41.
HELLRAISER (1987)

Onto 1987 and we have Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. This movie blind-sided audiences on release with its fantastical special effects, sadistic gore, dark sexuality and what I consider to be the most conceptually terrifying villains ever put on screen … The Cenobytes, sadomasochist inter-dimensional beings who subject human souls to every type of torture imaginable. Hellraiser was, and still is, a unique horror journey, unlike any other movie that came before it.

But beneath the magical framing, the film is a deep exploration on the very real dark sexual urges present in the human psyche. Clive Barker had been exposed to the dark sexual underbelly of society in his early adulthood when working as an escort (prostitute basically). And it appears that his early taste of that world made its way into the Hellraiser story in a strikingly creative and imaginative way. The Cenobytes are dressed in bondage gear and their dialogue and forms of self-mutilation, and mutilation of souls they take, carry strong sexual implications. The same dark sexual urges that characterize the Cenobytes are present, in comparatively milder forms, in Frank Cotton (the one soul who manages to escape them), Julia (who literally kills multiple men just so she can get laid) and even in the young girl, Kirsty (who suggestively plays with the puzzle box portal like she’s learning to stimulate herself sexually) only to then be chased down a long hallway by a giant phallus monster. There’s a Cenobyte in us all, frankly.

Most viewers won’t consciously get the psychological stuff, but they feel at least some of it. Horror tends to work best when it plays on the unconscious anyway. There’s enough monsters, twisted humour and surrealist imagery in Hellraiser to keep anyone entertained. The one thing it isn’t … is boring.

Special mention must go to Christopher Young’s appropriately gothic score, which also captures the deep sadness and emotional nihilism of the Frank and Julia characters. The majority of practical special effects and make-up are outstanding. Seeing Frank in his various skinless forms with glistening muscles as he touches Julia sensually is oddly erotic, and it’s meant to be.

Despite many inferior sequels, Hellraiser remains one of a kind. Check out my studies of the film on my Film Analysis page.

42.
ROBOCOP (1987)

Sticking with 1987 we have the fabulous Robocop, directed by Paul Verhoeven. It’s initially easy to dismiss this movie as some sort of Terminator clone, but it’s got its own things going on. Alex Murphy is a regular cop who gets shot near to death in the line of duty. His comatic body gets turned into a cyborg called Robocop and Alex’s memory is supposedly wiped clean. During his line of duty a random encounter with one of the men who initially near killed him triggers a journey of memory recovery. Robocop slowly rediscovers his own identity, while hunting down his own killers and attempting to take on his own corrupt corporate bosses.

The film’s plot and themes are highly political, but without being preachy. Its statements about the dangers of a future technological police state are often made with whacky humour and thick irony, but the film knows when to settle down and get emotionally serious. This is mainly done in scenes relating to Robcop’s lost family who have moved on and forgotten about him. On that level it’s a deeply tragic film.

Director Paul Verhoeven and writer Ed Neumeier may have had a lot to say about society, but they were also out to thoroughly entertain us. So Robocop ends up being crammed with big action set pieces, special effects and off the wall crazy characters. And it doesn’t drag its feet. Every scene cracks on with telling the story. It works so well that both critics and audiences have taken a great satisfaction in the film. For me, it’s on par with Cameron’s The Terminator.

Studies of Robocop can be found on my Film Analysis page.

43.
GOODFELLAS (1990)

Jumping three years ahead to 1990, we have Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Rivalled only, in my view, by Scarface (1983), Goodfellas is arguably the best gangster movie ever made. The film takes us through the life of Henry Hill, a real mob affiliate who eventually turned informant. We witness everything from his childhood conditioning by local mobsters right through to his paranoid entry into witness protection.

The film wastes no time. It hits us fast with classic scene after classic scene and a bombardment of convincing characters, all played perfectly by a stellar cast. Highlights include Henry almost getting killed by his “friend” tommy simply because he called him a “funny guy”, Henry smashing a neighbours face in with the butt of a gun for assaulting his wife, and a late night bar room argument that results in gangster Billy Batts getting severely beaten then buried in a forest.

The film is scary and funny in turns. Scary in that the threat of murder is always lurking beneath the surface, even in the most seemingly friendly conversations. Funny in that this movie broke conceptual ground in the genre by showing the child-like silliness that characterizes some gangsters. It’s not all scowls and moodiness. Gangsters often have a lot of fun committing their crimes. Even murder can be funny in their view.

Technically it’s all very tight and efficient. Thelma Schoonmaker uses all manner of editing tricks to keep things lively. And Scorsese gets in one of the best unedited long takes ever filmed – Henry taking his new girlfriend through a backdoor entrance to a club, through the hectic kitchens and up into a crowded show room for a night of music and stand-up comedy.

There are various psychological subtleties in the mix, such as the question of how innocent Henry really is compared to his more violent buddies, the Italian gangster obsession with food, the role of ego in their crimes, and whether the audience of the film secretly want to be gangsters too. But it’s all so entertaining you don’t even need to think about it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Studies of Goodfellas can be found on my Film Analysis page.

44.
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

Ahead one year to 1991 and we got Silence of the Lambs. In my view it’s still the best serial killer movie ever made. Instead of dwelling on sadistic shock horror murder details, the primary focus of this movie is the psychology of serial murder – especially what the killer is deep down trying to achieve. And it does so brilliantly, thanks to the incredible insights of source novel writer Thomas Harris. Also thanks to Harris, the forensic legwork in the story is unusually convincing.

Beyond the surface story of hunting a serial killer, the film offers smart insights into the motives of police and FBI agents who hunt serial killers, as well as an excellent exploration of how females can operate in a normally male-dominated work environment. And it doesn’t go full feminist in that respect. It highlights the pros and cons of the issue.

Acting, of course, is a major draw of Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins is wonderfully enigmatic as Hannibal Lecter, but Jodie Foster also hits a career high as Clarice Starling. Everybody else in the film is great too, especially Scott Glenn as Starling’s boss.

Aesthetically the film isn’t too creative, but it frequently gets the camera in for head on close ups that allow us to really take in the acting and vocal delivery subtleties.

I’ve heard some claim that the movie Manhunter (1986) is better than Silence of the Lambs. Manhunter was the first screen adaptation of Red Dragon, which was the novel that preceded Silence of the Lambs. Personally, I actually rate the Red Dragon novel a bit higher than the Silence of the Lambs novel, but I don’t feel the same way about the two film adaptations. Manhunter is mostly very good, in fact excellent in many parts, but the film makers butchered the ending with changes that felt both forced and clichéd for me, as is the pop music soundtrack used in several scenes. This mistake wasn’t made with Silence of the Lambs. Screenwriter Ted Tally did such a wonderful job on the latter script that he actually improved some sections of the novel for the film version. There will be some of you out there ready to debate me endlessly on the Manhunter vs Silence of the Lambs question, but I stand firm … and this is, after all, my list!

45.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)

Ahead two years to 1993 and we have the stop-motion animated musical that is Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The base concept of this film is incredible. A supernatural character named Jack Skellington, a sort of Halloween version of Santa Clause, runs Halloween Town, an alternate dimension location whose inhabitants are responsible for ensuring Halloween celebrations on Earth are scary and entertaining. But Jack has grown bored of his annual task. He wanders into a nearby forest and discovers a dimensional gateway to Christmas Town. He enters and is fascinated by the colourful lights and warm emotions. Jack decides to run the next Christmas festivities from Halloween Town, combining elements of both seasonal holidays. The results are disastrous. Jack learns his lesson and goes back to running the Halloween festivities only, but with renewed creativity.

The film is brilliant psychologically and in terms of aesthetic creativity. At the aesthetic level virtually everything is done using hand crafted miniatures. The animation is jaw-droppingly good throughout. Halloween Town is filled with fascinating visual variants on traditional Halloween imagery and the amount of detail is overwhelming. Watch the film a dozen times and you’ll still discover details you’d missed. But the visual creativity really fires through the roof when Skellington and his minions start combining the aesthetic of Christmas and Halloween. Tinsellized, colourized and Xmas light covered monsters being unwrapped and unboxed by terrified children is hilarious, creepy and original.

The songs are superb as well, both lyrically and musically. My favourite song is Jack, having just arrived in Christmas Town for the first time, joyfully leaping about as he relishes the colourful glitz, “What’s this? … What’s this?”

The story structure is perfectly constructed and the dialogue sublime enough for kids and adults to enjoy … Then there’s the deep psychology ... I won’t say any more about that stuff right now though, as it’s best being saved for a dedicated deep dive at some point in the future.

46.
PULP FICTION (1994)

One year later, in 1994, Quentin Tarantino gave us his comedy / crime masterpiece Pulp Fiction. For me it remains his very best film over thirty years later. The loosely connected, and non-chronological, short story structure was refreshing when the film was released. This also gives strong rewatch value because it requires the audience to piece back together the chronological narrative in their heads.

Along with the comedic value and the range of characters, it felt like a feature film length series of comedy sketches. But Pulp Fiction does have a heart and soul tying it all together. Loyalty and honour, even among criminals, is a key factor. And personal intimacy is central to the film as well. Our characters may be violent in their business and ego pursuits, but they also display levels of playful, even gushing, intimacy with each other that are refreshing in a genre that usually tries too hard to depict its gangster characters and being hard and emotionless. See my video Beyond the Violence of Pulp Fiction for a breakdown of this aspect of the film.

Tarantino adds more rewatch value by dropping little hints about hidden plot events. Was it Butch who scratched Vincent’s car after their bar room disagreement? What was in the briefcase that was so important to Marcellus Wallace? At one point Butch even passes a window where a radio is playing an advertisement for Jack Rabbit Slims, a key venue in one of the film’s other stories. And Tarantino drops assorted references indicating that the events of this film are set in the same narrative universe as his previous film Reservoir Dogs.

The inventive dialogue was also a major draw. There are hundreds of excellent and quotable one-liners scattered across the film. And characters often talk about incidental aspects of their lives that are not directly related to the plot of the film. This gives a great sense of realism to the characters. Tarantino’s unusual use of 60’s and 70’s music in the film’s 90’s setting was also refreshing. And there are tons of other creative directorial flourishes that set this film apart from its competitors.

If you think the film is shallow and crass then check out my study on the deep psychological themes of the Gold Watch Story portion of the film. You’ll never view the film in the same way again.

47.
CLERKS (1994)

Also in 1994 we have the lowest budget film on this entire list, Kevin Smith’s debut comedy film Clerks. Though not as well-known as Pulp Fiction, Smith’s film is packed with dialogue that is as well-crafted as Tarantino’s film. In fact, I’d say the dialogue here is even more well-crafted.

Clerks tells the director’s semi-autobiographic tale of Dante, a young man stuck in a dead end job working in a convenience store in rural America. Dante has a rocky relationship with a current girlfriend, but secretly still holds a candle for his cheating ex. He’s also dropped out of school so has few prospects. His best friend, Randall, works in the video rental store next door, but doesn’t take his responsibilities seriously. The two of them clash a lot about their differing attitudes. Through a series of situational mishaps Dante is forced to face his own delusions and take responsibility for his predicament.

This movie is a landmark piece of social realism and indie film making. It’s shoddily filmed In black and white on 16mm film, so it looks like it was filmed way back in the 1930’s or 40’s. But it doesn’t matter because one thing this movie proves is that Hollywood technical standards aren’t required if you have a well-written, engaging script and good actors.

Barely a moment of screen time is wasted as the 92 minute runtime soldiers through one hilarious scenario after another, with a lot of explicit talk about sex (as happens in life). The insults given between characters are non-stop and all the bit-part characters are great. Most of them being an assortment of weirdos who enter the store to buy cigarettes, gum or whatever else their poison is. A pair of support characters who hang about outside the shop and deal drugs, called Jay and Silent Bob, bring so much additional entertainment value that they ended up having their own spin off movies.

I’ve seen a handful of other Kevin Smith films over the years, but for me none of them lived up to the raw honesty of Clerks. The special ingredient, the magic, is that the film is based upon the writer / director’s personal life experience, rather than trying to imitate other movies (which is what most script writers sheepishly do). If there’s one movie I would recommend as the blueprint for all low budget indie filmmakers to learn and take inspiration from, it’s Clerks.

48.
STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997)

From the puny budget of Clerks we now leap into the hundred million plus budget of Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 sci-fi action movie Starship Troopers. The film is a deliberately satirical take on Robert Heinlein’s source novel of the same name. It mocks militarism across the board, drawing upon various historical war-mongering regimes including those of the “fascist” Nazis, the “socialist” Soviets and the “capitalist” United States. They’re all part of the same problem according to this movie.

Starship Troopers takes these historical regimes and blends them together into a future totalitarian government hybrid. Our “heroes” are a bunch of high school kids who sign up to fight in an interstellar war. The “enemy” is an insectoid alien race that has been launching meteors at Earth. Sounds corny doesn’t it? Well, war narratives typically dehumanize another race or nation in equally stupid ways. And that’s the point. This movie takes all the ridiculous tropes of war and exaggerates them for bold satirical effect. Dumb ass critics missed the point and assumed (or lied?) that the film was promoting the very thing it was rallying against. So they attacked it and initially ruined its reputation. But time has a tendency of ironing out the creases and resurfacing the truth. Today Starship Troopers is much more highly regarded in terms of its themes and insights … the War On Terror, which came a few years after this film was released, revealed the film to have been a crystal ball warning of what was to come.

Aside from all the social themes, Starship Troopers is an incredibly entertaining, meticulously crafted ride. It’s very funny throughout, even the Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, Fargo) cited it as one of their favourite films of the year when it came out. The special effects are amazing throughout. I’m not a fan of CGI, but the CGI in this film is so good it puts even modern CGI movies to shame. The action is ultra-violent, dramatic and fast-paced – far more bloody than James Cameron’s Aliens. The pacing, cinematography and everything else is spot on.

Of course if you take Starship Troopers seriously then you’ll ruin it for yourself. Watch it as an entertaining, tongue in cheek satire and you’ll love every minute.

49.
AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)

Ahead another two years and we have my favourite movie of 1999, American Beauty. It’s difficult to describe this film in terms of genre. It certainly has both comedy and drama elements, but I think of it as a philosophy film.

Lead character Lester Burnham is a forty-two year old white collar worker. He lives the average middle class suburban lifestyle, mildly successful, living the American Dream. But deep down he’s unhappy, as are his wife and daughter. All three of them are severely disconnected from each other and stuck in their own lonely, delusional realities. The years have been ticking over uneventfully, but then a new set of neighbours, the Fitts family, moves in. The new neighbours are even more dysfunctional as a family, but their eldest son Ricky, who has a Buddhist-like philosophical vibe about him, has a profound effect on Lester and his daughter Jane. His influence helps to reshape their core outlook on life and, inevitably, their behaviour. Meanwhile Lester’s wife, Carolyn, is influenced by a Real Estate salesman competitor in her job. She starts an affair with him and her behaviour changes too. The entire dynamic within and between the Burnham and Fitts families changes, causing resentments to surface and tensions to build. Eventually one of them will be murdered.

Director Sam Mendez was over-credited for the quality of this film, even winning an Oscar for it, but the real talent here was screen writer Alan Ball (who went on to produce the amazing TV series Six Feet Under), the cast, cinematographer Conrad Hall (not related to Alan Ball to my knowledge) and Thomas Newman for his intimate score. Mendez has never made a film even half as good since from what I’ve seen. His follow up film, Road To Perdition (2002) was painfully dull, as are his two entries in the James Bond franchise (yes, Skyfall is one of the worst and most over-hyped Bond films ever)

Thematically, American Beauty is open to all kinds of perceptions. When I saw it first a on the big screen I laughed my head off at the dark sitcom humour. It felt like I was watching a more sophisticated version of the cynical TV show Married With Children. The second time I saw it the ending had me in tears. Since then the film has settled for me as a very important lesson in social philosophy. The film forces us to examine our own suburban lives and to ask the question, “Am I also in denial? Do I know my loved ones as well as I think? And have I fallen into a routine of living a mediocre existence?”

This movie remains forever rewatchable in my view. Check out my longform character analysis of Ricky Fitts on my Film Analysis page.

50.
DREDD (2012)

There are lots of post-1999 films I really like, but only one of them do I consider enjoyable and entertaining enough to add to my top fifty personal favourites … that movie is Dredd (2012). Based on the old comic strips of the same name, which I haven’t read as I’m not a fan of the comic book format, Dredd sets itself apart from all the comic book movie adaptations and superhero movies that film studios have bashed out in recent decades.

Dredd has multiple things going for it that helped it to make this list. Unlike most modern movies, the narrative sticks to a tight runtime of 95 minutes. As you might have noticed from other films on my list here, I consider the ninety to one hundred minute range as being ideal for an action or horror movie, in fact ideal for any genre if the scriptwriter can pull it off. Dredd gets on it with it!

Another major draw of this film is its savagery. It’s not for young children. This is a movie for fans of classics like The Terminator, Predator (a movie that almost made this list) and Robocop. The film doesn’t dress up violence to look like a kids’ play fight, as is done with superhero movies. Dredd is straight up about the brutality of gang violence, despite the sci-fi setting. Real life gang violence is often this savage. Fitting with those real life contexts, the violence in Dredd also occurs among society’s most poverty stricken residents. The Mega City tower block that is the setting for the story is like an entire lower class inner city suburb crammed into one building. Thematically appropriate, the population of the building are locked inside for most of the story.

Themes of technocratic oppression, social decay, over-population, police corruption, psychic phenomena, women and violence (Ma-ma is one of the most convincing female villains ever put on screen, using her brains to dominate rather than being given the strength to physically beat up men three times her strength) and the indoctrination of children into violence ... all of these show their faces in this film.

Countering the ugliness, Dredd features some of the most beautiful images in all of cinema – the psychedelic slo-mo drug sequences. And they contribute to one of the most spiritually powerful scenes I’ve ever come across – the death of lead villain, Ma-Ma, falling to her death down the centre of the tower block. This moment transcends the very plot of the movie for me because it makes me feel like Ma-Ma’s soul is gracefully being freed of a world that had corrupted and tormented her.

I’ve seen Dredd about five times all together and every time I’ve watched it my enjoyment and appreciation has grown. Check out my study on it at my Film Analysis page.