Best Female Lead movies of 1980s

Actors : Christine Ebersole, Lauren Stanley, Jonathan Ward, Tina Caspary,
Directors : Stewart Raffill,

An alien trying to escape from NASA is befriended by a wheelchair-bound boy.

Actors : Campbell Scott, John Malkovich, Debra Winger, Jill Bennett,
Directors : Bernardo Bertolucci,

The American artist couple Port and Kit Moresby travel aimlessly through Africa, searching for new experiences that could give sense to their relationship. But the flight to distant regions only leads both deeper into despair.

Actors : Larry Flash Jenkins, Phil Rubenstein, Cassandra Peterson, Damita Jo Freeman,
Directors : James Signorelli,

Upon arriving in a small town where she has inherited a rundown mansion, a famous horror hostess battles an evil uncle who wants her burned at the stake.

Actors : Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden, Sarah Patterson,
Directors : Neil Jordan,

A teenage girl in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine and she has a disturbing dream involving wolves which appears to take place in the woods visible from her bedroom window.

Actors : Barbra Streisand, Amy Irving, Mandy Patinkin, Nehemiah Persoff,
Directors : Barbra Streisand,

A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.

Actors : Anne Pitoniak, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly, Jane Fonda,
Directors : Norman Jewison,

When a naive novice nun is discovered with a dead newborn in her convent quarters, a court-appointed psychiatrist investigates her case.

Actors : Donald F. Muhich, Arsenio Hall, Rosanna Arquette, Michelle Pfeiffer,

A spoof 1950s science fiction movie, interspersed with various comedy sketches concerning late night television.

Actors : Fred Ward, Bette Midler, Edward Herrmann, Lily Tomlin,
Directors : Jim Abrahams,

In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family ...

Actors : Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott, Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson,
Directors : Tobe Hooper,

Four teenage friends spend the night in a carnival funhouse and are stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.

Actors : Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Bart Burns, Kim Stanley,
Directors : Graeme Clifford,

The story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted.

Actors : Barbara Hershey, David Labiosa, Ron Silver, George Coe,
Directors : Sidney J. Furie,

Supposedly based partially on a true story, a woman is tormented and sexually molested by an invisible demon.

Actors : Leo Rossi, Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson,
Directors : Jonathan Kaplan,

After a young woman suffers a brutal gang rape in a bar one night, a prosecutor assists in bringing the perpetrators to justice, including the ones who encouraged and cheered on the attack.

Actors : Cleavon Little, Karen Kopins, Lauren Hutton, Jim Carrey,
Directors : Howard Storm,

A vampire Countess needs to drink the blood of a virgin in order to keep her eternal beauty. It seems that all is hopeless, until she bumps into Mark Kendall.

Actors : Divine, Edith Massey, Tab Hunter, David Samson,
Directors : John Waters,

A suburban housewife's world falls apart when her pornographer husband admits he's serially unfaithful to her, her daughter gets pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.

Actors : Billy Jayne, Toni Hudson, Clayton Rohner, Joyce Hyser,
Directors : Lisa Gottlieb,

Terry Griffith has got it all -- looks, popularity, the perfect college boyfriend, and an article that's a shoo-in to win her a summer internship at the local newspaper... or so she thinks....

Actors : Maureen Stapleton, Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, Richard Dreyfuss,
Directors : Martin Ritt,

A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.

Actors : Debra De Liso, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Michelle Michaels,
Directors : Amy Holden Jones,

A high school student's slumber party turns terrifying as an escaped mental patient with a drill decides to crash the party.

Actors : Bruce Davison, Gordon Hunt, Anthony Perkins, Kathleen Turner,
Directors : Ken Russell,

A mysterious woman, fashion designer by day, prostitute by night, and accused of murder, is hounded by two men: a married father of two, and a sexually repressed preacher.

Actors : Allison Barron, Cathy Podewell, Hal Havins, Alvin Alexis,
Directors : Kevin Tenney,

Ten teenagers party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween night. When an evil force awakens, demonic spirits keep them from leaving and turn their gathering into a living Hell.

Actors : Bryan Brown, Sigourney Weaver, John Omirah Miluwi, Julie Harris,
Directors : Michael Apted,

The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.