The Eighties noticed a plethora of revolutionary motion pictures, resembling Aliens, E.T., Raiders of the Misplaced Ark, and Halloween, to call a couple of. Thus, the last decade additionally produced quite a few oddball motion pictures to copy the success of these extra critical cinematic productions.
Whereas there are a lot of strange 1980s movies on the market, there are much more rip-offs floating round within the cineverse. These are a few of the most blatant rip-offs discovered all through the Eighties — some you didn’t even know existed — and the highest choose is probably the most infamous instance of rip-off success.
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Ghoulies
Mini monsters of the darkish arts
After the 1984 success of Gremlins got here Ghoulies, which, due to its notorious VHS cowl that depicted a creature rising from a rest room, recouped its funds after which some earlier than video gross sales of the campy horror comedy had been even taken under consideration. Like fellow mini-creature options Munchies and Critters, it’s simple to inform what film impressed all of them.
Whereas it’s maybe a bit too centered on the occult to be a monster film like Gremlins, Ghoulies options loads of silly-looking monstrosities. It additionally marks the movie debut efficiency of Regulation & Order: Particular Victims Unit’s Mariska Hargitay. True story.
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Explorers
A reverse E.T.
One yr after directing Gremlins, Joe Dante got here out with Explorers, which appears like an try to copy the success of E.T. It options pleasant aliens of an unnamed species, however as an alternative of them crash-landing on Earth, a bunch of youngsters crash-lands on an alien planet after they assemble a spaceship of their very own design. In that sense, the film capabilities because the reverse of E.T.
Explorers is a perfect companion piece on any double-feature night time, and its forged members — together with Ethan Hawke in his first film position, in addition to the late River Phoenix — are simply as likable, if no more, than Henry Thomas is in E.T.
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Mac and Me
A mysterious alien–creature knockoff
Although fairly poorly constructed, Mac and Me is an oddly candy film that could be a blatant rip-off of E.T. When you watch it, you’ll shortly discover parallels, together with comical similarities in tone, story beats, and imagery. As such, the film grew to become probably the most talked-about imitators of Spielberg’s smash hit.
Whereas E.T. showcases a good quantity of product placement, Mac and Me amplifies it to a hysterical diploma. It trades a Reese’s Items reference for copious quantities of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s merchandise, with a ridiculous, prolonged dance sequence occurring at one of many latter’s areas. Ronald McDonald himself even makes a short cameo.
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Ator, the Combating Eagle
An Italian model of Conan the Barbarian
On the heels of Conan the Barbarian’s recognition got here Ator, the Fighting Eagle. The sword-and-sandal fantasy narrative follows a warrior who has simply discovered his true heritage and makes an attempt to avoid wasting a kidnapped princess from the spider-worshiper.
The infamous low-budget Italian rip-off mirrors Conan’s tone, aesthetic, plot beats, and protagonist’s journey. It even goes as far as to imitate the hero’s shirtless, muscular physique, however there isn’t any comparability to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s or Jason Momoa’s limitless physique.
2
Robowar
A shameless Predator rip-off
Clearly modeled after Predator, the Italian motion film Robowar is a couple of army staff being hunted within the jungle by a strong enemy. On this case, the enemy shouldn’t be an alien however — watch for it — a rogue, State Division-funded robotic killing machine.
The shameless, blatant rip-off copies most of Predator’s plot, characters, and setting, going as far as to function creature point-of-view pictures rendered as closely pixelated, heat-signature, thermal-vision photographs. It even closely lifts narrative components from one other 1987 basic, Robocop.
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Friday the thirteenth
One of the best instance of rip-off success
Whereas Friday the 13th grew to become a business success, it was critically despised on the time of its launch. Actually, Gene Siskel hated the film a lot that he ruined the film’s twist ending in his evaluation for the Chicago Tribune.
The rip-off slasher film is likely to be the perfect instance of a flagrant copycat giving delivery to a horror movie franchise whose place in cinema historical past is nearly as important because the factor it knocked off—that’s John Carpenter’s Halloween. Each Cunningham and his screenwriter, Victor Miller, have freely admitted to stealing from Carpenter’s trailblazing horror movie. Thankfully for them, Friday the thirteenth was such a financially profitable trendsetter that it revolutionized the slasher subgenre and has been ripped off simply as a lot as Carpenter’s basic.
A bygone period
Clearly, there are quite a few different unusual Eighties film rip-offs floating round on the market, resembling Alien 2: On Earth, which is unrelated to Alien however mimics its premise; Girl Terminator, which mirrors The Terminator’s idea; and Warriors of the Wasteland, which replicates the post-apocalyptic setting, automobile fight, and lone warrior construction of Mad Max 2. This excludes the numerous slasher rip-offs that additionally exist.
Whereas a few of these titles didn’t even come near rivaling the standard or field workplace success of the flicks they ripped off, some did turn into classics for underground film lovers. For normal audiences, they supplied an entire new window into low cost filmmaking in a bygone period.
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