Iconic ’80s and ’90s Movies That Gen Z Actually Loves

When I was growing up and first starting to take movies seriously, there were more than a few occasions when my parents showed me films from when they were my age that they expected I’d love, but turned out hadn’t aged the best. But those aren’t the movies we’re talking about today.

These are some classic '80s and '90s films that have stood the test of time and made it into Gen Z culture.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

As a Chicago native, I have always maintained that The Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off are the two movies that have depicted Chicago the most accurately, warts and all. It’s hard not to be romantic about the way the city is utilized in Ferris Bueller, in particular. I didn’t go to the same high school as Bueller, but plenty of people I know did, and when we were in our high school years, I couldn’t find a single person who didn’t dream of having a day of playing hooky as eventful as he did.

You may be thinking I’m biased because of where I grew up, and that of course kids from Chicago wanted to be like the movie about the kid from Chicago, but no. As a West Coast transplant in my college years and beyond, Bueller continues to be a phenomenon amongst my age group there as well!

The Breakfast Club

‘The Breakfast Club’Credit: Universal Pictures

I may have been a bit early to the party on this one growing up. The R rating for The Breakfast Club likely made parents wait a little bit longer on showing this one to their kids, but right around the time COVID first hit was when I started noticing more people from my generation start to discover it. Which was likely the perfect time since we were getting near the end of our high school years, and a slightly more melancholic look at coming of age was more than welcome for us at the time.

I know that a lot of people just longed to have the same kind of high school experience as the kids from The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller. Separate from the Saturday detentions and the extravagant days off, there was a warmth to how these kids experienced high school that so much of my generation thought they were missing out on.

Clueless

Keeping with the theme of high school classics, Alicia Silverstone’s yellow outfit in Clueless is still a Halloween staple every year amongst Gen Z. It’s endlessly quotable, has really memorable characters, and a story that’s very easy to be moved by. Despite the rich, high-end aesthetic, Cher’s character still has a very similar arc to all of the working-class characters that we grew up loving as well.

This may be a bit of an eye-roller of a connection to make, but the film has also done wonders on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram in recent years thanks to Cher’s one-liners, and more and more people have discovered and fallen in love with it based on that alone!

Jurassic Park

‘Jurassic Park’Credit: Universal Pictures

I think what separates Jurassic Park from the other entries on this list is that I don’t think we have to worry about this film ever fading away in future generations. Where films like Clueless or Ferris Bueller will likely eventually cease to be staples in new generations, Jurassic Park is one of the few genuinely timeless movies out there.

I’m sure you can partially attribute it to the franchise that’s still going strong today, but the first film still feels untouchable in prestige and quality. It’s one of those ones that every parent shows to their children way too young, but it’s okay because dinosaurs. You’ll never get in trouble for showing it to a youngster before you probably should.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Fall is right around the corner, and if there’s one film that is always on repeat with people my age that doesn’t go fully off the deep end into bloodthirsty horror, it’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

I’m sure that growing up with the release of Coraline, and subsequently claiming it as ours, had something to do with my generation’s subsequent rediscovery and maintenance of the original Henry Selick classic. It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s nostalgic, and it has some of the catchiest tunes that you can find with a Halloween theme to blast at all of your parties. What’s not to love? I’ve had every opportunity to be Jack Skellington for Halloween, and I’ve never pulled the trigger. Maybe this is the year I finally commit.