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


The Killer
1989 · 1h 50m · HK
Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim's sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right.


A Better Tomorrow
1986 · 1h 35m · HK
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.


Armour of God
1986 · 1h 37m · HK
After an adventurer known as the Asian Hawk steals a mysterious sword known to be a piece of the Armour of God, a magical suit of armour that dates back to the Crusades, a cult of Satanic monks kidnap his ex-girlfriend and demand he turn over the sword and recover the rest of the armour.


Project A - Part II
1987 · 1h 45m · HK
Dragon is now transferred to be the police head of Sai Wan district, and has to contend with a gangster kingpin, anti-Manchu revolutionaries, some runaway pirates, Manchu Loyalists and a corrupt police superintendent.


Police Story
1985 · 1h 39m · HK
Officer Chan Ka Kui manages to put a major Hong Kong drug dealer behind the bars practically alone, after a shooting and an impressive chase inside a slum. Now, he must protect the boss' secretary, Selina, who will testify against the gangster in court.


As Tears Go By
1988 · 1h 38m · HK
Mid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.


Wheels on Meals
1984 · 1h 48m · HK
Cousins Thomas and David, owners of a mobile restaurant, team up with their friend Moby, a bumbling private detective, to save the beautiful Sylvia, a pickpocket.


Shaolin Temple
1982 · 1h 40m · CN
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father.


Yu Pui Tsuen II
1987 · 1h 30m · HK
Before Michael Mak’s Sex And Zen became a cult favourite in the ’90s, there was Ho Fan’s Yu Pui Tsuen (The Carnal Prayer Mat, 1987). But without sex bomb Amy Yip, coarse humour or lesbian love affairs, Yu Pui Tsuen had to rely on the nudity and sex from his cast of relative unknowns to save the day. When a young man dreams that he drowns after a night of carnal passion, he asks a buddhist monk to translate the experience for him. The monk replies that the dream is a warning not to indulge the pleasures of the flesh to excess, but the man ignores his advice, marrying a virgin and making love to her constantly. However, after several torrid affairs, the man begins to realise the sagacity of the monk's warning.


No Retreat, No Surrender
1986 · 1h 34m · HK
The mob is trying to strongarm local martial arts schools, forcing young Jason Stillwell and his family to move after his father is injured defending their dojo. With his father now rejecting violence, Jason is forced to train on his own to protect himself and his best friend from the members of a rival karate school.


Project A
1983 · 1h 45m · HK
In late 19th century Hong Kong, the British may rule the land, but the pirates rule the waters. Coast Guard officer Dragon Ma is determined that his beloved Coast Guard will not be made a fool of.


My Lucky Stars
1985 · 1h 36m · HK
Two Hong Kong cops are sent to Tokyo to catch an ex-cop who stole a large amount of money in diamonds. After one is captured by the Ninja-gang protecting the rogue cop, the other one gets his old Orphanage gang, dubbed the "Five Lucky Stars," to help him. They don't like this much, but they do it.


A Chinese Ghost Story
1987 · 1h 35m · HK
A naïve young tax collector for the imperial government winds up spending the night in a haunted temple. There he falls in love with a beautiful woman who, unfortunately, is dead. With the aid of a powerful Daoist Swordsman, he must defeat undead hordes, overcome a sinister Tree Demoness, and descend to the pits of hell, to fight for the spirit he loves.


Dragons Forever
1988 · 1h 33m · HK
A hot-shot lawyer is hired by a Hong Kong chemical plant to dispose of opposition to their polluting ways. But when he falls for a beautiful woman out to stop the plant, he is torn in a conflict of interest and asks his trusty friends Samo and Biao to help out at least until they discover the true purpose of the plant.


Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
1985 · 1h 34m · HK
The third installment in the Lucky Stars series, following Winners and Sinners and My Lucky Stars. The team are released from prison to play detective in order to stop a ruthless gang from ruining their reputations, taking their lives, and that of a key witness in an upcoming trial. They must battle their way through and with the help of Muscles, take down the bad guys.


Winners & Sinners
1983 · 1h 48m · HK
Five friends are released from prison and do their best to stay out trouble. While trying to mind their own business (and run their 5-Star Cleaning Service), they are caught up in a war between rival Triad gangs fighting for control of the counterfeit currency market.


Miracles: The Canton Godfather
1989 · 2h 6m · HK
A country boy becomes the head of a gang through the purchase of some lucky roses from an old lady. He and a singer at the gang's nightclub try to do a good deed for the old lady when her daughter comes to visit.


Police Story 2
1988 · 1h 45m · HK
The Hong Kong super-cop must stop a group of blackmailing bombers at the same time that the villains of the first Police Story are out for revenge.


The Young Master
1980 · 1h 47m · HK
Youthful martial arts master Lung is searching for his missing brother, when he is mistaken for a criminal on the run. He must prove his innocence by solving the case himself, while local lawmen and merciless mercenaries are hot on his trail.


The Seventh Curse
1986 · 1h 23m · HK
When Dr. Yuen attempts to rescue a girl about to be sacrificed by the Worm Tribe in the middle of a jungle in Thailand, he is damned with seven deadly "blood curses" and must return there to find a permanent cure.


Roving Swordsman
1983 · 1h 24m · HK
Traveling swordsman Shen Sheng-yi (Ti Lung) and his lady friend match wits and swords with the last surviving member of the once great Murung family who is determined to rule the martial world by stealing plans to crafting firearms.


Men Behind the Sun
1988 · 1h 45m · HK
Japanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.


God of Gamblers
1989 · 2h 6m · HK
Ko Chun, a renowned gambler, loses his memory in an accident and starts behaving like a child. Little Knife, an amateur gambler, offers him shelter and realizes that he has a penchant for gambling.


A Better Tomorrow II
1987 · 1h 44m · HK
A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.


Sex Beyond the Grave
1984 · 1h 29m · HK
When Ming, an inveterate gambler at mahjong, is given a lucky tablet by a blind peddler, his overwhelming greed takes over his life. Upon a lapse in winning, he is forced to sell his ancestral home, the Tao Tao mansion, unaware this home was the scene of a heinous sexual assault and murder during World War II and has been haunted ever since.


Martial Arts of Shaolin
1986 · 1h 34m · CN
In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.


Game of Death II
1981 · 1h 36m · HK
In this dark tale of revenge, Bruce Lee "returns" as Billy Lo, whose best friend Chin Ku dies of a sudden illness. But suspicion of foul play arises when a gang tries to steal Ku's coffin at the funeral using a helicopter. When Lo's younger brother Lo hears about the incident, he leaves his Buddhist master to investigate the truth. His trail soon leads him to the Castle of Death, the last place Chin Ku was seen alive. There, he meets and befriends an unlikely ally--a cruel and merciless martial arts expert who is also the tower's master. But when the master dies under mysterious circumstances, Lo ends up dueling with someone far more terrifying.


Mr. Vampire II
1986 · 1h 29m · HK
Chaos ensues after a team of archaeologists accidentally breaks the seals of a sleeping vampire family, which prevent them from waking up.


Dragon Fight
1989 · 1h 36m · HK
Jimmy and Tiger are members of the Chinese national wushu team. The two are in San Francisco to perform exhibitions. However, for Tiger, he plans to defect to America to make a name for himself. When Jimmy learns of Tigers plan to defect, an attempt to stop him fails and Jimmy ends up missing his flight to China. Now a fish out of water, Jimmy's only hope is Andy, a wisecracking youngster in S.F. Meanwhile, Tiger works for a mafia boss. When Tiger loses a fortune in cocaine in a detergent box that Andy accidentally took, Andy and Jimmy soon have no choice but to face the wrath of Tiger and his men. Their only ally is Penny, the girlfriend of Tiger's boss. Two men who were once best friends have now become bitter enemies.


Mr. Vampire
1985 · 1h 38m · HK
In Republican China, the planned reburial of a village elder goes awry and the corpse resurrects into a hopping vampire, leading a Taoist priest and his two disciples to attempt to stop him, but not without getting involved with lusty ghosts, a jealous police inspector, and the many talisman-bound vampires at their disposal.


Heart of Dragon
1985 · 1h 31m · HK
A policeman forsakes his dream of world travel to care for a mentally impaired brother, who is later kidnapped by gangsters.


Royal Warriors
1986 · 1h 36m · HK
When a tough policewoman learns about a group of violent terrorists, she, along with her partner and a Japanese detective, does everything it takes to take them down.


Ninja Thunderbolt
1984 · 1h 31m · HK
The Ninja Empire has been run by an evil master and one member decides to leave the empire. The ex-Ninja wants a Hong Kong detective to track down the new leader and end his reign of terror. Hong Kong Cut-and-paste edit of a 1984 Taiwanese movie called "To Catch A Thief" (至尊神偷, directed by Gam Ming) with new footage. Apart of IFDs "Thunderbolt" series.


Yes, Madam!
1985 · 1h 33m · HK
Two unlucky thieves break into a just murdered man's hotel room and steal his passport, with a hidden microfilm, wanted by a triad boss. Two ass-kicking women cops—one Chinese, one British—are on the case.


MegaForce
1982 · 1h 39m · HK
MegaForce is an elite multi-national military unit that does the jobs that individual governments won't. When the peaceful Republic of Sardun in under threat from their more aggressive neighbor, the beautiful Major Zara and General Byrne-White see the help of Ace Hunter and MegaForce.


Dragon Lord
1982 · 1h 36m · HK
Dragon and his madcap pal Cowboy spend their days getting into mischief, frustrating the elders, chasing girls, and competing in the village sport. When Dragon overhears a fiendish plot by smugglers to sell China's national treasures overseas, the pair leap into action. Also, Cowboy's wealthy father is kidnapped by the villainous and lethal Big Boss, and the scene is set for a furious martial arts showdown.


The Protector
1985 · 1h 34m · HK
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.


Top Fit
1983 · 1h 28m · HK
A married woman, fed up with her cheating husband, decides to do some cheating herself.


A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon
1989 · 1h 58m · HK
Before the events of A Better Tomorrow (1986), Mark 'Gor' Lee heads to Saigon during the Vietnam War to bring home his uncle and cousin, but his task becomes complicated when a well-known criminal tries to help him.


Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
1983 · 1h 38m · HK
5th century western China: As constant civil wars scars the nation, to evade death, Ti, a young scout, jumps through a crevice in the Zu mountains where he becomes entangled in a great battle against the Blood Demon, a supernatural entity seeking to wreak havoc upon the world.
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.
Hong Kong cinema's 1980s and 90s peak produced the most influential action filmmaking of the era — John Woo's gunplay ballets, Jackie Chan's stunt comedy, and the wire-work that Hollywood promptly absorbed. Wong Kar-wai's films run on a completely different and equally exported register.