A compilation of a project I began on Instagram, cataloguing a favourite film from every year of my life (so far). Some have deeply personal meaning, others I caught at the right time and place in my life. All are embedded favourites.
Here’s to the next 40!
0. From Beyond (1986)
Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs do Lovecraft… again. A lurid, gory and kinky sci-fi horror mash. It’s my favourite adaptation of the author’s work.
1. Evil Dead II (1987)
I’m not exaggerating when I say that discovering Bruce Campbell in this film forever changed the trajectory of my life. It’s easily one of the best horror sequels of all time, showcasing a performance for the ages from one of the best to ever do it. Groovy.
2. Maniac Cop (1988)
Bruce Campbell is back in this ’80s slasher film which stars Robert Z’dar as a zombie cop on a killing spree in ’80s New York. Groovy Bruce might not rate it much (he looked baffled when I asked him to sign my DVD), but it’s an underrated cult classic with an incredible score.
3. Batman (1989)
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the goddamn Batman. That probably started with Adam West, but it was cemented by Michael Keaton, who remains my favourite Batman to this day. He’s got the best Batmobile too.
4. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
The most underrated Texas Chain Saw Massacre sequel stars Viggo Mortensen as a cowboy named ‘Tex,’ Ken Foree as an out-of-his-depth survivalist, and features the best dinner table sequence since the first one.
I wrote about the (even better) comic adaptation for CBR.
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The best action film of all time? Maybe. Watching this at 13 years old made me realise how good movies can be when they try. It’s a high I’ve spent the last 26 years trying to recapture.
6. Batman Returns (1992)
My favourite Batman film, superhero film, Christmas film and Tim Burton film, all wrapped up in a neat (yet stylishly Gothic) little bow. It’s not Christmas until I’ve watched Batman Returns.
7. Jurassic Park (1993)
Jeff Goldblum’s appearance in this film is why I still rock a leather jacket at 40 years old… and why I bought (and foolishly wore) a pair of leather trousers as a teenager. It’s still the greatest summer blockbuster of all time.
8. Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Before the MCU and the DCEU there was Star Trek: Generations. And I was obsessed. It’s Captain Kirk meets Captain Picard! There’s a swearing Data! An exploding Enterprise! Sexy Klingons! A villainous Malcolm McDowell! No, it’s not the best Trek film, but it’s the one I hold most fondly in my heart.
9. Toy Story (1995)
The day I discovered Toy Story on VHS, I watched it three times in a row. I would have watched it three more times, but my mom told me to go outside and get a life.
10. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
My favourite vampire film of all time! And a movie so good that even Quentin Tarantino manages to not suck in it… unless you count sucking on Salma Hayek’s toes. One of the first movies I stayed up after bedtime to watch on my parents’ portable TV.
I wrote about the novelisation for Rue Morgue.
11. Con Air (1997)
What can I say about my beloved Con Air that I didn’t already say in The Guardian? Nicolas Cage is positively restrained against a murderers’ row of talent – including John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo and Steve Buscemi. The score! The insanely quotable screenplay! The bombastic violence! An ending which has me getting weepy every time! Action perfection.
I described the film as a ‘spiritual awakening’ in The Guardian.
12. Armageddon (1998)
I don’t believe in guilty pleasures but if I did, Armageddon still wouldn’t be one. It’s one of the first I saw in the cinema, and a film I can rewatch endlessly. Its cast is stacked, the premise is gloriously absurd, and the action never stops. Michael Bayhem at its finest.
13. Ravenous (1999)
One of the most underrated horror films ever made – a period feature about cannibalism in the Mexican-American war of the 1840s. Top-notch scenery chewing from Robert Carlyle and an incredible score by Damon Albarn.
I wrote about the film for Horror DNA.
14. Hollow Man (2000)
Paul Verhoeven’s silly, sleazy and quite nasty Invisible Man movie is one of the first I owned on VHS. A genuinely creepy piece of sci-fi horror with a chilling performance from Kevin Bacon. Its then cutting-edge effects blew my mind at the time.
15. Ichi the Killer (2001)
Takashi Miike’s masterpiece. A perverted adaptation of an even more perverted manga, featuring an indelible performance from Tadanobu Asano as Kakihara. Once seen, never forgotten – and I’ve seen it a lot.
16. Spider-Man (2002)
One of my favourite horror directors made one of the greatest superhero films of all time with Spider-Man. I must have seen this five times when it came out in UK cinemas.
17. Freddy vs Jason (2003)
‘Nuff said.
18. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The best comedy-horror film ever made. So sharp, so funny, and an immaculately written George A. Romero riff too. This film led to my love of Simon Pegg, Spaced and Queen.
19. The Descent (2005)
The best horror film of the past 26 years (and more), The Descent is just perfection. It’s a great film about cave-dwelling cannibals with fucked-up faces but it’s also one of the most resonant films about grief and hitting rock bottom that I’ve ever seen.
20. The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The best horror remake of all time. A mean, nasty backwoods (or, err, back-desert) horror film which improves on the original (which I also like) in nearly every aspect. I have never jumped so hard in my life as I did during the opening sequence.
21.The Simpsons Movie (2007)
I know The Simpsons aren’t as cool as they once were, but this show was such a massive part of my life that the movie couldn’t not be on here. And it’s genuinely brilliant too, a return to form during the wilderness years, with some great jokes, iconic one-liners and an emotional core which still makes me weepy. Bring on the sequel… then let them retire.
22. The Punisher: War Zone (2008)
My favourite Punisher adaptation (not that there’s a lot of good ones to choose from) weaves in characters and moments of insane violence from Garth Ennis’s best work. Ray Stevenson (RIP) is the perfect straight man to Dominic West and Doug Hutchinson’s unhinged scenery-chewing. One of the most bonkers comic book movies ever made.
23. Avatar (2009)
Look… it’s a dogshit movie. It’s just Pocahontas with blue aliens. And it genuinely annoys me that this is what James Cameron is doing with his life now. However! Avatar came out during The Christmas My Brother Died, and for the three hours I spent watching it, this was a much-needed escape from reality. And isn’t that what films are all about?
24. Kick-Ass (2010)
Mark Millar sucks and Matthew Vaughn has lost his groove in recent years, but this one is a blast. Worth it for Nicolas Cage’s Adam West impression. Kick-ass indeed. Just don’t watch (or read) the sequel.
25. Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)
No personal connection here, but it’s the best of the fake Grindhouse films that were churned out during the early ’00s. Features my favourite ever joke in a film too (it’s ‘Hobo stops begging, demands change,’ in case you were wondering).
26. Dredd (2012)
An adaptation of my favourite ever comic strip, done justice by Pete Travis and Karl Urban. Urban’s Dredd is particularly well-matched against Lena Headey, who gives this thing one of the best comic book villains you’ll ever see (not bad, considering she’s not even in the comics). Sadly, no-one watched it, so that was my Drokkin’ lot.
27. Filth (2013)
As a smelly, miserable arsehole with a dead brother whose partner had just left him, I connected with Filth at the time to the point where I had to stop watching for my own mental health. It’s James McAvoy’s finest performance, and an adaptation of the book as good as you’re ever going to get. And it’s also a little bit of a Christmas film!
28. What We Do in The Shadows (2014)
The Jemaine Clement man-crush is real with this one. It’s one of the funniest comedies of all time, and so insanely quotable too. ‘Bidding on a table’ still gets me.
29. Green Room (2015)
Patrick Stewart plays a Nazi (!) in this beautifully horrible thriller about a punk rock band trapped in a backwoods bar full of murderous fascists. Bone-crunching action, brutal (and quite heartbreaking) death sequences and incendiary performances from the whole cast, including the late, great Anton Yelchin. Nazi punks fuck off.
30. Train to Busan (2016)
It’s the greatest zombie horror film of the last decade – and it’s not even close. An action-packed undead epic with real heart. Turns me into a bawling wreck every time.
I revisited the film for Metro UK at this year’s FrightFest.
31. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
It’s the greatest zombie comedy Christmas musical you’ll ever see. People throw around terms like ‘best zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead,’ willy-nilly, but this one’s legit. The tunes are bangers too.
32. Mandy (2018)
It’s by so very far and away my favourite film of the last decade, and a serious contender for my favourite Nicolas Cage film. A whacked-out psychedelic nightmare featuring delicious neon visuals, cheese-dream flights of surrealism and a typically intense performance from you-know-who.
33. Color Out of Space (2019)
A psychadelic Nicolas Cage double bill. It’s a Nic Cage adaptation of HP Lovecraft, and it’s every bit as glorious as you’d expect. Yes, the colour is essentially just funky purple.
34. Host (2020)
2020 was a shit year for films… almost like there was a pandemic on or something. Host is one of the only good COVID movies, and a genuinely clever use of found footage/screen sharing technology. As someone who was teaching online at the time, I can confirm that Zoom is a total horror story.
35. Bull (2021)
We all know I should have picked Dead Man’s Shoes for 2004’s entry. The next best thing is this brutal revenge thriller starring Neil Maskell as a murderous avenger. If Jason Voorhees was a slightly overweight chav in a polo shirt he’d be Bull.
I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine.
36. The Coffee Table (2022)
A film so magnificently shocking that at one point (you know what point), I paused and spent a good five minutes questioning whether I had it in me to continue watching. I did… but at what cost? A true masterpiece of feel-bad cinema.
I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine.
37. Evil Dead Rise (2023)
There’s never been a bad Evil Dead thing and the franchise isn’t about to start now. It’s mean. It’s brutal. It’s depressing. It has the best Deadite of the whole series, and the best final girl who isn’t Ash. You’ll never look at a cheese grater the same way again.
I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine.
38. The Substance (2024)
Not even my irrational dislike of Margaret Qualley could stop this one from achieving FrightFest Favourite of 2024 status. An incredibly gloopy work of body horror anchored by a sublime performance from Demi Moore.
I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine.
39. The Surfer (2025)
Nicolas Cage does Ozploitation. In it, he plays a dipshit father trapped on a beach car park by a gang of local bullies. It’s a demented, thoroughly odd work of sun-drenched surrealism, featuring a gonzo performance from my favourite actor.
I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine.
40. Watch this space… (2026)
The jury’s still out on 2026, but between The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, Obsession and The Invite, it’s been a strong year for film so far.
Once Upon a Time In... Harleywood 