Time to get old: the films that epitomized your childhood sleepovers, family movie nights, and frayed VHS cassettes are 35 this year. 1990 was a crazy period in pop culture—neon windbreakers, slap bracelets, cassette tapes playing in Walkmans, and a box office slate filled with instant classics. Whether you were quoting the one-liners in the schoolyard, covering your eyes for frightening moments, or swooning over love interest actors, these films left an indelible stamp on pop culture. So load up some microwave popcorn, dig out your tape rewinder, and take a journey back to 1990 with the 15 greatest films marking the big 3-5 dramatic eeffectscounting down included.
15. Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton wrapped up the ’80s with this bittersweet, surreal fairy tale of an artificial man with scissors for hands, played by young Johnny Depp in one of his most memorable performances. With pastel-hued suburbia crashing against Burton’s gothic aesthetic, the film felt like a dream you weren’t quite certain was sweet or a little strange. Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, and even Vincent Price (in his final major role) added depth to a tale that delved into isolation, creativity, and the agony of being unique. Depp said little more than 200 words, but the devastation in his eyes told the entire story. To every teenager who ever felt like they were an outcast, Edward Scissorhands was, and still is, a movie lifeline.
14. Misery
Stephen King’s tales were scary enough, but Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Misery made obsession a part of daily life become nightmare material. Kathy Bates solidified herself in the annals of Hollywood by playing, with unflinching ferocity, Annie Wilkes, the “number one fan” who holds captive and terrorizes writer Paul Sheldon (James Caan). The “hobbling scene” is still one of the most difficult to sit through in cinematic history. Bates won an Academy Award for her performance, one of the select few to have won an Oscar for a horror movie role. Claustrophobic, tense, and uncomfortably realistic, Misery is the sort of thriller that causes you to second-guess who you allow to assist you after a car accident in the snow.
13. Home Alone
No 1990s classics list would be complete without the holiday juggernaut that catapulted Macaulay Culkin to superstardom. Playing Kevin McCallister, Culkin provided children all over the world with the dream of being home alone and in charge of the house, pizza, ice cream, and all, plus defending it against two laughably inept burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern). And thanks to John Hughes’ witty screenplay and John Williams’ now-familiar melody, Home Alone became a holiday staple and a huge commercial success, earning nearly half a billion dollars globally. The slapstick snares from flying paint cans to tarantula shenanigans became playground lore, prompting numerous attempts to replicate them (with varying degrees of success).
12. Dances with Wolves
Kevin Costner’s directorial debut was as ambitious as it was lovely, sweeping across the sweeping prairies of the American West as it retells the story of Union soldier John Dunbar’s improbable adoption by a Lakota Sioux tribe. The film’s sympathetic representation of Native Americans was revolutionary for mainstream Hollywood in the day, although it has also set off debate about “white savior” narratives. With expansive vistas, a herd of real buffalo numbering in the thousands, and careful attention to Lakota language and culture, the film was both a work of art and a cultural lightning rod. It took home seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and solidified Costner as a director to be taken seriously.
11. Goodfellas
“Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a gangster.” With those words, Martin Scorsese took viewers on a raw, decades-long journey of crime, allegiance, and decline. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci delivered career-defining performances, with Pesci’s unhinged, Oscar-winning role creating one of the most quoted scenes in movie history: “Funny how? ” Scorsese’s use of freeze-frames, voice-over narration, and needle-drop soundtrack made Goodfellas more than just a mob story; it was a style guide for modern cinema. Brutal, darkly funny, and endlessly rewatchable, it remains one of Scorsese’s crown jewels.
10. Pump Up the Volume
Before there were podcasts and YouTube rants, Christian Slater’s Mark Hunter, also known as pirate radio DJ “Hard Har,” addressed the frustrations of youths stuck in suburban conformity. Half angst-ridden drama and half call-to-arms, the film pushed against authority and urged young people to speak up, even if it meant doing so against the system. With a killer soundtrack comprised of the Pixies, Sonic Youth, and the Beastie Boys, the film captured the raw, messy fervor of youth in the eearly ’90s Although its box office performance was small, Pump Up the Volume turned cult favorite, four times its takings on home video and solidifying itself as an anthem for a generation that wished to “talk hard.”
9. Arachnophobia
Spiders are creepy in themselves, but Arachnophobia made them a full-scale cinematic horror. Jeff Daniels played a doctor battling venomous Venezuelan arachnids that overwhelm a small town, while John Goodman came close to stealing the picture as a wisecracking exterminator with some of the film’s best laughs. Balancing frights and laughs, the film created the “thrill-omedy” genre and still boasts a great Rotten Tomatoes rating. If you weren’t already nervous about spiders, this one left you paranoid about every dark corner of your home. Oh, and yes, more than 300 actual spiders were used in the shooting. Sweet dreams.
8. Ghost
Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore’s romance was forever cemented by virtue of one pottery wheel, one breathtakingly melodic soundtrack, and the unforgettable presence of Whoopi Goldberg as the unwilling psychic who serves as the conduit between the living and the dead. Part love story, part supernatural thriller, part comedy, Ghost swept the box office as the top-grossing film of 1990, earning over $500 million at the international box office. Goldberg received an Academy Award for her work, and “Unchained Melody” reemerged in pop culture as couples around the world attempted, and usually failed, to replicate that pottery scene.
7. Die Hard 2
If Die Hard transformed the action genre, its follow-up proved lightning did indeed strike twice. Bruce Willis reprised the hapless John McClane as he battled terrorists amid the snowy mayhem of Dulles International Airport. The second installment doubled down on explosions, shootouts, and tension, making McClane an everyman hero who just couldn’t catch a break. It was a box office smash and solidified Die Hard as a holiday-action tradition. And let’s not forget: this is the movie behind the legendary, awkwardly dubbed TV cut, “Yippee Ki Yay, Mr. Falcon.”
6. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
While the original Gremlins walked a fine line between horror and comedy, the sequel completely lost its mind, and in the best possible way. Taking place in a high-rise corporate building, Gizmo and the misfits unleashed bedlam that spoofed anything from cable news to consumer culture. Cameos from Hulk Hogan and a fourth-wall-breaking, self-aware sensibility lent the film a free-wheeling, anarchic vibe years before its time. Although its box office performance fell short of the first, home video and cable reruns allowed it to gain a loyal cult following. Today, it remains one of the most wonderfully bizarre sequels ever produced.
5. Total Recall
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brain-twisting journey to Mars married high-speed action with spin-your-head-around sci-fi ideas. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the film married shootouts, grotesque mutants, and satirical humor in a style only he could deliver. Sharon Stone sparkled as the lethal femme fatale, and memorable moments such as the three-breasted alien became cultural touchstones for ’90s sci-fi excess. With Oscar-winning special effects and a worldwide box office of more than $260 million, Total Recall demonstrated you could have explosions and philosophical introspection in one film. And yes, fans continue to quote: “Consider that a divorce.”
4. Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, Cowabunga, dudes! The heroes in a half shell bounced from Saturday morning cartoons to the movie screen, bringing gritty city streets, cheesy jokes, and animatronic magic from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The turtles battled Shredder, consumed their body weight in pizza, and gave children everywhere a reason to yell “Cowabunga! ” on the street. With a low budget, it ended up being the top-grossing independent film of its era, with over $200 million made worldwide. For fans of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael, this was more than a movie; it was evidence that cartoon and comic book characters could pack a blockbuster.
3. Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere remade the romantic comedy in a modern-day Cinderella tale that mixed charm, wit, and a good dose of edge. Roberts’s smile and razor-sharp wit propelled her to stardom, securing an Oscar nomination. With iconic moments like the “big mistake huge” shopping scene and Roy Orbison’s timeless soundtrack, Pretty Woman became one of the defining rom-coms of all time. Grossing nearly half a billion dollars worldwide, it’s the kind of movie that still makes people believe in love stories, even the unconventional ones.
2. The Hunt for Red October
The Cold War thriller to end all Cold War thrillers, this adaptation of Tom Clancy’s novel brought together an all-star cast led by Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. Connery’s Scottish-accented Russian submarine captain was a bold choice, but his charisma carried it effortlessly. The film’s tense underwater battles and attention to naval detail created claustrophobic suspense that still holds up decades later. Throw in James Earl Jones in a key role, and you have a movie that is as smart as it is suspenseful. It $200 million at the box office, and winning for sound editing at the Oscars made it a spy-thriller classic.
1. Tremors
Half horror movie, half comedy, and half creature-feature nostalgia, Tremors introduced us to Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, and the unrememberable Graboids, giant worms that lived underground and could detect vibrations. Equal measure scary and funny, the film’s use of practical effects made it gritty and lovable. Though it didn’t blow the box office wide open at first, word-of-mouth and home video turned it into a cult classic. With six sequels, a prequel, and even a television series, Tremors became the little monster film that could. And if you ever spent your childhood jumping from couch to couch to get away from “the floor,” you know this film’s magic firsthand.
Happy 35th, 1990 movies! From gangster thrillers to romantic comedies, blockbusters to cult classics, these films remind us why 1990 was such a landmark year in film. If this list doesn’t prompt you to rewind a VHS tape or sing along to “Unchained Melody,” you may need to check your levels of nostalgia.