When Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he probably didn’t realize that he’d written a potential tagline for every paranoia-driven movie to follow that speech. The fears of paranoid characters are constructed, either by themselves or others around them, but our best filmmakers allow us to see the world from these fragile perspectives. Let’s immerse ourselves in the unsettling terror of the mind.
Favorite Movies of the 1980s
1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
3. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)
5. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
6. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
7. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
8. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
9. Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987)
10. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
11. Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983)
12. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
13. Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)
14. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)
15. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
16. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
17. Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)
18. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988)
19. Say Anything… (Cameron Crowe, 1989)
20. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
