I have a somewhat patchwork understanding of movies from the 1980s. I didn’t get to the cinema often until the latter years of the decade, didn’t have much access to HBO, and only started renting VHS videos in earnest around 1988, so there are a whole slew of films that are considered “standards” of the era which I haven’t seen, or have only seen very recently.
Fortunately, Prime Video's August lineup leans hard into nostalgia this year, and the '80s catalog additions are some of the best of the bunch. Whether you're after gritty crime dramas, cult sci-fi comedy, or a couple of the decade's most beloved rom-coms, here are eight standout titles from the 1980s landing on Prime Video this August.
1. Robocop (1987)
Paul Verhoeven's ultraviolent, satirical vision of a near-future Detroit remains one of the defining action films of the decade. Peter Weller stars as Alex Murphy, a cop left for dead by criminals and resurrected by his own police department as a half-man, half-machine enforcer bound by a set of corporate-mandated directives. Equal parts brutal shoot-'em-up and biting commentary on privatization and media culture, it's aged remarkably well — and its swagger, dark humor, and iconic design still hold up.
2. Blue Velvet (1986)
A few years before the dancing midget and the log lady, David Lynch's disturbing, dreamlike noir telegraphed his sensibilities as a storyteller. Kyle MacLachlan plays a college student who stumbles onto a nightmarish criminal underworld lurking beneath the placid surface of his small town, pulling him into the orbit of Dennis Hopper's terrifying Frank Booth and Isabella Rossellini's tormented lounge singer. It's unsettling, hypnotic, and one of the most influential films of the '80s.
3. Moonstruck (1988)
I saw this on video in the late ‘80s, and have to admit I didn’t see what the fuss was about. Cher won an Oscar for her performance as Loretta Castorini, a Brooklyn widow who falls for her fiancé's estranged, hot-tempered brother (Nicolas Cage) in this warm, funny, opera-drenched romantic comedy. Norman Jewison's direction and John Patrick Shanley's script give the film a fairy-tale glow without sacrificing its grounded, working-class Italian-American texture. Honestly, I thought Cher’s performance was okay, not the revelation it was touted to be.
4. Back to School (1986)
This is the film my wife and I famously went to see on our honeymoon. Rodney Dangerfield is at his most gloriously Dangerfield in a comedy about a wealthy, self-made businessman who enrolls in college alongside his son. It's silly, quotable (Remember, you’re a Melon!), and packed with absurd set pieces, but it's Dangerfield's motormouth charisma—one-liners flying nonstop—that carries the whole thing. A staple of '80s comedy for a reason.
5. Colors (1988)
Dennis Hopper stepped behind the camera for this tense, unflinching look at gang life in Los Angeles, following two LAPD officers (Sean Penn and Robert Duvall) with wildly different approaches to policing the city's street wars. It's grim and confrontational by design, offering a snapshot of a very specific moment in LA's history that still resonates.
6. No Way Out (1987)
Kevin Costner headlines this twisty Pentagon-set thriller as a naval officer caught in a web of cover-ups, espionage, and a love triangle involving the Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman). Tense, stylish, and built around one of the more memorable third-act twists of the decade, it's a great pick for anyone who likes their political thrillers with real bite.
7. Mystic Pizza (1988)
Long before she was a household name, Julia Roberts got one of her first major roles in this coming-of-age dramedy about three young women working at a Connecticut pizza parlor while navigating love, class, and their futures. Warm, funny, and a little bittersweet, it's a low-key gem that's worth revisiting—or discovering for the first time.
8. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)
Few films are as gleefully, defiantly weird as this one. Peter Weller (yes, also Robocop) stars as the title character—a neurosurgeon, physicist, and rock musician (yes, you read that right) who also happens to save the world from alien invaders. It's a genuine cult classic, beloved for its anything-goes plotting and deadpan sense of humor, and it's the kind of movie that's more fun to experience than to explain.
That's just a slice of what's arriving on Prime Video in August—the service's full slate for the month includes dozens of additional titles across decades, genres, and formats. But if you're in the mood for some '80s comfort viewing, these eight are a great place to start.
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