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 Aug. 23, 1985, and we’re off to see Better Off Dead and Teen Wolf.
Better Off Dead
Some movies just stick with you. Some movies become nearly your entire personality.
Lane Meyer (John Cusack) has two loves: Skiing and his girlfriend, Beth (Amanda Wyss). After trying out for his high school ski team, Beth dumps Lane for Johnny (Demian Slade), and Lane’s life spirals out of control and until he meets French foreign exchange student Monique (Diane Franklin), and he gets everything back on track.
Is Better Off Dead a great moment in cinematic history? No. Is it one of the most quotable films ever released? Yes. Yes it is. Walk into a room, say “two dollars,” and see how many people immediately shout “I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!”
There is no way you can possibly look at 1980s films without including this one. It did not light the box office on fire, but it is one of the glowing examples of how much influence the home video market was gaining as you couldn’t swing a bat without someone having rented the film.
Easily one of my personal favorite 80s films, and one that is essential viewing for anyone interested in the decade.
Teen Wolf
Michael J. Fox starred in two films in 1985. This is one of them.
Scott Howard (Fox) is not the biggest star on his high school campus, and can’t get the attention of his crush, but all that changes one day. It seems the Howard family has a lineage of being werewolves, and now Scott’s ability has manifested. As opposed to hiding away from it, he embraces it and goes public with his new persona. It’s addictive at first, but he soon realizes there is more to life than being the star of the party.
Fox is absolutely fine in this, as is most of the cast, and the script is original, but the music cues become nails on a chalkboard. You can’t go more than what feels like 10 seconds without music playing in this film and the majority of is irritating and grating.
It sucks because there is a decent, fun movie here, but the music annoys you to such a point that it becomes distracting, and that is just unfortunate.
1985 Movie Reviews will return on Aug. 30, 2025, with American Ninja, Compromising Positions, and Flesh+Blood.
