4. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
Paramount Pictures1984 was a good year for blockbusters - having been wowed by the exploits of the Ghostbusters we got another dose of Indiana Jones with the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Nowadays, many of us would agree that this was the weakest of the original trilogy, but as kids it was the most exciting thing since, well, Ghostbusters. Child slavery, black magic and ritual human sacrifice hardly sound like appropriate subject matter for a family adventure movie, but that didn't stop Steven Spielberg featuring them in Temple of Doom - dozens of villains are ruthlessly dispatched, shot, stabbed, crushed in huge rock grinders or fed to the crocodiles. And then of course there's the ritual, with the victim's heart pulled out and proudly presented to the worshiping cult members. It certainly makes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seem incredibly tame in comparison - indeed, the level of violence in Temple of Doom, along with Gremlins, led to the creation of the PG-13 certificate. The Indian government might have had good reason to find the script racist and offensive but as kids we remained blissfully oblivious of such controversies - we were more than happy enough to go along for the ride, soaking up the action and adventure and wishing we were Indie's sidekick.