1988

Manners, mendacity and a key hidden in fish food — a very English heist with teeth.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master: parents protecting their children and friendship, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Above the Law: freedom, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Action Jackson: heroism and courage, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A haunted house, a rules-bound afterlife and one gloriously unhelpful bio‑exorcist.

Big: our relationship with technology and friendship, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Black Eagle: courage and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Kumite, loyalty and a very particular kind of 80s machismo.

Bright Lights, Big City: family and mortality and lifespan, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Mentorship, rites of passage and a catcher called Crash — Bull Durham still teaches a lesson.

Child's Play: family and freedom, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A love letter to mentorship, the little reels that keep memory alive, and the reason we go to the pictures.

Cocktail: family and greed, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Colors: authority and loss, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A prince in disguise, a fast-food job and a fairy-tale that prefers laughs to pomp.

Critters 2: The Main Course: fear and mortality, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Crocodile Dundee II: friendship and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Dangerous Liaisons: love and mortality and lifespan, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Revisiting Dead Ringers and the reasons it still deserves to be watched.

One cop, a Christmas party gone wrong and a marriage he can't ignore.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: greed and consumerism, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Eight Men Out: loss and greed, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Frantic: our relationship with technology and mortality and lifespan, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood: the safety of home and fear, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Fright Night Part 2: friendship and fear, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Funny Farm: family and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Gorillas in the Mist: mortality and love, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Hairspray: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers: the safety of home and freedom, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Heathers: peer pressure and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II: freedom and family, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Teenagers spot a circus in the woods, everyone else shrugs — then the popcorn guns start firing.

License to Drive: family and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A cross-country manhunt that’s really about two very different men learning how to care — and how to argue for money.

Mississippi Burning: family and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Mystic Pizza: family and love, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Night of the Demons: the safety of home and freedom, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Oliver & Company: family and greed, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Phantasm II: freedom and mortality, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach: authority and mortality and lifespan, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Pumpkinhead: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A road trip about brothers, cash and an extraordinary memory.

Rambo III: courage and heroism, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Red Heat: authority, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Return of the Living Dead Part II: freedom and family, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Scrooged: fear and belief in the supernatural, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Shoot to Kill: family and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Tequila Sunrise: love and the safety of home, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

The Accused: fear, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: loss and mortality, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Teenagers, a creeping alien goo and a whole town that won't listen — welcome back to The Blob.

The Great Outdoors: family and greed, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Is it a vampire movie? Folk horror? Monster movie? Black comedy? A wildly sexual Gothic nightmare involving an ancient snake g

A small longneck, a fierce loss and a journey that still finds you where you live.

A fierce, searching film about a man who can’t stop being human — and the choices that make him more than that.

A straight-faced detective, a ridiculous assassination plot and enough sight gags to make you snort tea through your nose.

The Serpent and the Rainbow: mortality and lifespan and corporate power, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

The Vanishing: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

Sunglasses, slogans and a man who will not let you look away.

A mismatched pair, a lab experiment and a very 1980s idea of family.

There are vampire movies that creep quietly through the shadows, and then there is Vampire’s Kiss.

Waxwork: family and parents protecting their children, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

A private eye, a jittery rabbit and a very British fondness for messing about with genre.

Willow: family and freedom, and why this 1988 movie still matters.

One woman's Staten Island ferry commute to the boardroom.

Young men, a murdered mentor and a young Billy the Kid riding herd on revenge and loyalty.