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 22, 1986, and we’re off to see Extremities, Night of the Creeps, Stand by Me, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Extremities
There was a good performance here saddled with an awful script.
Marjorie (Farrah Fawcett) is attacked by a man one night on her way home, but she manages to get away. Unfortunately, however, the attacker gets ahold of her wallet and tracks her down at home and attacks her again. It turns into a running battle between the two throughout the day until Marjorie finally gets the upper hand and begins to go to a dark place herself.
Fawcett gives a great performance, but the script is saddled with too many moments of “Look at this character study moment!” Marjorie’s roommates each get their own moment. Marjorie gets several. And so does the Joe (James Russo), the man who repeatedly attacks her.
It feels like a play that was forced into a theatrical format, and it just doesn’t work. By the end of it you don’t really care for anyone in the film because instead of focusing on just the dark deeds of the antagonist, everyone is revealed to be at least a little gray.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Night of the Creeps
This movie works and I’m not entirely sure why.
In 1959, an alien launches some form of experiment in a canister out of its spaceship and toward Earth, Next, a slug jumps out of the canister into the mouth of a boy. We next see the boy in 1986 being woken up from a cryogenic sleep. Next thing you know, slugs are terrorizing everyone on a college campus and turning frat boys into zombies. Thank goodness a geek and a sorority girl can team up to fight them off.
The movie is silly and goy, but also a lot of fun. It’s certainly not one of the best films ever made, but it has a lot of charm, some surprisingly good effects, and is offbeat enough to keep you entertained.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Stand by Me
I mean… do I even really need to discuss this one?
Four boys set off in 1959 on a journey to see the dead body of a missing boy, but along the way they also see some new things in themselves as they prepare to enter junior high.
As coming-of-age stories go, this is about as close to perfect as you can get. From Rob Reiner’s directing, the the performances of the four young leads, there isn’t a single misstep in the film.
It’s essential viewing for anyone setting out on a 80s movies journey.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
I really have no idea what this movie was going for, and I’m not sure it knew either.
Despite no one ever finding the house of horrors from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, chainsaw murders have continued, and no one is sure who is responsible. One night, a DJ who goes by the name Stretch (Caroline Williams), here two college kids killed by a chainsaw over the request line. This brings the attention of Lefty (Dennis Hopper) who has been hunting for the chainsaw murders for years. What follows is a lengthy battle of chainsaws and murders.
The movie tried for horror-comedy, but it seems to have missed the point of it. It’s never that horrifying, and it’s never so much as funny as it is absurd. People that should have no reason for being alive suddenly sit up despite having no reason for being able to.
It’s fine, but it misses the mark in several key areas.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Aug. 29, 2026, with Shanghai Surprise.
