The 26th Best Films

Pre-1973 

Dr. Stranglelove (1964) 
In a trio of scary movies, this is the most terrifying. More terrifying that an ancient Egyptian cult, or a cosmic, child-eating clown, is the idea of just a couple of men triggering the end of civilization with a network of atomic bombs. They say that there were a couple of times when we really did come close to disaster during the cold war. It is based on a serious, studious book of the danger we were facing, but the sheer absurdity of the whole premise is highlighted in Kubrick’s best film. I would like to think this film had an impact on turning things around.



1973-1998 

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) 
One of the more entertaining “alternate-histories” Sherlock Holmes stories, this one was always one of my favorites as a child. And I still enjoy it thoroughly today. It is a bit like so many other 80s films where a bunch of kids fight to save their world from danger while the adults are clueless. It is also a good deal similar to early Harry Potter premises. It is not something most serious fans of Holmes seem to enjoy, but it is clearly made by fans of the stories and books.



Post-1998 

It Chapter One (2017) 
Another book adaptation and another terrifying story. True judgement might have to be withheld until the second part comes out next year, but the advantage of dealing with each “episode” separately is that it can stand on its own. One of the best things with this film is that it avoided the awkward ending issues that both the book and the TV miniseries had (for different reasons). And, while Tim Curry was very scary, Skarsgard’s is seriously sinister. This is the newest film to make the current post-1998 as well as all-time top 100s.