Mental Floss

THE '80S

William Ragsdale stars in Fright Night (1985).

Since 1985, Tom Holland’s critically acclaimed directorial debut has been a staple of Halloween movie marathons everywhere. Hard to believe he wrote the script in just three weeks.

Jennifer M Wood
PBS NewsHour, Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

When we think of Zubaz today, “utilitarian” probably isn’t the first word that pops into our heads.

Ethan Trex






A scene from The Kids in the Hall.

Twenty-five years after airing its final episode, a revival of 'The Kids in the Hall' will be coming to Amazon as its first original Canadian series.

Scott Beggs


Kevin Winter, Getty Images

By most accounts, Steve Martin—your favorite wild and crazy guy—is neither wild nor crazy. (Sorry.)

Stacy Conradt








Paramount Pictures

In the fall of 1979, a group of unknown actors, a director desperate for a hit, and a special effects visionary got together in the woods of New Jersey to create the stuff of legend.

Matthew Jackson


Not even a lineup of the world's biggest artists could save "We Are The World" from annoying listeners.

If you don't want to spend the rest of the day humming "We Built This City," "Who Let the Dogs Out," or "We Are the World," stop reading this article right now.

Stacy Conradt




Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon’s 'Double Dare', which ran from 1986 to 1993 and taped more than 500 episodes, gave its kid contestants bicycles or boom boxes in exchange for fetching giant balls of snot from oversized noses.

Jake Rossen


Lucy Quintanilla

R.L. Stine’s Fear Street novels terrified teens in the late 1980s and early '90s. Now, the Fear Street books are heading to Netflix in a three-film trilogy. Here's what you should know about the books.

Erin McCarthy