Top 30 Feature Films of 1988
by elkinsisaac | created - 05 Oct 2022 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicOr “feature-like” mini-series by my own discretion.
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1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 310,366
2. Alice (1988)
Not Rated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Votes: 13,985
3. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 205,191 | Gross: $0.55M
4. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 380,177 | Gross: $1.11M
5. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,454 | Gross: $13.01M
6. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
Director: Stephen Chiodo | Stars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon
Votes: 45,474 | Gross: $15.63M
7. Rain Man (1988)
R | 133 min | Drama
After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen
Votes: 546,535 | Gross: $178.80M
8. Child's Play (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Votes: 116,727 | Gross: $33.24M
9. Mississippi Burning (1988)
R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif
Votes: 110,990 | Gross: $34.60M
10. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece. Can Dr. Loomis stop him?
Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, George P. Wilbur
Votes: 58,641 | Gross: $17.77M
11. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 43,503 | Gross: $8.25M
12. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
R | 164 min | Drama
The life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Paul Greco
Votes: 63,105 | Gross: $7.63M
13. The Land Before Time (1988)
G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
An orphaned brontosaurus teams up with other young dinosaurs in order to reunite with their families in a valley.
Director: Don Bluth | Stars: Pat Hingle, Gabriel Damon, Helen Shaver, Bill Erwin
Votes: 98,683 | Gross: $48.09M
14. The Bear (1988)
PG | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Tchéky Karyo, Bart the Bear, Youk the Bear, Jack Wallace
Votes: 19,084 | Gross: $31.75M
15. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 945,486 | Gross: $83.01M
16. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
R | 97 min | Horror, Thriller
Kirsty is brought to an institution after the horrible events of Hellraiser (1987), where the occult-obsessive head doctor resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites and their demonic underworld.
Director: Tony Randel | Stars: Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgins, Kenneth Cranham
Votes: 56,126 | Gross: $11.09M
17. Scrooged (1988)
PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover
Votes: 116,425 | Gross: $60.33M
18. Beetlejuice (1988)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Annie McEnroe
Votes: 340,046 | Gross: $73.71M
19. Pumpkinhead (1988)
R | 86 min | Fantasy, Horror
After a tragic accident, a man conjures up a towering, vengeful demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy a group of unsuspecting teenagers.
Director: Stan Winston | Stars: Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, John D'Aquino, Kimberly Ross
Votes: 27,827 | Gross: $4.39M
20. Monkey Shines (1988)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 13,028 | Gross: $5.34M
21. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror
An anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people into zombies.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield
Votes: 27,646 | Gross: $19.60M
22. Coming to America (1988)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Romance
An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Paul Bates, Garcelle Beauvais, Feather
Votes: 223,553 | Gross: $128.15M
23. Funny Farm (1988)
PG | 101 min | Comedy
A couple swap city life for the country, but their picturesque new hometown turns out to be just a little bit different to what they were expecting.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith Osborne, Kevin O'Morrison, Joseph Maher
Votes: 25,002 | Gross: $25.54M
24. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime
In London, four very different people team up on a jewel heist, then try to double-cross one another for the loot, complicated by their efforts to fool a very proper barrister.
Directors: Charles Crichton, John Cleese | Stars: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Votes: 153,900 | Gross: $63.49M
25. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
A television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma
Votes: 46,450 | Gross: $7.18M
26. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Incompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Director: David Zucker | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban
Votes: 184,913 | Gross: $78.76M
27. Night of the Demons (1988)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Ten teenagers party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night. When an evil force awakens, demonic spirits keep them from leaving and turn their gathering into a living Hell.
Director: Kevin Tenney | Stars: Cathy Podewell, Alvin Alexis, Hal Havins, Allison Barron
Votes: 19,136 | Gross: $3.11M
28. Midnight Run (1988)
R | 126 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Votes: 94,233 | Gross: $38.41M
29. The Dead Pool (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan must stop a sick secret contest to murder various San Francisco celebrities, with himself being one of the targets.
Director: Buddy Van Horn | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, Evan C. Kim
Votes: 48,959 | Gross: $37.90M
30. Mystic Pizza (1988)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Three teenage girls come of age while working at a pizza parlor in the Connecticut town of Mystic.
Director: Donald Petrie | Stars: Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 32,470 | Gross: $12.79M
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