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 1984 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 July 26, 1985, and we’re off to see The Black Cauldron, The Heavenly Kid, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation.
The Black Cauldron
It surprised me as I started watching this film that I had clearly never watched it before. I’m not sure how a Disney movie alluded me, but it did somehow.
Set in the land of Prydain, Taran (Grant Bardsley) is a simple pig farmer who finds himself entangled in a war for control of the mythical Black Cauldron which could bring all sorts of terrors back to the land. Along the way, Taran picks up a band of friends including a musician, a maiden, and a little creature. As one would always suspect, they face many trials along the way and learn about the value of sacrifice.
The film is gorgeous in that way 2D hand-drawn animation can achieve, the voice acting is superb, but the story is just so basic and predictable that it just isn’t that engaging. I felt much more I was just watching art that happened to move.
As Disney films go, it just wasn’t that engaging or memorable, and suddenly how I had missed it wasn’t so surprising.
The Heavenly Kid
I had the oddest sensation while watching this film: Did Tim Burton get some of the inspirations for Beetlejuice from this film? I doubt it, but some of theways the afterlife mechanics work, it felt possible.
Bobby Fontana (Lewis Smith) dies in a car race in the 1960s, but he doesn’t have enough for or against him yet to be sent ‘uptown’ or ‘downtown.’ After a few decades of riding the ‘midtown’ subway, he is assigned to go to Earth and help Lenny Barnes (Jason Gedrick) as his guardian angel. Along the way, Bobby not only helps Lenny, but he enjoys some personal growth that finally secures his entrance to ‘uptown.’
The film is incredibly predictable, but I still found myself entertained and enjoyed the story. I will more than likely never think of it again, but it was entertained throughout its runtime.
Kiss of the Spider Woman
I had no idea what this film was actually about and I think that worked well in its favor.
Luis Molina (William Hurt) is in prison in Brazil for homosexual acts, and shares a cell with revolutionary Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia). The two couldn’t be more different if they tried, but their circumstances force them into an odd relationship that shows them beoth supporting one another.
I really don’t want to tell you anything else about the film because the surprising turns work in its favor.
Normally, Hurt doesn’t rate highly for me, but he is beyond fantastic in this film. Julia, who was always magnificent, is great in this film, but Hurt’s performance is so masterful here that you can barely take your eyes off of him.
A great film all-around, and very worth your time.
National Lampoon’s European Vacation
Comedy sequels are never an easy proposition, and this certainly proves that rule.
The Griswalds find themselves in Europe as a prize for winning a game show. While Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) are excited to be there, Audrey (Dana Hill) and Rusty (Jason Lively) seem a bit less so. Throughout the journey, the family find themselves running into all sorts of unfortunate scenarios that only the Griswalds could find themselves in.
This film is pretty universally viewed as the worst film in the series, and it was pretty obvious why. While Vacation was outrageous, almost all of it was rooted in reality. The scenarios in European Vacation are just silly, and too far outside of reality.
The film isn’t horrible, but perhaps leans a bit too far into the realm of farce and it suffers for it.
1985 Movie Reviews will return on Aug. 2, 2025, with Follow That Bird, Fright Night, and Weird Science.
