80’s Cinema | The Bedlam Files

CAT’S EYE

A three-parter from the eighties, scripted by Stephen King, that should be better.

Say what you will about Ivan Reitman, but he knew how to make movies

Nothing less than 1980s-era Japan’s answer to FANTASIA

A 1982 Bulgarian animated feature (apparently the first such film) that takes Robert Luis Stevenson’s immortal novel for quite a ride

A film that, given the level of talent involved, shouldn’t be that awful—but I’m afraid BRAINSTORM really IS that awful

An avant-garde film in the guise of a music video compilation of a type that was once ubiquitous on VHS

No, not that ALIEN, but, rather, a Pakistani joyride from 1989 that has the distinction of being that country’s first special effects blockbuster

A “children’s film” that’s less-than-childish in its orientation

A Christmas movie that falls firmly in the “miss” category that is, conversely, one of the most ambitious of them all

A memoir that’s more outrageous and exciting than most of Charles Band’s movies