Year 1988 movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant year 1988 movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out suspense, serious, realistic, sexy, thought provoking and melancholic films and TV shows about / with murder, death, brutality, mentor, dialogue, adaptation, profanity, runaway, storytelling and cigarette smoking plots mostly in Drama, Thriller and Comedy genres shot in USA, Canada, UK and other countries.
234
TOP 10 movies tagged as year 1988: We Summon the Darkness (2019), Alien Nation (1988), Apprentice to Murder (1988), Eight Men Out (1988), The Reader (1988), The Reader (2008), Lucky Numbers (2000), Man of Steel (2013), Song Without a Name (2019), The Passengers of the Night (2022).
Best films
New films
List of year 1988 movies
Genre: Drama, Horror, Music, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
The film is set in the Midwest against a backdrop involving a killing spree thought to be orchestrated by a satanic cult. Three best friends embark on a road trip to a heavy-metal show, where they bond with three aspiring musicians and head off to ...
Style:
suspense, scary, slasher, horror comedy, bleak ...
Plot:
satanic cult, good versus evil, road trip, satanism, devil worship, religion, three friends, serial killer, heavy metal, girl fight, murder, group of friends ...
Time:
year 1988, 2010s
Place:
indiana
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilisation. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine.
Style:
suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, detective ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
benign alien, buddy cop, partner, alien invasion, culture clash, discrimination, law enforcement, buddy, police, investigation, murder, friendship ...
Time:
future, year 1988, 20th century, 90s, year 1991 ...
Place:
los angeles, california, usa, mojave desert, san francisco
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA, Norway
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Fire-and-brimstone preacher sees Satan everywhere, trains gullible young boy to "detect" evil, and the two of them commit several murders in the name of Jesus. Based on a true story.
Style:
dark, independent film, serious, suspenseful, disturbing
Plot:
serial killer, supernatural, supernatural hunter, witch, exploitation, occult, pagan, religion, folk horror, killing spree, murder, supernatural ability ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
usa, pennsylvania
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, History, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
The great Chicago White Sox team of 1919 is the saddest team to ever win a pennent. The team is bitter at their penny pincher owner, Charles Comiskey, and at their own teammates. Gamblers take advantage of this opportunity to offer some players $ to ...
Style:
realistic, inspirational, factual, atmospheric, talky ...
Audience:
teens, family outing
Plot:
baseball, gambling, friendship, major league, scandal, historical figure, sport team, society, ambition, contests and competitions, baseball coach, dishonesty ...
Time:
20th century, year 1988, 1910s, year 1919, edwardian era ...
Place:
chicago, usa, cincinnati ohio, boston, california
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A multi-faceted film based on Raymond Jean's novel "La Lectrice". Constance (Miou-Miou) reads the novel aloud in bed to her lover. Inspired by the story of Marie, a woman who advertises her services as a reader of literature, ...
Style:
sexy, sexual, erotic, realistic, semi serious ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
forbidden love, male pubic hair, nude girl, porn, bdsm, love, sex, literature, lovers, society, lifestyle, love and romance ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
france
Is relevant?
273K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Germany, USA, Poland
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as ...
Style:
sexy, melancholic, touching, sexual, inspirational ...
Audience:
chick flick, girls' night, adult
Plot:
forbidden love, older woman younger man relationship, age difference, coming of age, holocaust, nazi, first love, trial, world war two, older woman younger man sex, sex, unlikely couple ...
Time:
post world war two, year 1966, year 1958, year 2008, 20th century ...
Place:
germany, israel, west berlin west germany, hamburg germany, europe ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Country: France, USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Russ Richards is a TV weatherman and local celebrity on the verge of losing his shirt. Desperate to escape financial ruin, he schemes with Crystal the TV station's lotto ball girl to rig the state lottery drawing. The numbers come up right, but ...
Style:
dark comedy, clever, stylized, humorous, realistic ...
Plot:
lottery, murder, profanity, crime gone awry, dark humor, snow, blackmail, femme fatale, murder investigation, financial crisis, voice over narration, small town ...
Time:
20th century, year 2000, year 1988, 80s
Place:
pennsylvania, usa, florida, new jersey
Is relevant?
861K
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 143 min.
Story:
A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation ...
Style:
satanic, visually stunning, exciting, serious, epic ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, boys' night
Plot:
superhero, superhuman powers, good versus evil, secret identity, vigilante, alien invasion, alien, superpower, alien superhero, earth, superman, alien civilization ...
Time:
year 2013, year 1988, future, year 1997, year 1980 ...
Place:
usa, kansas, canada, north america
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Peru, Spain, USA, Switzerland
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Peru, at the height of the political crisis of the 1980s. Georgina is a young woman from the Andes whose newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where ...
Style:
captivating, suspense, queer cinema
Plot:
private investigation, child abduction, investigative reporter, kidnapping, gay, birth, investigation, uncover truth, kidnapper, mother and daughter, crime investigation, mysterious disappearance ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s, 2010s
Place:
peru
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Paris, 1981. The winds of change are blowing on election night and the French storm the streets, elated. But Élisabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg) struggles to share the general mood of optimism. Her marriage is coming to an end and she will now have to ...
Style:
crying
Plot:
sex scene, junkie, unrequited love, swimming pool, women, teenage sex, frustration, boredom, sadness, fall in love, wanderer, young man ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s, year 1984, year 1981
Place:
france, paris france
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
The true story of Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets had some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Style:
clever, political, factual, realistic, humorous ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
cold war, cia, politics, womanizer, satire, spy, politician, propaganda, swimming pool, soviet afghanistan war, congressman, brutality ...
Time:
20th century, year 1980, year 1988, 2000s, year 2007 ...
Place:
afghanistan, washington d.c., texas, pakistan, helsinki finland ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A husband and wife reevaluate their marriage after their closest friends, another couple decide to split up after twelve years.
Style:
sincere, witty, realistic, romantic drama, clever ...
Audience:
girls' night
Plot:
relationships, friendship, honest, food, betrayal, family problems, dialogue, secrets, introspection, marriage, love and romance, crumbling marriage ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s, 21st century
Place:
new york, connecticut, usa, california, poland ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
A detainee at the U.S military's Guantanamo Bay detention center is held without charges for over a decade and seeks help from a defense attorney for his release.
Style:
thought provoking, suspense, tense, captivating, thrilling ...
Plot:
lawyer, courtroom, islamic terrorism, al qaeda, prisoner, american politics, brutality, american imperialism, prison, torture, terrorist, defense attorney ...
Time:
year 1988, year 2001, year 2003, year 2005, year 2002 ...
Place:
north africa, jordan, germany, hamburg germany, baltimore ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
20 years after a set of events, the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC), is still going strong. Now Brandon Miller a TEC operative, believes that they have a responsibility to change history hoping that the world will be better but Ryan Chan another ...
Style:
exciting, serious, suspenseful, fast
Audience:
teens, boys' night
Plot:
time travel, time machine, alternate timeline, heroes, martial arts, chase, superhero, heroic mission, undercover, danger, psychopath, changing the past or future ...
Time:
year 1988, 19th century, 80s, 1920s, 20th century ...
Place:
germany, europe, california, texas, new jersey ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
Style:
talky, road movie, philosophical, humorous, cult classic ...
Plot:
highway, friendship, wilderness, male bonding, isolation, character study, woods, workplace, buddies, workplace situations, driver, letter ...
Time:
year 1988, 20th century, 80s
Place:
texas, austin texas, usa, new jersey
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Kat Connors is 17 years old when her perfect homemaker mother, Eve, disappears. Having lived for so long in an emotionally repressed household, she barely registers her mother's absence and certainly doesn't blame her doormat of a father, ...
Style:
sexy, surreal, teen, independent film, stylized ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
missing person, coming of age, teenage girl, recurring dream, sex, mother daughter relationship, mysterious disappearance, disappearance, dysfunctional family, teenage life, gay interest, loss of mother ...
Time:
80s, 20th century, year 1988, year 1991, 21st century
Place:
usa, california
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Iran
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
It’s 1988 and, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, Tehran is bombed relentlessly. The days that pass are full of foreboding, and yet, love, affection, hope and life itself manage to sweep away the fear of death from those surrounded by it. Love ...
Style:
poignant, emotional, historical drama, period piece, tension ...
Plot:
bombing, hopes, love story, survival, death, fear, resilience, urban, siege, loss, intimate, realism ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
tehran, persia, iran, tehran iran
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Jean, a PE teacher, is forced to live a double life. When a new student arrives and threatens to expose her sexuality, Jean is pushed to extreme lengths to keep her job and her integrity.
Style:
suspenseful, captivating, psychological, sincere, crying ...
Plot:
lesbian, closeted homosexual, lgbt, lesbian relationship, teacher, lesbian teen, lesbian bar, school suspension, cat, social issues, double life, social problems ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
england
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
The year is 1988. Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. After an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act…different, which leads Abby to suspect her best friend may be possessed by a demon. ...
Style:
suspenseful, tense, satirical, thrilling, captivating ...
Plot:
demonic possession, teenage girl, devil, occult, exorcism, paranormal activity, best friend, teenager, paranormal phenomena, girlfriend girlfriend relationship, demon, supernatural ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 72 min.
Story:
While their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told an important tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Ainar the lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofrieder in a Gimli of old.
Style:
surreal, black and white, avant garde, expressionism, independent film ...
Plot:
surrealism, smallpox, hospital, dying mother, village, epidemic, dead woman, cat, medical, seagull, fishing village, hallucination ...
Time:
year 1988, 20th century, 1900s, turn of the century
Place:
iceland, canada
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
A vampire relates his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness, and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter.
Style:
gothic, gothic horror, dark, scary, sexy ...
Audience:
girls' night, adult
Plot:
vampire, supernatural, immortality, goth, loneliness, dark hero, vampirism, monster as victim, blood, bonding, vampire bite, child vampire ...
Time:
19th century, 18th century, georgian era, 20th century, 1870s ...
Place:
new orleans, louisiana, paris france, san francisco, france ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
A plastic surgeon, romancing a much younger schoolteacher, enlists his loyal assistant to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in order to cover up a careless lie. When more lies backfire, the assistant's kids become involved, and everyone ...
Style:
romantic, feel good, funny, humorous, rom com ...
Audience:
chick flick, date night, girls' night, teens, family outing ...
Plot:
fall in love, pretense, pretend relationship, love and romance, couples, couple relations, love story, single mother, fake relationship, true love, wedding, dating ...
Time:
year 2011, year 1988, 80s, 90s, year 1992 ...
Place:
hawaii, usa, oceania, los angeles
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
In 1988, Philadelphia police officer Thomas "Locke" Lockhart, hungry to become a detective, begins tracking a serial killer whose crimes defy scientific explanation. When the killer mysteriously resurfaces nine years later, Locke's ...
Style:
suspense, enigmatic, detective, sexy, tense ...
Plot:
time traveler, homicide detective, serial killer, profanity, hospital, secret identity, time, murder mystery, police detective, teenage girl, female serial killer, crime investigation ...
Time:
year 1988, future, year 1997, year 2015, year 2006
Place:
philadelphia
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
Beyond Borders is an epic tale of the turbulent romance between two star-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the world's most dangerous hot spots. Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, an American living in London in ...
Style:
touching, romantic, captivating, romantic drama, thought provoking ...
Audience:
date night, girls' night, teens, chick flick
Plot:
charity, love, love story, love affair, desert, border, war, starvation, un, survival, brutality, life & death ...
Time:
80s, year 1988, year 1993, year 1995, year 1984 ...
Place:
africa, cambodia, london, england, europe ...
Is relevant?
687K
Genre: Horror
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
Style:
scary, suspense, spooky, horrifying, epic ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama, adult
Plot:
killer clown, clown, supernatural horror, coming of age, fear, small town, monster, evil clown, stephen king, villain, missing person, murderer ...
Time:
year 1989, 80s, year 1988, year 2017, 2010s
Place:
maine
Is relevant?
72K
Genre: Animation, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 22 min.
TV show
Story:
Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his ...
Style:
anime, psychological, sentimental, psychological thriller, captivating ...
Audience:
teens, pre-teens
Plot:
time travel, childhood, murder, friendship, serial killer, child abuse, dysfunctional family, abusive mother, death, kidnapping, mystery killer, missing girl ...
Time:
year 2006, year 1988, 21st century
Place:
japan
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Music, Musical
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 147 min.
Story:
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, ...
Style:
realistic, hood, intense, clever, inspirational ...
Audience:
manly
Plot:
hip hop, racism, music, ghetto, gangster, redemption, rap, rags to riches, profanity, rapper, african american, gang ...
Time:
90s, year 2015, 2010s, year 1990, year 1995 ...
Place:
los angeles, california, milwaukee wisconsin, usa, detroit ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
A spoof of all the "found-footage/documentary style" films released in recent years.
Style:
parody, spoof, satirical, humorous, not serious ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
haunted house, ghost, stupidity, domestic disturbance, danger, found footage, satire, brutality, nothing goes right, disorder, imaginary, supernatural ...
Time:
year 1988, year 2012, year 2013, 80s, 2010s ...
Place:
usa, los angeles
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns (very large long range guns capable of shooting at ranges more than 100 miles). When an operational plan by the CIA to export sanctioned arms to apartheid-South Africa through him was ...
Style:
semi documentary, realistic, serious, suspenseful, rough ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
mossad, assassination, engineer, secretary, cia agent, undercover agent, cia, weapon of mass destruction, artillery, iraq war, intrigue, war ...
Time:
year 1988, 90s
Place:
middle east, baghdad iraq, london, iraq, brussels ...
Is relevant?
27K
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Chile, France, Mexico, USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
In 1988, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet, due to international pressure, is forced to call a plebiscite on his presidency. The country will vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to Pinochet extending his rule for another eight years. Opposition ...
Style:
political, cerebral, psychological, sentimental, atmospheric ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
dictatorship, campaign, democracy, protest, politics, advertising, underdog, dictator, political conspiracy, society, exile, rebellion ...
Time:
80s, year 2012, year 1988, 2010s, 20th century ...
Place:
chile, latin america, santiago chile, south america, venezuela ...
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
