Best Science Fiction Movies of 1980

The highest-rated science fiction films from 1980, ranked by MovieMagicScore based on authentic viewer ratings.

Science Fiction 1979 Science Fiction 1981 All Time Science Fiction

Action Comedy Drama Horror Thriller Romance Animation Documentary Fantasy Crime

The Empire Strikes Back

1980

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

8.4

Superman II

1980

Three Kryptonian criminals led by General Zod team up with Lex Luthor to conquer Earth, forcing a depowered Superman to regain his strength and stop them.

6.7

Altered States

1980

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time, and perhaps reality itself are states of mind.

6.7

The Final Countdown

1980

During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

6.6

Super Fuzz

1980

While delivering a parking ticket to a small village in the Florida everglades, Officer Dave Speed finds himself in the middle of a radiation experiment conducted by the American government and NASA, where a detonated nuclear missile gives him a multitude of superpowers.

6.5

Death Watch

1980

In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying woman becomes the morbid theme of a revolutionary reality show, broadcast through the curious eyes of a peculiar camera.

6.3

Why Did You Pick On Me?

1980

Following the events of The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid, Sheriff Hall and H-725 (using the official identity of Charlie Warren) still get no rest from the military - because the little alien has not yet grasped the meaning of keeping a low profile. They are constantly on the move, and H-725's father has had to pick them out of a tight spot too many times already.

6.1

The Return

1980

Two young children and an adult in a small town have an encounter with an alien spaceship. 25 years later the children are reunited as adults in the same town which is now beset by strange cattle mutilations. Matters become worse when the cattle mutilations are joined by human murders and mutilations.

5.9

Alligator

1980

A baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives by eating discarded lab animals that have been injected with growth hormones. The now gigantic animal escapes the city sewers and goes on a rampage, pursued by a cop and a big-game hunter.

6.1

#10

Flash Gordon

1980

A football player and his mates travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.

6.2

#11

Nightmare City

1980

In a nameless European city, a local reporter and his doctor wife try to escape from hordes of blood thirsty zombies, undead people exposed to nuclear radioactivity, while the military leaders fight a losing war of attrition against the relentless atomic zombies.

5.7

#12

Humanoids from the Deep

1980

After a new cannery introduces scientifically augmented salmon to a seaside town in the Pacific Northwest, a species of mysterious, mutated sea creatures begin killing the men and raping the women.

5.7

#13

Without Warning

1980

Sandy and Greg are teenagers who go camping, despite warnings not to, with their friends. They soon encounter aliens, who are using the area as a hunting ground.

5.3

#14

Xanadu

1980

A beautiful muse inspires an artist and his older friend to convert a dilapidated auditorium into a lavish rollerskating club.

5.7

#15

Night of the Zombies

1980

A rat causes a chemical leak at a Papua New Guinea research facility, leading a group of eco-terrorists to demand the closure of all facilities. When a team of Interpol commandos are enlisted to eliminate the terrorists, they find themselves embroiled in a zombie outbreak.

5.3

#16

Contamination

1980

A former astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled by alien pod clones.

5.2

#17

Battle Beyond the Stars

1980

A young farmer assembles a band of diverse mercenaries to defend his peaceful planet from an evil tyrant.

5.3

#18

Saturn 3

1980

In the future, Earth is overcrowded and the population relies on distant bases to be fed. In the Saturn 3 station, Major Adam and the scientist Alex, who is also his lover and has never been on Earth, have been researching hydroponics for three years in the base alone with their dog Sally. Captain Benson arrives Saturn 3 with Hector, incapable to controlling his emotions he transfers his homicidal tendency and insanity to Hector. Now Major Adam and Alex are trapped in the station with a dangerous psychopath robot.

5.2

Best Science Fiction Movies of 1980

This ranking features the top science fiction movies released in 1980, sorted by MovieMagicScore viewer ratings. Looking for more? Browse all genres from 1980 or see the best science fiction movies of all time.