New Nerd Talk!!! Nerd Talk is where some of the Nerds here at SWN answer questions from you, the fans, about Nerd culture … this week we talk about our favorite 80s stand alone movie. Also check out our last Nerd Talk HERE where we talk about what kind of Nerds we are. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE, we have some video Nerd Talks up right now and we will continue to do our video toy reviews here in the future. Thanks for reading and if you got a question to ask the Nerds you can email us at Snarfkris@somewhatnerdy.com and make sure to comment with your own answers in the comment section below or on the FB page HERE.
Critter
Wow! What a hard question to answer! It would’ve been easier to just say “Favorite 80’s Movie” because that answer is the same as just my regular favorite movie (Ghostbusters of course). But with the added condition of it being a stand-alone movie makes it tougher.
I forgot how many great movies were pumped out in the 80’s. In order to decide, I made a list of some of my favorites, but it was taking forever. There are literally tens of thousands of movies that were made in the 80’s, and out of those, several hundreds of those are amazing movies that I love. But let’s just whittle that list of hundreds of movies down to my top stand-alone 80’s movie. It was a tough decision, like really tough, I’m not totally sure I wouldn’t change my answer if one of the other movies I had on my short list was just on TV at the moment, but as of right now, I’m going with Better Off Dead (1985).
Better Off Dead stars John Cusack, one of the great teen stars in the 80’s, who gets dumped by his popular girlfriend who then starts to date his arch skiing rival who often refers to Cusack’s character as “Lame Meyer,” an obvious Shakespearean level play on words of his real name “Lane Meyer.” In the midst of all that, he also deals with strange aardvark fashion trends, a psycho paper boy, suicidal tendencies, getting a sweet ass Camaro, a budding romance with a French foreign exchange student, the pressures of a part time job, Claymation burgers, and a drug addicted best friend who happens to be Curtis Armstrong, better known as Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. Basically, everything having to do with teens or 80’s pop culture is in this movie. Here is a picture to illustrate that:
It’s definitely the epitome of a teen 80’s movie and worth watching and then watching it again and then maybe again. I mean over a couple months. You don’t have to watch them back to back. Pepper some other 80’s classics in there, many of which will include John Cusack. Trust me, it will be a good way to spend a movie night.
RAZ
Best 80’s stand alone film? What else are you expecting me to pick?! For those of you who have read my stuff before you will know that I am both a fan of 80’s Horror and “The Evil Dead” so this was a no brainer for me really. Although I must admit that even though this was my first choice I did list off other 80’s films that were also in the running as there were many great films from that decade, a golden age really, not just for Horror films but the film business in general.
This film started my love affair for all things Bruce Campbell (yes I said love affair) and it’s a flick I never bore of watching, I’ve easily watched it over more than 200 times so that’s definitely saying something! Oh and for those of you who think this isn’t a stand alone film, “Evil Dead II” was a remake and “Army Of Darkness” was it’s sequel so yes this is a stand alone film. Now do yourself a favour and go and watch it, I don’t care if you’ve seen it before…
Why are you still reading this?
Derf
This edition my fellow nerds and myself were faced with the task of best stand alone film from the 80’s. I am sure some of the fellow NERDS will choose films like the Goonies or They Live so I left those alone. When I asked myself what movie meant a lot to me in the ’80’s I simply had to say Light of Day. I remember seeing the film in the theaters for the first time and just had my mind blown. I was, I am, and will always be a Joan Jett fan. So, when I heard she was in a movie, I knew I had to go see it. When, I did, I was just blown away. Some may say this film isn’t all that, but I have to disagree. Sure the acting may not be to the academy standards, but the film had heart and soul. It was the music that brought this film to the masses. The struggle of fighting the system to get heard and to make things better was a message, at the time, that I needed to hear. No one wants to work 9 to 5 in a job they hate. Music was their freedom and their passion. Music is very essential in my life, always has been. So, that message struck a nerve and lives with me to this day. I, personally, can say this is one of my favorite movies from the ’80’s and I can honestly say it is my favorite film about Rock ‘N’ Roll. The thing that really bugs me, is I cannot find it anywhere on Blu-Ray or DVD. One day, I hope, one day. When it comes to the film, I honestly don’t know what else to say but ROCK ON!
