Mad Max 2

Wow...what an incredible film this was! At this point in 1981 I hadn't seen the first Mad Max movie, but it didn't matter, this movie stood alone perfectly and for me is the only Mad Max film worth watching.
December 1981
 On the back of the clipping:

Excalibur

What a great film this was. Mysterious, atmospheric and beautifully shot. For me it became the benchmark for all following medieval, fantasy and sword & sorcery films (Particular losers in my benchmark comparison were Krull and Legend with Tom Cruise)
June 1981
 On the back of the clipping:

Battlestar Galactica: Conquest of the Earth

Oh dear. A movie cobbled together from episodes of the second and much maligned Battlestar Galactica sequel series. By the time it reached Australia in 1980 I'd heard how bad it was and I decided to skip seeing it to save money for the million other sci-fi movies released that year.
May 7 1981
On the back of the clipping:

Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon was both completely stupid yet highly enjoyable, with a great Queen soundtrack to boot.
April 1981
On the back of the clipping:

Inferno

It is extraordinary how many otherwise obscure horror and sci-fi movies got a run in major cinemas in the late 1970s and 80s. It seemed distributors were throwing everything ever filmed into the ring and seeing how it faired. I knew nothing about this Dario Argento film at the time and never saw it. Just loved the spooky poster.
November 20 1980
On the back of the clipping:

Dawn Of The Dead (1980)

I'd read a lot about this movie in Starlog and Starburst magazines and I really wanted to see it. Alas I was five years away from being of legal age and had to wait until it arrived on VHS tape.
April 1980
 On the back of the clipping:

Without Warning / Contamination

I remember being jealous of my sister who went to see this double at the local drive-in with her boyfriend. They could've smuggled me in! But then who wants to take their nerdy younger brother to the drive-in..
July 1980
On the back of the clipping:

Nightmares

A z-grade Australian film featuring John Michael-Howson (aka 'Clown' in Adventure Island) which I never saw at the time but I thought the poster was so delightfully trashy I had to add it to my collection.
October 30 1980
On the back of the clipping:

Superman II

Superman II was a great sequel despite the much publicised behind the scenes problems. As far as I'm concerned the Superman films stopped here - Superman three and four have been erased from my memory banks.
December 29 1980
On the back of the clipping:

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Special Edition

Steven Spielberg 'did a George Lucas' and reworked his sci-fi masterpiece long before George decided to re-jig Star Wars to death. Despite magnificent new special effects I thought this special edition was a bit ho-hum. Just seemed so unnecessary.
January 1980