Catching Up Pt 2
- School Spirit (1985)
- This was a weird one. Extremely low budget movie where a college student is killed in a car accident, but comes back as a ghost with the help of his ghost mentor (his uncle, played by John Finnegan). All-too-predictably, he gets soft revenge on his rivals, falls in love, and realizes there was a lot more to life than he was taking advantage of. High point for TV fans: Larry Linville from M*A*S*H is the school principal! This movie is watchable, but it also doesn't have anything to say yet continually tries to Make a Point. I'd avoid.
- The Golden Child (1986)
- The well-known Eddie Murphy vehicle, made at the very height of his powers. This was a rather public miss at the box office (and Murphy disparaged it on late-night talk shows, explaining the studio interfered and butchered the original script in favor of Murphy just mugging for the camera), but still has a lot of charm. It may not be in the same league as Beverly Hill Cop, but there is a lot to like here. The golden child herself (yes, the actor was a girl) has a lot of charm, and of course Eddie Murphy can do no wrong, even when he's endlessly ad libbing from a chopped up script. Worth seeing.
- Moving Target (TV movie, 1988)
- Amazon Prime fooled me and told me this was a regular film - it's not, instead it's a TV movie from '88. Still, it's interesting - Jason Bateman (yes, coming off Silver Spoons and beginning to accelerate his career) is a music prodigy who goes to band camp, only to find it stifling and runs away. Except when he gets home, his house is empty and his parents are gone...! I'll spoil a 32 year old TV movie for you: his family is in witness protection, and the bad guys are now out to kidnap him, while the government is out to protect him, and he's just running from everyone. It's OK.
- Deadtime Stories (1986)
- Surprisingly fun, with a great theme song, this is a horror anthology that revolves around stories being read to a young nephew by a frustrated babysitter uncle who is also something of a pervert. The three short sections are weird and goofy and don't take themselves too seriously. The whole thing is over before it can wear out its welcome, and is recommended to fans of that "bubblegum horror" of the '80s.
- The Mutilator (1984)
- Among the worst-titled movies on this list, nobody really gets mutilated much in this standard teen horror flick. Just straight murdered, mostly. Plot is a little odd: young boy cleaning gun accidentally shoots and kills his mother. Father arrives home, sees what happened, immediately becomes homicidal/insane. Cut to years later when boy is now a young man and father is still homicidal/insane. Boy takes friends to beach house. Crazy murder dad kills them off one by one, as per '80s teen rules. This is strictly by the numbers and really has nothing special to recommend it.
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