10 80s Movie Hidden Gems You Can Watch On Netflix
Classic 80s movies from the makers of Stranger Things.
As their flagship show Stranger Things has demonstrated, the folks at Netflix understand how appealing the nostalgia of the 1980s is for contemporary audiences. 80s retro filmmaking has become so commonplace these days that it's become almost contrived to nod back to this decade.
Netflix also understands that it's often better to go straight to the source, and have provided subscribers with a good selection of 1980s classic blockbuster movies to keep them entertained, ranging from the Back To The Future trilogy and The Goonies to Scarface and the award winning Rain Man.
Delve a little deeper into their catalogue and Netflix offers some other more obscure classics from the decade, movies which weren't necessarily big hits at the time - or even well received by the critics - but have since become certified cult classics and fan favourites in their own right, worthy of being added to any self-respecting film fan's playlist.
From Hitchcock-inspired thrillers to low budget horror movies which might have slipped under the radar, here are ten hidden gems from the 1980s well worth your time.
10. Gorky Park
The 1980s was a great decade for Cold War thrillers. Before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 tensions between Russia and the West were high, and television and movies reflected this mood with complex thrillers which captured the paranoia of the Communist state in its final stages.
Gorky Park, directed by Michael Apted and starring William Hurt, played less upon the international tensions and focused instead on a triple murder investigation in the titular Moscow public park. Hurt plays the Soviet military officer at the heart of the investigation, while Apted has assembled an exceptional supporting cast, with Americans Lee Marvin and Brian Dennehy joined by stalwarts of 80s British television, including Michael "Boon" Elphick and Alexei Sayle.
Gorky Park offers a tautly executed procedural drama (with an award-winning screenplay from the legendary Dennis Potter), and an unintentionally amusing score from James Horner, which sounds like a warm up for his work on Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando soundtrack.