Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1983 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 1983 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 1983 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 April 22nd, 1983, and we’re off to see The Deadly Spawn and Losin’ It!
Quick side note: Since we launched this series this year, we’ve discovered that Vintage Video Podcast is doing the exact same project with two differences: First, it’s audio (naturally), and second, they are doing every major film. We’ve listened to numerous episodes and it’s fun checking off their thoughts against my own. Check them out over at Vintage Video Podcast.
The Deadly Spawn
I went into The Deadly Spawn with very low expectations. I ended up walking away actually impressed and entertained.
A meteor lands near some campers, and after they investigate they are promptly killed by the creature that emerges. Finished with those two, it makes its way to a nearby house where it sets up a nest and chaos ensues from there.
The Deadly Spawn was not going to win any awards, but you end up with a very entertaining little monster movie with some decent practical effects, good acting, and an engaging story. Don’t try to reason why the monsters do anything that they do, just sit back and enjoy the ride. And at only 76 minutes, it’s a very quick ride, but you really don’t need any more than that.
Loosin’ It
Oh… good. Another teen sex comedy set in the past for some unknown reason. I wouldn’t want to say it’s another attempt at copying the success of Porky’s, but it clearly is.
This time around, the ‘kids’ are heading to Tijuana for a night of debauchery. Instead, they get tangled up with a woman (Shelley Long) who is looking for a quick divorce and a younger brother looking to buy illegal fireworks. And, yes, one of the ‘teens,’ Tom Cruise to be precise, ends up sleeping with Shelly Long because, as we know, 1980s ‘comedies’ love an older woman/younger man storyline such as in Private Lessons and My Tutor.
There is nothing original here, and it’s just frankly a bit boring. You can predict nearly everything that happens long before you see it, and none of the ‘comedy’ is especially funny. And the humor about Tijuana specifically was already dated for 1983.
A miserable misfire with half-hearted performances – with the exception of Long – that just really does nothing in the way of entertaining you.
1983 Movie Reviews will return on April 29, 2023 with The Hunger, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Valley Girl!
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