It’s the second collaboration between filmmaker Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland, and the best. It’s the movie that made Cillian Murphy a star. 28 Days Later is also as sparse, tense, unnerving and phenomenal as a zombie film can get.
Alien (1979)
In cinemas, audiences have heard many a filmgoer scream at Alien, the benchmark for space-set sci-fi/horror thrillers since 1979. It hasn’t ceded that mantle yet, and isn’t likely to.
The Beach (2000)
Directed by Danny Boyle with turn-of-the-century panache, and starring a post-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio, The Beach isn’t the film it might’ve been if Ewan McGregor had retained the lead role.
Black Swan (2010)
Natalie Portman has never been better than she is in Darren Aronofsky’s mesmerising ballet-fuelled thriller, which feeds on the tension of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake—story and score alike—and layers it with haunting psychological unease.
Bringing Out The Dead (1999)
Few watching Bringing Out the Dead have ever been a stressed and weary paramedic plagued by the lives they couldn’t save. Few would want to be.
The Counselor (2013)
Thrillers don’t get any darker than Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration The Counselor, which is slick yet bold, sprawling yet tightly wound, and daring, cutting and devastating at once.
Die Hard (1988)
The movie that’s had the world exclaiming “yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker” for three-plus decades, Die Hard is what Bruce Willis will always be known for. He’s that commanding as John McClane, the NYPD detective caught up in a terrorist plot in Los Angeles’ Nakatomi Plaza at the hands of Alan Rickman’s nefarious Hans Gruber.
Fight Club (1999)
The first rule of Fight Club has long become entrenched in popular culture. The second rule, too. More than two decades since it first hit screens, David Fincher’s slick and savvy cinematic adaptation of Chuck Palahnuik’s nihilistic novel has definitely been talked about, though. And, given its takedown of capitalist society, its vivid cinematography
The Fly (1986)
Rare is the remake that’s better than the original, but the second version of The Fly is one such do-over. Helped by the pitch perfect casting of Jeff Goldblum as his scientist protagonist, David Cronenberg flexes his body horror-loving muscles as only he can.
Fresh (2022)
There are bad dates, which Fresh’s app-swiping Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) knows all about—and then there’s the kind of dream meet-cute turned horror story that eventuates after she connects with handsome doctor Steve (Sebastian Stan) while buying groceries.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
The second adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley is a pulpy, noir-fuelled, nerve-shredding spectacle. Thanks to the filmmaker’s keen eye for discerning sumptuous imagery, it’s also a spectacle in general.