Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1985 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
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We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1985 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1985 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s Nov. 8, 1985, and we’re off to see Target, That Was Then… This is Now, and Transylvania 6-5000.
Target
The first 15 minutes of this film attempt to give you whiplash with an incredibly sudden tone shift.
Walter Lloyd (Gene Hackman) is a mild-mannered business owners that has a strained relationship with his sone, Chris (Matt Dillon). When Walter’s wife, Donna (Gayle Hunnicutt) heads off to Europe for the trip of a lifetime, Walter and Chris attempt to mend fences and bond… until Donna is kidnapped and it is revealed Walter is a retired CIA agent with a laundry list of enemies.
For the first 15 minutes you think you’re just going to watch Walter and Chris repair their relationship, and next thing you know they are jetting around Europe killing people trying to get Donna back.
The plot is a mess, but Hackman gives it his all per usual, but Dillon can’t possibly keep up with him.
It’s a silly film and only necessary to watch if you are a Hackman completist.
That Was Then… This is Now
S.E. Hilton was on a roll in the 80s with his books being adapted into films. Following up on The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, this film proves he really had one basic plot and he used it over and over.
Mark (Emilio Estevez) lives with his older friend, Bryon (Craig Sheffer), whom he has always looked up to. As Dryon engages in a new romance, meaning less time for Mark, the younger man goes off the rails and acts out more-and-more to try to wrangle his friend back into his orbit.
Before watching this I hadn’t read anything about this film such as it being based on a book and so on. After about 30 minutes I began wondering why it sounded so much like The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, and if it was someone just trying to copy those. “Oh… that’s why.”
While I didn’t love the previous two films, I would take either of them easily over this one. This one just felt forced and wholly unoriginal.
It was not my cup of tea, and ended up being very boring at the end of the day.
Transylvania 6-5000
I have absolutely no idea who this movie was for.
Jack Harrison (Jeff Goldblum) and Gil Turner (Ed Begley Jr.) work for a tabloid newspaper and are sent to Transylvania to follow up on some home video footage of what appears to be a Frankenstein monster. Once there, the two engage in some real journalism and discover that there is a lot more happening in the small town than meets the eye.
This film had an amazing cast… and that was it. From the plot to the directing choices, not a single part of this film worked. The comedy – or what tries to pass as comedy – fails to connect at every turn. It can’t decide if it’s an Abbott & Costello style comedy, or something more akin to Airplane!, but none of it works.
Avoid this film at all costs.
1985 Movie Reviews will return on Nov. 15, 2025, with Once Bitten.
