets in as any among them could be The Thing.

While 1951’s “The Thing from Another World” imagined the alien in the form of “Gunsmoke” star James Arness, John Carpenter’s 1982 remake utilized the best special effects on offer to create a horrifying shapeshifter. Visual effects wizard Rob Bottin used models, puppets, and makeup to chart the transformations The Thing undergoes throughout the film, filling them with blood and viscera. Although it’s made up mostly of putty, hydraulics, and even expired food, the effect is both disgusting and unsettling. 

• Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat
• Director: John Carpenter
  
• Rating: R
  
• Runtime: 109 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
  

Nine years after the failed Discovery One mission to Jupiter, the American government and the Soviets agree to a joint fact finding mission to uncover why HAL 9000 failed. Aboard the spaceship is Dr. Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider), engineer Walter Curnow (John Lithgow), and HAL designer R. Chandra (Bob Balaban). As the team tries to piece together what went wrong on the last mission, they find that HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain) is as (accidentally) malevolent as it ever was.

When it was released in 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” wasn’t just a landmark in special effects (which won Kubrick his only Oscar): it was widely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Expectations were high, to say the least, when a sequel was announced. While Peter Hyams’s 1984 followup “2010: The Year We Make Contact” stays firmly in the shadow of its predecessor, it’s an entertaining romp in its own right, featuring dazzling, Oscar-nominated visual effects by Richard Edlund, which use many of the same techniques of models, miniatures, and matte paintings as Kubrick’s film. It just goes to show that for as much as things change, they stay the same.

• Cast: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain
• Director: Peter Hyams
  
• Rating: PG
  
• Runtime: 116 minutes
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV