World champion bodybuilder. Blockbuster movie star. Governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved massive feats for a country boy from a small town in Austria, certainly, and the legacy that still resonates the strongest is that of his movie career.

Although he attempted getting work in celluloid from the late 60s, Hollywood really took notice after the bodybuilding documentary “Pumping Iron” (1977), which followed his and Lou Ferrigno’s rivalry during the Mr Olympia competition of 1975, and showed he was a engaging presence in front of the camera. That led into him landing a role pitch-perfect for himself with “Conan the Barbarian” (1982); John Milius’ nihilistic epic of blood and steel showed Arnie was a force on screen and could hold the weight of a movie on his broad shoulders.

From that point on, until the mid-90s, it was pretty much hit after hit; “The Terminator” (1984) cemented him with superstardom and proved he wasn’t just the ‘Conan guy’, but several macho action milestones further proved the point, such as “Predator”, “Total Recall”, “Terminator 2”, “True Lies”. He even branched out successfully into comedy with “Twins” and “Kindergarten Cop” (let’s not mention “Junior” though), and even his B-tier movies like “Commando” and “The Running Man” are highly celebrated by action fans in retrospect.

His grip loosened on the box office, though, after his camp performance in the disastrous “Batman & Robin” (1997) and he soon hung up his spurs for politics. He did return to screens in the mid-2010s, but never hit those heights again, although it resulted in a slew of interesting ventures where he pushed his dramatic chops.

And therein lies the purpose of this list, from the early 80s to mid-90s, this Austrian oak made such huge movies that there are a few compelling and criminally underrated titles that slipped through the cracks, let’s explore those…

1. Stay Hungry (1976)

From mid-1967 to 1975, Arnold was reigning champ across the Mister Universe and Mister Olympia competitions, he was also becoming a crossover celebrity icon with talk shows and documentary crews following him around, and yet, Hollywood didn’t know what to do with him – he essentially was too big and too foreign. That was until major director Bob Rafelson built a movie around him linked to the rise of the burgeoning bodybuilding hype.

Jeff Bridges plays a successful Alabama businessman with a mission to build up a new block of property, with the only holdout a small gym that features a rising showpiece athlete, played by Schwarzenegger. Bridges gets pulled into the niche scene, befriends the bodybuilder, and falls in love with country girl Sally Field, all before things take a dark turn in the finale.

The film is a slight mess, a chaotic production might be the culprit, with it swerving from grassroots character drama, hillbilly comedy, a spotlight on bodybuilding, before turning into a disturbing third act, that has Bridges in a punch-up with R.G. Armstrong’s coach in a drug-fuelled meltdown. The movie attempts to be a lot, and doesn’t always stick the landing; however, it’s an entertaining ride.

What helps ground it are Bridges, who is always watchable, playing the stuck-up suit who warms to the low-key community, and Field, who is ever likeable and charming in her role. Arnold plays the third lead and does a counterpart to his later tough guy persona; he’s a gentle giant, full of sensitivity and insecurity. While his accent is rusty, and his drama nuance improved over time, he makes an impression, and certainly steals the movie as its heart, walking away with ‘Best New Star’ at the Golden Globes that year.

Director Rafelson was an important figure in 70s New Hollywood, having delivered “Five Easy Pieces” (1970) and “King of Marvin’s Gardens” (1972) years prior. That he chose to go for this bizarre mash-up of genres and subject matter is baffling, but also fascinating.

As mentioned, the movie is a mess, but it’s an always watchable one with a rare peek into Arnold before he had granite confidence in front of the camera – with that all changing the next year with the release of the milestone documentary “Pumping Iron”.

2. Conan the Destroyer (1984)

Arnie’s first venture as Conan is a bona fide classic, not to mention his first major leading man hit; it made him a bankable name in Hollywood, although he hadn’t hit the A-list. The sequel, however, is not held in the same regard due to a goofy family-friendly tone, compared to the grown-up R-rated themes in the original. Regardless, there’s fun to be had here.

Essentially picking up where the first left off, Conan is recruited by Sarah Douglas’ suspicious Queen to escort a princess (Olivia d’Abo) to find a relic in an evil sorcerer’s castle. He assembles a ragtag group, including trusty sidekick Tracey Walter, a suitably mad Grace Jones, and the towering Wilt Chamberlain.

The original’s director, John Milius, alongside screenwriter Oliver Stone, were enamoured with Robert E. Howard’s source material, and had always pictured the series as a trilogy – but producer Dino De Laurentiis had other ideas, wanting to lighten the tone and sell to a wide audience. Schwarzenegger wasn’t a fan of the change or Milius being booted, but was contracted to star.

Regardless, the Austrian oak delivers; at the time, this was his trademark role, with a granite physique, a stern no-nonsense glare, and impressive swordplay, it fits him like hand-in-glove. The rest of the cast have a blast too, with Jones a natural fit as a fierce warrior, and Chamberlain’s formidable height overshadowing Arnie at points.

What we’re left with, is a movie that isn’t befitting the first, but if you can look past it, it is an enjoyably cheesy piece of 80s fantasy, with every generic trope chucked in. Certainly, Milius’ auteur-like handling is missing, with journeyman director Richard Fleischer (Soylent Green, Narrow Margin) taking over, but fully understanding the assignment, and making it a fun ride from beginning to end.

3. Red Heat (1988)

By the late 80s, Arnold was a megastar, having enjoyed massive success with “Commando” (1985) and “Predator” (1987) (and even mediocre movies like “Red Sonja” and “Raw Deal” making bank). The buddy cop formula was at an all-time high, so the concept to give him his own similar vehicle was quickly formulated.

Schwarzenegger is a tough ‘shoot-first’ Soviet police captain, on the chase of a nefarious criminal (an absolute dynamite Ed O’Ross), who flees to the States, with the hero following closely after. The bullish Russian has to team with a wisecracking Chicago cop (Belushi) in a pairing that at first clashes, before inevitably putting their differences aside to take down the bad guy.

Schwarzenegger is captivating as the hard-man with zero tolerance for nonsense, not to mention, he plays up the ‘fish-out-of-water’ aspects to enjoyable comedic effect. Belushi, as his loudmouth partner, is… fine. This was the brief period where it was expected he would hit superstardom, but in this A-list project, it’s clear he doesn’t have the gravitas or pedigree of Arnie, and the film slacks due to it; It’s no Gibson-Glover level pairing, with Schwarzengger stealing the show, and Belushi looking slight.

Luckily, the rest of the cast is great, with solid character actors like Laurence Fishburne, Richard Bright, and Peter Boyle filling out the support list. And of course, O’Ross is intimidating as the frightening badman, who makes for a strong counterpart to Arnie’s unstoppable crusader.

Macho filmmaker, Walter Hill, had enjoyed his first major hit in Hollywood with “48 Hrs.” (1982), and had gotten carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, which lead to a series of ambitious flops (like cult classic “Streets of Fire”). On his back-foot, this had him concocting a safe studio movie; luckily, he was operating at his peak as a director and brings gritty visceral action scenes that really hit the pulse, with an especially gripping opening scene, featuring Arnold infiltrating a hot steam bath filled with threatening Russian mobsters.

It made good box office at the time, but isn’t remembered in the same sentence as Schwarzenegger classics, likely due to Belushi not holding up his end of the pairing. Regardless, this is a rip-roaring good piece of late 80s action cinema with a solid use of the Arnie persona.

4. Last Action Hero (1993)

After reigning supreme as Box Office king in the 80s, with Arnold switching between big action and successful comedies, cinema began to change in the 90s, with the hunger for A-list muscle men lessening, and he suffered his first costly flop with this ambitious title.

Austin O’Brien plays a loner high schooler who is obsessed with the Jack Slater film series, a franchise consisting of excessive action films starring Schwarzenegger. Being given access to watch the latest entry pre-premiere by his projectionist friend (Robert Prosky), he becomes pulled into the film by a magic ticket, with him living inside the movie world filled with exploding cars, over-the-top bad guys, and befriending Slater himself.

O’Brien is ultimately the heart of the movie, an isolated kid who is an encyclopaedia of 80s action movies, and while critics found him grating at the time, the young actor manages to be a believable anchor throughout the movie, dropping bucketloads of exposition while giving us someone to root for. Arnold is strong as well, playing into his trademark persona while also mocking it, and as the film progresses, it gives his one-note character a glimpse of humanity, particularly around his painful realisation that the murder of his son was all some Hollywood screenwriter’s doing. The support is great as well, Prosky is warm, Mercedes Ruehl is loveable as O’Brien’s working-class mother, and Charles Dance as the villain is at his screen-chewing best.

The film is directed by action maestro John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator) at a point where he was only rivalled by James Cameron when it came to packaging exciting blockbusters with strong characters and satisfying gunfights. He doesn’t disappoint, as he is one of the inventors of the conventions and is able to make the movie-world aspects feel authentic and overblown, while contrasting that with the reality of a grimy New York when the movie returns to the real world. It was the last time he was given this sort of budget and freedom in Hollywood, and the action and comedy blend flawlessly.

Sadly, “Last Action Hero” was a costly flop, which is a shame as it’s a cracking satire on the dying fade of the time, while managing to deliver bombastic action and some heartfelt emotion. This is Arnold’s most unsung tentpole movie that deserves to stand next to his classics.

5. Eraser (1996)

By the mid-90s, hip Indie cinema had taken hold of the zeitgeist. Action movies still made bank, but the mandate was to do ‘big concepts’ and cast unconventional actors (e.g. Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Nicolas Cage) in action roles, with the need for musclemen waning. Arnold still managed to knock out one major hit during this point, in this fun action film that remains overlooked in retrospect.

Schwarzenegger is a U.S. Marshal that specialises in the Witness Protection program; he essentially erases the witness’ past, giving them a brand new identity. When Vanessa Williams’ corporate executive discovers a conspiracy, Arnold is put on her case, but soon has his organisation turning on them both with them needing to go on the run.

Arnold’s assignment on this one was to play his one-man-army archetype, and he does it in one last hurrah for the 90s. He struggled later this decade trying to spin more depth in his roles, but his Marshal doesn’t sweat the small stuff; he’s as good with a gun as he is with a one-liner. Williams is a likeable human counterpart to the tough-man, and good support fills up the screen with reliable retro character actors like James Cromwell, James Coburn, and specifically James Caan, playing Arnold’s former colleague turned slimy villain.

Director Chuck Russell exploded onto the horror scene before transitioning into the mainstream with the massive Jim Carrey hit “The Mask” (1994). He was at a point where he could execute mainstream polish with (at the time) cutting-edge effects, alongside some R-rated bloodletting, and the movie delivers with some inventive set-pieces, such as Arnold’s airplane escape, or a finale that features the star toting a duo of Sci-Fi rifles and taking out a small militia of bad guys.

The film never strives to be more than a satisfying Arnold actioneer told with A-list polish, and it achieves the assignment without fail, even if it’s less memorable than the actor’s milestones.

There’s no doubt that Christopher Nolan has changed the face of cinema, and with The Odyssey, he’s created more history by giving us the first film shot entirely in IMAX. Like James Cameron before him, new technology has had to be invented for him to achieve his vision, but unlike Cameron, every Nolan film to date has been relevant in one form or another.

From his hour-long 1998 debut Following to 2026’s The Odyssey, he has wowed cinema-goers, with every Nolan film now treated as event cinema. Oppenheimer (2023) was part of the cultrual ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon, his Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) forced us to look differently at superhero films (despite Batman not being a superhero), and Interstellar (2014) persuaded us that time travel using black holes might just be possible.

His films can be flawed and frustrating, but each one gives us something that we can sink our teeth into, and they’re never anything other than an absolute must-see. In this list, we attempt to rank every Nolan film to date.

13. Tenet (2020)

Tenet had the added burden of being the first major blockbuster released in the wake of the COVID pandemic, and still today is chastised more than it perhaps should be. It’s easily the most dismissed of Nolan’s back catalogue, yet is nowhere near the stinker that some claim. The story concerns John David Washington’s CIA operative known only as the Protagonist, who survives a failed mission before being recruited into a secret organisation attempting to prevent a catastrophe that threatens not just the future, but the past.

The palindromic nature of the film, with its time-travel remit, confused many, and it was suggested that multiple viewings would clear up any loose ends. But in fact, Tenet is pretty straightforward to follow; it’s just quite messy and often underwhelming. Robert Pattinson is effortlessly charismatic as Neil, injecting warmth and humour into a story that is lacking in that department. At the same time, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh are hysterical and ridiculous in ways that frequently threaten to derail the film completely.

But despite its many flaws, Tenet is an enjoyable action romp, with many claiming it might well be the closest Nolan ever gets to making a Bond film. It entertains in buckets, but remains his least vital work.

12. Insomnia (2002)

Another film that’s solid without ever being spectacular, Insomnia suffers from being an English-language remake of a Danish film that was perfectly decent in the first place. In fact, the original is excellent. That’s not to say Nolan’s version isn’t rather enjoyable, with Al Pacino and Robin Williams in excellent form as veteran Los Angeles detective Will and murderer Walter respectively. Will is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, but accidentally shoots his partner in thick fog and allows the blame to fall elsewhere.

Walter finds out the truth, and begins to manipulate the exhaustive detective, turning the investigation into a psychological battle that holds Insomnia together and keeps you on tenterhooks. The film lacks the structural mayhem of Nolan’s later work, but it’s a fascinating exploration of guilt with two excellent performances at the centre of it.

It’s not as adventurous as what was to follow, and it’s not as good as the original, a battle that Nolan was constantly fighting and never quite overcame. But once again there’s plenty to like here from a director very quickly finding his feet in film.

11. Following (1998)

Nolan’s debut feature naturally, in hindsight, is a far more important document now than anyone realised at the time. Made for a paltry $6,000, Following was shot over the course of a year whenever cast and crew were free at weekends, while Nolan himself was still working a full-time job and writing the script specifically around locations he could access for free. He also hired actors that were available without pay.

Despite the tiny budget, Following does a whole lot with very little. An unemployed aspiring writer spends his days following strangers around London’s streets, convincing himself the habit will inspire his work. But things take a dangerous turn when he’s caught by a burglar, who introduces him to a world of break-ins and deception. It’s a premise that works wonders in terms of the film’s low budget, and the film lays down the Nolan marker of fractured narritive which works even better with the film being shot on black and white 16mm stock.

Knowing what Nolan would go on to achieve makes Following even more impressive, and almost every obsession that’s central to his filmmaking today is present in his very first feature.

10. The Odyssey (2026)

Nolan’s latest feature might well be his most ambitious, but it is undeniably flawed and not the masterpiece many have made it out to be. Starring Matt Damon as King Odysseus, The Odyssey tracks his journey home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy, part of a long war which has caused him to be away from his family for many years. He and his crew face the wrath of the Gods and almost every terror and hardship you could imagine on their journey home, something told in flashbacks as Nolan once again straddles many time frames in telling us Homer’s epic tale in IMAX form.

The cast list is impressive, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope, wife of Odysseus, Tom Hollander as their son Telemachus, Lupito Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, and many more. But the entire film is swept from under all of them by Samantha Morton as Circe, daughter of Helios, who is utterly sublime in her small role.

The scope is astonishing, the scale is ridiculous, and there’s so much going on it’s often overwhelming, leaving some characters underserved. There’s no doubting Nolan was the man to pick to put this adaptation on screen, and he duly serves us up a treat, but this remains a flawed beast and not quite up there with his best work.

9. Dunkirk (2017)

When Nolan announced he was making a war film, it understandably sent pulses racing. Would this be Saving Private Ryan (1998) mark II? Turning his attention to one of the defining moments of the Second World War, Nolan builds Dunkirk around three intersecting timelines, one week on the beach, one day at sea, and one hour in the air.

The narratives unfold simultaneously before converging in the final act, creating a unique cinematic experience built around tension and designed to be seen on the biggest screen possible. This means Dunkirk feels like you’re right there and central to the horrors on the beach, and although it probably never quite matches the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan in terms of intensity, Dunkirk added yet another impressive string to Nolan’s ever-growing bow.

It’s not his best film, and it’s probably not one of the best war films ever put to screen, but it is undoubtedly one of the most interesting in terms of ambition and execution.

8. Interstellar (2014)

From here on in, certainly if you’re a big Nolan fan, it’s all going to be at the very least, very good. Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, a former NASA pilot who leaves his family behind to join a mission searching for a new home for humanity with Earth becoming increasingly uninhabitle. A location has been found beyond a wormhole near Saturn, and travelling alongside a team of scientists, Cooper encounters hostile planets, devastating time dilation and impossible choices while his daughter Murph remains on Earth trying to solve the equation that could save mankind.

For all its spectacle, Interstellar is about the relationship between a father and his daughter, and McConaughey is sensational as Cooper, with Jessica Chastain equally as good as a grown-up Murph. The ambition is unsurprisingly staggering, and the efforts to keep everything scientifically accurate are admirable if sometimes misplaced. Visually it’s astounding, with the water planet especially impressive, and effectively terrifying.

Hans Zimmer serves up another incredible score which you continue to hear everywhere today, and although Interstellar remains one of the more divisive films in the Nolan canon, it’s hugely engaging and frequently mind blowing.

It takes more than gore to make a movie disturbing, but it certainly helps. The most disturbing cinema of this decade so far is sometimes gory, sometimes suggestive, but almost always tense. This list is a space for eye gouging, non-medical surgery, bullying, brutalizing, and high, high, high tension. But it’s also a place of icy remove, static cinematography, and haunting sound design.

Given the popularity of horror in the 2020s, it’s no surprise that this decade has been chock-full of disturbing cinema. What might surprise some is how many of the most unsettling, eerie, and disturbing entries aren’t actually horror, or at least straight horror. Past decades had torture porn, European extremity, and visceral social thrillers, but the 2020s have been a mash-up of genre, tone, anxiety, and rage. If the decade lacks an overarching ethos, there’s still plenty of transgressive, boundary-pushing offerings dotting fantastic film festivals the world over.

Entries like this are notoriously subjective. The movies here aren’t meant to be scary, though many of them are. They don’t all have gore or extreme situations or fucked-up themes, but many of them do. What unites them is an underlying tone of menace, bullying, tension, unease, and the sensation that something fundamental to our humanity and personal autonomy is coming undone in real time.

If you think there’s something more disturbing (but also good) that isn’t here, then let us know. Otherwise, the list:

25. Civil War (2024)

Alex Garland’s Civil War traces decades of post-WW2 atrocity imagery onto the American landscape. While many bristled at its refusal to simply echo contemporary US partisan talking points, Garland’s film hit on the more disturbing, disarming nature of sectarian conflict: namely that politics becomes an afterthought to bloodlust, survival, and opportunities to wreak cruelty on those perceived to deserve it.

Civil War is essentially a road trip movie focused on photojournalism, and it captures truly disturbing imagery from necklacing to mass graves, and recreational torture. Its most memorable scene, with Jesse Plemons as part of a nativist kill squad, encapsulates its brutal, bloody lens as his ruthless, eerie calm punctures everything that came before it. Civil War wasn’t the film US audiences expected, and it’s all the more disturbing for it.

24. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Shirts off! Even mid-way through, 2026 has delivered a squad of heavy, heartily disturbing films that catapult across genres and tones with disconcerting ease. The Bone Temple picks up right where 2025’s 28 Years Later ended, as young protagonist Spike must prove himself to the Jimmy gang. This roving band of marauders bookended the first entry of this legacy trilogy, leaving some with tonal whiplash. But while they made for an energetic, final scene in that film, The Bone Temple begins with the grim. We finally meet the gang through gray tones, menacing music, and primal taunting as Spike is pushed around and forced into brutal choices.

Part of what makes The Bone Temple so disturbing is the nature of the Jimmy gang. They model themselves after notorious predator and celebrity Jimmy Saville – who in this alternate reality was never unmasked (albeit posthumously) for the monster he was – and recreate Teletubby antics as if they were sacred lore. That none of this is really explained only adds to the weirdness and the terror. Like its predecessor, The Bone Temple was divisive, but in its grimness and the sadism of its chief antagonists, it offers an experience that spurred disgust and walkouts.

23. Pearl (2022)

Ti West’s low-key prequel to retro slasher X is a slow-burn surprise that becomes increasingly unnerving as the titular character’s sanity unravels. If X was an exercise in conventionality – taking the time-worn slasher paradigm and executing it with love, attention, and care – then Pearl is an exercise in mixing up conventions and finding horror in unlikely places, particularly Mia Goth’s desperate, unhinged smile.

Goth did double duty in X, and here she again is the key. Pearl is so disturbing precisely because of her performance. She’s as committed as her character, who bristles under tradition and her family obligations until her quest for stardom leaves her demeaned, ashamed, and bitter. In the mindfucking department, Goth gets help from an array of bizarre imagery including maggots, rotting flesh, scarecrows, and a fetid, rotting American dream. A climatic set piece hinges on Goth’s monologue, and with it she and West cement Pearl as one of the great psychological unraveling horrors a la Repulsion and Possession.

22. Obsession (2026)

Obsession is a proven horror hit: a box office smash with solid reviews and a sizable cultural footprint. At least part of what got it there was writer/director Curry Barker’s sure-handed approach to time-worn horror tropes. This might be a riff on the Monkey’s Paw trope, but its scares feel fresh and well-crafted.

What makes it so disturbing? There’s the love hex element, which subtly echoes themes of codependency, toxic relationships, and gaslighting. There’s the dispossession element. The unrelenting bleakness. A sense of inevitability that makes even the most predictable plot points into jump scares. And then there’s Nikki’s party monologue, a twisted seemingly first-person account of an extreme Hansel & Gretel story, delivered at a party during a drinking game, that’s as awkward as it is unnerving. Though in the end it’s how all of these elements fold into an experience that’s suffocating and unrelentingly bleak.

21. Sick of Myself (2022)

Kristoffer Borgli crossed absurdist comedy with body horror with this film that brought him to international attention. Signe is a barista who’s jealous of the attention boyfriend Thomas receives for his sculptures made from stolen furniture. She craves attention but struggles to cultivate it in an attention economy obsessed with the performative. That is until she fakes an allergic reaction and finds her way into the discourse.

Borgli’s film clearly has things to say about social media and how it fosters unhealthy relationships to attention, and this would be enough for many other films content to make the same rote points over and over. But what makes Sick of Myself truly disturbing is the skin-peeling, blistering, rotting horrors that Signe inflicts on herself to keep eyes on her and the charade going. The film’s remote, icy tone also adds to the disconcerting effect, with any room for moralizing taken over by dark humor and human vapidness that will be all too familiar to anyone who’s spent time on social media.

20. Get In (2020)

Get In, or Furie in its native French, could technically be considered 2019, but since it hit international cinemas in 2020, it’s included here. Olivier Abbou’s film is a social thriller about powerlessness in which tension ramps up until it explodes through the walls. The Diallo family – mild-mannered husband/father Paul, wife Chloe who grew up in the area, and child Louise — come home from holiday to find that their house sitters have become squatters.

The family struggles without much help from the law as tensions between Paul, an outsider, and Chloe, a local, only add to the tension. As Paul takes up more with local Mickey and his friends, his calm nature is called into question as the movie interrogates masculinity, entitlement, and victimhood. Abbou borrows more than a bit from films like Straw Dogs in its depiction of how social niceties and perceived weakness culminate in violence, and Get In gets quite brutal as its characters grow weary, frustrated, and then furious with each other. It’s a blistering film that finds ugliness in every corner of human behavior.

19. The Ugly Stepsister (2025)

Emilie Blichfeldt’s dark retelling of Cinderella focuses on the titular trope, an ugly stepsister who’s pushed by society, but especially her social climbing mother, to entrance a prince. Showing rather than telling, Blichfeldt deftly conveys the unfair expectations placed on women’s appearances by dragging her character from one ghastly indignity to another, all in the name of cosmetic perfection.

Lea Myren is Elvira, the stepsister in question, and the horrors she endures are delivered bluntly in scenes more akin to Scandi-noir than fairy tales. Many modern fairy tales go for campiness or seek to correct outdated views on women, their looks, and their role in society. The Ugly Stepsister becomes so disturbing by leaning into the contemporary realities of those horrors, ranging from crude rhinoplasties to stomach-churning diets.

18. Bring Her Back (2025)

The Phillipou brothers’ follow-up to Talk to Me is horror drained of life and hope. Stepsiblings Andy and Piper are taken in by foster mother Laura. All three of them are grieving: Andy and Piper for their father, Laura for her daughter. Also in the mix is Oliver, a creepy, pasty boy whose face is drained of emotion and who doesn’t speak. Naturally, not all is what it seems and something is afoot.

And that something is absolutely drowned in misery. This is an Australia drained of almost all color but gray. Every interaction in this foster home is halting, cautious, and sad. Andy finds that his foster mother isn’t much kinder than his departed father. Two set pieces involving Oliver are truly unnerving, with the filmmakers ramping up the sound design to horrifying effect. There are jump scares and gore aplenty, but what most lingers with Bring Her Back is the absolute lack of hope.

Event cinema returns to our screens, or strictly speaking, our IMAX screens if you witness The Odyssey in the way that Christopher Nolan intends. The last time Nolan blasted onto our screens was back in 2023 with Oppenheimer, a film that became a cultural phenomenon as part of the ‘Barbenheimer’ double bill, itself amassing nearly $1 billion worldwide while Greta Gerwig’s counterpart took in almost $1.5 billion.

It would be very interesting to see what Oppenheimer would have made had Barbie not been part of the cinematic landscape at the time, and perhaps the box-office takings for The Odyssey will offer a clue. Unless, of course, a cultural event involving Nolan’s latest and the new Minions movies suddenly appeals to the masses overnight. Either way, The Odyssey is going to dominate the box office for the foreseeable future.

It’s been over seventy years since Hollywood last adapted Homer’s “Odyssey” for the big screen (although 2024’s The Return starring Ralph Fiennes is worth a mention despite its low-key release) and one struggles to think of a director with the ambition, skill, and studio backing to take on the epic tale in a worthy way. But of course, Nolan would be one of them, as well as perhaps Denis Villeneuve; a man currently busy with the job of plotting the next Bond adventure, having just completed work on Dune Part III.

Nolan himself has been almost tirelessly linked with the Bond franchise, but one might argue that we’ve already had his own version of such a film with 2020’s Tenet, a film that was released to a post-COVID world, struggling to come to terms with just what exactly was going on in their own lives, let alone Nolan’s messy palindromic tale.

And The Odyssey is released to a planet in which people allow themselves to have their opinions dictated to them, or jump on the bandwagon of the last opinion they heard. I flag this up because The Odyssey has had quite a backlash before its release, when casting news dropped some time ago.

To claim that virtue signalling and woke agenda doesn’t exist in the cinema is to quite ignorantly dismiss something that undoubtedly occurs, and some high-profile critics- in my opinion- have fallen foul of desperately not trying to offend anyone in their own reviews of various films over the last few years. But it’s just as important to look at the other side too, with pure hatred spouted by people who crowbar issues into such debates when no such thing exists. Both sides can, and have, been damaging. The main crimes of Nolan, it seems, are having cast Lupito Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Sinon. Initially it was rumoured Page was playing Achilles, something that greatly upset people, but it is ultimately a moot point, having turned out to be false. And as for Nyong’o, one of the finest actresses working today, it seems churlish to claim that a black woman can’t possibly play a mythical figure.

Whatever your thoughts with regard to these perceived issues, they’re not enough to pass judgement on the entire film as a result. The Odyssey is a sweeping swords-and-sandals epic; the scale of which is sometimes difficult to comprehend and one that reinvents Homer’s legend in ways not seen before on screen. There’s a lot going on in the first hour or so, and there’s a little too much thrown at the wall. Nolan loves to provide us with separate narrative threads and timelines and has successfully done so before with much of his work, but The Odyssey drags as it tries to get everything into place so the mechanical structure of the film can run more smoothly as we enter the middle section of a film which is just shy of three hours.

Matt Damon is excellent as King Odysseus, who, after the fall of Troy, begins the long journey home to Ithaca, told in various flashbacks and across different time periods. His quest lasts years and provides the thrust of everything that unfurls, as he yearns to reunite with his wife Penelope (a superb Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland). In Odysseus’s absence, Penelope is pressured to take a new husband with no shortage of suitors in Ithaca, chief of whom is Robert Pattinson’s Antinous. Pattinson is sensational, his snake-like and cowardly demeanour presenting us with an oily presence in the kingdom of Ithaca and a constant problem for Penelope and Telemachus.

The film slowly explores Odysseus’s guilt and shame over the Trojan war, and some have claimed the heart and soul of the film belongs to Page’s Sinon, whom Odysseus deceived and left as a blood sacrifice by the side of the daunting image of the Trojan horse, half buried in the sand of the beach, invoking the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes (1968). But really this is all about Odysseus’ unending shame as he begins to realise the futility of the war, the consequences of which are catastrophic. The taking of Troy is led by Benny Safdie’s Greek king Agamemnon, who is killed when he returns home; and as Odysseus and his men experience hunger, loss, disorientation and disaster on their struggle home, it becomes clear that the Gods have their own ideas of how the war’s aftermath plays out.

Their treacherous journey home consists of some truly memorable sequences. A cave meeting with the Cyclops is astonishing, and arguably where the film picks up the baton of urgency, which until this point was somewhat lacking. From here there’s a meeting with Samantha Morton’s Circe, a performance that, although slight, nearly steals the film from everyone around her as she taunts, teases and traps the crew. And we visit the underworld as Odysseus must converse with the dead, in a sequence that is as eerie as it is impressive. Some of the visuals in The Odyssey are jaw-dropping, and we’re lucky enough to witness even more through the eyes of Telemachus as he sets off on his own voyage to find evidence of his father’s whereabouts or existence, in a bid to save his mother from having to take another husband.

The performances across the board are terrific; even Tom Holland, who some have found fault with here, for my money does a very good job. Zendaya, Charlize Theron, and John Leguizamo all provide sterling work amongst many others; indeed, the cast list is seemingly endless. It’s a shame that Lupito Nyong’o only briefly appears, albeit in dual roles as Helen and her twin sister Clytemnestra. There’s a lot going on, even by Nolan’s standards, and he does an admirable job of trying to tie everything together. The last hour or so is pure cinema, building and building to a conclusion amplified and beautifully accompanied by the pulsing Ludwig Göransson score, which is constant throughout, the same way his work on Oppenheimer was.

We saw the fall of Troy depicted on screen by Wolfgang Peterson over twenty years ago, a film that starred Brad Pitt as Achilles and Orlando Bloom as Paris. But Troy (2004) is about as far as you could possibly get from The Odyssey, despite the similar subject matter. The sacking of Troy, which we see in stages of flashback, is breathtaking, and often a tough watch. There’s no Orlando Bloom prancing about like a berk, as he did in both Troy and Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Like Peterson, Nolan takes liberties with his source material, adjusting and omitting from literary sources, but whereas Troy did away with Gods entirely, Nolan gives us appearances from Gods and humans entangled in Greek mythology. You’re also reminded of Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Odyssey also invokes Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), an inevitable comparison that actually serves Scott’s Oscar-winning film rather well. At a mere two and a half hours, Gladiator doesn’t outstay its welcome, but there’s no doubt The Odyssey could shed twenty-five minutes of its run time.

But by the same token, it would take a brave editor to work out just where to chop and change here. There are bits and pieces of The Odyssey that plod, there’s no doubt about it, and this isn’t the masterpiece that many have claimed. However, you’re so quickly swept up in whatever comes next that it’s easy to forget these niggles while it’s unfolding in front of you, and the final hour will have you glued to the screen as it snowballs to its hugely satisfying finale.

Odysseus’s journey home is a horrifying, painful, and traumatic experience to say the least. It might even be argued that he himself wants it to be so and expects it as some form of self-torture; a punishment for his actions in the war which have made him feel unworthy of happiness. Damon captures all of this and more in what is a truly fantastic, understated and world-weary performance. Thankfully, as an audience, our journey through Nolan’s Odyssey is far less arduous than Odysseus’s plight. Quite the opposite in fact. This is cinema in its purest form, and we’re lucky to have someone as brilliant as Christopher Nolan to bring it to us. It will take a few more viewings to form a more fully rounded opinion, like all his work, and there is no getting around the fact that The Odyssey makes false steps. This is ambition on a scale to match Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptations; and yet just like those cinematic voyages to Arrakis, Nolan’s Odyssey falls just short of greatness.

Author Bio: Christian Keane is a film critic who explores overlooked gems, cult classics, and cinema’s hidden corners. He believes it’s great to disagree — everyone’s perspective matters — and shares his thoughts on his website and across his socials at Keane on Film, which you can find here https://linktr.ee/christiankeane7. You can also find him on Tiktok @keane.on.film and Instagram @keaneonfilm.

From the definitive symbol of 1960s Swinging London cool to the respectable elder statesman of the current industry, Michael Caine has had a long, varied career where he starred in over 150 movies with an ability to swerve into any genre he pleased.

He was born Maurice Micklewhite in South London to a tough working-class family, before WW2 left his neighbourhood in ruins. After serving in the military in the Korean War, he returned to England and toiled away in minor theatre and film productions before landing a breakthrough role in the milestone war film “Zulu” (1964), ironically, due to his famous Cockney origins, playing an impressively upper-crust British officer.

From that point on, he never stopped working; the 60s saw him as Britain’s biggest international star, charming but commanding, with a string of iconic hits like “The Ipcress File”, “Alfie”, and “The Italian Job”. The 1970s saw him segue into darker, more demanding roles, with highlights like “Get Carter”, “Sleuth”, and “The Man Who Would Be King”, but by the end of the decade, he had also accepted a slew of horrendous flops (e.g., The Swarm). It was clear he was becoming less picky about projects and more interested in paying the bills.

This mentality saw his star wane throughout the 80s and 90s, as the prestige that came with his name took a hit as he signed on for everything, from big-budget bombs to cheaply made TV movies. It wasn’t all bad; the 80s held a few impressive highlights (Educating Rita, Mona Lisa), and by the mid 90s, he had begun displaying a joy for acting again in colourful supporting roles in lower-budget movies (Little Voice, Blood and Wine). By the end of the decade, he had finally won an Oscar for “The Cider House Rules” in 1999; this led to a major late-career Renaissance, with a momentum that has not seen him slow down.

Out of the majority of genres he has inhabited, the Thriller seems like the best through-line fit; he’s made a ton of them, and several are painfully lost in the sauce, so let’s explore them in chronological order…

Honourable mentions that just missed inclusion are the barmy big-budget disaster “The Island” (1980) which is not a good movie but a wild ride from beginning to end, “The Holcroft Covenant” (1985) that holds sharp retro-fused direction by John Frankenheimer but is let down by a silly plot, and his impressively vicious turn in the underrated “Blood and Wine” (1996), although that movie is really Jack Nicholson’s show.

1. Gambit (1966)

Made during Caine’s unbeatable run of 60s hits, this gets overlooked in the shuffle with his classics but is a largely enjoyable romantic-comedy heist film with electric chemistry between its leads.

Caine plays a reliably charming London cat burglar, hired for a near-impossible job to steal an ancient statue from a Middle Eastern collector (Herbert Lom in brownface). To actually pull it off, he brings in Shirley MacLaine’s nightclub worker as a vital ingredient, but sparks fly between the two, making the stakes more complicated.

A bespectacled Caine commands the film from the opening frame, displaying all his trademark strengths from the period; effortlessly hilarious, coldly calculating, and smouldering charisma, his consummate professionalism is all about the job, but has those principles believably stripped away by the end credits. MacLaine as his love interest is the complete opposite in energy; sweetly bewildered, endearingly honest, but suffering no nonsense. Their pairing sparks off the screen; she’s a wild whirlwind to his buttoned-down cool, with the two different styles having to meld together if the job needs to be a success, and the road getting there is a joy to behold.

It helps that the heist itself is a nail-biting near-silent sequence, and all the moving pieces to get there are directed with a deft hand by old pro Ronald Neame (The Poseidon Adventure), in a movie that displays the kind of breezy enjoyable atmosphere later replicated in the majority of the “Oceans” series; gorgeous stars, beautiful visuals, an involving heist, and a movie that will place a smile on your face for its running time.

2&3. Play Dirty (1969) / Too Late the Hero (1970)

To avoid the list becoming bogged down in similar titles, these two stern war movies are getting a double entry, as they tell similar stories but in distinct manners. Both came out a year apart as well, during a wave of pessimistic action films eschewing the gung-ho heroism and focusing on the dark side of conflict. Both were also made at a time when Caine was beginning to lean into his tough-man persona, and these aptly show this new direction.

“Too Late” features Caine’s British commando unit trapped in the sweaty jungles of Burma in vicious guerrilla conflict with the Japanese, with their decency slowly stripped away as survival becomes their only concern. “Play Dirty” features Caine’s model soldier linking up with a weathered band of troops in the Arabian desert during WW2; he butts heads with their ‘take no prisoners’ techniques before embracing the group in the heat of battle.

“Too Late” features a bevy of English character actors (Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen), but it’s really Caine that is the standout in the ensemble; first as a background jokester, then the fuming mutineer, before becoming the nearest thing the film has to hero. It’s one of the first films to showcase his penchant for boiling anger as his wisecracking soldier becomes fed up with their nonsensical suicide mission.

In “Play Dirty” Caine is saddled with the grating role of being the ‘by-the-book’ outsider in a macho squad of impressive tough guys, yet he manages to give his character an admirable backbone of decency and stoicism where other actors would have just come off as punchable. It’s a predictable but involving journey as his character realises that you can’t play by the rules when you live in hell.

When it comes to direction, both films are injected with a heavy amount of personality via their craftsman; in “Too Late”, action stalwart Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen) takes the reins, and at the time was one of the best at directing an ensemble of cranky, conflict-prone macho men in high-stakes. He gives the setting a relentless atmosphere and plays the action unpredictably and swiftly. Unique genre filmmaker Andre de Toth (House of Wax) handles directing for “Play Dirty” and gives it a breathless visual sheen. It’s scorching desert landscapes look like you could fry an egg on them, and his nuanced handling of the set-pieces really manages to make it feel and look like no other war film of the era.

“Too Late” is shockingly bleak, a tight-knit group of buddies pulled apart in conflict, as compatriots freeze up in battle leaving others to die, or turn on their own to escape, it certainly goes out of its way to flip the birdie at the old school notion that heroes are made in conflict, and it all leads to a breathless finale as the only survivors, Caine and Cliff Robertson, must run across an open field no-man’s-land to their base camp, as an entire Japanese militia fire everything at them in a thrilling sequence.

“Play Dirty” takes a different angle: while conflict brings the worst out of men, you learn to survive, you have to ‘play dirty’, with Caine’s main character ultimately living the arc. Yet, the film’s sudden violent coda, all preceded by a stunningly shot nighttime airbase raid by the protagonists, spells out that no one is exempt from the playbook.

Both films are footnotes in Caine’s filmography but are among his best, and no doubt are standout examples of gritty, unsentimental war thrillers of the era.

4. Pulp (1972)

In 1971, Caine and director Mike Hodges essentially made the definitive British gangster movie with “Get Carter”, a fierce, morally compromised revenge tale that cemented the actor as the face of Cockney tough guys for generations to come. The duo followed up that classic one year later with an offbeat, third-wall-breaking meta-noir. Not surprisingly, critics and audiences were left bewildered.

Caine plays a writer of trashy pulp novels who gets hired to ghostwrite the autobiography of an ageing movie star (a scene-stealing Mickey Rooney) in the lush location of Malta. On arrival, he’s quickly roped into a complex plot of corrupt politics and cold-blooded murder.

Caine leans on his cool credentials as the never-flustered protagonist as the plot spirals into all sorts of bizarreness. He’s a man of few words, although he’s saddled with a noir-ish voiceover that embellishes the film’s clear inspirations, mystery novels thrown in a blender with Fellini-esque surrealism. It’s not his most impressive turn, but it’s a reliable one, and the finale that has him escaping a sniper whilst commandeering a goat truck finally gives him a chance to demonstrate an involving, desperate human side to the character.

The supporting cast is sprinkled with familiar veteran faces (Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott), but Rooney in his supporting role as the arrogant washed-up actor grabs the film by the lapels and telegraphs the tone the movie is going for, to great comedic effect.

It’s obvious the actor/director duo wanted to do a complete pivot from the gritty realism of their former film, and if you’re ready for it… It’s quite the ride. The comedy doesn’t always work, but it’s a visual marvel with an erratic, unpredictable plot that unravels deliciously dreamlike. As long as you’re not expecting Get Carter 2, there’s a rewarding oddity here, and it’s a shame this would be their last collaboration as one ponders what other tricks they had up their sleeve.

5. The Black Windmill (1974)

By the mid-1970s, Caine was operating at the peak of his stardom; he was huge internationally, but also in the States, and had proven he could work in pretty much any genre. By that time, he had made a name for himself with the Harry Palmer series, a James Bond-adjacent spy franchise, which took a more grounded take on the genre. This overlooked tense thriller plays into a similar idea to intriguing results.

Caine plays a veteran Intelligence Officer, now holding down a desk job for security services. In a shocking opening, his young son walks in on a clandestine meeting held by John Vernon’s ruthless terrorist and ends up kidnapped. After the authorities fail him, it’s time for Caine to go rogue and use his special set of skills to get his boy back.

It’s a surprising turn from Caine, playing his protagonist as a buttoned-down divorcé who refuses to let his emotions get the better of him despite the situation. The choice drew criticism at the time as leaving the audience cold, yet it’s what makes the role engaging, as by the mid-point, the character has had enough of playing by the book, and the film truly kicks into gear once he abandons protocol and begins to outsmart his agency and attempt to infiltrate the villains.

Vernon never disappoints playing an intimidating, deep-voiced bad guy, and makes for a worthy adversary here, one that could believably do away with an innocent child without batting an eyelid. Donald Pleasance is also enjoyably spineless as Caine’s boss, who betrays him due to bureaucracy.

From the mid-60s forward, director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) had carved out a niche in creating solid, white-knuckle vehicles for Hollywood tough guys. His five collaborations with Clint Eastwood are most fondly remembered, but he also had strong work with Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Wayne, and Richard Widmark. This gives him the chance to collaborate with Caine at his peak, and he brings to it his penchant for fierce, unpredictable violence and nail-biting set pieces, with two standouts: a chase through London’s underground as Caine escapes his agency tail, and a Uzi-fuelled finale within the claustrophobic titular windmill.

It results in a forgotten gritty thriller that stands proudly next to several from that era and deserves to be better remembered.

6. Peeper (1975)

By the mid-70s, Hollywood was exploring a fascination with film noir, with peak directors paying homage to the genre (Chinatown, The Long Goodbye) with its pessimistic themes and downbeat endings fitting nicely into the era. This obscure take, though, aimed at lovingly spoofing it, ends up a messy yet fascinating watch.

Caine leans into genre trappings as the sharp, quick-witted private eye, who is initially hired by a wealthy figure to catch his wife’s infidelity, before being pulled into a convoluted plot of false identity, hidden fortune, and shootouts with plenty of craggy-faced goons.

There’s no archetypal role better suited for noir than a scrappy private eye, and Caine has a blast doing his variation on it. Not copying Bogart, he’s hilariously English, leaning on his comedy timing, romantic charm, and believable competence in a gunfight. He manages to pay homage to the cliches whilst making it his. His chemistry with Natalie Wood (a real-life ex-flame) as the spunky femme fatale jumps off the screen; the duo makes for a great pairing, and she holds her own as the enticing yet unpredictable love interest. A rogue’s gallery of scuzzy character actors dress up the scenario nicely; Timothy Carey and Don Calfa’s duo of hitmen are particularly enjoyable, and feel like they’ve walked right off the screen of a 1940s crime picture.

Action director Peter Hyams was early in his career here; no one shot or directed action films like him in the 70s, with efforts like “Busting” and “Capricorn One” being some of the best of the era. This film flopped into obscurity, but his penchant for contrasted, lush photography and lighting is in full force from the beginning. Not to mention his incredible prowess at constructing a breathless action scene, with a midpoint shoot-out in a darkened office complex, showcasing his skill set for enthralling, breakneck camera moves, and a later inventive chase sequence, where hero and villains are stuck in traffic and attempt to take each other out with silenced pistols.

Whilst the film works visually and viscerally, it doesn’t as much with the comedy. Wood and Caine understand the assignment, but other players can’t match the Howard Hawks-esque dialogue as wittily or effectively. It’s a film that could’ve worked better as a straightforward take on the genre; however, it does deserve to be dug up from obscurity for its standout points.

With the release of Megalopolis in 2024, Coppola unleashed on the world a film that felt like it had been gestating almost as long as his career—something that, in terms of feature films, began way back in 1963. While the reaction to Megalopolis was nearly as sprawling as the film itself, it proved one thing—we’re all still interested in what the man behind some of the greatest films of all time has to offer.

There were critics who claimed Megalopolis was one of the worst films ever made, but by the same token, there were plenty that accused The Godfather Part III (1990) of the same crime, only to slowly realise over time that it was a far better film than it was given credit for. Megalopolis also has its champions, and it will be fascinating to see how the film is viewed in years to come; Coppola himself is convinced that we’ll all look back very differently in the future.

Coppola has given us an astonishing range of films in his many decades of filmmaking, not just in terms of scope and ambition, but undoubtedly in quality. We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum, with something like Apocalypse Now (1979) all the way down to a film like Jack (1996). So, it’s time to take stock and unleash a Coppola ranking on all you cinephiles.

23. Jack (1996)

Although the cast list is something to be admired, Jack is not a good film. Even those who claim it’s so bad it’s good appear to be having far too much fun with it. Robin Williams does his best as the titular character, a boy born with a rare genetic condition that causes him to age four times faster than normal.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): This is not, however, even the best of intentions in terms of earnest sentiment fall flat amidst a tonally confused piece of work. Williams is convincing in the main role, but nothing else about the film is, and Jack plays out as a severe misfire from Coppola. It’s not without a certain amount of charm, but it’s almost impossible to take seriously.

22. Finian’s Rainbow (1968)

The presence of Fred Astaire certainly adds value to Finian’s Rainbow—a Coppola musical no less—, but even he can’t save the film from collapsing under its own weight of foolishness. The plot surrounds Astaire’s Finian, an Irish dreamer who arrives in the fictional town of Rainbow Valley with his daughter Sharon and a crock of stolen gold belonging to a leprechaun called O’G. Finian believes the gold will multiply if buried near Fort Knox, and that’s all you really need to know.

There are those who might claim such a set-up was doomed from the start, and Finian’s Rainbow ultimately proves them right. Although it tackles themes of racism, capitalism, and the American Dream—aided by Astaire’s impressive charm—the film tries to stuff itself with messages and frequently falls over its own two feet with a tone that feels like it shifts on a scene-by-scene basis.

It’s not without its entertaining moments, but the film remains one of Coppola’s weakest.

21. You’re A Big Boy Now (1966)

Some might be irritated by the very title of Coppola’s second feature film, and if they were, it’s highly unlikely their minds would be changed by the film itself. It’s far from a terrible film; Peter Kastner’s Bernard is a shy young man (and a virgin) who is smothered by his overbearing father and emotionally absent mother and works in a library, where he becomes infatuated by two very different women.

You’re A Big Boy Now sees Bernard—as you might have guessed—navigate desire, fear, and emotional confusion as he steps tentatively towards adulthood, and the film is anchored by some strong performances from Kastner, Geraldine Page, and Rip Torn—but Coppola shows far too much overindulgence in exhausting us with attempted depth when the film doesn’t really need it.

It’s a messy film, but it shows progression in certain areas from Coppola and is now viewed as a deeply flawed but interesting early piece.

20. Twixt (2011)

Twixt was Coppola’s last film before Megalopolis—a gap of a whopping thirteen years. Starring Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning, the film tells the story of Kilmer’s Bobby LaGrange, a struggling author who arrives in a small town to do a reading at a local festival but becomes embroiled in a mysterious murder case and begins having vivid, hallucinatory dreams where he interacts with increasingly bizarre figures.

Perhaps in the hands of David Lynch, Twixt might have amounted to something half decent, but sadly for Coppola, it ends up being disjointed and confusing, with the dream sequences in particular lengthy and frequently dull. Twixt can be visually striking, and there’s admiration in the sense that this is undoubtedly an experimental piece from Coppola, but it feels more like a personal indulgence than a coherent film.

19. Dementia 13 (1963)

Set in Ireland, Coppola’s debut feature follows Louise Haloran (Luana Anders), a young widow who hides her husband’s sudden death so she can remain in his wealthy family’s good graces. While staying at the Haloran estate, she becomes entangled in a web of secrets surrounding the death of the patriarch’s young daughter five years previously. To add to all of this, an axe-wielding masked figure begins to pick off members of the household, and for the most part, this is a fairly harmless first feature film, and although it doesn’t offer anything particularly innovative, Coppola still manages to provide his own stamp.

Dementia 13 is clearly influenced by Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), and although you’re constantly reminded of how much better Hitchcock’s film is, Coppola offers audiences an assured debut feature, one that proves he could hold his own behind the camera. It remains an important film more because it’s his debut piece rather than because it’s a particularly good film, but it’s far from terrible.

18. Youth Without Youth (2007)

The cast list for this promised much but delivered very little. Tim Roth, Bruno Ganz, and Alexandra Maria Lara are all in fine form but are underserved by a particularly dull narrative. Roth’s Dominic is an aging linguistics professor who is struck by lightning in 1938 and miraculously rejuvenated, resulting in a physically young body as well as being intellectually enhanced. He’s then pursued by individuals who want to exploit his mind, and Youth Without Youth then becomes a film that attempts to tackle themes of memory, identity, and the origins of humanity, with an increasingly tired script.

Youth Without Youth has ambition, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s a deeply flawed film that has too many ideas thrown at it to the point that it feels like it’s speaking at you rather than talking to you. There are elements that are impressive, and Roth in particular is in excellent form, but it’s another example of Coppola stretching his limits.

17. Megalopolis (2024)

Whatever accusation you could have thrown at Youth Without Youth, you could multiply it by a hundred for Megalopolis. It’s got to be one of the most ambitious films ever made, and yet it’s also one of the most flawed. What nudges it ahead of Youth Without Youth is that it’s genuinely difficult to find fault with the scope of what Coppola is trying to achieve.

Set in a futuristic New Rome, where visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) clashes with conservative mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) over the city’s future. Cesar also has the ability to bend time and reshape reality—immediately flagging up one hundred and one questions about the plot of Megalopolis and what unfurls during its sprawling narrative.

Megalopolis is a mess and a half of a film, with its astonishing scope frequently its biggest problem—hardly any of it appears to make sense, and yet at the same time, you’ve got to admire Coppola’s efforts; you feel like there’s definitely something to his claim that the film requires multiple viewings and will be seen in a completely different light in the future. Time will tell.

16. Gardens of Stone (1987)

When you think of Coppola’s war movies, Gardens of Stone almost certainly isn’t the first one that springs to mind. But Gardens of Stone, which is set primarily at Arlington National Cemetery during the final years of the Vietnam War, is one of his more restrained and thoughtful films.

The story centres on Sergeant Major Cleve Hardin (James Caan), a soldier tasked with overseeing military funerals, with most of his days taken up by burying young men killed in Vietnam. Hardin grows more disillusioned with his job as the war continues, and Gardens of Stone focuses more on the consequences of war rather than putting you front and centre. Indeed, the entire film takes place stateside.

The performances are great, especially Caan’s—although it does lack the visceral power that Coppola had already provided audiences with in terms of the Vietnam War. Although it might be a middling Coppola vehicle, there’s plenty to admire here.

15. The Cotton Club (1984)

Set in 1930s Harlem, The Cotton Club interweaves the lives of musicians, dancers, and gangsters at the Cotton Club, a legendary jazz nightclub. A trumpeter (Richard Gere), fleeing a murder he may or may not have committed, is taken under the wing of mob boss Dutch Schultz (James Remar) and begins a dangerous affair with his volatile girlfriend, Vera Cicero (Diane Lane). Meanwhile, tap dancer Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines) dreams of becoming a headliner alongside his pregnant partner Lila Rose (Lonette McKee), struggling against racism, limited opportunities, and the violent criminal world that controls the club.

There’s a whole lot going on in The Cotton Club, and the whole thing looks gorgeous, with the music adding to the setting and immersing you into Coppola’s vision of 1930s Harlem. The film might well be structurally all over the place at times, and the multiple strands of plot never quite all hang together, but for the most part, this is a fairly underrated Coppola film and one that didn’t deserve the kicking it got at the box office.

14. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

With a cast list that includes Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, and Jim Carrey, you’d think this might be further up the list. And it’s certainly not bad; Peggy Sue Got Married has its fans and actually holds up pretty well today. The film tells the story of the titular character (Turner), who collapses at her 25-year high school reunion and wakes up in 1960, reliving her senior year with full knowledge of how her life will unfold.

So the premise is interesting, with Coppola tackling nostalgia, regret, and second chances, with Turner giving a terrifically nuanced performance—a far cry from Cage, who is not in good form here. Ultimately, the film is one to be enjoyed rather than admired, and it lacks the boldness of much of Coppola’s output, but Peggy Sue Got Married can be a whole lot of fun, which is not something you can always say of Coppola.

13. One From the Heart (1982)

There are those who might even have One From the Heart at the very bottom of this list. And in some ways, that’s not surprising—this is an odd film that went way over budget, had a horrific production, massively divided critics, and then absolutely tanked at the box office.
But there’s more to this film than many would have you believe. Set in Las Vegas, we follow longtime couple Hank and Frannie, who split up after a bitter argument and set out separately into the night, each pursuing romantic fantasies with other people.

We experience their actions through a hugely impressive studio-built Las Vegas set that looks astonishing, pulling you into the dreamscape that Coppola is offering us. Tom Waits offers a wonderful score that adds to the proceedings, and although the narrative might be thin and vaguely irritating at times, One From the Heart is a far better piece of work than it was ever given credit for.

Weird cinema is a bit of a Goldilocks thing. Too weird can come off as performative, overly complicated, and so removed from reality that nothing has consequence. On the flip side, a lot of movies start weird, promise weird, and then settle into familiar plot beats with some extras. But when the balance is just right, the result is sublime, uncanny, and eerie. When it comes to weird cinema in 2026, screens may be getting smaller, but the ideas are bigger than ever.

This year has already offered some bizarre, oddball delights, and this decade is shaping up to one in which the boundaries of cinema have truly been stretched and flexed and tested. A slew of fourth-wall and format-breaking features have dotted the cinemascape, popping like little bursts of color in an industry notorious for promising creativity while playing the hits ad nauseum.

These are 10 of the best bizarre movies of 2026 from the first six months.

10. Pizza Movie

Pizza Movie is one of those raunchy, R-rated comedies people say Hollywood doesn’t make anymore, and they’re mostly right: Pizza Movie went straight to streaming. Imperfect in the way that raunch often is – bombastic, contrived, gross-out – Pizza Movie is also a goofy, funny, strange, and wonderfully weird.

The quest to retrieve a delivered pizza is treated like the odyssey when two university outcasts, played by Sean Giambrone and Stranger Thing’s Gaten Matarazzo, accidentally ingest an extreme, metaphysical, reality-shattering experimental drug. This absurdist stoner comedy from Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher is a blast. Firmly removed from reality but firmly grounded in its own world, Pizza Movie harkens back to a different era while adorning it with modern flourishes. Films like this often rely on plot armor, contrived mechanics, and convenient reveals, and Pizza Movie’s secret weapon is festooning all of those conventions in as much ridiculousness as possible, elevating the predictable into something fun and, ultimately, sweet.

9. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

Gore Verbinski has made a career out of big studio fare that’s better and weirder than anyone expects. His return to the director’s chair after nine years is a sci fi adventure that feels scrappy and distinctly apart from the tentpole, franchise-heavy filmmaking Verbinski helped Hollywood solidify in the 2000s.

Sam Rockwell is a disheveled, tin foil-clad man who randomly appears in Los Angeles diner claiming to be from the future. He’s there to recruit a team to help him save the world, and he’s done his diner schtick before. Many times before in fact. That setup conveys the manic energy that Verbinski, screenwriter Matthew Robinson, and a game cast bring to this wild premise. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die benefits from sure hands and a budget that gives heft to its wild premise. There’s loads of charisma on display and the film keeps quite a sheen, but what makes it sing is how so many moments benefit from extra touches of the kooky and absurd.

8. OBEX

Albert Birney’s low-budget indie throwback OBEX is a mind-twister of a film. Conor lives his dog and stumbles upon an ad for the titular video game about a soul-eating demon. At first, the simple game play disappoints Conor. Then come the strange messages. Then Sandy’s gone. His life of peace and solitude disrupted, Conor embarks on an odyssey into OBEX to reclaim his beloved companion.

Birney’s made a career with absurdist, off-kilter indies, and OBEX is among his strongest offerings. It’s am immersive pull that does better than most actual video game adaptations in recreating a sense of game play. Its grayscale palette adds to the mood, and frequent, sudden forays into horror territory blur the lines of reality further. At time OBEX lags, but for most of its runtime it’s a sturdy, strange film fortified by its ability to toggle between serenity and terror seamlessly until reality becomes mostly unknowable.

7. The Napa Boys

The Napa Boys or, as the in-movie title reads, The Napa Boys 4: The Sommelier’s Amulet, is a film folly that functions as two things at once. Another meta, format-androgynous film that’s both entirely a crock and sincere, The Napa Boys posits that the 2004 film Sideways sparked a raunchy, direct-to-video franchise where a bunch of wine-happy horndogs get up to booze-fueled hijinks in the wine-making region of Napa Valley.

And so The Napa Boys goes. What we’re watching is purportedly the fourth installment. The “franchise’s” main trio have gone their separate ways before the need to save a friend’s vineyard from foreclosure or something brings them together for more filth-coated absurdity. The Napa Boys commits hard to its premise, and it does feel like the kind of 2000s-era comedy that critics decried as the decline of modern civilization or ignored entirely. Like a companion to the somehow more mainstream Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie, The Napa Boys is a whole lotta ridiculous distilled into something sharper than its characters let on.

6. Bulk

Few films do as much with as little as Bulk, Ben Wheatley’s heady, cerebral micro-budget multiverse mind-bender. Continuing to oscillate between bigger budget studio fare and low-budget indies, Wheatley has two films out this year: the Bob Odenkirk action riff Normal and a diametric opposite in Bulk. Shot over two weeks in a single house in Brighton on camcorders, iPhones, Go Pros, and SVHS with all dialogue recorded after shooting and with special effects courtesy of models bought online, Bulk is as DIY as they come, and this economy only ups the oddness.

When a scientist’s experiments on string theory unleash chaos, Corey Harlan (Sam Riley) is sent in. A house doubles as eternity. Warzones and quarries are rendered in miniatures. There’s back projection and forced perspective. The multiverse offers Wheatley a playground to see what he can get up to and away with. While small cast, micro-budget films sometimes lag trying to pad the runtime, Bulk has no time for that. Each scene opens new directions and implications, with the film never letting up as at least one universe threatens to collapse on itself. Dense, quirky, stark, and at times stunning,, Bulk is a mini-epic where the big shrinks and the tiny is immense.

The Seventies were a time of rampant paranoia in the USA, and that was reflected in the cinematic releases of the decade. Conspiracy theories and political controversies were front-page news, and filmmakers acted accordingly, both with fictional pieces and plenty of real-life events portrayed on screen.

But it wasn’t just conspiracy films that got people to the cinema; psychological dramas, neo-noirs, crime stories, and tense character analysis all formed sub-genres of the American thriller in the seventies. Of course, we’re well-versed in all the ones that made headlines: Chinatown (1974), The French Connection (1971), and The Conversation (1974). These are all considered by most to be masterpieces.

But there were plenty of thrillers in the seventies that never saw the light of day or at the very least were somewhat overlooked by the majority. Here we analyze ten films that are well worth your time, or perhaps worthy of another look if you’ve previously dismissed them.

1. Charley Varrick (1973)

Don Siegel was one of the finest directors you could turn to during the seventies if you wanted someone to helm a thriller. The titular Charley is played by Walter Matthau, a small-time crop duster and former stunt pilot who robs a small-town bank with a group of accomplices, expecting a modest payday. But instead, they’ve accidentally stolen a fortune belonging to the Mafia. Joe Don Baker’s professional hitman, Molly, is sent to recover the money, and Charley is suddenly fighting for his life.

Charley Varrick is one of the great anti-Hollywood crime thrillers of the decade, presenting its protagonist as someone genuinely fighting for their life rather than a conventional action hero. He’s the one who realizes the true danger of the situation, and it feels real rather than forced bravado. Matthau absolutely grounds the film with his performance, and you’re pulled into his world of danger from the get-go, and with Siegel behind the camera, you know you’re in safe hands.

It’s hugely entertaining, but you never see it on a best-of seventies list, which is a real shame. It deserves better.

2. Shaft’s Big Score! (1972)

Everyone knows Richard Roundtree’s iconic Shaft, and there are those who are fond of the Samuel L. Jackson remake in 2000. And there are even a select few who enjoyed the 2019 Shaft film. But fewer people have seen the sequel to the original film, 1972’s Shaft’s Big Score!

Roundtree once again takes up the mantle as private detective John Shaft, this time investigating the murder of an old friend whose death is linked to a missing fortune. As rival mobsters, corrupt businessmen, and hired killers all begin searching for the money, Shaft finds himself caught in the middle of a violent New York turf war.

The original film is undoubtedly a cultural landmark, but the sequel opens the world up, with director Gordon Parks giving it more scale, bigger action sequences, and a plot that is constantly on the move. Roundtree is effortlessly cool once more, and his screen presence alone is one that keeps you glued to the screen.

3. The Seven-Ups (1973)

Philip D’Antoni’s The Seven-Ups is often forgotten about, having come hot on the heels of William Friedkin’s The French Connection. But this film deserves to be spoken about in the same glowing terms because it is a top-of-the-range, effective, and hugely entertaining police thriller.

Roy Scheider’s Buddy Manucci leads an elite team of New York police detectives known as the “Seven-Ups,” officers who only pursue criminals facing sentences of seven years or more. After a series of kidnappings is linked to men with ties to Buddy’s past, he finds himself caught between the law and old friendships, forcing him to uncover a conspiracy before more people are killed. It doesn’t sound original, but the way in which this film moves is truly impressive.

Just like The French Connection, it features one of the all-time great car chases, lasting well over ten minutes and tearing through the streets, highways, and industrial roads of New York with startling authenticity. Again, it’s not surprising considering D’Antoni produced The French Connection, but The Seven-Ups is far more than just a companion piece, standing on its own two feet as one of the finest thrillers of the decade.

4. The Outfit (1973)

John Flynn’s The Outfit might be tough to track down, but you won’t regret doing it. Fresh out of prison, professional thief Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) discovers that his brother has been murdered after refusing to hand over robbery proceeds to a powerful criminal syndicate known simply as ‘The Outfit’. Rather than disappear, Macklin decides to strike back, systematically robbing Outfit operations and forcing the organization into a war.

The film takes its time and isn’t simply some over-the-top exploitation piece, with Duvall in excellent form as someone who barely changes his expression and lets everyone underestimate him, at their peril. The slow-burn nature of Flynn’s film means the revenge narrative works perfectly, pulling you into the story and never letting go.

This is a far more notable piece of revenge cinema than it’s given credit for, and this might be one of Duvall’s most underrated roles; he’s excellent and gives the film a center point that never pretends it’s anything else.

5. The Laughing Policeman (1973)

Walter Matthau pops up on this list again, this time playing Sergeant Jake Martin. After a gunman massacres eight passengers aboard a San Francisco bus, Martin is assigned to the investigation, but what initially appears to be the work of a random killer gradually develops into something far more calculated, forcing Martin to unravel a case involving corruption and revenge.

Released the same year as Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force (and a mere two years after the former), The Laughing Policeman is a somewhat forgotten police thriller that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. Stuart Rosenberg’s film takes a different approach to policing from the Dirty Harry franchise; however, there’s no maverick behavior or iconic speeches, simply patient detective work and frustration.

Matthau is fantastic, bringing a world-weary authenticity to proceedings as the narrative pays out. This is a procedure that prioritizes character and atmosphere, and it’s all the better for it.

Since the release of Toy Story (1995) over three decades ago, Pixar has transformed animation from a genre associated with children into a form of art capable of telling stories that resonate just as deeply with adults. This combination of reducing both children and grown adults to tears for different reasons is exactly why the studio has become one of the most successful in the world, diving into themes of ageing, family, identity, and ambition, all while offering mature ideas in colourful and accessible adventures.

At its best, Pixar doesn’t simply entertain (although that’s almost a given); it finds emotional touchpoints that appeal to every age group possible. Naturally, not every Pixar film reaches the extraordinary heights that they’ve set for themselves with certain films, but with every new release, you know that at the very least you’re going to get a thoughtful and well-made piece of animation.

Ranking the films of Pixar is far from easy, but in this list, we attempt to do exactly that.

31. Cars 3 (2017)

The entire Cars franchise is impressive simply for the amount of money it’s made in merchandise. Sure, the box office figures aren’t bad either, and that’s exactly why we’ve had two sequels. But Cars 3 is a real dud, which is not something I thought I’d ever say about a Pixar outing.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) finds himself struggling to compete against a new generation of technologically advanced racers, and after a devastating crash threatens to end his career, McQueen begins training with an ambitious racing technician, hoping to prove he still belongs at the top level of the sport. Admittedly, when you put it like that, it sounds like F1: The Movie (2025) stole the plot of Cars 3, but the difference is that the Brad Pitt-led film is thoroughly entertaining, whereas Cars 3 is desperately dull.

The themes it focuses on are well-worn within the Cars franchise, and although many would argue its predecessor is the worst film, that’s simply not the case.

30. The Good Dinosaur (2015)

The Good Dinosaur isn’t a bad film; indeed, it’s pretty harmless. But it’s not a huge amount more than that. Set in an alternate world where the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs missed Earth, a timid young Apatosaurus Arlo struggles to live up to his family’s expectations. After a tragic accident leaves him separated from home, Arlo forms an unlikely friendship with a wild human boy, and they journey across a vast and dangerous wilderness.

Everything that you’d expect from a Pixar tale of this sort is present and correct, but while The Good Dinosaur is perfectly fine, it lacks the ambition of what Pixar had previously released. The idea itself is a relatively interesting one, but the execution is lacking and appeals more to a much younger audience.

29. Lightyear (2022)

Would Lightyear have been a better film if Tim Allen had voiced our favourite space ranger? We’ll never know. An origin film for the real Buzz Lightyear seemed like an exercise in money-making, and yet there was something truly intriguing about the premise. And while there are elements in Lightyear that are very entertaining and impressively inventive, ultimately it just lacks true Pixar charm.

It’s not helped that this is a character that works best when he’s bouncing off all the other Toy Story characters we love so much, and despite the fact that its opening sequence is excellent, Lightyear never fully builds on the genuinely interesting premise it teases. In the end, it fails to justify its existence, which is a real shame.

28. Turning Red (2022)

Turning Red was a Pixar release that seemed to divide opinion. Set in Toronto, thirteen-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee seems to have her life under control, balancing school, family expectations, and time with her closest friends. But when puberty arrives, she discovers that intense emotions transform her into a giant red panda, a family trait passed down through generations.

On the plus side, the film embraces a very specific time and place that feels very personal, with the film addressing puberty in a way that’s inventive and very effective. The film is a fascinating allegory for a period in a young girl’s life that can be extremely difficult to navigate, and Turning Red does this with aplomb.

Where it falls down is in the frenetic energy that it dives into. While this energy is somewhat understandable considering the subject matter, it can become exhausting with characters constantly shouting at each other, meaning that when the quieter and more emotional moments arrive, they feel more like relief than anything else. It can be charming and amusing and certainly has a message that’s very pertinent, but it’s not up there with Pixar’s best.

27. Monsters University (2013)

After the almost unbelievable innovation of Monsters, Inc. (2001), a sequel wasn’t something that was on anyone’s mind. How do you follow up on something that good? But then again, by this point we’d had two Toy Story sequels, both of which were sensational, and of course, money talks.

Monsters University is a prequel story of Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman) and tells us how they met at Monsters University. The setting of the university and the introduction of fraternities within such a location work very well, and the characters are impossible not to love. But Monsters University, despite its interesting ideas, leaves you rather cold.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the heart of Monsters, Inc. is placed perfectly and has even the hardest-hearted of people in bits at the end, but the sequel doesn’t have the charm or invention of the original.

26. Luca (2021)

Luca is one of a number of Pixar releases that’s probably better than we give it credit for, but as a result of the incredible array of early Pixar films, we judge later films against a much higher bar than we might. Set in a sun-drenched seaside town on the Italian Riviera, the film follows the titular young sea monster, who is forbidden from exploring the human world above the surface.

After he meets another young boy, Alberto, the two boys begin secretly spending their days on land, disguising themselves as humans. This is an idea that isn’t a new one, which is perhaps part of the reason for the somewhat lukewarm response to Luca. But the film can be hugely charming, something that Pixar is so good at.

The setting certainly offers appeal, giving Luca a warm and sunlit atmosphere that radiates through to the characters, and while it might be middling Pixar fare, there’s still plenty to like here.

25. Toy Story 4 (2019)

The original three Toy Story films were considered by many to be one of the finest sequels ever put to screen. A perfect trilogy, with the perfect ending. So, the announcement of a fourth instalment, nearly a decade after Toy Story 3, set alarm bells ringing.

We’re introduced to a whole bunch of new characters; we learn what’s happened since the last film, and we’re taken on another adventure. Nothing about Toy Story 4 spoils the memory of the original trilogy, and the introduction of Tony Hale’s Forky is a welcome addition. And it’s hard not to enjoy spending time with these characters.

But there’s that constant niggling feeling that we simply didn’t need Toy Story 4, and it never fully justifies its existence. The film attempts to be something of a closure for Tom Hanks’s Woody, but one would argue that we got that for Woody—and indeed everyone else—with Toy Story 3.

24. The Incredibles 2 (2018)

Brad Bird returned to the director’s chair for an Incredibles sequel nearly a decade ago now, in one of the Pixar sequels that made sense as soon as the credits rolled on the original. Following the events of the first film, the Parr film is still operating as superheroes in secret when a new campaign led by siblings Winston and Evelyn Deavor proposes a plan to bring supers back into the public eye. Holly Hunter’s Elastagirl is chosen as the face of the movement, leaving Mr Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) at home to manage domestic life and look after the children.

Such a setup invites amusement, and the film duly obliges, but unsurprisingly, the entire family is once more forced to take up their suits together and fight crime.

It does weirdly feel like a problem that it took so long for a sequel to arrive; a decade earlier and the appetite for one would have been enormous. The fan base was ten years older, and the original had set another hugely high bar for a Pixar sequel, so in some ways it was set up for failure. But The Incredibles 2 is far from a dud; it’s hugely enjoyable and has plenty of great moments.

It stretches on too far, and it’s not a patch on the first film, but in some ways The Incredibles 2 is as much as we could possibly have hoped for.

23. Finding Dory (2016)

Finding Dory suffers from the same problems as Monsters University, most notably that Finding Nemo is not only one of Pixar’s best films but also one of the most loved animations ever made. A sequel was joked about, touted, and finally put into production, with the story following a similar road (or ocean) to the original. This time, it’s Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) who goes missing, while Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) go on the hunt.

Again, this is not only solid but also pretty damn good, showing plenty of invention and introducing new characters that are highly amusing and enjoyable to spend time with. Finding Dory leans into its titular heroine’s memory loss, but this time leads more into emotion rather than comedy. This isn’t Finding Nemo, and at times it does feel all very familiar, but this is a Pixar sequel that works, and as of yet, the studio has made the right call in not entertaining ideas of a third film.

22. Toy Story 5 (2026)

Once more this year, we found ourselves in the position of questioning why yet another Toy Story film was approaching our cinemas. But the idea of introducing technology in the form of tablets and screens to children’s lives and making Toy Story 5 relevant now meant that things looked promising.

This time it’s a children’s tablet in the form of Lilypad (Greta Lee), who is the big bad foe for Bonnie’s traditional toys to do battle with. Toy Story 5 does a decent job of unpacking the sad reality of modern-day kids stuck on their devices and continues to dole out important and heartfelt messages. The problems lie in the film’s opening third, in which there is far too much going on. To the point where you’re really wondering if this might be a real Pixar dud.

But the middle section of the film starts to pull together bits and pieces, and you begin to finally settle into the storylines. The film’s final third is the best half hour of Toy Story filmmaking we’ve had since Toy Story 3, and it’s irritating that we’ve had to wait so long to get it. But when it arrives, we remember why we loved the original trilogy so much, and that’s what raises 5 above 4.

21. Brave (2012)

Headstrong Scottish princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) has no interest in the arranged marriage her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), is trying to force upon her. Desperate to change her fate, she seeks the help of a mysterious witch, but a spell goes disastrously wrong, transforming Elinor into a bear, a curse that she must somehow undo before it becomes permanent.

Sure, that all sounds like a classic Disney princess tale, and to an extent that’s broadly what Brave is. But the film has no interest in being that, instead building a story about the bond between a mother and a daughter. You couldn’t have picked a better pair of actresses for the parts than Kelly Macdonald and Emma Thompson, and their voice work here is brilliant, pulling you into the world of Brave, which is visually sumptuous in portraying the Scottish Highlands.

The film’s characters aren’t always likeable, but you always understand where they’re coming from—always a sign of a good film.

Each year of late seems to bring some new horror milestone, and 2026 continues the trend. After The Substance wowed Cannes in 2024 and Sinners burst out last year, 2026 has seen a horde of unprecedented horror hits. Original films, franchise entries, debuts, auteur returns – thus far this year the genre has been a large tent.

At this point in the year, a few trends have emerged. The Youtuber-to-director pipeline has been established. Found footage genre continues to churn them out, but its sub-genre of analog TV shows descending into madness (the V/H/S/ franchise, Late Night with the Devil, Mr Crocket) reached new heights. Broad, gory horror comedies are on the up. Sequels span the sad to the sublime while some thrillers blur the line between genres with fantastic returns. Uniting all of these is a wonderful resurgence of weird, as the genre leans into its most unnerving and visceral qualities to show why horror can be such a unique viewing experience.

Few genres are able to capture the box office, zeitgeist, and meme-o-sphere the way that horror does today, and this year has already wielded enough hits and discourse-shapers to satisfy a lesser year. With 2026 now officially more than half over, these are the 10 best horror movies of 2026 so far.

10. They Will Kill You

They Will Kill You takes the spot for the broad, gory horror/action/comedy. Coming out weeks before the very similar Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Kirill Sokolov’s bloody brawler stole that film’s thunder and takes a place that might’ve also been occupied by the better-than-it-needed-to-be Faces of Death by keeping this film one bloodied bare foot ahead of the audience for most of its runtime.

They Will Kill You isn’t scary so much as it ghoulish and kinetic. It jumbles together Eat the Rich satire, trauma porn, and John Wick-style action in the story of a struggling woman who takes a job as the help at an exclusive high-rise apartment building. The wheels thankfully come off early as Sokolov, understanding that the audience has seen so much of this before, offers up a macabre odyssey that uses familiarity like a judo throw. It shares some DNA with other single-location journey films a la Snowpiercer, mother!, and The Raid, and while its horror is somewhat tempered by the action and comedy, it’s still a whole lotta fun.

9. Honey Bunch

In what’s shaping up to be a banner year for weird cinema, here’s to Honey Bunch which manages the odd feat of being gothic horror about cloying people. Canadian directing duo Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer follow up the relentlessly grim Violation with this puzzle box of a film that explores modern relationship dynamics with a healthy dose of humor and atmosphere. On this site we called it one of last year’s underrated horror movies. This year, it’s one of the best.

Diana’s recovering from a coma. Husband Homer whisks her off to a remote clinic for an experimental treatment. Naturally, all is not what it seems. Honey Bunch succeeds where many of this year’s weirdest and most fascinating horror movies (among them Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, Obex, Redux Redux, Marama, Saccharine) faltered: its pacing and consistency. Thus far, 2026 has had no shortage of small, creative films that peter out as well as big budget fare that’s familiar and effective but somehow lacking. With Honey Bunch, the filmmakers calibrate something that intrigues and repulses in equal measure.

8. Exit 8

This has been a big year for liminal horror, and Exit 8 was one of its biggest pushers. After making our list of the most underrated horror of 2025, it’s back here with its wide release. Genki Kawamura’s adaptation of the video game is a surprisingly light, even sweet affair, with a simple, even trite arc but oodles of atmosphere.

A young man commuting to work gets off the subway only to find himself in an endless loop of a corridor. The film then places him, and us, into the trappings of the game. This is likely one of the best video game adaptations ever made, and the film deftly translates the ambiance and quiet into an experience that feels unnerving. Exit 8 peppers in little flourishes of the bizarre and makes the banal terrifying. Like Backrooms, it finds horror in normal, unremarkable spaces and drab lighting that suggest that being anywhere is the same as being nowhere. Even when some aspects feel a bit too pat, Exit 8 gets under the skin.

7. Undertone

Another recent film to make a star out of its sound design, Undertone is the opposite of analog horror. It’s decidedly digital in its tale of a podcaster who returns home to care for her ailing mother. Evy is working remotely on the horror podcast she co-hosts with Justin. They discuss alleged cases of supernatural activity — Justin is a true believer to Evy’s skeptic.

As they work on their latest episode centered around mysterious audio clips, things start to unravel. Evy’s mother is comatose, but something’s going bump in the night. Undertone is an exercise in cinematic economy. There are few characters and fewer locations yet the film feels intimate rather than small. Aurally-focused, its sparseness becomes a secret weapon with intimacy becoming emotional rawness then claustrophobia and finally terror. In a half-year of horror movies that took big swings with uneven results or, as with some franchises, played it safe and sunk low, Undertone excels in execution.

6. Send Help

Send Help’s horror status has been debated online, with some arguing that it’s more survival thriller. While it lacks director Sam Raimi’s usual supernatural trappings, the jump scares, gore, and misanthropy on display make the case for horror. But the real tell-tale sign is the tone. Send Help is a wag of a film, showing off the wicked pleasure of an escalating game of wits and inviting the audience to revel in the bitter and the brutal.

Dylan O’Brien is the new CEO of his late father’s company. Rachel McAdams is the indispensable office drone promised a promotion by said late father. They end up stranded on a tropical island where the power dynamic reverses. From a horrifying plane crash to the game of wits that gives the film its core, Send Help is a blast. A welcome entry into the Eat-the-Rich canon, it’s also effortless, breezy work from Raimi that shows the master well in his comfort zone and elevating every moment.