Book Review: ’80s Action Movies on the Cheap: 284 Low Budget, High Impact Pictures

Abstract

’80s Action Movies on the Cheap: 284 Low Budget, High Impact Pictures is a work that sets out to examine the evolution of action movies from their cheesy low-budget origins and how they influenced the development of the action film genre. The author states that his interest in exploring the topic stems from his belief that the 1980s was the birth of the modern-day action film (1). There are 284 entries arranged chronologically that examine the films’ plots and their influencers. The entries have an informal tone, but they are well researched and use examples from other film genres to make connections. The book is intended for use by a variety of researchers, but its tone and content make it most suitable for use as an introduction to 1980s action and adventure films for action movie lovers or film students.