7 Movies From 1984 That All 1970s Kids Still Love Today

Published Oct 23, 2026, 1:04 PM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

By 1984, Hollywood was well into the new era kicked off by the releases of Superman, Jaws, and Star Wars in the second half of the 1970s. The age of the blockbuster had firmly begun, with a race to get more high-concept tentpoles out, hitting full steam by the time 1983 ticked over on the clock.

The mid-’80s was a genre storytelling paradise for movie fans, with studios forging the blueprint for modern blockbusters and dialling up the sense of wonder that brought more younger audience members into theaters. They still occasionally try to capture the same blend of heart and surprisingly hard sci-fi, but besides this year’s masterpiece, Project Hail Mary, it’s proved difficult.

1984 delivered some serious juggernauts, kicking off several of the biggest franchises of the next decade and beyond. Beverly Hills Cop not only announced Eddie Murphy as a true movie star, but also shattered box office records, while Amadeus swept the awards. Both were, of course too grown up for the kids flooding into theaters, but they had enough to keep them entertained that classics like Splash, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Last Starfighter aren’t even in the top rung. And A Nightmare On Elm Street was firmly too adult to connect with the kids, even with the allure of Freddy’s forbidden fruit.

For those kids born in the 1970s, 1984 was a ground zero moment that formed the fandom parts of their brains, making killer robots, mysterious furry pets, and ‘Bustin’ suddenly feel good. And even with shifting tastes, tones, and visual effects, these 1984 classics are still some just as important today as they were more than 40 years ago.

7 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Recapturing the magic of Raiders of the Lost Ark was always going to be difficult, but the dream team of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas avoided the dread of direct comparison by making Temple of Doom darker and nastier. Connoisseurs will argue that the prequel is the best Indiana Jones movie, because it’s a bit more grown up and not quite as broadly appealing, but 1970s kids were still enthralled by the second chapter of the masterpiece original trilogy.

Too much family storytelling pulls its punches, but Temple of Doom refused, marrying the already familiar sense of adventure with nightmarish cult darkness and a great mine cart sequence that’s one of the best moments in all of Indiana Jones. This was, of course, the movie that compelled the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating, which didn’t so much push kids away as give movies a slightly cooler badge of honor. And Temple of Doom has only gotten better in the years since.

6 Sixteen Candles

John Hughes was the king of youth culture in the 1980s and absolutely nailed the voice of teens, treating all their concerns with the seriousness that we did. For teenagers and pre-teens born in the 1970s, Sixteen Candles was like a bible of high school anxiety, world-engulfing crushes, and family chaos. Hughes would never speak down to his audience, while also amplifying the angst and lust of a very emotional time. And, inevitably, it all came with an incredible soundtrack.

Molly Ringwald's star-making role as Samantha Baker instantly became one of the defining characters of the decade, nailing the almost universal feeling of being overlooked as a teenager in an obviously exaggerated way as her parents forget her 16th birthday. Some of the story’s content has aged badly by today’s terms, to say the least, but it remains an enduringly popular time capsule for the time.

5 The Karate Kid

Directed by Rocky’s John G. Avildsen and heavily drawing on the same underdog spirit that made Balboa’s story so irresistible, The Karate Kid landed like an alien spaceship and reconfigured the cultural landscape completely. Not only did it kick off a tidal wave of merchandise and its own franchise, of course, but it also birthed the US’ love affair with Karate.

Daniel LaRusso was more of the typical child-friendly Chosen One archetype rather than Rocky’s veteran street criminal, but they both had the same heart, and the odd couple dynamic of Daniel and Pat Morita’s Mr Miyagi caught the same magic as Back to the Future a year ahead of Zemeckis’ wonderful movie. Daniel was an affable loser, bullied but spirited, and his rise to karate champion is still chest-thumpingly inspiring, as well as telling a great message about discipline and kindness.

4 The Terminator

Some things are more appealing because they’re forbidden, as the legions of kids who sneaked into movies throughout the 1980s and ‘90s will attest. James Cameron’s low-budget sci-fi masterpiece was the ultimate goal in 1984 for resourceful teens who bought tickets to other movies and went and watched the R-rated movie instead. It was, and still is, pure, unadulterated adrenaline, anchored by Arnold Schwarzenegger's subtle but brilliantly terrifying slasher-like villain. Watching it back now, it’s very obvious why his career exploded from this point.

Cameron’s direction made The Terminator an atmospheric triumph, with enough heart to underline the threat of Arnie’s iconic T-800, and great performances from Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, who ruled the 1980s as a somewhat unexpected sci-fi hero. The effects still hold remarkably well, partly thanks to the commitment to practical effects, and few movie monsters have endured quite as well (including surviving multiple disappointing sequels).

3 The NeverEnding Story

The 1980s is often misremembered as a bit of a dead zone for the fantasy genre, but Wolfgang Petersen’s excellent adaptation of Michael Ende's fantasy is an all-timer. In the same vein of surprisingly dark fantasies of the era, The NeverEnding Story is actually about the sorrow and dark wonder of growing up, and has a melancholic meditation on mortality that beat Toy Story’s epoch-defining message by more than a decade.

The death of Artax is still as raw (sorry), the Gmork sequence is one of the most terrifying puppet scenes ever made, and the idea of losing everything to an irresistible force of sadness and nothingness is a horribly appropriate allegory for adult existence when you think about it. At least we can fill the void with rewatches, though, am I right?

2 Ghostbusters

Ivan Reitman's paranormal comedy was the ultimate cool movie of the summer of 1984, combining the razor-sharp comedy of Saturday Night Live with an exceptional central concept that there’s still enormous appetite for 40 years later. The blend of sci-fi and horror is perfectly pitched, and the comedy is genuinely funny, thanks to the genius cast makeup of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as the titular heroes, and a ridiculously talented supporting cast including Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and of course Rick Moranis.

The effects still work well for the ghosts, including the charming stop motion of the Terror Dogs, the villain is great despite being on-screen for a limited time, and the camaraderie of the cast is unbeatable. Great score too, and it’s no accident that the draw of bringing back the surviving original cast seems entirely impossible to ignore even now.

1 Gremlins

Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Joe Dante, Gremlins is a joyous blend of grown-up horror, dark comedy, and Amblin heart, with just the right amount of Christmas spirit. It pushed the boundaries of family entertainment, not talking down to kids (and quickly getting so many complaints it also contributed to the creation of the PG-13 rating), and marrying Gizmo’s adorable cuteness with genuine monster movie credentials.

It’s one of the best subversive holiday movies of all time, inspired a raft of copycat critter movies, and it made mogwais an incredibly hot merchandising power for years. The animatronics are exceptional, thanks to Chris Walas’ groundbreaking work, and even if aging were a problem (which it would never be), Gremlins has held up very well. It’s now passed into the legendary status of annual holiday rewatch, and it says a lot that the upcoming Gremlins 3 is already one of 2028’s most exciting movies.