The action movie will feature a body count. Even justice-seeking, peace-loving heroes like Robert McCall “The Equalizer” need someone to level them with. Or rather, neutralize it. But there is such a thing as excess, and in the 1980s, “excess” was the rule. It was also the name of the game for many films of the decade, especially action films.
From the cheesy (but mainstream) classics of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to the world-famous B-grade films of Chuck Norris and Dolph Lundgren, these are the ’80s action movies with the most fallen souls. Note that not every kill has to be tallied by the film’s protagonist (or protagonists).
10. Predator (1987) – 64 Kills
One year before John McTiernan directed the greatest action film of all time in Die Hard, he came pretty darn close with Predator. Featuring the late, great Kevin Peter Hall as the lanky, agile titular antagonist, it’s a film that operates as a legitimately tense action slasher. But most of its 64 kills come from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer and his paramilitary rescue team, not the Predator himself. Specifically, early in the film, when they attack a guerrilla camp.RELATED:
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9. Commando (1985) − 88 Kills
Commando is a movie that’s only dumb on the surface, but dig a little deeper into it and one will find one of the most self-aware crowd pleasers ever made. 88 people die in Commando, and not all of them come at the hand of Matrix (take, for instance, the memorable opening scene with a pair of assassins posing as trash collectors). But, once he picks up an LMG two things are certain: Matrix is going to get most of the film’s tally and Matrix is absolutely going to get his daughter back.
8. The Punisher (1989) − 96 Kills
There have been four live-action iterations of The Punisher. The first was the Dolph Lundgren-fronted 1989 version, then the 2004 version with Tom Jane and John Travolta (probably the most high profile of the projects), the ridiculously underrated Punisher: The series’ kill count can’t be counted because, of course, it’s of a long format structure. That leaves 1989, 2004, and Warzone. The 2004 version has 55 deaths, which is paltry when stacked up against the matched totals of the other two. Like the later (and much better) Warzone, the 1989 version of Frank Castle and his quest for vengeance has nearly 100 kills under his skull-buckled belt.
7. Missing in Action (1984) − 100 Kills
A massive box office success ($52 million on a budget of at most $3 million, according to Rotten Tomatoes), Missing in Action is almost universally considered Chuck Norris’ most mainstream film. It’s also one of his best, and it has a number of involved body bags that would put even Rambo: The first Missing in Action was actually intended to be the sequel, but it was considered more excited and all around solid than Missing in Action 2: The Beginning. Hence the confusing title of that prequel and its relatively miniscule body count, which stands in stark contrast to the usual trajectory for action sequels, which when it comes to deaths is up, up, up
6. Red Scorpion (1988) -104 Kill
Joseph Zito directed five notable low-budget classics throughout his career: The Prowler, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A., and the Dolph Lundgren-led Red Scorpion. Like Rambo III, Red Scorpion has a bit of a larger scale than something like the one man against an organization concept that is Commando. So, with that comes a pretty massive kill count, and Red Scorpion’s 104 ranks pretty high on the list of Dolph Lundgren films with a massive body tally. But, even with an infinitely lower budget, Red Scorpion’s box office tally couldn’t hold a candle to Rambo III’s, which in and of itself was considered a minor disappointment.RELATED:
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5. American Ninja (1985) − 114 Kills
Michael Dudikoff plays the mostly-silent Joe Armstrong, who is sent to the Army as an alternative to prison. On his first mission, Armstrong rescues a general’s daughter (Judie Aronson, the film’s highlight), but attracts the attention of ninjas in the process. The ninjas have been stealing weapons from the Army and reselling them, and as Armstrong gets further and further in the know (not by his choice), the ninjas realize he has to go down. But, he doesn’t, certainly not easy, and takes out over 100 of them in the process.
4. Red Dawn (1984) − 118 Kills
Red Dawn was the first film to ever receive a PG-13 rating in the wake of Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom proving that there needed to be an intermediary. And it needed the higher rating, because the WWIII tale is a necessarily violent one. It’s also just that more intense because the people fighting are regular kids. One day most of them are sitting in their respective high school classroom and the next they’re picking up arms. And, before the film’s close, quite a few of them are dead.
3. Rambo III (1988) − 127 Kills
At the time of release, Rambo III had the highest price tag of any film ever made. One could hardly tell watching it, because while it’s certainly more grandiose in scope than First Blood, it’s far more talky than Rambo: First Blood Part II. But the reason it’s so talky is that it’s a commentary on the Soviet-Afghan War. Rambo III is a tank-filled extravaganza, and it’s not as bad as its Rocky 4-like reputation would lead one to believe, but it sure takes a long time getting to that extravaganza, and by then it’s too little too late. By the end of its runtime, John Rambo, his friends, his foes, and just about all involved have ended over 125 lives.
2. Invasion U.S.A. (1985) − 146 Kills
There’s an argument to be made that Invasion U.S.A. is the best film Chuck Norris ever headlined. It features Norris teaming up with his brother to write a character who is more seemingly invincible than even his Schwarzenegger and Stallone-played counterparts. The best way to look at Invasion U.S.A. is that it’s Red Dawn with the youths swapped out for Norris (so, fewer stakes) and, admittedly, a better Soviet villain, even if the great Richard Lynch didn’t exactly make for a convincing Soviet.