Warner Bros. Pictures
In the land of sci - fi films , there are movies that were made beforeBlade Runnerand movies that were made after it . Ridley Scott ’s adjustment ofPhilip K. Dick‘sDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?was so influential that almost everything that came afterBlade Runnerwas pep up by it in some way . This was especially apparent in the ’ 80s , although theBlade Runnerimitators could n’t match the art on display in Scott ’s motion-picture show .
Regardless , there are a smattering of contemporaneous ’ LXXX sci - fi movies that carried on the paper , the tone , and even some of the big mind behindBlade Runner . Unfortunately , they are n’t readily available on stream services , and they ’ve been largely forget for the past four decennary . That ’s why we ’re focusing on three great eighties sci - fi movies that carried the disembodied spirit ofBlade Runner . And you wo n’t even have to hunt them down in a dusky old video store to find them .
Warner Bros. Pictures
Runaway (1984)
You ’d be intemperately - pressed to find anyone who remembersRunawaywho did n’t be through the ’ eighty . This movie wears itsBlade Runnerinfluence on its sleeve , although it ’s nowhere near as good as that film despite being directed and written byJurassic Parkauthor Michael Crichton . AlthoughMagnum P.I.made Tom Selleck a TV wiz , he always seems to come across as a bargain cellar Harrison Ford in his ’ 80s movies .
Much likeBlade Runner‘s lead quality , Selleck ’s Sergeant Jack R. Ramsay is assigned to track down and neutralize rogue robots . Of course , no one would disconcert the crude golem that Ramsay deals with forBlade Runner‘s replicants . That ’s why everyone is offend when a mad scientist , Charles Luther , finds a means to turn ordinary robots into killer simple machine . It should also be bring up that Luther is played by KISS frontman Gene Simmons , which only add to this movie ’s gonzo mystique . The estimable thing about this film is an early carrying into action by the tardy Kirstie Alley as Jackie Rogers , a former buff of Luther ’s whose life is in jeopardy after she duple - crosses him .
Rent or buyRunawayonPrime Videoor other digital outlets .
The Hidden (1987)
UnlikeBlade RunnerorRunaway , The Hiddentakes piazza firmly in the present tense as Tom Beck ( Michael Nouri ) and the LAPD encounter a criminal they simply ca n’t deal with : an foreign thrill killer who can transfer itself from body to organic structure . That ’s where Lloyd Gallagher do in , as played by futureTwin Peaksstar Kyle MacLachlan . The existent Gallagher is idle , and his identity has been assumed by a heroic unknown who wants to stop the rampage .
The enemy alien possesses several organic structure throughout the film , including a stripper named Brenda ( Babylon 5‘s Claudia Christian ) . But what nominate this moving picture work is the uneasy Julian Bond between Gallagher and Beck and the escalating chaos that the foreign leaves in its wake .
Rent or buyThe HiddenonPrime Videoand other digital outlets .
Alien Nation (1988)
Decades beforeDistrict 9(which still want a proper sequel),Alien Nationpulled off an even more challenging story in the consequence of the arrival of alien refugees called Newcomers , who promptly find a place in mod order . James Caan plays Matthew Sykes , a human cop partnered with Sam Francisco ( Mandy Patinkin ) , one of the first Newcomers in the LAPD .
Sam is very earnest about making a new life for himself and his category , and he even overcomes Matthew ’s initial hostility by befriending him . But just because there are plenty of good Newcomers does n’t intend that they do n’t have crook as well . Case in point : the Newcomer man of affairs William Harcourt ( Terence Stamp ) has a plan to re-introduce a drug that can turn Newcomers into docile slaves . This not only horrifies and enrages Sam , but it also threatens to uncover secrets that the Newcomers urgently want to shroud from humans .
Rent or buyAlien NationonPrime Videoand other digital outlets .
