Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 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.
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 1986 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 1986 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 August 15, 1986, and we’re off to see Armed and Dangerous, The Boy Who Could Fly, The Fly, and Manhunter.
Armed and Dangerous
Such a great cast, but it just didn’t come together.
Los Angeles police officer Frank Dooley (John Candy) gets framed for stealing a TV and is thrown off the force. Meanwhile, defense lawyer Norman Kane (Eugene Levy) is not good at his job and receives threats from clients. Dooley and Kane get jobs at Guard Dog Security, and it turns out they aren’t that good at these jobs either, but they somehow end up saving the day when the unearth some corruption at the company.
With Candy and Levy you would have expected more laughs from this film, but it is about as mediocre as mediocre can get.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Boy Who Could Fly
This movie makes next to no sense, but somehow you’re okay with it.
Fourteen-year-old Amelia “Milly” Michaelson (Lucy Deakins) moves with her mother (Bonnie Bedelia) and younger brother (Fred Savage) after the death of her dad from what is claimed to be cancer. Their new house is next to the home of a non-verbal autistic boy, Eric (Jay Underwood), whom Milly quickly befriends. The major difference between him and everyone else? Some people believe he can fly.
I’ll cut to the chase: Eric can fly. Why? Eh… who knows.
The movies is honestly all about metaphors of how everyone needs to learn to fly in their own way and free themselves of their traumas and pasts. Which, fine. Does that mean when we all do that we can fly as well? Heck if I know.
It’s a charming little film, just don’t question it for more than two seconds.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Fly
If you’ve ever heard the term “body horror,” but weren’t quite sure what that means, this is the movie for you.
Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) suffers from severe motion sickness. His solution? To build a transporter. One small problem, no living thing can make it through. He finally comes up with a solution thanks to reporter-turned-girlfriend Veronica “Ronnie” Quaife (Geena Davis). The problem is, when he tests it on himself, a housefly makes it into the transporter and the computer merges their DNA. Things do not go well from there.
Director David Cronenberg goes for the visuals here, and it is not for the squeamish. Sadly, the film goes off the rails in several spots. When Brundle first figures out he is changing, what does he do? A whole lot of gymnastics routines… seriously. Nothing fly like at first, just gymnastics you would see at the Olympics, and the scene feels like it goes on forever.
There’s a lot of good here, but Cronenberg clearly could have used a steadier hand in the editing bay as there are more scenes that just don’t feel like they live up to their potential.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Manhunter
Imagine if the 1980s vomited all over a Hannibal Lecter story.
Will Graham (William Petersen) is a retired FBI criminal profiler who brought down Hannibal Lecktor (Brian Cox). Now, the FBI wants him to come out of retirement to take down the Tooth Fairy/Red Dragon, a new serial killer who ties his killings to lunar cycle. Graham quickly finds himself spiraling into old habits that he had to defeat before.
Michael Mann wrote and directed this adaptation of the novel, and it’s clear he was obsessed with style over substance. Even changing the spelling of Lecter to “Lecktor” for some odd reason. (Which, makes for some weird sounding pronunciations)
From an overwhelming soundtrack, to an obsession with 80s decor that makes zero sense in several situations, it’s pretty easy to see why many people seem to forget this adaptation exists.
There was a lot of potential here, and it fails to live up to it time and time again.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Aug. 22, 2026, with Extremities, Night of the Creeps, Stand by Me, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
