The 25 worst movies of the '80s
The 1980s began with the election of President Ronald Reagan, and the new administration's policies launched the country into an era of excess. From the malls to the shoulder pads and hairstyles, everything got bigger in the '80s as the country waved farewell to the days of free love and disco that defined the preceding decades.
In the movie industry, the 1970s "New Hollywood" era inaugurated the careers of auteurs like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. However, the decade trickled out with the popularity of crowd-pleasers like "Jaws" and "Star Wars," and the 1980s became the decade of action movies, blockbusters, and never-ending sequels. For instance, original action movies like the first "Rambo" film, "First Blood," quickly became beloved hits. Meanwhile, follow-ups like "Rambo III" exasperated many critics.
Perhaps in response to the tedium of overexerted intellectual property and special effects, copywriter and publicist John Wilson also started the Golden Raspberry Awards this decade. Also known as the Razzie Awards, these trophies celebrate the worst of the year in film. The Razzies are still going strong, though it's too soon to say which of 2025's most poorly reviewed films—including "The Electric State," "Bride Hard," and "War of the Worlds"—will be bad enough to earn recognition.
In the meantime, though, we can always look back. Following the grand tradition of the Razzies, Stacker used data from IMDb to rank the 25 worst movies of the 1980s—some loathed, some loved, and some loathed and loved simultaneously. The rankings are based on user reviews—the lower the rating, the worse the film, ranking it higher on the list. In the case of a tie, the movie with more user votes ranks higher on the list. These films have at least 25,000 user votes and were released between 1980 and 1989. Each movie's Metascore is provided for critical context but does not impact the ranking.
Read on to learn which movies have stood the test of time for all the wrong reasons.
