Obscure Dystopian Sci-Fi Movies Of The 80s

These movies are not as well known as Mad Max (Road Warrior) (1981) or Robocop (1987), but they show the future as a dystopian landscape.

The films below range from a musical to fast cars and big trucks to human hunting to savage worlds, but they all have something in common: a dystopian future.

Apple (1980)

In 1994, a young couple enters the world of the music industry, and subsequently the world of drugs.

Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, George Gilmour, Grace Kennedy

The Last Chase (1981)

A former race car driver’s car is confiscated. He rebuilds it and drives to Free California with a teen’s help. Agents dispatch a jet pilot to stop him, fearing his autonomy threatens their control.

Action | Adventure | Dystopian Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi

Stars: Lee Majors, Burgess Meredith, Chris Makepeace

Battletruck (1982)

Post World War III futuristic tale of collapsed governments & bankrupt countries heralding a new lawless age.

Action | Adventure | Desert Adventure | Dystopian Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi

Stars: Michael Beck, Annie McEnroe, James Wainwright

Turkey Shoot (1982)

In a dystopian future where deviants are held in “re-education” camps, a freedom fighter and an innocent prisoner try to survive their decadent oppressors’ game of kill-or-be-killed.

Stars: Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey, Michael Craig

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)

On a distant planet inhabited by mutants, two bounty-hunters race to rescue three Earth female captives from the clutches of an evil mutant warlord.

Stars: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson

Solarbabies (1986)

In a post-apocalyptic future ruled by the military, a group of renegade teenage orphans find a legendary orb, Bohdai, that can supposedly bring the rain back to dried up Earth.

Action | Adventure | Dystopian Sci-Fi | Quest | Sci-Fi

Stars: Richard Jordan, Jami Gertz, Jason Patric

World Gone Wild (1987)

In 2087’s nuclear wasteland, Lost Wells guards precious water. When brutal cultists threaten to seize it, the outpost’s only hope lies with a mercenary from a cannibal city, but survival isn’t guaranteed.

Action | Dystopian Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi

Stars: Bruce Dern, Michael Paré, Catherine Mary Stewart

Crime Zone (1988)

Helen and Bone live in a repressive futuristic dystopian society they badly want to escape from. Mysterious Jason hires them to steal a disc for him. It’s practically a suicide mission, but he claims he can smuggle them out, in return.

Action | Adventure | Dystopian Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Stars: David Carradine, Peter Nelson, Sherilyn Fenn

Games of Survival (1989)

A warrior from another planet must battle six opponents from different parts of the universe.