The 40 most popular 1980s british movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Hellraiser
1987 · 1h 33m · UK
A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.


A View to a Kill
1985 · 2h 11m · UK
A newly-developed microchip designed by Zorin Industries for the British Government that can survive the electromagnetic radiation caused by a nuclear explosion has landed in the hands of the KGB. James Bond must find out how and why. His suspicions soon lead him to big industry leader Max Zorin who forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Francisco Bay.


An American Werewolf in London
1981 · 1h 37m · UK
American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.


Labyrinth
1986 · 1h 41m · UK
Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King. Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers.


Highlander
1986 · 1h 56m · UK
He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.


Licence to Kill
1989 · 2h 13m · MX
After capturing the notorious drug lord Franz Sanchez, Bond's close friend and former CIA agent Felix Leiter is left for dead and his wife is murdered. Bond goes rogue and seeks vengeance on those responsible, as he infiltrates Sanchez's organization from the inside.


Octopussy
1983 · 2h 11m · UK
James Bond is sent to investigate after a fellow “00” agent is found dead with a priceless Fabergé egg. Bond follows the mystery and uncovers a smuggling scandal and a Russian General who wants to provoke a new World War.


For Your Eyes Only
1981 · 2h 8m · UK
A British spy ship has sunk and on board was a hi-tech encryption device. James Bond is sent to find the device that holds British launching instructions before the enemy Soviets get to it first.


Krull
1983 · 2h 1m · ES
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.


Never Say Never Again
1983 · 2h 14m · UK
James Bond returns as the secret agent 007 to battle the evil organization SPECTRE. Bond must defeat Largo, who has stolen two atomic warheads for nuclear blackmail. But Bond has an ally in Largo's girlfriend, the willowy Domino, who falls for Bond and seeks revenge.


The Living Daylights
1987 · 2h 10m · UK
After a defecting Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to dispatch the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.


Legend
1985 · 1h 34m · UK
Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story follows a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate, to undertake a heroic quest. He must save the beautiful Princess Lili and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness, or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age.


Lifeforce
1985 · 1h 42m · UK
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, commencing an apocalyptic descent into chaos.


Brazil
1985 · 2h 23m · UK
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.


Gandhi
1982 · 3h 12m · IN
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.


A Room with a View
1986 · 1h 57m · UK
When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperon Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy's life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?


The Final Conflict
1981 · 1h 48m · US
Damien Thorn has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ.


Threads
1984 · 1h 57m · AU
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.


The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
1989 · 2h 4m · FR
When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.


Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
1987 · 1h 30m · UK
With global superpowers engaged in an increasingly hostile arms race, Superman leads a crusade to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But Lex Luthor, recently sprung from jail, is declaring war on the Man of Steel and his quest to save the planet. Using a strand of Superman's hair, Luthor synthesizes a powerful ally known as Nuclear Man and ignites an epic battle spanning Earth and space.


Nineteen Eighty-Four
1984 · 1h 53m · UK
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.


Hero
1982 · 1h 32m · UK
Medieval fable of sorcery and witchcraft in a remote corner of the Scottish highlands.


Hard Times
1988 · 1h 30m · PT
A film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel "Hard Times" set in a Portuguese industrial town of the 1980s.


Withnail & I
1987 · 1h 48m · UK
Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.


Hellbound: Hellraiser II
1988 · 1h 37m · UK
Now confined to a mental hospital, young Kirsty insists her supposedly dead father is actually stuck in Hell following his wife’s betrayal. Few believe the young woman’s lurid stories aside from the thrill-seeking Dr. Channard. Kirsty is undeterred and, with the help of a fellow patient, heads to Hell for a rescue.


White Mischief
1987 · 1h 47m · UK
A millionaire past his prime and his young wife arrive in Kenya circa 1940 to find that the other affluent British expatriates are living large as the homefront gears up for war. They are busy swapping partners, doing drugs, and attending lavish parties and horse races. She begins a torrid affair with one of the bon vivants, and her husband finds out and confronts them. The husband and wife decide to break up peacefully, but the bon vivant is murdered and all the evidence points to the husband.


The Long Good Friday
1980 · 1h 54m · UK
In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.


The Mission
1986 · 2h 5m · UK
When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.


Chariots of Fire
1981 · 2h 3m · UK
In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.


Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
1983 · 1h 47m · UK
Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.


The Killing Fields
1984 · 2h 22m · UK
New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.


The Dark Crystal
1982 · 1h 33m · UK
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.


Top Secret!
1984 · 1h 30m · UK
Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond, he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul, from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine.


Maurice
1987 · 2h 20m · UK
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.


Hoosiers
1986 · 1h 54m · US
Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.


Supergirl
1984 · 2h 4m · UK
After losing a powerful orb, Kara, Superman's cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it and instead finds herself up against a wicked witch.


Outland
1981 · 1h 50m · UK
On the sunless moon Io, Marshall William T. O’Niel goes toe-to-toe with the corrupt manager of a mining colony and his gang of roughnecks while investigating a rash of worker suicides.


The Hunger
1983 · 1h 37m · UK
Five-thousand-year-old vampire Miriam promises her lovers the gift of eternal life. When John, her cellist companion for centuries, discovers that he has suddenly begun growing old, he attempts to seek out the help of Dr. Sarah Roberts, a researcher on the mechanisms of aging.


The Godsend
1980 · 1h 30m · UK
An English family of six takes in a pregnant woman who disappears shortly after giving birth. They raise the baby girl as their own, but over the years the strange deaths of their children make them consider whether the little girl is more than she appears.


Pink Floyd: The Wall
1982 · 1h 35m · UK
A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.
The 1980s codified the blockbuster — high concept, wide release, heavy merchandising — while home video quietly built a second life for films that flopped in theaters. Practical effects hit their peak just before CGI arrived.
British cinema spans Ealing comedies, kitchen-sink realism, Hammer horror, and the long-running national institution that is the Bond franchise. It's also functioned for decades as a production base and talent pipeline for Hollywood.