What is this 80s movie I'm thinking of?

September 10, 2024 12:00 PM

Is this memory in my brain an actual 1980s movie or is it just a construction from the flotsam and jetsam of my childhood?

Here's what I think I know about the movie:

1. It was a black comedy, probably, about a murder.

3. Possibly there was a murder scene involving a scissors and/or a car. (station wagon in a garage? dunno)

4. Possibly the cover had a predominantly white background showing the face of the lead male character and/or a bloody scissors.

5. Lead actor was an iconic 80s comedic actor, I think. I thought it was Michael Keaton or Tom Hanks, but at a scan I don't see this movie in their pasts.

6. This movie would've been 1990 at the latest, maybe sometime between 1985 and 1990.

posted by kensington314 to Media & Arts (23 answers total)

Not a comedy, but the scissors reminds me of Dead Again.
posted by haplesschild at 12:09 PM on September 10, 2024 [9 favorites]

This seems too on the nose, but Edward Scissorhands?
posted by coffeecat at 12:10 PM on September 10, 2024

Response by poster: Definitely not Scissorhands!
posted by kensington314 at 12:14 PM on September 10, 2024

Female lead, not male, but Serial Mom?
posted by happy_cat at 12:25 PM on September 10, 2024 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I'm also picturing Serial Mom. Kathleen Turners runs over someone with a car, and stabs another person with scissors. Poster link.
posted by mrphancy at 12:40 PM on September 10, 2024 [1 favorite]

Dead Again is my guess too. Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh; scissors feature very, very prominently, and they both talk in American accents for half the movie.

Not really a comedy, though, more of a lovestory/murder mystery mashup.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:40 PM on September 10, 2024 [2 favorites]

Although now that I look at the proper link for Serial Mom that seems plausible too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:41 PM on September 10, 2024 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Hm. Agree that both seem plausible, but I remember zanier on the level of Serial Mom, but kind of bloody movie poster graphic and a more prominent male lead?
posted by kensington314 at 1:00 PM on September 10, 2024

Maybe Penn and Teller Get Killed?

Not big actors but well known 80s personalities; no scissors but lots of bullet holes on the white-background cover featuring the male leads. Haven't seen it in a loooong time, but I think I remember the final scene/murder happens in a garage, but unsure if there's a car.
posted by msbrauer at 1:08 PM on September 10, 2024

Not 80s, but So I Married an Axe Murderer? Some similarities to your memories.
posted by brookeb at 1:22 PM on September 10, 2024

You probably investigated this but Pacific Heights came to mind.
posted by warriorqueen at 2:05 PM on September 10, 2024

Could it be War of the Roses? There is a scene with a monster truck driving over a car in that.
posted by willnot at 2:29 PM on September 10, 2024

Parts of this sound like Dead Again, with Kenneth Branagh, though parts do not. Murder involving scissors was a big part. White background poster with actor's face. The movie came out in 1991.
posted by Mid at 3:13 PM on September 10, 2024

(Oops, I did not read the first comment carefully enough!)
posted by Mid at 3:34 PM on September 10, 2024

I was going to say Foul Play because Chevy Chase and the knitting needles. But that was 1978.
posted by Glinn at 3:41 PM on September 10, 2024

Alternatively, your memory movie is a combo of several listed.
posted by Glinn at 3:42 PM on September 10, 2024 [1 favorite]

Comedy murder and it's not The Burbs?
Then, I'm with Glinn, maybe this is a melded memory, with a soupçon of Evil Dead II (comedy/horror, tall, dark-haired leading man).
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:44 PM on September 10, 2024

This is a looooong shot, but are you possibly thinking of The World According to Garp, starring Robin Williams?

- definitely black comedy
- death/injuries in a garage involving a station wagon
- pale cover showing the lead actor
- Robin Williams
- movie was released in 1982
posted by JohnFromGR at 11:02 AM on September 11, 2024

Response by poster: That is a great answer. Probably the movie could've been from any time before 1990. But it's not this movie.

Glinn and Iris Gambol probably have it here, this is a combination of memory-stuff turned into something that maybe didn't exist. It's like

leading actor
white background VHS cover
some bloody element possibly played a bit for laughs on the cover
some kind of scene with a station wagon backing out of a garage?
scissors as murder weapon

Bit of a Burbs vibe, bit of a Dead Again vibe, a detail here and there from Serial Mom. But the memory of this as a separate existing film is so fixed, feels so actual. Alas.
posted by kensington314 at 11:39 AM on September 11, 2024

Best answer: it's the movie you're meant to make, or have already made
(try shifting your stance on the Dime of Time)
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:22 PM on September 11, 2024

Best answer: Throw Momma from the Train is a black comedy from 1987 with several murder scenes, one of which makes graphic use of a pair of scissors, and stars Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal.
posted by Polychrome at 8:26 AM on September 12, 2024 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: OH WOW yes I think it's "Throw Momma from the Train." Billy Crystal is closest to the look of the leading man in my mind's picture, and it seems to have a few chaotic driving scenes that spark a memory, and a movie featuring a guy from "Cheers" is definitely most likely candidate for a movie my mother would have rented. And 1987 is the right year, I think.

The made up movie poster art from the detritus of my mind sure was a derail if so, but I do think this is most likely the movie.
posted by kensington314 at 10:16 AM on September 12, 2024

(DeVito holding scissors, cover art on one of the home-market media releases.) (Edited to fix bad link.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:08 PM on September 14, 2024