I ♥ the Eighties

I have just finished a movie marathon of Splash, Ghostbusters and Gremlins (all 1984). I thoroughly enjoyed these films due to the nostalgia, I grew up in the Eighties, but nostalgia alone is not the reason for the pleasure gained from watching these films. There is something refreshing about watching a film where you know the special effects have been achieved through ingenious mechanical contraptions and old school animatronics. This was a period when computer special effects were emerging but not dominating film yet and these early Eighties films have a sort of innocence to them. They rely on the audience filling in the gaps by, for example, cutting away from Daryl Hannah’s legs then cutting back and her legs having miraculously turned into a mermaid’s tail. We don’t see the transformations in these films but it doesn’t hinder our viewing pleasure, if anything my imagination created something much more fantastical than any special effects could have done at that time! As there was no dependence on these special effects, or lack of, the story and dialogue were also much more thought out, and innuendo ruled the script. Perhaps Hollywood can take a tip from these films and realise that big budget special effects do not equal entertainment. I just really hope they don’t ruin Ghostbusters 3.