Celluloid Psychosis

Anybody who reads this blog (which may be about all of 9 people right now) might be curious as to what my favorite films are, so here’s my top 30 of all time (or at least this period of my life).  Enjoy!

1. EL TOPO (1970) - My friend Andrew Copp (it’s his favorite too, which friends sometimes give me shit for, but screw it) introduced me to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s masterpiece a few years ago and it penetrated to my very core. It’s stark, surreal Western-esque imagery, the savage violence, the explicit sensuality, the stirring music, the utterly naked emotions and metaphysical exploration, not to mention the classic but freshened tale of a man roving a desolate wasteland in a perpetual quest for spiritual transcendence. But also it’s a film that stands completely on its own, away from any kind of commercial market or the big movie industry or genre pigeonhole or anything. It was just a man who set out on an artistic endeavor with what little means he had, on his own personal spiritual journey.

2. HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) - Jodorowsky’s even weirder follow-up to EL TOPO is almost a sequel of sorts, and I usually feel compelled to watch the two close together, delving the same themes and topics that its predecessor did, only this time more openly exploring the New Age mysticism and philosophy, and at its essence has the same sort of plot - a man (or in this case, a group) in search of enlightenment. While EL TOPO appeals to my heart with its sublime allegory, this appeals more to my eyes and brain - to me this is visually the most incredible movie I have ever seen, with its kaleidoscope of psychedelic production design.

3. BLADE RUNNER (1982) - Ridley Scott’s existential sci-fi noir masterpiece is my favorite of the genre, and is the very definition of haunting. Richly textured cyberpunk-esque visuals, a dreamlike mystique, and thick metaphorical layers.

4. FIGHT CLUB (1999) - A dark and grimy but hilarious satire about how the primal nature in man has been suppressed by modern culture, it simultaneously works my brain and funny bone.

5. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) - Although really George A. Romero’s whole zombie trilogy - with DAWN and DAY OF THE DEAD - tops my list of horror films, it all started with this classic that practically ignited the modern era of the genre and some would say the best American horror movie ever. I first saw this in my adolescence and it still continues to scare me.

6. ROBOCOP (1987) - A childhood favorite, this is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again, no matter what mood I’m in, and never grow tired of it. On the surface it’s a loud, fun, ultraviolent thrill ride, but beating beneath that is a smart, acerbic satire about consumerism and corporate culture which is still very relevant today. My favorite action film.

7. THE CROW (1994) - I remember seeing this in the theater - I would’ve been about 10, and it was my dad’s idea to see it, and I don’t think I really even had any interest to because I hadn’t even heard of it. But of course I quickly changed my tune once I saw it. A superbly dark Gothic twist on the “back-from-the-dead-for-vengeance” archetype, with some great action scenes, a beautifully gloomy look, and a career-making performance from Brandon Lee (sadly also his final). This is positively my favorite revenge film, and for a long time was my favorite comic book adaptation (more on that later).

8. TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989) - One theme I’ve always been fascinated by is the merging of human anatomy with modern technology, which is something that Shinya Tsukamoto’s avant garde cyberpunk masterpiece visualizes perfectly.

9. VIDEODROME (1983) - David Cronenberg’s mind-bending magnum opus is another movie that features a similar motif as I mentioned with TETSUO, with some gnarly man-meets-machine imagery (that cancer gun kicks ass), but also is prophetic about how ubiquitous television has become in our culture and warped our perceptions.

10. IZO (2004) - Japanese madman Takashi Miike is one of my favorite filmmakers, and although it’s not liked so well amongst most fans, in my opinion this is his best, a phantasmagoric, blood-drenched epic about a 19th-century assassin who’s executed and resurrected as a vengeful demon slashing his way through space and time to destroy the rulers of the universe and escape his karmic cycle. While it may be puzzling, even tedious upon initial viewing, after a few watches it’s really stuck with me - it’s full of surrealism and recalls the works of Jodorowsky, and the premise of an unstoppable force on a warpath to bring down the cosmic power structure really appeals to me.

11. THE DEVILS (1971) - Ken Russell’s account of a priest wrongly persecuted by the Catholic Church in 17th-century France is like no other historical drama ever made. Russell sets the tale against some expressionistic, even futuristic production design, and per his usual style throws in tons of explicit sex and gore and cranks things up to a fever pitch, but injects it all with some really stirring emotion and a great performance by Oliver Reed. Too bad this will probably never get a proper legit release in the US, especially not with the recently discovered “Rape of Christ” sequence intact.

12. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994) - This was another one I saw in the theater, and being just a wee lad you can imagine I was quite confounded and shocked by the experience. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I could go back and give it another shot. Of course I appreciate it now for all its worth, being fascinated by Oliver Stone’s hallucinogenic visual style (which unfortunately he seems to have abandoned in recent years), the perverse murderous romance, and the scathing commentary on the sensationalistic news media and pop culture in general and how it has distorted our sensibilities.

13. TAXI DRIVER (1976) - Martin Scorsese’s classic character study about a solitary soul unable to find any true connection in the hellish streets of New York I think is one of the two (PINK FLOYD: THE WALL being the other) best portraits of human loneliness and isolation I’ve ever seen.

14. ERASERHEAD (1977) -David Lynch is another one of my favorite filmmakers, because his work is just so bizarre and disturbing but damn brilliant. His first feature is probably Lynch at his most purely and uncompromisingly out-there. In fact it’s less a movie than a portal to a whole ‘nother milieu, immersing the viewer in a grinding, hypnotic industrial soundscape accompanied by nightmarish imagery, lulling them into kind of a fugue state. In other words, it definitely fucks with your head.

15. PINK FLOYD: THE WALL (1982) - Like I mentioned with TAXI DRIVER, this is the one other film that I think immaculately captures the feeling of human solitude, although here in a much more abstract fashion. I’m not really a huge fan of Pink Floyd, but in the context of this film, with its surreal chronicle of a rock star battling his emotional blockage and past demons, it completely works.

16. IRREVERSIBLE (2002) - This French experimental rape/revenge drama is simply the most emotionally devastating and unsettling film I have ever seen. I went in blind the first time I saw this, not really knowing what it was but having heard of its controversial reputation, and I was virtually traumatized by it. First, there’s that gay bar, which was probably the first time I had ever seen such an explicit display of homosexuality, and of course that brutal headsmashing with the fire extinguisher. Then there’s the unflinching rape scene with Monica Bellucci, which is so ugly and raw. But of course following the film’s reverse order of events we get past all the nastiness to a rather incisive metaphysical look at how certain choices we make relate to fate as well as some commentary on relationships. This all executed with Gaspar Noe inventive direction with a constantly moving and twisting camera with one-take scenes cleverly edited together to make the whole movie seem like one long take. For a long time I vowed never to watch, but of course I eventually went back and gave it another chance, and while I’m still deeply disturbed by it I can now also appreciate it.

17. LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET (1977) - Often held as a down n’ dirty cheapo horror flick, this really transcends that as a mercilessly bleak and grisly mini-classic, a slice of pure nihilism that plumbs the dirtiest, most abysmal reaches of the soul and throws it right up there naked on the screen without remorse. While not without its flaws, but most of those are due to the asshole distributors that slashed the film to pieces. Nevertheless, unsung auteur Roger Watkins’ amoral meth-fueled vision still shines through (which he would later apply to a few good pornos), as well as does his manic lead performance. I think it’s also the movie to best utilize the snuff film phenomenon. Not to mention that surgery sequence is fucking sick!

18. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) - What can I say, but it’s a Kubrick masterpiece - brilliantly directed, with imagery that is vivid and captivating, as well as some sex and violence that is savage and shocking (even by today’s standards). Not to mention Malcolm McDowell’s perfect acting and a rousing soundtrack, and a little bit of satirical subtext about free will and how society interferes with it. I’ve also read Anthony Burgess’ novel, and I can say this is one of the few adaptations that I actually prefer over the original work, mainly due to the visual aspect it provides.

19. TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985) - Most people say FRENCH CONNECTION is William Friedkin’s crime masterpiece, and while I agree it is a great movie, I prefer this stylish 80’s cop thriller. It engages me on all aspects, with the look, the drama, the acting, and the action, with possibly the great car chase ever.

20. MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1975) - There are quite a few martial flicks that I’m fond of, but I think this one has always stuck with me the most and has become my favorite, mainly due to its colorful array of characters and action set-pieces.

21. ALABAMA’S GHOST (1973) - Fredric Hobbs is sort of a low-rent Jodorowsky - he only made a few films for the exploitation market, most of them very eccentric and offbeat. His most well-known and easy-to-obtain is the mutant sheep monster/political allegory GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS, which is a bonafide classic, but I prefer this much rarer oddball masterwork about a black man who uncovers the belongings and secrets of a famous magician and shoots to superstardom, only to be haunted by the magician’s ghost and be lured in by a secret society of vampires. There’s some great production design, including a grotesque car (that was actually an art piece of Hobbs’) and some clever dialogue, and lead actor Christopher Brooks is awesome.

22. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) - Well, I don’t know how this is going to look, putting two graphic rape/revenge flicks (after IRREVERSIBLE) on my list, but here it goes. Often pigeonholed as exploitation trash, but it really transcends all that as a poignant, artfully done drama about a woman personally exacting her vengeance on the men who violated her.

23. FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION (1972) - Another classic that straddles the line between high brow and low brow film, the first of a series of Japanese women-in-prison films, for all its sleaziness, is also beautifully shot and features a moving story about a wronged woman enduring all kinds of hardship and torment only to rise up and triumph against her wrong-doers. Although the second in the franchise, JAILHOUSE 41, is probably the best.

24. AIRPLANE! (1980) - I guess after all these painfully serious, dismal movies I should throw in something to show that I have a sense of humor. The Zucker Bros.’ classic spoof is probably my favorite comedy. It’s one that I can always turn to for a laugh.

25. HARDWARE (1990) - Richard Stanley is another outcast filmmaker that I admire a lot - he genuinely doesn’t give a shit about mainstream success and just does what he wants (which unfortunately has kept him from making more movies). Although his only other feature, DUST DEVIL, is also great, I prefer his post-apocalyptic, claustrophobic killer robot flick - think sort of BLADE RUNNER meets TERMINATOR if it were a more exploitational sci-fi thriller full of sex and gore. While it is purely entertaining in that way, it’s also visually striking, with lots of beautiful vermilion hues, and plenty of little sociopolitical nuances going on in the background. There’s also the great soundtrack, with the score lending a mystical quality to the film. Now if only Stanley could get that sequel off the ground…

26. WATCHMEN (2009) -This might seem like somewhat of an impulsive choice, but I was absolutely floored by this profound superhero epic, with its heavily detailed and rich imagery, superbly directed action sequences, airtight performances and drama, and plenty of moral and political undercurrents to keep up my cerebral activity. I personally now think it’s the best comic adaptation I’ve ever seen.

27. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000) - Darren Aronofsky’s downbeat drama about the horrors of drug addiction is mesmerizing and heart-wrenching. In fact, I’ve only been able to watch it a couple times, because it all just packs such a powerful punch that one viewing is enough to last a long time. Aronofsky is a true modern visionary. His three other movies - THE FOUNTAIN, PI, THE WRESTLER - are masterpieces as well.

28. BRAZIL (1985) - Terry Gilliam is another director I love because of his fanciful imagination and eccentric sense of humor - FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, TIME BANDITS, 12 MONKEYS, all the way back to his work with Monty Python. It should be obvious by now though that I lean a lot towards the genre. so I have to pick this epic satire as my favorite of his output. The whimsical yet black comedy and German Expressionistic designs are captivating, not to mention have to hand it to Gilliam for the battle he had to go through to get his vision released intact (one of the most public in film history).

29. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) -I love post-apocalyptic movies, and John Carpenter’s sci-fi adventure might be my favorite of the subgenre (although it might technically not belong to it, considering it only takes place after the end of NYC and not the end of the world). Carpenter’s view of a desolated Big Apple as a penal colony is so nihilistic and grim it’s sort of like a futuristic spaghetti western. Not to mention Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken has to be one of the all-time cinematic badasses.

30. SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES (1971) - An unheralded gem from the annals of exploitation obscura, B-movie vet Andrew Prine’s solid performance and an intriguing storyline about an outlaw warlock manipulating and defying the ruling powers of existence in order to find a place in modern society is what makes this existential, metaphysical, countercultural horror/comedy/character study.

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