Obscure '80s Sci-Fi Hidden Gems You Need To Watch Before You Die

4:45 - Catherine Mary Stewart was never in Flight of the Navigator. You're probably thinking of 1984's The Last Starfighter.

"Miracle Mile" is one of the most criminally underrated and unknown movies ever. I ALWAYS recommend it and have never had anyone watch it and hate it.

The Ice Pirates was a mainstay of mine as a kid. LOVED that movie and still do!

Night of The Comet is a masterpiece!!!! I saw Ice Pirates in theaters when I was a kid. Great memories.

Thanks for covering these. I added them to my list of sci fi movies to watch. For me, THE WRAITH and MIRACLE MILE were both great movies that were so underrated at the time.

I love Night Of The Comet and Miracle Mile. I even got lucky enough to see Miracle Mile on the big screen when it released. Both are great.

The Quiet Earth is a decent film from New Zealand. Doesn’t rely heavily on sci-fi but uses it as more of an exploration of characters and how they react to being the last people on earth. Poignant film.

Ah the Wraith. I remember coming across this movie way back in the early 90s when i was still a kid. Sherrilyn Fenn, 😍

Miracle Mile...one of my all time favorites. When I saw it, I watched it on vhs. Time flies.

You neglected to mention that "Battle Beyond The Stars" is actually a Sci-fi reskin of The Magnificent Seven, which (in its current Denzel-led incarnation) is a remake of a classic Western of the same name, which is ITSELF a reskin of the Akira Kurosawa epic The Seven Samurai. One fun fact about Battle Beyond The Stars being a Magnificent Seven (1960) remake is that it stars Robert Vaughn playing an almost identical character to the one he played in 1960. Also the planet they are defending is called "Akir" - a clear callout to Kurosawa himself, without whom the story likely never would have been told in the first place.

Bill Paxton's curly mullet was absolutely glorious. Game over man!

Ice pirates and Wraith were both great movies I remember watching as a young man in the 80s. I was young but had 2 older brothers so i got to watch grown up movies alot.

Night of the Comet is in my all time top ten. Me and my friends said the quote “ I’m not crazy, I just don’t give a fuck!” for years after this movie came out.

I’m soooooo shocked The Wraith is sooooo unpopular. An amazing movie. Top 10 movie to watch ever.

I own a DVD copy of "Liquid Sky" my ex got for me for Christmas one year. He said it was not easy to find...weird I mentioned that movie once to him, talking about the main actress. I was shocked he not only remembered it, but found a copy of it for me!

Forgot to mention the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. It’s a rather bizarre yet wildly entertaining gem.

Great list- perhaps neither “overlooked,” nor “gems,” but I’d add Dreamscape (Dennis Quaid) & Runaway (Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons!?!?) to the must-see list!

I would add a movie that most people have never even heard of at all but which I found quite entertaining for the time ('83) called "Wavelength". Stars Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie (singer from The Runaways), and Keenan Wynn. It's also another score by Tangerine Dream. Under 90 minutes it wasn't a deep story, but sure as hell was better than "Battle Beyond the Stars" or even "Ice Pirates". It was in heavy rotation on cable at one point, but pretty sure it fell into total obscurity because it never got a home video release (probably disagreements about rights). Glad to see "Looker" and "Night of the Comet" on the list. Two of my favorite hidden-gem/guilty pleasures!

Ice Pirates is an addictive movie because you can tell the cast had so much fun making it.

I was already a massive fan of Miracle Mile, but I never thought a B-movie like Night of the Comet would be so extraordinarily entertaining. I just saw it---it's awesome, and I don't understand why. There's no gore, a typical 80s cityscape, and cheesy 80s music---yet it's entertaining from start to finish; somehow it all works together--so much so that a big budget would have killed it. This is a truly classic example of what makes a cult movie, and it's not even horror-certified, has a PG! This movie shouldn't work...