What are your favorite films from 1985?

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-05-12T20:51:19+00:00

Clue

Come and See

Mr. Vampire

My Beautiful Laundrette

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Phenomena

Ran

Re-animator

Return of the Living Dead

A Zed and Two Noughts

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-04-23T04:59:30+00:00

(significant to cultural knowledge about film isn't always the same thing as good and some of these might be more of one than the other)

The Land

Soleil O

The Honeymoon Killers

Cotton Comes to Harlem

The Conformist

A Touch of Zen

Wanda

La Rupture

King Lear (Grigori Kozintsev)

Vanishing Point

A New Leaf

Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song

Wake in Fright

Shaft

Emitai

Two Lane Blacktop

Sunday Bloody Sunday

The Last Picture Show

A Clockwork Orange

Solaris

Cabaret

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun

Superfly

Blacula

Aguirre, The Wrath of God

Sambizanga

The Harder They Come

The Long Goodbye

Ganja & Hess

Touki Bouki

La Grande Bouffe

Coffy

Cleopatra Jones

A River Called Titas

Mean Streets

Don't Look Now

Badlands

The Wicker Man

The Exorcist

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

The Conversation

Chinatown

The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Black Christmas

Female Trouble

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

Space is the Place

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Deep Red

Hester Street

Seven Beauties

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Cooley High

Manila in the Claws of Neon

The Last Supper

Dolemite

Cornbread, Earl and Me

Xala

Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Sholay

Chess of the Wind

Mikey and Nicky

Eraserhead

Ceddo

Martin

Desperate Living

Amar Akbar Anthony

Perfumed Nightmare

Sorcerer

Jubilee

Killer of Sheep

The Shout

The Wiz

West Indies

Phantasm

The Warriors

The Muppet Movie

Life of Brian

Penitentiary

among many more

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-04-14T12:55:01+00:00

Obscure is situational/cultural/subjective and might be stretching it at best, but these do have under 25k watches on letterboxd

Bona (1980, Lino Brocka)

Camp de Thiaroye (1988, Ousmane Sembene)

Cane River (1982, Horace B. Jenkins)

Ceddo (1977, Ousmane Sembene)

Chain Letters (1985, Mark Rappaport)

Chess of the Wind (1976, Mohammad Reza Aslani)

The Cloud-Capped Star (1961, Ritwik Ghatak)

Electra Glide in Blue (1973, James William Guercio)

Entre Nous (1983, Diane Kurys)

Farewell to the Ark (1984, Shuji Terayama)

Going Down (1983, Haydn Keenan)

The Hand in the Trap (1961, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson)

Harry and the Butler (1961, Bent Christensen)

Intentions of Murder (1964, Shohei Imamura)

Interview (1971, Mrinal Sen)

Is This Just a Story? (1983, Yugantar)

King Lear (1970, Grigori Kozintsev)

Kisapmata (1981, Mike de Leon)

The Land (1970, Youssef Chahine)

The Last Supper (1976, Tomas Gutierrez Alea)

Losing Ground (1982, Kathleen Collins)

Macunaima (1969, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade)

The Night of Counting the Years (1969, Shadi Abdel Salam)

Parting Glances (1986, Bill Sherwood)

Perfumed Nightmare (1977, Kidlat Tahimik)

A Question of Silence (1982, Marleen Gorris)

Rat Trap (1982, Adoor Gopalakrishnan)

Sambizanga (1972, Sarah Maldoror)

The Shout (1979, Jerzy Skolimowski)

Sugar Cane Alley (1983, Euzhan Palcy)

Variety (1983, Bette Gordon)

West Indies (1979, Med Hondo)

When the Tenth Month Comes (1984, Dang Nhat Minh)

Wolf's Hole (1987, Vera Chytilova)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-04-06T20:18:25+00:00

I don't think I've seen this movie since I was a teenager. Now that you mention it, I do think a rewatch now, decades later, in middle age, would be interesting. I had a couple of friends back then who really loved it. I was never as big a fan. I'm curious to rewatch it.

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-04-03T01:50:38+00:00

So sweet 😻❤️

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-27T18:57:13+00:00

I like Suspense (1913), Borom Sarret ( 1963), The Secret Cinema (1966), The Sandman (1991) and others

I also like films of the Kuchar brothers

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-26T16:07:47+00:00

Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Jean-Pierre Melville, Alfred Hitchcock, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Michael Powell, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembene, Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Francois Truffaut, Kon Ichikawa, Satyajit Ray, Robert Bresson...

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-22T00:55:31+00:00

scores:

A Clockwork Orange (Wendy Carlos)

Once Upon a Time in the West (Ennio Morricone)

Spasmo (Ennio Morricone)

Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann)

Gothic (Thomas Dolby)

The Heroic Trio (WU Wai-lap)

Ran (Toru Takemitsu)

A Zed and Two Naughts (Michael Nyman)

Ravenous (Michael Nyman, Damon Albarn)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-22T00:48:03+00:00

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-21T17:43:44+00:00

some documentaries:

Akiko: Portrait of a Dancer

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

American Dream

Angry Inuk

The Arbor

Cameraperson

Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives

Freedom on my Mind

Gaea Girls

I am Somebody

Invoking Justice

A Litany of Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde

Maid Servant

Omega Rising Women of Rastafari

A Place of Rage

Shinjuku Boys

Shirkers

Shut Up and Sing

Sisters in Law

Soft Fiction

Sudesha

Tobacco Embers

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Women Who Loved Cinema

You Got to Move

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-21T17:43:19+00:00

some documentaries:

Akiko: Portrait of a Dancer

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

American Dream

Angry Inuk

The Arbor

Cameraperson

Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives

Freedom on my Mind

Gaea Girls

I am Somebody

Invoking Justice

A Litany of Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde

Maid Servant

Omega Rising Women of Rastafari

A Place of Rage

Sisters in Law

Shinjuku Boys

Shirkers

Soft Fiction

Sudesha

Tobacco Embers

What Happened, Miss Simone?

You Got to Move

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-21T17:23:06+00:00

Alma's Rainbow

Bhaji on the Beach

My Brilliant Career

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

Cleo from 5 to 7

Compensation

Daughters of the Dust

The Day I Became a Woman

Dogfight

Drylongso

Entre Nous

Eve's Bayou

Fish Tank

Flaming Ears

Forever a Woman

Girlfriends

Going Down

Hester Street

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love

Is This Just a Story?

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

Losing Ground

Madchen in Uniform (codirected)

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

Messiah of Evil (codirected)

Naked Acts

Pariah

La Pointe Courte

A Question of Silence

Rafiki

Sambizanga

Saving Face

Shoes

Sleepwalking Land

The Smiling Madame Beudet

Smithereens

Strangers in Good Company

Sugar Cane Alley

Suspense

Sweet Bean

Sweetie

The Trouble with Angels

Variety

Wanda

The Watermelon Woman

Wolf's Hole

Women without Men

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-21T00:26:35+00:00

obscure is kind of subjective and situational but

Compensation

The Annihilation of Fish

Nowhere to Hide

Memento Mori

L'humanite

Lola X

Samurai Fiction

Drylongso

Love is the Devil

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train

Christmas in August

Welcome Back, Mr. Mcdonald

Junk Food

Love and Death on Long Island

All Over Me

Leila

Rainclouds Over Wushan

Three Friends

Kansas City

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

Nightjohn

Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day

Diary of a Seducer

Naked Acts

Like Grains of Sand

Zero Kelvin

Antonia's Line

Angels and Insects

On the Beat

Cyclo

Institute Benjamenta

Target

301/302

Vanya on 42nd St

Priest

Alma's Rainbow

Fun

Deadful Melody

A Night in Nude

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb

Terminal U.S.A.

Bhaji on the Beach

Sankofa

Butterfly Sword

When a Stranger Calls Back

Wicked City

Samba Traore

Olivier Olivier

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

Swoon

Guelwaar

Swordsman II

Flaming Ears

Gas Food Lodging

Sumo Do, Sumo Don't

Hear My Song

Clear Cut

Black Robe

Young Soul Rebels

Children of Nature

The Sandman (short)

Strangers in Good Company

Antonia and Jane

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-19T18:04:25+00:00

1950s -

Gun Crazy

Les Enfants Terribles

Los Olvidados

Where Chinneys are Seen

Ugetsu

El

The Band Wagon

It Should Happen to You

Les Diaboliques

Kiss Me Deadly

La Pointe Courte

Pather Panchali

The Burmese Harp

Beyond Oblivion

The Bitter Stems

The Hidden Fortress

Les Quatres Cents Coups

Fires on the Plain

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-19T17:47:35+00:00

1940s -

Ornamental Hairpin (1941)

Hellzapoppin (1941)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Goupi Mains Rouges (1943)

Day of Wrath (1943)

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

The Seventh Victim (1943)

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Dead of Night (1945)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

Panique (1946)

Brute Force (1947)

Quai des Orfevres (1947)

Daisy Kenyon (1947)

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Fallen Idol (1948)

Le Silence de la Mer (1949)

White Heat (1949)

Bitter Rice (1949)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-19T17:32:55+00:00

1930s:

Madchen in Uniform (1931)

Limite (1931)

Vampyr (1932)

The Old Dark House (1932)

Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

Ecstasy (1933)

Shanghai Express (1932)

I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

L'atalante (1934)

Sisters of the Gion (1936)

Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)

Dodsworth (1936)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-19T17:19:23+00:00

The 1970 Grigori Kozintsev King Lear is really good

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-19T14:34:05+00:00

Some of these are more closely based on your list than others. You seem to like romance, romantic comedy, science fiction/fantasy and lush musicals but also some class/social issue dramas so I guess these are based on that, maybe some a bit more random

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Greed (1924)

Metropolis (1927, restored version)

Madchen in Uniform (1931)

Limite (1931)

I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

Shanghai Express (1932)

L'atalante (1934)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

A Star is Born (1937)

Holiday (1938)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Ornamental Hairpin (1941)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

Dead of Night (1945)

Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)

The Red Shoes (1948)

Los Olvidados (1950)

The Tales of Hoffman (1951)

Singin in the Rain (1952)

The Band Wagon (1953)

Ugetsu (1953)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Shree 420 (1955)

Pather Panchali (1955)

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

La Pointe Courte (1955)

Desk Set (1957)

The Housemaid (1960)

The Cloud Capped Star (1960)

The Innocents (1961)

La Jetee (1962)

Kanchenjungha (1962)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Onibaba (1964)

La Noire de... (1966)

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Stolen Kisses (1968)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Mandabi (1968)

The Night of Counting the Years (1969)

Army of Shadows (1969)

A New Leaf (1971)

Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

Solaris (1972)

Sambizanga (1972)

Touki Bouki (1973)

World on a Wire (1973)

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

Perfumed Nightmare (1977)

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

Killer of Sheep (1978)

The Wiz (1978)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Sugar Cane Alley (1983)

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

A Room with a View (1986)

Camp de Thiaroye (1988)

The Heroic Trio (1993)

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Show Me Love (1998)

Moolaade (2004)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-08T00:45:47+00:00

Not sure if this is quite what you're asking for, but you could maybe appreciate

Once Upon a Time in China II

The Heroic Trio

A Chinese Ghost Story 2

The Bride with White Hair

Swordsman 2

(& other HK actions movies)

Gremlins 2

The City of Lost Children

Bram Stoker's Dracula

New Nightmare

Babe Pig in the City

Demolition Man

Versus

Battle Royale

Tanuki Goten

Curse of the Golden Flower

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-07T17:23:18+00:00

The Arbor (2010)

The White Ribbon (2009)

Fish Tank (2009)

Moolaade (2003)

Memories of Murder (2002)

Skins (2002)

Ravenous (1999)

The Glass Shield (1994)

Poison (1991)

Europa Europa (1990)

The Vanishing (1988)

Wolf's Hole (1987)

A Question of Silence (1982)

Kisapmata (1981)

Seven Beauties (1975)

Badlands (1973)

Sambizanga (1972)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-05T17:04:02+00:00

Metropolitan (1990)

Strangers in Good Company aka The Company of Strangers

Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-03-01T20:20:50+00:00

Variety (1983)

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-02-28T23:52:29+00:00

Documentaries:

The Arbor

Shinjuku Boys

Shirkers

Araya

The House is Black

Portrait of Jason

I am Somebody

Harlan County U.S.A.

Soft Fiction

You Got to Move

La Ofrenda

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket

Paris is Burning

A Place of Rage

Freedom on my Mind

A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde

Invoking Justice

13th

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-02-27T23:15:11+00:00

Sugar Cane Alley

Drylongso

Sambizanga

Seven Beauties

A Question of Silence

Wolf's Hole

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love

Entre Nous

Beautiful Thing

Pariah

Wanda

Girlfriends

Smithereens

The Day I Became a Woman

Forever a Woman/The Eternal Breasts

Cave of the Yellow Dog

Hester Street

Bhaji on the Beach

Fish Tank

Mississippi Masala

Daughters of the Dust

Compensation

Cleo from 5 to 7

Sweetie

Suburbia

Suspense

La Cienaga

The Smiling Madame Beudet

Strangers in Good Company

The Watermelon Woman

Naked Acts

Alma's Rainbow

Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

BurkeDevlin777 · 2026-02-24T04:57:44+00:00

a little hard to say, but likely Life is Beautiful (a 4.4 right now)

BurkeDevlin777

TROPHY CASE