Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Odyssey Adaptations (Special Mention: Part 2)

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Cropped from the poster or promotional art for Nolan Odyssey film (fair use)

 

 

TOP 10 ODYSSEY ADAPTATIONS (PART 2)

 

(11) PHILIP JOSE FARMER –

RIVERWORLD (1965-1993)

 

Okay, this is not so much an adaptation of the Odyssey – although it is something of an afterlife odyssey – but an adaptation of Odysseus, who is among the billions of humans resurrected in Riverworld after life on Earth and is allied with the other resurrectees recruited by the Mysterious Stranger to reveal the secrets of Riverworld.

Interestingly, there is a history of Farmer’s creation published in 2026 with the title Riverworld Odyssey.

 

(12) S.M.STIRLING & DAN SIMMONS –

ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME & ILIUM / OLYMPOS (1998-2000 & 2003-2005)

 

More SF adaptations of Odysseus.

The premise of Stirling’s Island in the Sea of Time series, sometimes called the Nantucket series, is that the modern island of Nantucket (in Massachusetts) is displaced in time back to the Bronze Age (1250 BC) by the mysterious “Event” – with all its contemporary technology. Obviously that shakes up the Bronze Age and creates an alternate history. One of the few Bronze Agers to ascertain the nature of the time interlopers is Odysseus – or Odikweos as he is called here.

The premise of the Ilium / Olympos books by Dan Simmons is in some ways the reverse of that of Stirling’s series, as future posthumans have used their god-like technology to recreate and study the Trojan War…on Mars, aptly enough near Mons Olympus. Of course, Odysseus features prominently in it.

 

(13) RICK RIORDAN –

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS (2005-2009)

 

Adapting much of the Odyssey to its young adult fantasy series – most notably in the second book, The Sea of Monsters, which has the premise that its mythical sea, much like Olympus and its deities, “moves” to where Western popular imagination (or its Jungian “collective unconscious” places it. Which in this case is the Bermuda Triangle.

 

(14) MADELINE MILLER –

THE SONG OF ACHILLES / CIRCE (2011-2018)

 

The adaptations here should be obvious. Miller adapts the character of Circe from the Odyssey – including her liaison with Odysseus in it – but also her other references in classical mythology, including the lost “sequel” to the Odyssey, the Telegony, featuring her son from Odysseus, Telegonus.

And yes – the adaptation in The Song of Achilles has an obvious focus on Achilles through the eyes of Patroclus but Odysseus also features in it. Indeed, the scenes with Odysseus are easily the coolest in the book, with the arguable exception of those featuring Thetis – so when they appear in the same scene together, that is definitely the coolest in the book.

 

(15) VALERIO MANFREDI –

ODYSSEUS: THE OATH / THE RETURN (2013-2014)

 

I was introduced to Manfredi by his trilogy about Alexander the Great. The title of these two books reveals their subjects, Odysseus in his role in the Trojan War (bound by the oaths they swore) and in the Odyssey (with his return to Ithaca).

 

(16) ULYSSES 31 (1981)

 

Ulysses, Ulysses, soaring through all the galaxies.

Anime Odyssey IN SPACE!

That pretty much sums up this French-Japanese animated series.

 

(17) THE ODYSSEY (1997)

 

Yes – it’s the 1997 TV miniseries. It’s decent, if somewhat cheesy in parts and hokey in effects at times.

 

(18) THE RETURN (2024)

 

Is there anything Ralph Fiennes can’t do or anyone he can’t be? Here he’s Odysseus in the second half of the Odyssey, returning to Ithaca

 

(19) EPIC: THE MUSICAL (2022-2024)

 

A sung-through adaptation of the Odyssey – apparently has been picked up for adaptation to animated film

 

(20) THE ODYSSEY XXX (2026)

 

You know my drill for final or twentieth special mention as my kinky entry – and of course there’s an adult film parody version of Nolan’s Odyssey.

In fairness, you could argue that it’s putting all the s€x back into the Odyssey that Nolan took out – Nolan’s films being somewhat notoriously s€xless.

I mean, Inception would have to be the least er0tic dreamscape ever.

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Books of the Odyssey (Special Mention)

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Odysseus and Penelope in a touching moment from the trailer for the 2026 Nolan Odyssey film (fair use)

 

 

TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

Sing, Muse, of the special mentions for my Top 10 Books of the Odyssey.

I’ve counted down my Top 10 Books of the Odyssey but there are twenty-four of them, essentially the equivalent of modern chapters, hence a balance of fourteen books for special mention. Obviously, I’m not getting my usual twenty special mentions out of fourteen books, so here’s my fourteen special mentions, one for each book.

 

(1) BOOK 1 – ODYSSEY ALPHA

 

Yes, top special mentions must go to the first and last books of the Odyssey.

The first book of course has the famous opening line of its invocation of the Muse and the subject of Odysseus – “Sing to me, Muse, of the man of twists and turns” (or of many devices or ways).

Sometimes titled Athena Inspires the Prince (for Athena spurring Telemachus, the first book also sets up the whole poem, ironically starting with its protagonist, Odysseus as missing – the Odysseus-shaped hole in Ithaca. A kingdom without its king, a wife without her husband (and mobbed by suitors), a son without a father.

 

(2) BOOK 24 – ODYSSEY OMEGA

 

The last book – The Peace – is somewhat anti-climactic but necessary for the resolution of the whole Odyssey as the goddess Athena intervenes to tie everything up with a nice bow (heh), defusing feuds between Odysseus and the families of the slain suitors. Everything that is, except for Odysseus leaving again to appease Poseidon – that whole bit of going inland with an oar. It prompts to mind that ending gag of the Simpsons Odyssey, where Homer as Odysseus slays the suitors, only to tell Marge’s Penelope, “quit suffocating me, woman, I’m going to Moe’s”.

 

(3) BOOK 13 – ITHACA AT LAST

 

There’s just something particularly poetic (heh) that Odysseus doesn’t return to Ithaca in Book 13 on his own two feet or even in his own consciousness but is carried in asleep – seemingly enchanted sleep – by the Phaeacian sailors of the ship that took him there. It has a certain dreamlike quality – or even more, a symbolic resonance of death and rebirth.

And here on the threshold of the mythic world of his wonderings and the human world of his homecoming, the gods manifest themselves. Poseidon in a fit of pique at Odysseus returning home (enriched by gifted treasure from the Phaeacians even more than he had been from the sack of Troy) deals out some petty punishment – on the Phaeacians. Really, Poseidon?

And Athena appears to Odysseus, ultimately in her full divine form, to aid and guide him – including magically disguising him as a wrinkled, bald old beggar. Although I can’t help thinking of the Simpsons Odyssey skit where Marge’s Penelope looks at a picture of Homer’s Odysseus, muscled and with long flowing hair twenty years earlier (as opposed to how he looks now), and exclaims “I hope he’s still the magnificent physical specimen he was when he left”.

Essentially, the plan unfolds and the pieces come together from there.

 

(4) BOOK 16 – FATHER AND SON

 

In Book 16, Odysseus and his son Telemachus are finally reunited as Odysseus reveals himself to Telemachus at the home of Eumaeus. Although it’s probably a stretch that they were ever united in the first place, Telemachus essentially having grown up from infancy in the absence of his father for twenty years. Athena restores Odysseus’ appearance for the occasion, albeit perhaps overdoing it as Telemachus initially believes him to be a god. Together they devise a plan against the suitors, while back at the palace Penelope confronts those suitors over the plot to ambush Telemachus.

 

(5) BOOK 19 – HUSBAND AND WIFE

 

In Book 19, Odysseus and his wife are finally reunited. Well, sort of. Penelope speaks to the disguised Odysseus and she doesn’t recognize him, but his old nurse Eurycleia does recognize him by his scar when washing his feet.

I mean, everyone cries when Odysseus has to hide his feelings over the death of his faithful dog Argos, but this is just as touching as he can’t break his disguise to console Penelope.

 

(6) BOOK 8 – ODYSSEUS REVEALED

 

Yes – there’s not too much action in books 7-8 and they’re somewhat anti-climactic after the Phaeacian princess Nausicaa rescues Odysseus, but the Phaeacian royal court is critical in aiding Odysseus’ return to Ithaca and indeed giving him more treasure than he had from the sack of Troy.

Accordingly, the Phaeacians would be up there as the nicest guys in mythology – and of course Nausicaa is a babe (whom her father offers to Odysseus for marriage, yet another temptation to Odysseus before returning home albeit given innocently in good faith).

Book 8 is dramatic for Odysseus abandoning his disguise and revealing his identity to the Phaeacians, although King Alcinous had surmised it involved Troy given that Odysseus was moved to tears by a bard’s songs about him and the Trojan Horse.

And of course, it’s the immediate framing device for Odysseus telling of his wanderings in Books 9-12.

A minor plot point but one that has endeared itself to me ever since reading the re-telling of it in Bernard Evslin’s The Adventures of Ulysses – the discus challenge, where a youth taunts Odysseus for not participating in the celebratory games and Odysseus absolutely discus-mogs them all. (In Evslin’s version, he uses a chariot wheel for a discus)

 

(7) BOOK 4 – TELEMACHUS IN SPARTA

 

The Telemachy can feel like treading water before we finally get to Odysseus but Book 4 picks up the pace with the climax of Telemachus’ odyssey, as he arrives at Sparta and finally hears the location of Odysseus, told to him by Menelaus courtesy of the shape-changing god Proteus. There’s also the cliffhanger of the assassination plot by the suitors against Telemachus at the end of Book 4.

Book 4 also features the figure behind the whole war and since essentially named for it, Menelaus’ wife Helen of Troy. Menelaus shares with Nestor in the preceding book the happiest homecoming of heroes from the Trojan War.

The Nolan film conflates Telemachus’ visit to Nestor with that to Menelaus, while also omitting the latter was able to impart to Telemachus, essentially by way of divine Grecian whispers via the shape-changing god Proteus (lending his name to the adjective protean), that Odysseus was still alive and Calypso’s “captive” on her island of Ogygia. That of course sets up Odysseus himself to appear with Calypso in Book 5, although as usual it takes divine intervention by Athena to allow him to leave.

 

(8) BOOK 3 – TELEMACHUS AND NESTOR

 

Yes – it’s not quite up there with Telemachus in Sparta with Menelaus in Book 4, which after all gives us our awaited tidings of Odysseus as well as giga-babe Helen, but Book 3 is close with Telemachus in Pylos with Nestor, the other Greek hero with a happy homecoming from Troy.

The fortunate homecomings of Nestor and Menelaus are obviously in contrast to that of the missing Odysseus, but also that of the Greek hero with the most unfortunate homecoming – one that, as Nestor effectively points out to Telemachus, highlights the threat the suitors pose to Odysseus or his royal household – which was of course the leader of the Greek coalition against Troy and king of Mycenae, Agamemnon.

As I said before, the Nolan film conflates Telemachus’ visit to Nestor in Book 3 with that to Menelaus in Book 4, featuring only the latter.

 

(9) BOOK 7 – RECEPTION OF ODYSSEUS IN PHAEACIA

 

Somewhat anti-climactic after the Phaeacian princess Nausicaa rescues Odysseus, but we do get her hot mother, Queen Arete. I’d fall at her feet and clasp her knees too, especially if Nausicaa was somehow also involved.

As I said, the Phaeacian royal court is critical in aiding Odysseus’ return to Ithaca and the Phaeacians would be up there as the nicest guys in mythology, with some of the best bling in their palace – which features prominently in this book.

 

(10) BOOK 15 – THE RETURN OF TELEMACHUS

 

Telemachus returns to Ithaca from Sparta, having avoided the ambush of the suitors and is guided to the home of Eumaeus by Athena, where he’ll meet his father in the next book.

 

(11) BOOK 20 – PORTENTS ON THE EVE OF BATTLE

 

Book 20 is the eve of the battle of suitors, with divine portents aplenty. But not, you know, the actual battle of the suitors which is why the book ranks this far down in special mentions.

 

 

(12) BOOK 14 – ODYSSEUS & EUMAEUS

 

Odysseus finding a royal servant still loyal to him in Ithaca, the swineherd Eumaeus – even if it’s not up there with his reunion with Telemachus, Argos, or Penelope.

There’s also Philoetius, the royal cowherd – which, together with Telemachus, makes four against the suitors in the final battle – but he doesn’t get the scene Eumaeus does here, hence why the Nolan film omitted him entirely.

Still, it’s treading water until the final showdown with the suitors, not the showdown itself.

 

 

(13) BOOK 2 – TELEMACHUS CALLS AN ASSEMBLY

 

Not quite as dull as its informal title sounds but it’s still the Telemachy when it’s treading water the most. Telemachus calls the first public assembly in Ithaca since Odysseus left – a sign of his coming of age – to denounce the suitors, but the two slimiest suitors blame Penelope for leading them on with her famous shroud trick. The cads!

Divine omens (from Zeus) and assistance (from Athena) occur as Telemachus prepares for his own odyssey to look for Odysseus.

 

 

(14) BOOK 18 – ODYSSEUS AT THE PALACE IN DISGUISE

 

I have to rank this book last as a literal bumfight, where an actual beggar picks Odysseus for a fight and it doesn’t work out too well for the beggar. Yes, the beggar had it coming and the suitors egg him on but it seems somewhat undignified for Odysseus – “somebody get these beggars out of here!”

Still, Penelope puts in an appearance and she’s as hot as ever. Hotter, even.

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Horror Films (Complete & Revised 2026)

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Janet Leigh in the 1960 film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock – one of the most iconic scenes in film, and yes, it’s horror (fair use)

 

TOP 10 HORROR FILMS

 

“Horror is a genre of fiction that exploits the primal fears of viewers” – “that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes”.

That always prompts for me the parallel with Greek tragedy and its quality of catharsis proposed by Aristotle through the pity and fear experienced by the audience – a quality that would apply equally to Shakespearean tragedy.

It seems ironic that I compare the high art of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy with the notoriously low art of horror films – sometimes I quip that there’s no such thing as a bad B-grade horror film, speaking to my fandom of the latter. Of course, that quip becomes less funny when I add that there’s no such thing as an A-grade horror film either. That’s an overstatement but perhaps not by too much.

However jarring it may be, I stand by that comparison between Greek or Shakespearean tragedy and horror films, at least as holding up in similar qualities of catharsis. And it wouldn’t take too much to tweak most Greek or Shakespearean tragedies into horror films – now there’s an idea for stark ravings or a top ten.

Back to that quip there’s no such thing as an A-grade horror film, while the horror film genre may be mostly cheap and exploitative (something of a virtue for studios seeking high returns on low costs or budding directors seeking to start careers), it does have surprising depth to it that is top ten-worthy of itself – not least in its various sub-genres or different national styles of horror.

“This is a very broad genre, it can go from tasteful and timeless tales of psychological suspense (a trademark of people like Alfred Hitchcock) to gross out horror (which tends to become campy). It often employs the supernatural but “normal” people are more than sufficient to scare audiences when used properly”.

I’ll be frank – my own tastes in horror lean towards dark fantasy or supernatural horror. I don’t tend to like more, well, mundane sources of horror, albeit with quite a few exceptions. I do like films that might be called SF horror – Alien, Terminator, The Thing – but I like them so much more as SF that I tend to rank them in my top Fantasy & SF Films. I will have a closer look at SF horror as a sub-genre in my special mentions, both here and for my Fantasy & SF Films.

And “despite being the subject of social and legal controversy due to their subject matter, some horror films and franchises have seen major commercial success, influenced society and spawned several popular culture icons.”

Anyway, these are my Top 10 Horror Films.

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

I mean, come on, what else was I going to use but that iconic frown from the film, which has become a meme reproduced throughout the internet (fair use)

 

 

(10) OBSESSION (2026)

 

“I love you so, so, so, so, so much. I don’t think I could live without you.”

And oh boy, does she show us just how much. The film that gave us the meme of that girl’s epic full-faced frown (although I’d seen the same expression from my ex-wife from a similar place of hot slice of crazy).

Easily ranking in my wildcard tenth place as best horror film of 2026 – indeed it was close call for best film of 2026 but Project Hail Mary just pips it at the post – and one that will almost certainly rise much higher up my top ten instead of being swapped out for a new wildcard tenth place entry.

There’s not much more to be said about it without spoiling it so just see it. It’s a simple story with its monkey’s paw premise of a wish gone wrong. It’s the execution on a shoestring budget, reminiscent of Raimi’s debut Evil Dead film, that proves so effective – the simple effects among other things of using darkness and silhouettes, lighting on eyes, movement and so on – and the disturbing nature of its psychological horror on a number of levels.

The film owes much of its appeal in the stellar performance of its lead actress, Inde Navarette, and the character Nikki she conjures from the dark depths of the human psyche, similarly to how she is conjured by the wish of the film’s story. Although I share the view of Youtuber Toler Talks in his commentary on the film – “I mean, I know she’s a murderous psychopath and all but you still would, wouldn’t ya?” (I’m a sucker for a hot slice of crazy, hence the aforementioned ex-wife who was only slightly less obsessive than Nikki).

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Film poster or promotional image for Netflix (fair use)

 

 

 

(9) THE RITUAL (2017)

 

What can I say? Despite mixed reviews, I’m a fan of this British supernatural folk horror film’s “monster”, which still has one of the most strikingly innovative designs I’ve seen in horror film, and with literal mindbending effect on its prey – or sacrificial victims – to match.

Not to mention the sense of forested claustrophobia and creeping doom for its British hiker protagonist and friends taking the worst shortcut ever through the weird woods of Sweden.

Ah yes, it’s that old fantasy or horror trope – don’t go into the woods. Or Sweden.

Apparently it’s (loosely) based on a novel of the same name by Adam Nevill – “and is best described as the love child of The Blair Witch Project and The Wicker Man”, except far better than the former, not least for seeing the horror stalking the protagonist hikers.

 

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

The scene from the film for my featured quote in which the basic premise is explained to the female protagonist (fair use)

 

(8) IT FOLLOWS (2014 – PRESENT)

 

“It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop…ever, until you are dead!”

No, wait – that’s the Terminator but that’s essentially the same as the “It” in It Follows. Think the Terminator as s€x demon – and not in a good way, the way that would involve my fever dreams of Kristanna Loken’s T-X.

As in the shapeshifting demonic stalker, invisible to all but whom It is stalking, as STD allegory kind of way.

“You’re not going to believe me. But I need you to remember what I’m saying. Okay? This thing…it’s going to follow you. Somebody gave it to me, and I passed it to you, back in the car. It could look like someone you know, or it could be a stranger in a crowd. Whatever helps it to get close to you. It could look like anyone…but there is only one of it. And sometimes…sometimes I think it looks like people you love. Just to hurt you. […] You get rid of it, okay? Just sleep with someone as soon as you can. Just pass it along. If it kills you, it’ll come after me. Do you understand?”

That quote from the cowardly cad Hugh who infects the female protagonist with it pretty much sums up the film’s plot and premise. Otherwise the mythos of It – where It came from or anything meaningful about It other than Its relentless pursuit of Its prey, albeit at leisurely walking pace – remains tantalizingly unknown, adding to the creepiness.

The film received critical acclaim and grossed many times more than its shoestring budget – which is something of the appeal of horror films for studios – prompting a sequel presently in development, They Follow.

It has also achieved, dare I say it, a cult following “with many calling it a modern horror classic and one of the best horror films of the 2010s” – “smart, original and, above all, terrifying, It Follows is the rare modern horror film that works on multiple levels – and leaves a lingering sting.”

Part of those levels or that sting is the deeper thematic interpretations with respect to the source and symbolism of It – of which the most obvious is that STD allegory but which extends to other meanings.

As per its director – “I’m not personally that interested in where ‘it’ comes from. To me, it’s dream logic in the sense that they’re in a nightmare, and when you’re in a nightmare there’s no solving the nightmare. Even if you try to solve it…We’re all here for a limited amount of time and we can’t escape our mortality… but love and sex are two ways in which we can at least temporarily push death away.”

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

Film poster or promotional art (fair use)

 

 

 

(7) THE HITCHER (1986)

 

Things are about to get a whole lot…schlockier (and more idiosyncratic) in my top ten horror films. But as I like to say, there’s no such thing as a bad B-grade horror film. (Although I’m not entirely sure that there’s such a thing as an A-grade horror film either).

It’s not exactly high art – indeed, it’s mostly exploitative – but there’s just something about The Hitcher, a “road action-horror” film with Rutger Hauer in the title role (or Sean Bean if you saw the remake but you really should have watched the original).

The plot is simple enough – a young man driving across the United States narrowly escapes death at the hands of the titular hitcher, a travelling serial killer, but then finds himself in a weirdly co-dependent cat-and-mouse game with the killer. Like many slasher films, the killer (who goes by the name of John Ryder), is not supernatural, but seemingly comes close in his invulnerability and his ability to shadow the protagonist.

Or in this case, Hauer seems to be replicating his replicant role from Blade Runner (and as usual, Hauer is awesome in this). As I have argued with a friend who insists upon classifying every SF film as action – if you want to see a non-SF action The Terminator, see The Hitcher. (My usual sarcastic line when he states The Terminator is action not SF – “Really? The film with its entire premise as a cyborg travelling in time back from a future Robot War isn’t SF?!)

As a bonus (at least according to TV Tropes), the film was inspired by The Doors’ song Riders on the Storm – “There’s a killer on the road / His brain is squirming like a toad / Take a long holiday / Let the children play / If you give this man a ride / Sweet family will die”. Even more so as the film opens on the road in a storm and the Hitcher gives his name as John Ryder.

 

 

RATING: 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

Film poster art (fair use)

 

(6) DEAD & BURIED (1981)

 

And now for one of my true guilty pleasures, as things continue along the schlockier and more idiosyncratic vein of my seventh place entry – but hot damn, I have a soft spot for this film, ever since I stumbled upon it. Yes, it’s somewhat obscure and off the beaten cinematic track. It had a decent enough scriptwriting pedigree – written by the writers of Alien – but it didn’t perform well at the box office and was even initially banned as a “video nasty” in the United Kingdom, yet acquired something of a cult following.

It’s a zombie film with a bit of a difference – and a hell of a few twists, particularly a “twist ending that would give M. Night Shyamalan a run for his money”. Grisly mob lynchings start being committed against tourists passing through the small, sleepy peaceful New England town of Potter’s Bluff, only for the victims to then appear again in the town – while the sheriff investigates, drawn from one level of existential horror to another.

 

RATING: 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

*

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

One of the variant promotional art used for the film on the DVD cover (fair use)

 

 

(5) 28 DAYS LATER (2002 – PRESENT)

 

Yes, I’m counting the franchise through 28 Weeks Later through to 28 Years Later (with the franchise skipping over 28 Months Later) but the first film remains the best, arguably the most definitive modern zombie horror film after Romero and Russo – certainly bringing new life (heh) to the fast zombie trope.

It helped to bring the fast zombie trope up to speed (heh) that the zombies aren’t actually dead but virally infected, reduced to mindlessness but for the titular rage of the virus – with no purpose but to attack uninfected people. The virus is the true terror, terrifyingly contagious both in its speed and ease of infection through bodily fluids.

Of course, this undermines the apocalyptic premise if you think about it, like zombie apocalypse films in general but perhaps even more so given that the infected are still alive but without any cognitive ability to preserve their life. Forget the starvation that is proposed as the “cure” – I’m pretty sure dehydration would get them before that, particularly given the copious amounts of blood they tend to vomit up when infected, not to mention a few other things that I anticipate would get them as well.

For that matter, the spread of the virus would be limited in that it is transmitted only by infected bodily fluids – typically on contact from an infected attacking you – and has an almost instantaneous transmission period. Yes – that makes it more terrifying if you get an infected pop up in a population center but essentially it spreads like a human relay race, with one infected passing the viral baton on to another (if the latter survives the attack before becoming infected). It’s not airborne and has no gestation period that would allow it to spread by anything less obvious than an infected person attacking you or over any distance (since infected people seem to be dormant or hibernate if no one is in their sensory range).

Also, like other zombie apocalypse films in general that show the real enemy is not so much the zombies as one’s fellow humans – here it’s animal rights activists and children in the sequel film 28 Weeks Later. Okay, fine – it’s also mad horny soldiers and sheer military ineptitude on the same level of having a button marked push for zombies in the sequel 28 Weeks Later.

But seriously, animal rights activists are to blame for the release of the virus in the first place. In fairness, I also blame the scientist for obtusely telling them the laboratory chimpanzees are infected with “rage” rather than a lethally contagious disease that can spread in seconds. It practically begs the skeptical response – “Yeah, I’d be pretty angry too!”

Nitpicking aside, there’s no denying the sheer impact of the first film, including the fast zombie action that might be described as frenetic or kinetic – indeed one reviewer described the film as “kinetically directed”.

The second film – not directed by Danny Boyle but by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo – maintained this impact in its fantastic opening scene (which also introduces children as the real villains of the film) but fell off after that, preferring to make some sort of point about US military ineptitude (I think) but fumbling even that as it only does so through contriving that same ineptitude to stupidity beyond suspension of disbelief.

The third film returns to the form (and visual direction) of the first film, not surprisingly as Danny Boyle returned as director, at least in its first act or so. After that, your mileage may vary.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

The iconic film poster art (fair use)

 

 

(4) JAWS (1975)

 

DA-DUM

 

The original and still the best shark horror movie – as well as the source of my enduring fandom of shark movies. And yet I still go swimming at the beach most days in summer and warm days in winter. Of course, there’s not too many giant great white sharks at my beach. I hope.

Based on the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley, it is one of those rare examples where the movie exceeds the book – because the film skipped all the small-town drama (Matt Hooper has an affair with Sheriff Brody’s wife?!) which one skipped over for the shark attacks when reading the book anyway.

It was fortuitous that the mechanical sharks, nicknamed Bruce, malfunctioned more often than not, as they were not terribly realistic (I’ve seen the one at the Hollywood Universal Studios tour), but more importantly, they forced director Steven Spielberg to substitute effects designed at suggesting the shark’s presence – including the now iconic ominous and minimalist orchestral theme by composer John Williams. These effects tend to be more tense (and haunting) than the actual appearance of the shark.

The plot – including effects, images and lines from the film – is ingrained into popular culture, revolving around the film’s antagonist, the giant great white shark preying on people in the waters of Amity Island. (Although the town’s mayor becomes something of a secondary antagonist, as he doesn’t seem to mind the shark chowing down on tourists so long as they’ve spent those delicious tourist dollars in the town first). A trio famously formed to hunt the shark – police sheriff Brody, marine biologist Hooper and everyone’s favorite insane professional shark hunter Ahab Quint.

“Now considered one of the greatest films ever made, Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, with its release regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history. Jaws became the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars”.

Not bad for a simple shark horror movie.

 

RATING: 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

Theatrical release poster art (fair use)

 

(3) THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

 

“On another level, it’s a serious critique of what we love and what we don’t about horror movies.”

I’m ranking The Cabin in the Woods in god tier, because it is virtually an encyclopedia of horror film genre tropes and references, the latter so congested at times you have to pause or watch frame by frame to get them all (and probably not even then).

It is a horror film that is also meta-horror – a love letter to the genre, or more precisely a love-hate letter to the genre.

“I love being scared. I love that mixture of thrill, of horror, that objectification / identification thing of wanting definitely for the people to be alright but at the same time hoping they’ll go somewhere dark and face something awful. The things that I don’t like are kids acting like idiots, the devolution of the horror movie into torture p0rn and into a long series of sadistic comeuppances.”

That is of course from Joss Whedon as producer and co-writer of the screenplay, the latter with director Drew Goddard as the other co-writer” – and the film is definitely Whedonesque in its troperiffic and reference-heavy quality (rather than the more, ah, negative qualities that might be associated with that term from developments since that film). Indeed, it has distinct similarities with the creation that still is definitive of Whedon – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4 and the Initiative in particular.

“Five friends go to an isolated cabin in the woods for a weekend vacation.”

And that’s pretty much all you’re getting of the plot here, because any more detail spoils the premise of the film. Let’s just say the premise of the film explains why the plots of horror films often seem so contrived in a deconstruction of both the “cabin in the woods” setting and the horror genre.

Film critic Ann Hornaday summed it up nicely:

“A fiendishly clever brand of meta-level genius propels The Cabin in the Woods, a pulpy, deceivingly insightful send-up of horror movies that elicits just as many knowing chuckles as horrified gasps. [It] comes not only to praise the slasher-, zombie- and gore-fests of yore but to critique them, elaborating on their grammatical elements and archetypal figures even while searching for ways to put them to novel use. The danger in such a loftily ironic approach is that everything in the film appears with ready-made quotation marks around it… But by then, the audience will have picked up on the infectiously goofy vibe of an enterprise that, from its first sprightly moments, clearly has no intention of taking itself too seriously”.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

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(2) THE WICKER MAN (1973)

 

No – not the one with the bees, Robin Hardy’s original cult classic “creep-fest starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee – with a final reel that’s become an intrinsic piece of horror iconography”.

Of course, it’s slow-burn horror more in the sense of classical tragedy of creeping doom a la Euripides’ The Bacchae (and a stealth sequel to Caesar’s The Gallic Wars). Also a classic in the subgenre of folk horror – horror based on old folklore or old folkloric rituals, typically the pagan faiths of yore as here. While it was most common in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, it’s surprisingly prevalent, particularly in the so-called folk horror revival in the 2010s – The Wicker Man is predecessor to 2019’s Midsommar.

A Variety article summed it up nicely – “It’s a film set on an island in the Scottish Hebrides, full of gnarly blokes in pubs, that turns out to be a secret sect of Celtic pagan worship. There are dances around the maypole and nymphs leaping through fire, and there is Christopher Lee, sinister in a benevolent sherry-club way, as if he were presiding over a kinky episode of “Fantasy Island,” as the commune’s lord and master. There’s period kitsch in “The Wicker Man,” yet the movie taps into something memorable: a death cult that wears a gleaming smile, as if it were the missing link between Charles Manson’s followers and the Jonestown horde. In spirit, the film takes off from the last scene of “Rosemary’s Baby,” with all those devil worshippers gathered for a party in the Castavets’ apartment — a terrifying vision of middle-class evil. Yet “The Wicker Man” lands, if anything, in an even more unruly place. Watching it, you can’t see the devil, but you can see the scary power of mass belief”.

Also – naked Britt Ekland (and Britt Ekland’s body double) with that infamous wall-slapping seductive dancing and singing.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

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Evil Dead poster art that I’d argue has transcended film iconography and become part of the Jungian collective unconscious (fair use)

 

 

(1) EVIL DEAD (1981-1992 / 2013-PRESENT)

 

Hail to the king, baby!

What else? The Evil Dead, the film and the following franchise, are not high art but they embody (in virtually every sense of that word) the archetypal B-grade horror movie in all its fun and glory, with tongue ever more firmly in cheek.

As stated by TV Tropes – “in 1979, a bunch of college dropouts got together in a cabin in Tennessee and made a film with a standard B-Movie plot; this film was The Evil Dead. The film, which was directed by Sam Raimi and starred (the chin himself) Bruce Campbell, succeeded through elaborate gore effects, slick cinematography, and sheer audacity to make enough money to warrant two sequels and get into the public consciousness”.

It is remarkable that a movie made by college dropouts on a shoestring budget – and effects that resemble claymation or plasticine at times – should have any impact upon public consciousness, let alone the enduring impact it and its sequels had upon mine.

“Join us, Ashleeeeey!”

You know you’re in a for a gory horror ride in the first movie, as the classic group of teenagers heads to the classic cabin in the woods. There they unfortunately locate the demonic Book of the Dead or Necronomicon (borrowing from Lovecraft) which was studied by the cabin’s previous occupant – and even more unfortunately play the tape of the recitation invoking the Sumerian demons (although something seems to have been stalking the cabin and woods even prior to that recitation). Those demons possess each of them in turn, turning them into the titular evil dead which then attack the others, until ultimately only one of them, Ashley, is left to fend off the demons (including his girlfriend). This first film works quite effectively as horror, particularly as Ashley or Ash becomes the lone survivor fending off the evil dead in the seemingly eldritch architecture of the cabin. I mean, it’s probably the frantic cinematography but how many rooms does that cabin have? It’s like the Tardis in there. And you know it’s going to get bloody (and oh boy does it ever) when a further playing of the tape reveals that the only way to destroy the evil dead is…bodily dismemberment! Ewww!

The second film (Evil Dead 2), a partial remake and partial sequel, was made with more money but lacks the pure horror of the first, as embracing the absurdity of the premise, it moved from horror to comedy (and Ash became more invulnerable to the demonic threat).

The third film (Army of Darkness) fully embraced all its cheesy goodness and rule of cool as it almost entirely abandoned horror altogether for dark fantasy comedy, yet utterly glorious as a result (while Ash completed his transition into a virtually indestructible superhero). It follows from the second film, which saw Ash magically transported through time to the Middle Ages (yeah, it’s like that), in medieval Europe or perhaps the Latin kingdoms of the Crusades, where he soon has to face off against an undead army. It had the biggest budget of the original trilogy, as well as being the most well-known and quoted, with its memetic one-liners.

The franchise saw a remake of the original film with the Evil Dead film of 2013 – decent enough but somewhat forgettable as lacking the same pulpy fun and tongue-in-cheek humor of the original. That changed dramatically with the fifth entry into the franchise, Evil Dead Rise in 2023, which returned to the spirit and style of the original trilogy (and Evil Dead mythos) but with its own fun twists – and also perhaps the only Deadite that’s strangely…arousing. Whose your mummy?

And the additions to the franchise keep coming, with 2026’s Evil Dead Burn.

The franchise has also seen a TV series, comics adaptations, video games…and a theatre musical?

Groovy!

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

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S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) THE EVIL DEAD

(2) THE WICKER MAN

(3) THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

 

If The Evil Dead and The Wicker Man are my Old Testament of horror films, then The Cabin in the Woods is my New Testament (and kinda a fusion of both The Evil Dead and The Wicker Man)

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) JAWS

(5) 28 DAYS LATER

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(6) DEAD & BURIED

(7) THE HITCHER

(8) IT FOLLOWS

(9) THE RITUAL

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER): BEST OF 2026

 

(10) OBSESSION

 

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You can return to or find more top tens in my indexed page for top tens of film 

 

 

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films (Complete: Revised 2026)

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Promotional art for the 1982 fantasy film, The Beastmaster. Amazingly, it became a cult classic. Even more amazingly, it became a franchise, with two sequel films and a television series. The film was shown on HBO so often that comedian Dennis Miller joked HBO stood for “Hey, Beastmaster’s on!”. And yes – it’s not that good but it’s a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

 

“Fantasy isn’t just a jolly escape: It’s an escape, but into something far more extreme than reality, or normality. It’s where things are more beautiful and more wondrous and more terrifying.” – Terry Gilliam

That’s how I introduced my Top 10 Fantasy Books and it’s even more apt for my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, given I feature Terry Gilliam in my special mentions as one of my favorite directors of fantasy or SF films.

Although, the definition of fantasy might be less apt as my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films overwhelmingly leans towards SF, with eight entries as SF and only two entries as fantasy. As such, I will note each entry as either fantasy or SF.

In fairness, I might well have ranked more films as fantasy, or SF for that matter. When I compiled my top ten ‘non-genre’ films, I noted those with fantasy or SF elements. The same applies to my top ten comedy films. The distinction is that the fantasy or SF elements did not predominate in those films so as to rank them within the fantasy or SF genres but the elements are still there.

More substantially, I also have separate top tens for animated films, films adapted from comics, and horror films – each of which predominantly consist of films that could be ranked within the fantasy or SF genres. Animated films lean towards fantasy, films adapted from comics lean towards SF (albeit often functionally or outright fantasy for superheroes), and I have deliberately leaned my top ten horror films towards fantasy or supernatural horror.

Ironically, at least three of the SF entries in this top ten could be ranked as horror or more precisely SF horror (a sub-genre also reflected in the special mentions for my Top 10 Horror Films). Given the overlap of both fantasy and SF with horror, I will also note where an entry might have also been ranked as horror or arguably has elements of horror.

Anyway, here are my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films. Just a quick note – if you’re looking for The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, I rank them in my special mention entries. The former is because as much as I love that film trilogy, it is eclipsed by my love of the book trilogy, ranking it in top spot in My Top 10 Fantasy Books. The second is because I have a complicated love-hate relationship with the original Star Wars film trilogy – and that trilogy has been somewhat diminished by them running the franchise into the ground since. Which, to be honest, they’ve also pretty much done with The Lord of the Rings franchise, what with the Hobbit film trilogy and the Rings of Power TV series.

 

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

 

 

Promotional poster art (fair use)

 

 

(10) SF: PROJECT HAIL MARY

(2026)

 

“Amaze amaze amaze!”

My wildcard tenth place entry for best film of 2026, Project Hail Mary is an “epic science fiction film” based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir and arguably a spiritual sequel to Weir’s The Martian, only on the much grander scale of saving the world as opposed to one astronaut (although there’s an element of the latter). No, that’s not spoiling it given that desperate last ditch shot in the dark is inherent in the title – and the film establishes its premise early on.

So yes, with the world at stake as well as an interstellar spacecraft as opposed to the interplanetary mission of The Martin, it puts both the epic and the science into epic science fiction – with Ryan Gosling swapping in for Matt Damon’s stranded figure who has to “science the sh!t out of” his scenario. It’s interesting that his character has the same initials, Ryland Grace, with the surname setting up the obvious play on the first line of the prayer – Hail Mary, full of Grace.

However, its epic science fiction plays out at the engaging levels of a twofold detective mystery crossed with a buddy film, which gives the film its most heartfelt and heartwarming moments. The twofold detective mystery is, firstly, the mystery of piercing together his memories after waking aboard an interstellar spacecraft with no memory of how he got there, and secondly the mystery that his interstellar mission has to solve.

As for the buddy film, I won’t spoil it further than the film’s own trailer did, but let’s just say Rocky is amazing.

One of the film’s strengths is its use of practical effects, particularly for the set of its spaceship and for the puppetry of one half of the buddy film.

“A visually dazzling space odyssey that’s carried along effortlessly by the gravitational pull of Ryan Gosling at his most winning, Project Hail Mary is a near-miraculous fusion of smarts and heart.”

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Well, it’s obviously SF – and characteristically of Andy Weir’s works and their cinematic adaptations, very much on the hard SF end of the scale.

 

HORROR

 

Unlike most SF or fantasy, it has very little by way of elements of horror, except in a conceptual or existential sense (for the astrophages or just what’s involved in interstellar space travel) – and something of an initial jump scare with Rocky.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

Miranda! Classic screenshot of Anne-Louise Lambert as Miranda in the titular Rock from the film (fair use)

 

 

(9) FANTASY: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

(1975)

 

“Miranda!”

Apparently, tourists still succumb to the temptation to yell that out at Hanging Rock, which is an actual geological formation in Victoria, Australia – the latter perhaps contributing to the film’s mystique that it is based on an actual historical mystery, as I thought when I first saw it. (Spoiler – it is not, although there may be snippets on inspiration drawn from real life).

Often argued to be the best Australian film (and certainly a quintessentially Australian film), directed by Peter Weir and adapted from Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel of the same name, “the plot involves the disappearance of several schoolgirls and their teacher during a picnic at Hanging Rock, Victoria on Valentine’s Day in 1900, and the subsequent effect on the local community”.

Well, that plot seems mundane and the disappearance may well have a mundane explanation that evaded the film’s police investigation…but the disappearance is mysterious and remains so throughout the film, albeit leaning heavily towards the mystery as fantasy in its otherworldly ambience. As it turned out, the book’s unpublished final chapter was ultimately revealed and its explanation of the mysterious disappearance was indeed fantasy – but you and everyone else is better off not knowing it, leaving the mystery to the more satisfying answers of imagination.

Although apparently not for everyone – “Weir recalled that when the film was first screened in the United States, American audiences were disturbed by the fact that the mystery remained unsolved. According to Weir, one distributor threw his coffee cup at the screen at the end of it, because he’d wasted two hours of his life—a mystery without a goddamn solution!”

Hang on – John Jarratt was in the film? Well, there’s your answer to the mystery. (Yes, that’s a joke on his role in Wolf Creek).

“The film features visually hypnotic photography by Oscar winner Russel Boyd and a haunting score by Bruce Smeaton (featuring the playing of the “Master of the Pan Flute”, Gheorghe Zamfir), and established Weir as a major international talent” – Weir would go on to direct another borderline genre film, in this case SF, namely The Truman Show.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Or neither? The film tends to lean towards fantasy, although some fan explanations for the mystery have tended towards SF (such as alien abduction, although it doesn’t really fit the ambience of the film)

 

HORROR

 

Yes indeed, it very much has elements of horror underlying the mystery (and sense of impending doom before and after the disappearance), as well as in most explanations for it, even the mundane ones. Some critics even alluded to it as such, with one discussing “the film’s elements of  artistic Australian horror romance, albeit without the cliches of a conventional horror film”.

 

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

Promotional artwork from the 2024 Dune film as the cover for the Frank Herbert book

 

 

(8) SF: DUNE

(2021-PRESENT: DUNE PARTS 1-2+)

 

“Walk without rhythm, you won’t attract the worm”

That is of course the lyric from Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, but like this ongoing film series, it is adapted from Frank Herbert’s SF novel Dune. The music video famously featured actor Christopher Walken dancing through a hotel lobby – and much to my delight of happy synchronicity, he was also in Dune Part 2, and as the God-Emperor no less! I might have squealed a little in my delight at that – although they sadly missed the opportunity for him to re-enact that dance scene in the film.

This is perhaps stretching my usual rule for wildcard tenth place entry as best of 2024 but I’m running with it. For one thing, the sequel film Dune Part 2 was released in that year and it easily was the best fantasy or SF film of 2024. For another, I didn’t actually see the first film when it was released but watched it shortly before seeing the sequel film at the cinema – so in effect both films were in 2024 for me.

And for yet another, with two films under its belt and another on the way, with consummate direction by Denis Villeneuve and a star-studded cast, it is easily the best fantasy or SF film franchise at the moment and the closest thing as successor to the epic Lord of the Rings fantasy film trilogy, particularly as that trilogy is offset by subsequent releases from what is now an expanding film and TV franchise.

As a fan of literary as well as cinematic fantasy and SF, I have to confess that I have never read Frank Herbert’s Dune or any of its sequels, although it is impossible to be a fantasy and SF fan without being aware of its plot or elements, at least in broad outline – archetypal space opera with an archetypal Galactic Empire, desert planet Arrakis, Paul Atreides and the House Atreides, Baron Harkonnen and House Harkonnen, the Fremen, spice, the sandworms, and the Bene Gesserit.

Or for that matter, its influence on subsequent fantasy or SF – it’s hard not see Dune’s Galactic Empire in Star Wars, or Arrakis in Tatooine, or even Paul Atreides in Luke Skywalker (although Star Wars could definitely have done with more Bene Gesserit).

The two Dune films seem to adapt the plot and elements well from what I know of them, particularly given the daunting scale and scope of the literary source to adapt to film (not unlike Lord of the Rings), and in stunning visual style to boot.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Well, it’s obviously classic SF space opera…but like that other classic SF space opera, Star Wars, it has distinct elements of space fantasy.

 

HORROR

 

Like most SF or fantasy, it has some elements of horror – the sandworms can be terrifying – but not predominant or thematic enough to rank the films in the horror genre.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(7) FANTASY: CONAN THE BARBARIAN

(1982)

 

Oh my Crom!

Arnold Schwarzenegger in his breakout role as Conan. Conan on the cross for your sins. James Earl Jones doing his best Jim Jones snake oil salesman with weird cannibalistic orgies. Conan’s hot mom (whom personally I would have cast as Valeria – alas it’s only a fleeting role).

And what is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women!

Conan’s prayer to Crom, “the most backhanded prayer ever” – Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That’s what’s important! Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!

Oh my Crom – that music!

And the Riddle of Steel – Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god. Crom, and he lives in the Earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered; and the earth shook. And fire and wind struck down these giants — and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. And we who found it — are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery… you must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one — no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts… this you can trust…”

Yes, it’s not high art – it’s a barbarian blockbuster sword and sorcery film for Crom’s sake!

But it’s awesome.

“Directed by John Milius, who co-wrote it with Oliver Stone…The film put Nietzschean philosophy together together with an epic tale of revenge. While it wasn’t very accurate to the original Robert E. Howard pulp stories, hewing more to Stone’s ideas filtered through Milius’ direction.”

Conan was already something of a franchise, from Howard’s stories to comics by Marvel, but with this film it became a screen franchise, albeit none of the subsequent cinematic or television adaptations came close to this film – which also spawned something of a barbarian fantasy film fad.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Fantasy obviously. The film that rivals my next entry as the most fantasy film in my top ten fantasy or SF films – not a shred of SF to be seen here.

 

HORROR

 

There’s elements reminiscent of horror, although perhaps less so than in the literary Conan stories from which it was adapted (which had distinct Lovecraftian elements).

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Nigel Terry as King Arthur in the 1981 film Excalibur directed by John Boorman – still the best cinematic adaptation of Arthurian legend

 

 

(6) FANTASY: EXCALIBUR

(1981)

 

“Forged by a god

Foretold by a wizard

Found by a king…

Excalibur!”

 

Yes – that’s the cheesy blurb from the theatrical release poster.

Yes – the film itself can be cheesy at points, or messy, reflected by Roger Ebert calling it both a wondrous vision and a mess.

Yes – it conflates various elements of Arthurian legend, although perhaps necessarily so for adaptation to film and not unlike the adaptations made by the various texts of Arthurian legend. In particular Perceval does some heavy lifting here, conflating in his character (at least) the roles of Galahad and Bedivere in Arthurian legend. He’s not the only one – the film also conflates Morgana and Morgause.

I know all these things but I still love it anyway. I can trace my fascination for and love of Arthurian legend directly to this one film.

 

For mine is the grail quest –

round table & siege perilous

fisher king & waste land

bleeding lance & dolorous stroke

adventurous bed & questing beast

 

And most of it is here. Well, except for the questing beast. Arthur Pendragon himself, the once and future king. His flawed father Uther. The wizard Merlin, played by Nicol Williamson in arguably the film’s best performance. The Lady in the Lake. The titular Excalibur, conflated here with the sword in the stone. Queen Guinevere. The enchantress Morgan Le Fay, conflated with Morgause as the mother of usurper Mordred. The knights of the Round Table – most famously Lancelot but also Gawain and Perceval. The Holy Grail. Avalon – and so on.

That’s of course just the characters – despite its limited budget, the film’s cast is a veritable who’s who of actors who would rise to stardom. Helen Mirren. Liam Neeson. Patrick Stewart. Gabriel Byrne. Ciaran Hinds.

Then there’s its visual style and lighting, used to best effect to convey the ethereal nature of the mythic (and mystical) otherworld that overlaps with our own throughout Arthurian legend. Apparently there’s a study by Jean-Marc Elsholz that “demonstrates how closely the film Excalibur was inspired by the Arthurian romance tradition and its intersections with medieval theories of light, most particularly in the aesthetic/visual narrative of Boorman’s film” – and I’d say it shows.

And the music! It’s again used to much the same effect for the ethereal otherworld, but also for the heroic scenes of battle – I can trace my love of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to this film, even if I was disappointed to subsequently learn that work is essentially about drunk monks singing.

Intriguingly, the film apparently started as an unproduced adaptation of The Lord of the Rings – and it makes me wonder what director John Boorman might have done with that property. Perhaps not quite as good as the Jackson film trilogy but I’d be prepared to bet it would have been the next best thing.

As it is, the film is still the single best cinematic or screen adaptation of Arthurian legend, although Monty Python and the Holy Grail comes in a close second. Although that may also say something about the adaptability of Arthurian legend, particularly to the sensibilities of modern directors or producers of film and television – and that it takes something like lightning in a bottle for a director such as Boorman (who after all made films such as Zardoz) to make it work.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Fantasy obviously. The film that is most fantasy in my top ten fantasy or SF films – not a shred of SF to be seen here.

 

HORROR

 

As with much mythology or legend, there’s elements reminiscent of horror, although perhaps less so than in the Arthurian legend from which it was adapted.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(5) SF: THE MATRIX

(1999. There are no sequels)

 

The Matrix is perhaps the next most definitive cinematic Robot War after another entry on this list, and like that entry, it works best by combining the Robot War with another trope, in this case that of virtual reality. As such, it is the direct descendant of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, consistent with my pet theory that the heart of science fiction is still all Martians and Morlocks.

We’ll be looking at Martians later, but the Machines and their software Agents in the Matrix are Morlocks, except that it’s cyberspace travel rather than time travel. The original Morlocks were one of two evolutionary descendants of humanity, evolved from the working class – maintaining the advanced technology of the future for the Eloi, the other descendants of humanity evolved from its leisured upper class.

The dark twist of Wells’ novel is that the Morlocks eat the Eloi, “farming” them like livestock. This theme of evolution endures in the Matrix, albeit transformed from Wells’ unrealistic biological evolution (without genetic engineering or mutation) to cybernetic evolution – involving artificial intelligence and robots as machine Morlocks that rise up against their human Eloi, particularly as the machine Morlocks do actually farm us for their food or energy.

Ultimately however, this makes no sense – humans don’t produce more energy than they consume. The Machines would obviously use more energy keeping us alive than they would ever extract from us – and that’s aside from programming and maintaining the Matrix itself. My theory is that the human resistance have no idea what the Matrix is for and the Machines actually use the Matrix for entertainment, like television (or the internet) – “Let’s see what the humans are doing on the Matrix tonight!”

And for a Robot War against humanity, the Machines are actually quite nice to us, whatever the purpose of the Matrix. Morpheus lets slip that humans fought a genocidal war with the Machines, in which we nuked the sun (NUKED the SUN!) to deprive the Machines of their solar energy (and you know, hopefully wipe them out). It didn’t work and we lost the Robot War, but instead of the Machines exterminating us like cockroaches, they keep us in our own cozy virtual dream world. Indeed, Agent Smith (who, unlike Morpheus, tells it straight) says that the Machines even tried to make it a perfect utopia for us, but human psychology wouldn’t accept it.

As I see it, the Machines’ only mistake was not advertising the Matrix to sign people up for it as your own programmable (and not necessarily permanent) reality (like, say, the Playboy Mansion or World of Warcraft) – I should be so lucky to lose a Robot War! “Seriously, you feed me and take care of me in a pod while I live it up in any number of dream worlds of my own design and all you want is my body heat? Sign me up!”

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Yeah – the virtual reality world maintained by the Machines to farm humanity for energy after a Robot War? It’s obviously SF. Or is it? Well, yes, it is – but it does have substantial elements of fantasy, what with its mystical trappings of the Oracle and Neo as the (chosen or messianic) One.

And yes – I know there are no sequels, but if there had been a second film it at least might have the interesting spin on fantasy with fantasy creatures such as vampires and so on as leftover programs or perhaps glitches from previous versions of the Matrix.

 

HORROR

 

One can’t really rank it as horror but it has elements of SF horror and could well have been written more in that direction.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(4) SF (HORROR): THE THING

(1982+: I only count the John Carpenter film)

 

My fourth place entry is The Thing – not the original 1951 The Thing from Another World or the 2011 prequel but John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film. Once again, we’re back to Wells’ Martians and Morlocks, with some Lovecraftian Mythos a la At the Mountains of Madness thrown in for extra horror, because The Thing is at its core a horror film. Of course, in this case, we’re dealing with a Martian – not literally Martian but alien. And holy crap – every other alien in cinematic science fiction (including those of another entry on this list) are positively cuddly compared to the alien…thing in The Thing. That…thing doesn’t just invade our bodies – it assimilates them. Violently. The Thing is a shapeshifter, absorbing its victim’s body into itself, yet able to retain the appearance of (and mimic) that victim, seemingly extending to any lifeform.

Fortunately The Thing is confined to an American Antarctic research base, but then so are its targets subject to the body horror of the thing itself – it takes the hostile environment and inescapable isolation of the setting and raises it with a full house of paranoia, as the Americans desperately try to figure out which of them have been assimilated (against the background of the grim calculation that if the Thing should escape the isolation of Antarctica, then all of humanity will be consumed), an uncertainty that continues to the ending itself.

Apparently, it’s an annual tradition for viewing by the winter crew at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station during the first evening of winter.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

SF obviously, from the very opening sequence of an alien spacecraft crashing to Earth – although arguably like the Lovecraftian or Cthulhu Mythos it resembles, it borders on fantasy, albeit not as much as beings like Cthulhu or other elements of the Mythos. I sometimes muse how it could work as supernatural rather than SF horror – with the Thing as something akin to a vampire or the demons in the Evil Dead films, except with shapechanging assimilation abilities.

 

HORROR

 

One of my three top ten entries which are also my holy trinity of SF horror – perhaps the most classic SF horror entry in my top ten, which has inspired or been referenced by films and other works of popular culture ever since. Like all good classic horror, it is essentially haunted house horror, substituting an alien for the ghost, and neatly solving the so-called haunted house problem – why don’t the characters just leave the house? – by virtue of its Antarctic setting effectively confining their characters to their base and isolating them from the outside world, the latter being something the more astute characters realize they have to maintain to protect the world from the Thing.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

 

(3) SF: MAD MAX

(1979-2024: MAD MAX 1-5 – yeah, I’m counting Furiosa as a fifth Mad Max film)

 

And now for some classic Australian post-apocalyptic cinema – let’s face it, Mad Max defined the post-apocalypse or at least post-apocalyptic chic, the apunkalypse or biker leather with a bit of BDSM kink thrown into the mix. (Hmmm…maybe a LOT of BDSM kink).

The only issue is which Mad Max film to choose? The correct answer is, of course, all of them – yes, the whole franchise. Even Thunderdome. Even Furiosa as “a Mad Max saga”. They all have something to offer the post-apocalyptic genre, particularly as the apocalypse shifts somewhat in each one.

Although overshadowed by its immediate sequel (so much so that the American audience was generally unaware that there was prior movie and the movie was instead titled The Road Warrior), the first Mad Max is arguably the purest of the films. Part of the latter is that it was shot on a shoestring budget – so much so that director George Miller paid extras in beer.

However, it is not purely a post-apocalyptic film – it also combines elements of ‘buddy cop’ movies and revenge movies, falling squarely within the so-called Ozploitation subgenre of contemporary films at that time (the Australian or ‘Oz’ version of exploitation films). Indeed, these elements predominate in the film – Max Rockatansky or Max is mad because a biker gang, led by Toecutter, burnt his cop buddy ‘Goose’ as well as running down his wife and infant child.

Oh the apocalypse is there somewhere in the background, but it has happened offscreen. Something has caused central governmental authority to decline, but it is still present in Max’s police highway patrol. What’s more – life and society are still relatively intact in the Australian country towns, and there’s even commercial traffic on the roads. This apocalypse reminds me of the proverbial decline and fall of the Roman Empire – too few legions and too many barbarians, the latter represented by the biker gangs emerging in the towns. Indeed, the parallel to the Roman Empire is even closer – just as the legions themselves were increasingly comprised by barbarian Germans, the police force in Mad Max resembles the leather-clad biker gangs. When the highway patrol arrests one of the bikers, the biker even has the mainstay of cop movies, a sleazy defense lawyer, show up and get him out. I mean, come on – what self-respecting post-apocalyptic world has lawyers?! Man, lawyers – they’re hardier than cockroaches! I might have to revise my post-apocalyptic job criteria…

It’s in the second film with the higher budget that the post-apocalyptic scene really gets into gear. And how – the opening narration speaks of oil running out and global (presumably nuclear) war. Long gone is the highway patrol – Max is now a lone survivor, albeit still in his iconic police super-charged V8 Pursuit Special. The plot revolves around an island of semi-barbarized civilization in the form of an oil refinery in an armed compound, besieged by the barbarian marauders. And what intriguing marauders in their leather bondage gear – led by the masked Lord Humungus (“the warrior of the wasteland, the ayatollah of rock-and-rollah” as he is announced) and his lieutenant Wez in those ass-less chaps.

The third film sees the last semblance of former civilization replaced by the barbarian Bartertown and its Thunderdome, ruled by an uneasy diumvirate of Aunty Entity and Master Blaster (although the latter is actually two people).

Personally, however, I can’t go past the visual splendor of the fourth film, Mad Max: Fury Road, which resets the apocalyptic story back to somewhere about the time of the second movie. Indeed, it probably works best as a retelling of the second film, but ramped up to eleven – the fourth film makes the apocalypse in the second film look positively cosy, while Immortan Joe and his War Boys makes the Lord Humungus and his retinue look like a polite picnic party. The plot, characterization and dialogue are all pared down, but who needs them when the film is this visually spectacular? John Keats basically wrote the plot in His Ode on a Grecian Urn:

 

“What men or gods are these? What maidens loath?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes & timbrels? What wild ecstasy?”

 

Basically, that is, if Keats were to replace pipes and timbrels with flame-throwing electric guitar – and wild ecstasy with balls to the wall insanity. As I’m sure he would if he saw Mad Max Fury Road. Ode on a Fury Road, perhaps?

Furiosa is Miller’s belated return to the world of Fury Road with the prequel story of Imperator Furiosa, which sadly underperformed at the box office – despite Chris Hemsworth’s memorable addition to the Mad Max rogues gallery with the warlord Dementus.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

SF obviously – and the cinematic trope codifier for that SF subgenre we’ve all come to know and love, post-apocalyptic SF. Although it would be intriguing to see more post-apocalyptic fantasy – I’ve read books that are arguably literary post-apocalyptic fantasy but you just don’t see it in film (or at least, very little of it).

 

HORROR

 

Mad Max is not horror as such, although it arguably has elements of slasher and survival horror, not to mention the sheer existential horror of a post-apocalyptic world and the occasional body horror of the ravages of the wasteland on its warlords. As such, it wouldn’t take too much to switch it up for horror.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT MAX-TIER?)

 

 

 

(2) SF (HORROR): THE TERMINATOR

(1984-1991+: THE TERMINATOR 1-2 – Yeah – I only count the first two films)

 

“I’ll be back”

The Terminator franchise is the definitive cinematic Robot War franchise, a science fiction trope that seemingly works best when combined with another science fiction trope. In the Terminator franchise, the Robot War is combined with that other compelling science fiction trope of time travel.

In this, it is the direct descendant of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine – the heart of science fiction is still all Martians and Morlocks. We’ll be looking at Martians soon, but Skynet and its Terminators are Morlocks. The original Morlocks were one of two evolutionary descendants of humanity, evolved from the working class – maintaining the advanced technology of the future for the Eloi, the other descendants of humanity evolved from its leisured upper class. The dark twist of Wells’ novel is that the Morlocks eat the Eloi, “farming” them like livestock. This theme of evolution endures in the Terminator, albeit transformed from Wells’ unrealistic biological evolution (without genetic engineering or mutation) to cybernetic evolution – involving artificial intelligence and robots (or cyborgs) as machine Morlocks that rise up against their human Eloi. This descent from The Time Machine is doubly so for involving time travel, except in the other direction – almost as a direct sequel, as if the Morlocks had reverse engineered the Time Machine to travel back to the present.

Of course, at its core, the original Terminator is a horror film of relentless nightmare pursuit, literally evolved from James Cameron’s own nightmare vision of a metallic skeleton dragging itself from fire – which perhaps explains the franchise’s law of diminishing returns with each sequel away from its horror origins. Yes, even Terminator Judgement Day, which started the rot by breaking the rules of the original – although the action was so cool, we overlooked that. The original allowed time travel for only two ‘people’, the Terminator itself and Kyle Reese sent to stop it. The sequel allowed two more – a good cyborg Terminator and a bad liquid metal Terminator – and so on, until that Skynet time machine must be like a commuter train station with all the robots and humans going back and forth.

People bemoaned Terminator Genisys because it messed up the timeline, but that timeline was messed up from the very first sequel – if not implicitly in the original itself. It’s always bemused me that Skynet is smart enough to build an actual time machine, but not smart enough to work out the implications of it – either you simply can’t change the past (because it includes your time travel already) or you can but it becomes a different timeline from your existing timeline (nice for the new timeline, but not your original timeline which you still haven’t changed). Terminator Genisys simply took the changing timelines already in the franchise in their logical direction from Skynet’s point of view – a timeline-hopping Skynet, because the only way it can actually win by time travel is for itself to do the time travelling, like Skynet crossed with Marty McFly in Terminator meets Back to the Future. Then again, Skynet is just too much of a d!ck – it also bemused me exactly why Skynet’s plan always involves killing humanity rather than making a killing on the stock exchange or otherwise using its artificial intelligence to become rich and powerful, ruling the world rather than destroying it.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

One of the biggest cinematic SF film franchises – the Robot War and time travel really give the genre away as SF. Although you probably could adapt it to magic in fantasy. There was a real missed opportunity not to do a Terminator-type storyline with time travel in epic fantasy. Think a mashup between The Lord of the Rings and the Terminator – with Sauron for Skynet…

 

HORROR

 

As I said, at its core (and in its origin) the Terminator films are SF horror – which essentially is slasher horror in this case, except with a robot killer.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

 

(1) SF (HORROR): ALIEN

(1979-1986+: ALIEN / ALIENS 1-2. That’s right – I mostly just count the first two films. Mostly)

 

Whereas Terminator is the definitive robot war franchise, Alien is the definitive, well, alien franchise – the direct descendant of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

As I said in my previous entry, the heart of SF is still all Martians and Morlocks to me (or evolution and entropy, those recurring themes in Wells). We’ve looked at the machine Morlocks of the Terminator (and the Matrix) – the aliens in the Alien franchise are Martians. Not literally Martians of course, unlike the original Martians in The War of the Worlds, but still the sharp edge of evolution (Wells’ penultimate true villain), red in tooth and claw, pitted against humanity in the backdrop of cold, dead space (or Wells’ ultimate true villain of entropy).

And holy crap – the Martians are positively cuddly compared to their cinematic descendant aliens, or xenomorphs, in the Alien franchise! Sure, the original Martians may have been space vampires, sucking down human blood, but the Alien xenomorphs take it to a whole new level of body horror, with every possible bodily fluid and organ of Freudian subtext thrown in for kicks. Whereas the original Martians invaded our world, the xenomorphs invade our very bodies – in the most face-hugging, throat-thrusting, chest-bursting way possible.

Like the original Terminator, the original Alien was at its core a horror film – the body horror of the alien itself in the claustrophobic intensity of a spaceship – and subject to a similar law of diminishing returns with each sequel away from its horror origins, although the intensity of action compensated for it in the immediate sequel.

 

FANTASY OR SF?

 

Pretty much pure SF – although some aspects of the xenomorph biology verge on fantasy. Acid blood, anyone? It would be interesting to see a magic xenomorph in a fantasy setting.

 

 

HORROR

 

As I just said, the original Alien was at its core a horror film, arguably the SF horror film, and although the franchise moves away from that at times, it always retains some element of that SF horror, combining body and cosmic horror. Like The Thing, it’s another film that solves the haunted house problem but does The Thing one better by having the haunted house IN SPACE! Although, really, the xenomorph more resembles your classic slasher than your average ghost.

 

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT ALIEN-TIER?)

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 FANTASY & SF FILMS (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) SF (HORROR): ALIEN

(2) SF (HORROR): THE TERMINATOR

(3) SF: MAD MAX

If Alien is my Martian Old Testament of cinematic fantasy & SF, then The Terminator is my New Testament – and Mad Max is my apocalypse.

*

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

*

(4) SF (HORROR): THE THING

(5) SF: THE MATRIX

(6) FANTASY: EXCALIBUR

(7) FANTASY: CONAN

(8) SF: DUNE

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(9) FANTASY: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

(10) SF: PROJECT HAIL MARY

 

So to tally up my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films, 7 are SF and 3 are fantasy.

3 are definitive SF horror – Alien, The Terminator and The Thing. Although I think you can argue for SF or fantasy horror elements in all the others except Project Hail Mary (unless you count the astrophages or Rocky’s jump scare), albeit not enough to rank them within the horror genre.

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Action & Drama Films (Complete – Revised: 2026)

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The iconic poster for The Godfather (fair use)

 

 

TOP 10 ACTION & DRAMA FILMS

 

Exactly what it says on the tin – my top 10 action and drama films.

 

Well, perhaps not quite exactly, as although my cinematic tastes do indeed tend towards action or drama, that is my label of convenience for my top ten non-‘genre’ films – that is, excluding ‘genre’ films such as fantasy or SF films, animated films, films adapted from comics, and horror films, all of which have their own action or drama but also their own top tens. I also rank comedy films in their own top ten.

 

That said, quite a few of my non-genre films have fantasy or SF elements, just not predominantly so to rank them within the genre – but I will have a special section in each entry to note fantasy or SF elements. Also, almost every film has comedic elements or at least the odd gag – after all, one could classify almost every narrative work by the comedy-tragedy dichotomy of classical Greek drama – so I will also have a special section for comedy in each entry.

 

And yes – I know animation is more a medium than its own genre, although animated films are predominantly fantasy or SF genre. The same goes for films adapted from comics, although that depends on the genre of comic from which they were adapted. 

 

And no – despite my feature image being the poster for The Godfather, cited almost as often as Citizen Kane (which I used for my master list for Top 10 Films across all genres) as one of the best films ever made, it is not in my top ten, which again fortuitously avoids spoiling any entry in it. I like The Godfather more than Citizen Kane but not as one of my top ten action or drama films. It may pop up elsewhere as I wouldn’t go so far as Peter Griffin’s view of it expressed in The Family Guy – he didn’t care for it, as “it insists upon itself”.

 

Anyway, here are my Top 10 Action & Drama Films.

 

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

 

Theatrical release poster art (fair use)

 

 

(10) THE FURIOUS (2026)

 

“The Furious detonates into a relentless, blood-soaked spectacle of breathtakingly inventive martial arts choreography, with director Kenji Tanigaki delivering a brutal, balletic action extravaganza” – Rotten Tomatoes.

Yeah, I have to agree with the Rotten Tomatoes consensus on this one, although I’d add frenetic to the adjectives.

“The Furious is a 2025 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Kenji Tanigaki starring Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Joey Iwanaga, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian, and Yanin Vismitananda.”

And it has all the martial arts, reflecting its pan-Asian cast – kung fu (by the Chinese protagonist whose character is mute in the film), judo, pencak silat, karate, muay Thai…

I’m also counting it as a 2026 film for my wildcard tenth place entry because it was theatrically released in that year.

In an undisclosed country within Southeast Asia, a mute tradesman named Wang Wei…just kidding, we’re not here for the plot, except to connect the awesome martial arts scenes, and indeed some critics were caustic about the “clunky” dialogue and “goofy” plot.

That undisclosed country within Southeast Asia is recognizably Bangkok where it was filmed (with some overhead footage I assume is from drones). The villains are cartoonishly evil and all the better for it, coming up against their kung fu nemesis when their goons kidnap his daughter as part of their trafficking business. You never do find out the protagonist’s mysterious background – I’m assuming it involves some supernatural ability for kung fu. Speaking of which, I always like seeing Yayan Ruhian in martial arts film. I have my own head canon that he’s always his Mad Dog character, returning from his death in each film like those eerie Japanese stringy-haired ghost girls (despite being Indonesian).

 

FANTASY & SF

 

No, except to the extent that the intense fighting skill and survival of characters borders on supernatural, as in a few other films in this top ten.

 

COMEDY

 

Again, not really any comedic elements, except occasionally verging on martial arts slapstick or black comedy.

 

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

From the films’ theatrical release poster

 

 

(9) THE RAID (2011-2014)

 

100 minutes of awesomeness in a frenetic, claustrophobic martial arts action masterpiece – the martial arts being the Indonesian pencak silat that is showcased by the film’s fight choreography and the claustrophobic being the film’s premise.

That premise being an Indonesian police squad deployed to raid a drug lord’s apartment block in the sums of Jakarta – actually a fortress-like safe house for the city’s worst criminals – only to find themselves forced to fight their way through the complex to carry out their mission or just to survive long enough to escape.

“Good morning, everyone. You may have noticed we have some guests trawling the halls today. Now, I certainly did not invite them and they most certainly are not welcome. So, in the interests of public health, should you rid this building of its recent infestation, well, then, you can consider yourself a permanent resident of this building. Free of charge. You’ll find these f*cking cockroaches on the sixth floor. Now, go to work. And please, please enjoy yourself.”

And yes – it was the same premise that was (independently) used to similarly great effect in the 2012 Dredd film.

And ever since, I’ve enjoyed whenever The Raid pops up in one form or another – most obviously in its 2014 sequel, which maintained the frenetic action of the first. You know you’re in for glorious action when the climax of the film is preceded by a character telling its action hero that the only way to solve his problems is to kill all of the parties responsible. My personal highlight of the sequel was the assassin duo dubbed Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man.

I also get excited whenever I see what I call the Raid guys – primarily Iko Suwais and ‘Mad Dog’ Yahan Ruhian – in a film. Even when they were disappointingly wasted in The Force Awakens. Fortunately, John Wick Chapter 3 made up for that.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

No, except to the extent that the intense fighting skill and survival of characters borders on supernatural.

 

COMEDY

 

Again, not really any comedic elements, except occasionally of the blacker kind

 

RATING:

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

 

Scene from the Zulu film, with Michael Caine front and center – so much so that I tend to think of his historical character, Lieutenant Bromhead, simply as Michael Caine

 

(8) ZULU (1964)

 

The Battle of Rorke’s Drift.

That’s it – that’s the entry. Well that and the 1964 film Zulu which depicted it.

If you’re a fan of the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Lord of The Rings film (The Two Towers), then you’re a fan of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift as depicted in this film, as the former was filmed in a manner deliberately reminiscent of the film Zulu according to Jackson.

If anything, Rorke’s Drift in Zulu was even more epic than Helm’s Deep – as a small company of less than 150 soldiers attached to the Royal Engineers (including a substantial number of sick and wounded) fought off a force of about 3-4,000 Zulus.

The battle was a small albeit highly celebrated part of the Anglo-Zulu War, with the British soldiers finding themselves in the path of a Zulu force in the aftermath of the opening Zulu victory at Isandlwana.

When it comes to Rorke’s Drift, I tend to default to its depiction in the film Zulu, as it is deeply embedded in my psyche. While generally accurate to the historical battle, it does of course have inaccuracies (with perhaps the most egregious involving the depiction of Private Hook, a model soldier, as a rogue redeemed in the battle). The film may also be seen as somewhat problematic in these times given its celebration of British imperial victory – I don’t care.

Indeed the film tends to glamorize both sides in the battle – with the Zulus depicted as a brave, intelligent, capable, resourceful and ultimately honorable adversary. And if anyone can resist the stirring orchestral theme by John Barry, I don’t know what to say.

The British soldiers were led by Lieutenant Chard, portrayed by Stanley Baker, and his second in command Lieutenant Bromhead, portrayed by a young Michael Caine in his breakthrough film role. Deciding that retreat isn’t an option as they will move too slowly with their sick or wounded and the Zulus will catch them out in the open, they have no option but to stand and fight behind improvised barricade defenses.

Throughout the day and night (into the following day) after the Zulu force surrounds them, wave after wave of Zulu attackers are narrowly repelled by the desperate British defenders. At one point, the Zulus succeed in setting fire to the field hospital, leading to tense scenes of the evacuation of patients under fierce attack by Zulu warriors – and British Surgeon-Major James Henry Reynolds calmly continues his surgery on a wounded soldier with fighting all around him. And yes – he got a Victoria Cross.

The British defenders retreat to the shortened lines of their inner barricades. One tactic you see through the film is the use of multiple ranks of soldiers to maintain a nearly continuous volley of fire with their bolt-action rifles. None more so than the climactic scene with three such ranks used (after falling back from desperate hand-to-hand combat at an outer barricade) to defend a massive assault by Zulu warriors. And as the camera pans back, you see the fallen Zulu warriors mere inches away from the front rank of breathless British soldiers – an impressive feat of holding the line.

That’s when you start to think from the preceding sense of overwhelming doom that hangs over the British soldiers – holy crap, they’re actually going to make it! And then – no, holy crap, they’re not…as the Zulu force masses on the hill overlooking Rorke’s Drift, seemingly barely diminished, while the British are exhausted and running low on ammunition. Lieutenant van den Burgh, their Afrikaaner advisor serving with the Natal Native Contingent, sinks to his knees and rebukes the British officers (and arguably their imperialism as well) – “Haven’t you had enough? We’re all dead!”

And then, holy crap again – as the Zulus chant, raising their spears. “They’re taunting us!” Michael Caine’s character exclaims. Van den Burgh laughs – “You couldn’t be more wrong – they’re saluting us as fellow braves!”. And then the Zulus slowly turn and walk away, still chanting, until a lone warrior is left, before he too turns and leaves.

Sadly, the historical battle ended in a more prosaic way, without the Zulus saluting the British but more withdrawing from strategic sense and an advancing British relief column. I prefer to think it ended the way it did in the film.

11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders of Rorke’s Drift, as the film itself narrates with a full roll call just before the end credits – including the surgeon as mentioned but also Hook and the two commanding lieutenants Chard and Bromhead.

 

FANTASY & COMEDY

 

I’ll deal with both at once, since the film has little fantasy or comedy as pure historic drama.

 

RATING:
B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

One of the best movie poster images (for John Wick 2)

 

(7) JOHN WICK

(2014 – PRESENT: JOHN WICK 1-4 / BALLERINA)

 

 “Yeah, I’m thinking I’m back”

 

You sure are, John Wick, you sure are. You too, Keanu.

 

The best action franchise of the twenty-first century. There – I said it. Also one of the best roaring rampages of revenge and one-man armies on screen. Also some of the best poster designs.

 

I also dig the whole assassin mystique and mythos it’s got going, with its intricate rituals and rules, implausible as it all is – the implausibility just makes it more mythic! The Continental, the High Table, and so on. Although I suspect real hitmen are a lot less glamorous and a lot more seedy.

 

“Neo-noir action thriller franchise…set in a shadowy world of assassins and criminals”. I can’t resist quoting TV Tropes that “the films can be best described as what happens when Neo is reimagined in the real world as the deadliest assassin alive”.

 

It has been hailed as reviving the flagging action genre, not least due to its “choreographed sequences and practical effects that were filmed in long takes” – none of that quick cut shaky-cam crap. Also lots of gunplay and headshots – not that John needs a gun to kill anyone. A book, a pencil, a horse – anything will do.

 

This entry represents the franchise as whole – four films deep and spinoffs as at 2024 – but if I have to choose one, it would have to be the 2014 original film for the franchise at its freshest, albeit Chapter Four comes close in the sequels.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

 

That assassin mystique and mythos borders on fantasy, while John Wick’s skill and survivability borders on supernatural ability (as do the action sequences in general).

 

 

COMEDY

 

 

Surprisingly for a film set in the underworld of assassins, it hits some black and dry comedic beats  sometimes unintentionally, as in the number of times John Wick can fall and bounce without being disabled (or killed) by injury. 

 

 

RATING: 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

The iconic James Bond gun barrel opening sequence

 

(6) JAMES BOND (1962 – PRESENT)

 

“Bond, James Bond”

A spy action film franchise that needs little more than its iconic protagonist’s own signature introduction.

Well, perhaps a little more introduction – James Bond codenamed 007 as British special agent of the 00 section of MI-6 (the 00 signifying licence to kill), created by Ian Fleming as protagonist of the books (and stories) that were the origin of the franchise.

There’s enough in the franchise not only for a top ten Bond films and special mentions (or alternatively a top ten worst Bond films) – twenty-seven films and counting as at 2024 – but also easily for a top ten elements or motifs of Bond mythos.

The Bond girls. The Bond villains – and their infamous flaws of monologuing (to Bond) or just not shooting Bond as opposed to convoluted death traps or schemes. (To borrow a quote from Family Guy – “Sure, you could kill me with your gun but are you willing to try something much more elaborate and unnecessary?”)

The Bond gadgets. The Bond cars. The Bond one-liners. The Bond action prologue – introduced with the Bond gun barrel sequence and concluding with the Bond title sequence (and song). The exotic Bond globetrotting. Shaken not stirred – Bond’s drinking habits and games of chance or skill. (I seem to recall that Fleming was also fond of sumptuous descriptions of Bond’s dining or food although that hasn’t been adapted as much into film).

The Bond secondary cast from MI-6 – M, Q and Moneypenny. Recurring Bond characters (or actors) in general. Bond’s allies – perhaps foremost among them his CIA contact Felix Leiter. For that matter, typically a climactic Bond action sequence with special forces allied to Bond assaulting the villain’s forces or lair – even IN SPACE!

Heck – you could just squeeze out enough James Bonds for a top ten James Bonds, with six actors having official portrayed the character and a seventh signed up. Yes – I know that leaves three short but in addition to counting Sean Connery at least twice (at least once more in addition to his original run for the unofficial Never Say Never and arguably also for Diamonds are Forever as yet another separate incarnation in the role), there’s also Barry Nelson and David Niven in different adaptations of Casino Royale.

At very least you could compile a top ten of his incredibly versatile proficiencies or skills, and for that matter his character traits or types. As per TV Tropes – “the Ace, the Charmer, the Deadpan Snarker, the Renaissance Man, the Man of Wealth and Taste, the One-Man Army, the Professional Killer, the Sociopathic Hero, the Alcoholic, the Orphan, and the man who can always find women but can never find love. Which of these traits are pushed to the forefront will depend on the tone of the movie in question.”

And that’s not to mention all the inspirations for and adaptations, imitations or parodies of the character, enough for their own top ten (and more) – in turn reflecting Bond himself “having become one of the most iconic and quintessential action heroes in fiction”, founding the “tuxedo and martini subgenre” while defining “most of modern spy fiction and much of the action genre”.

Dare I describe the Bond film franchise as the Roman Empire of film franchises, with its various rises and resurgences or declines and falls?

Playing with that, the first Sean Connery films would be the classical empire of the first and second centuries – at its archetypal height but not without its excesses.

George Lazenby (and Diamonds are Forever) might be likened to Rome in crisis after its classical zenith, although this is unfair not only to Lazenby’s performance but even more so his film On His Majesty’s Secret Service – which is a fine Bond film, with some of the finest elements of any Bond film. (Its Bond girl for one thing and its banging theme tune for another).

The early Roger Moore films would be the resurgent later empire after the crisis of the third century, before devolving into the campy later Roger Moore films in the decline and fall of that half of the franchise. Timothy Dalton and the early Pierce Brosnan films might be likened to the eastern empire, a little rough around the edges to start after the fall of the Moore franchise before their own resurgence – but collapsing with the later Brosnan films on a camp scale almost to the point of the later Moore films.

The Daniel Craig films would be the eastern empire bouncing back to its medieval heights, with a blunter and tougher protagonist (Bond the Bulgar Slayer, anyone?) before crumbling in turn.

Which brings me to the question of which Bond film to choose, if I have to choose one film above all others in this entry – it was a close call with Casino Royale, but I’d have to go with Goldfinger as the archetypal or definitive Bond film. Even if, much like Indiana Jones in the Raiders of the Lost Ark film, Bond doesn’t actually do anything in it to achieve the final result.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

No fantasy in Bond – other than the obvious lifestyle or wish fulfilment fantasy of its protagonist for Fleming and countless male fans since.

However, it does verge into SF territory in its technothriller edges – perhaps most notably in the Bond space adventures of You Only Live Twice and Moonraker

 

COMEDY

 

Do I need to mention those Bond one-liners again? Although the James Bond film franchise has always walked the line between its more serious dramatic elements and tendencies to camp humor bordering on self-parody – falling over that line in the later Moore and later Brosnan films.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Bruce Lee in his iconic pose from Enter the Dragon

 

(5) BRUCE LEE –

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)

 

“Don’t think. Feel.”

The iconic martial arts action film by the iconic martial arts action film star.

And yes – the film may be somewhat cheesy at points, albeit not more so than other films in the 70s and which may also owe something to how much this film has blurred together with its superb parody A Fistful of Yen in the 1977 comedy sketch film Kentucky Fried Movie deep within my psyche. (The other thing deeply embedded in my psyche from that film is the sketch Catholic High School Girls in Trouble – “never has the beauty of the s€xual act been so crassly exploited”).

But it is glorious, showcasing Bruce Lee – “the quintessential martial arts film star, particularly for action films set in contemporary times, a breakthrough star for Asian actors in Hollywood and widely considered one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century”.

So deeply has it embedded itself in my psyche that it has fostered a love of martial arts action films ever since – which I then consciously or subconsciously compare to Enter the Dragon.

As per TV Tropes, it is the martial arts action trope codifier – “since this movie, almost every other work of martial arts tournament fiction has borrowed from Enter The Dragon, particularly its usage of the main hero seeking revenge against the Big Bad in a fighting tournament in a faraway exotic location full of colorful villains and other supporting heroes with their own personal motives for entering”.

Of course, the whole concept of the martial arts tournament doesn’t hold up too well as a vanity project by a criminal organization – given the potential for exposing and jeopardizing the organization, at least to the very infiltration that is the plot of the film.

Nor for that matter does a criminal organization relying on training masses of minions in martial arts – another visually iconic element of martial arts films, moving and shouting in unison – instead of, you know, guns.

Finally, I have to give a chef’s kiss to yet another iconic element of martial arts films codified – the climactic showdown between protagonist and antagonist, strikingly displayed here in a mirrored maze.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Not really here, but there’s always been a fine line between martial arts action films and fantasy in the mystical skill (or visions) of combatants – something which things like wuxia films and animated or anime series cross over. Not to mention the space Shaolin monks of Star Wars…

 

COMEDY

 

It has its comedic elements, albeit not as prominent as other martial arts action films – notably those of Jackie Chan (who had a minor role in Enter the Dragon). It certainly has its comedic elements after you’ve seen A Fistful of Yen – such that you’ll never watch it in quite the same straight-faced fashion again – and it has been repeatedly parodied elsewhere.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Perhaps the most iconic image of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry

 

(4) CLINT EASTWOOD –

THE MAN WITH NO NAME & DIRTY HARRY (1961-1966 & 1971-1988)

 

Ask yourself a question: “do I feel lucky?” Well, do you, punk?

You had me at Clint Eastwood.

No, seriously – I could just stop there, with one of the foremost icons of screen masculinity.

As per TV Tropes in rating him the trope Rated M for Manly – “The 6’4, gravel-voiced, ultra-macho action star Clint Eastwood is one of the most enduring cultural icons of masculinity in the history of American cinema and beyond.”

Although my quip for his vocal delivery is one of whispered menace. The above description also omits his signature steely gaze or glare – the latter lending itself to TV Tropes coining the trope Clint squint. Not to mention a certain wiry quality to him, even grizzled, if not both.

However, it doesn’t stop there. There are his two most iconic characters, who also happen to be two of the most iconic characters in cinema – the Man with No Name from the so-called Dollars Trilogy or even The Man with No Name Trilogy, most famously the third film of the trilogy, and Dirty Harry.

Again as per TV Tropes, Eastwood is “most famous for portraying tough-as-nails gunslingers who speak very little, and make each word (and bullet) count. The two most famous roles of this kind are Dirty Harry, and the Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s Dollar’s Trilogy.”

The Man with No Name came first – in the cinematic trilogy of Westerns directed by Sergio Leone, labelled as the subgenre of Spaghetti Westerns because they were produced by Italian film studios and Italian directors in the case of Leone. The trilogy itself consists of A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and the best (as well as most famous) of them, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Of course, the Man with No Name has a name in each film – Joe, Manco, and Blondie respectively – but they are nicknames given him by other characters. There is only a loose continuity, if any, between each film, such that it’s not clear that he’s even the same character. I prefer to think of each film as more within a mythology than a continuity – and the Man with No Name a different incarnation of a mythic character in each film.

And that mythic character – the lone gunman, with “his aloof nature, questionable motives, and his mysterious past”, not to mention his laconic persona.

“There are two kinds of people in this world – those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig”.

Personally, I’d say that Eastwood played the type in almost all his Western roles – he was the Man with No Name even when his character was named, from Pale Rider through to Unforgiven. And I am here for each and every one of them.

But I am here for his Dirty Harry over and above his Man with No Name. In part, that is due to the eclipse of the Western as a film genre, although I would argue that most films are essentially Westerns in all but setting, as reflected by the Dirty Harry films themselves with its anti-hero gunslinger protagonist transferred from the Wild West to the urban landscape (which, being San Francisco is still in the geographic American West).

Or as TV Tropes labels the character type, the Cowboy Cop – “a blunt, cynical, “the buck stops here” kind of law enforcer who’s constantly at odds with his indifferent, incompetent, strictly-by-the-book superiors”.

And, I would argue, an instinct for justice as an essential character type – and one that is often at odds with (and usually played as superior to) the letter of the law.

Not to mention his most iconic character trait – well, apart from his Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 magnum revolver (“We’re not just going to let you walk out of here.” “Who’s we, sucker?” “Smith, Wesson and me”) – his one-liners, “(like the Pre Ass Kicking One-Liner, Pre-Mortem One-Liner, or just the generic “I’m so badass”-One-Liner).” They’re so good I’m fond of adapting them to my work.

Hence TV Tropes attributes to Eastwood that “his Influence on the movie industry was such that without him (or his Dirty Harry library, to be more specific) the ‘80s would have seen about a mere fourth of the action movies it actually did see.”

Some of you may also recognize the “thematically similar'” influence of Eastwood in general and Dirty Harry in particular on someone who just happens to be my favorite comics character and protagonist of my favorite comic – Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd is essentially a futuristic Dirty Harry in a dystopian SF satire. The character was also directly modelled on Eastwood – something to which we see paid tribute in the name of Judge Dredd’s block from Eastwood’s character in the Western TV series, Rawhide – Rowdy Yates.

Which makes Dredd one of two characters from the 2000AD anthology comic modelled on Eastwood and his two iconic characters – with Strontium Dog’s Johnny Alpha as the Man with No Name to Dredd’s Dirty Harry.

So yes – if I had to choose, I would pick Dirty Harry over The Man with No Name. And if I had to choose which Dirty Harry, well the first one with that title obviously – not just for the title but also for the most compelling presentation of Dirty Harry having to break the rules to apprehend the antagonist serial killer Scorpio.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Yeah – The Man with No Name and Dirty Harry are pretty solidly grounded outside fantasy or SF, although some of his Western incarnations of the type border on fantasy, particularly Pale Rider with its revenant protagonist.

 

COMEDY

 

Well there’s those one-liners, although I wouldn’t really describe them or the films as comedic, even if they have their dry and wry moments of black humor.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

Uma Thurman as the Bride in her most iconic appearance in Kill Bill – that yellow tracksuit (as well as motorcycle and helmet) a homage to that worn by Bruce Lee in his 1972 film Game of Death

 

(3) QUENTIN TARANTINO –

KILL BILL (2003-2004)

 

“When I woke up, I went on what the movie advertisements referred to as a roaring rampage of revenge. I roared. I rampaged. And I got bloody satisfaction. I’ve killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I have only one more. The last one. The one I’m driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination… I am gonna KILL BILL”.

Quentin Tarantino – “his films are characterized by elements including recurring actors, non-linear storylines, stylized violence, black comedy, witty dialogue oft laced with pop culture references, trunk shots, close-ups on feet, especially women’s bare feet (don’t ask), and a volume of homages and shout-outs to other movies only attainable with an absurdly encyclopedic knowledge of film history”.

In fairness to the foot fetish thing, who wouldn’t cast themselves to drink off Salma Hayek’s feet?

Also a director whom I have to love for his dedication to a top ten in his own films, having famously declared his intention to retire after ten films, although we’re still awaiting that tenth film as of 2024.

As for which Tarantino film to choose for this entry, it was a close call – particularly with the film that brought him widespread acclaim, Pulp Fiction – but as my featured quote indicates, I have to go with Kill Bill.

“Kill Bill is the fourth (and fifth) film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, taking all his favorite things at that point in his career – westerns, samurai movies, martial arts, pop-culture references, actions girls, and bare feet – and combining them into one hell of a revenge drama”.

Or as the female protagonist best known simply as the Bride (or Black Mamba as a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) – although her name Beatrix Kiddo is dropped in the second film – played by Uma Thurman puts it in my featured quote, a roaring rampage of revenge. Indeed, one of the finest roaring rampages of revenge – and certainly top of my top ten roaring rampages of revenge.

Also it has one of my all-time favorite lines of cinema (note to self – compile a top ten lines of cinema) from legendary sword-maker Hattori Hanzo, played by Sonny Chiba, referring to the blade he made for the Bride – “If on your journey you should encounter God, God will be cut”.

(And how! From what we see her do with it, I’d say he was right about that).

It consists of two films although I tend to follow Tarantino in his own classification of it as one film, given that it was conceived by him as such although the studio split it in two for length. Although if I had to choose between them, I’d have to go with the first film or Volume 1 for the sheer glorious frenzied action of the Bride’s fight with O-Ren Ishii and the Crazy 88 Gang. (Although you’d think that at some point, maybe just one of those Yakuza gangsters would, you know, pull a gun on the Bride).

And of course Gogo Yubari, etched deep in my psyche ever since with her portrayal by Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama – who also starred in cult classic Battle Royale, one of Tarantino’s favorite films.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

Interestingly, Tarantino has said that his films fall into one of two cinematic universes – “one being the more realistically grounded of them…and the other being a meta-fictional narrative which Tarantino says represents the kind of films the characters in his main cinematic universe would watch”, arguably with more fantastic or at least cinematic rule of cool elements. Kill Bill falls in the latter.

 

COMEDY

 

That signature Tarantino black comedy.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

“Yeah well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man”

 

 

(2) COEN BROS –

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

 

The Dude abides.

Indeed, he abides in second place.  The Coen brothers – Joel and Ethan Coen – also abide as my favorite directors of film (albeit obviously not of my favorite film in top spot).

And yes – they have enough of a filmography for their own top ten films, but one that is impossible to categorize by genre or style apart from a blackly comedic and idiosyncratic quirky flair. “Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody”.

While I enjoy all their films I’ve seen – even the weirder ones like Barton Fink and weaker ones like The Ladykillers – the holy trinity of their filmography for me would be The Big Lebowksi, O Brother Where Art Thou, and Intolerable Cruelty (although Fargo – film and television series – comes close).

And of these, the greatest is The Big Lebowksi – which despite a mixed reception and box office return at the time of its release – rose to cult classic status.

As TV Tropes describes, “it’s a bit hard to describe but let’s just call it a film noir parody”, albeit an affectionate one – particularly of Raymond Chandleresque noir detective stories set in L.A., with the title itself a nod to The Big Sleep.

Except of course for its Philip Marlowe protagonist, it’s slacker Jeff Lebowski – although he prefers to go by the Dude – played to perfection by Jeff Bridges. He’s not the titular Big Lebowksi however – and it’s the mix-up in identity between them that effectively gets the ball rolling on the plot. Well – that and also the Dude’s rug really tied the room together.

Again as per TV Tropes, “this being a Coen Brothers movie, though, the plot isn’t important. The driving force within the movie is the collection of various, bizarre, main and secondary (and tertiary!) characters, almost all of whom seem to come from completely different movies.”

Not least the film’s cowboy narrator, styled as The Stranger, played by Sam Elliott – giving us my featured quote, although the Dude himself takes a shine to it.

Oh – and of course, the Jesus.

But yeah well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.

 

FANTASY & SF

 

The filmography of the Coen brothers definitely dips into the fantasy genre with some of their more fantastic elements, although not enough that any of their films would be described as fantasy – particularly as those fantastic elements are more in the nature of dreams or trips, as in The Big Lebowksi

 

COMEDY

 

The kings of black comedy, dryly delivered.

The Big Lebowksi in particular could be outright classified as comedy.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

One of the most iconic scenes in the film – and in film

 

 

(1) APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)

 

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning…smells like victory.”

Yeah – this is the big one, the cinematic equivalent of Catch-22, lodged next to it deep within my psyche ever since seeing it (by happenstance at about the same time as reading Catch-22).

And not coincidentally, like Catch-22 also set in a war, except of course in the Vietnam war as opposed to the former’s Second World War, and similarly using the war as a backdrop for a story beyond the war itself – a satire of modern society in Catch-22 and an exploration of the human psyche on the edges of madness and beyond in Apocalypse Now.

While it is usually (and accurately) considered a war film, it is a psychological war film which could well have been set elsewhere – and indeed originally was, given that it is a very loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness from nineteenth century Africa to the Vietnam War. One might well quip that it was also a loose adaptation of the Vietnam War itself (to the American or human psyche).

Hence some of those who watch it expecting a more straightforward war or action film might be disappointed, particularly with its pacing – although I was entranced by it throughout when I first watched it, even in my adolescent days. Don’t get me wrong – it absolutely does have action scenes, indeed some of the most visually striking and iconic action scenes, hence my entrancement, but not quite in the pace or style of a contemporary action film blockbuster.

As per TV Tropes – “packed to the gills with now-iconic scenes and quotes, it is a common choice for not only the definitive anti-war movie but the definitive cinematic depiction of war not as battle, or even as purgatory but as an illogical fever dream”.

Illogical fever dream is overstating it – it has a coherent plot – but things definitely get wilder and trippier the further the protagonist and his squad go.

As for that protagonist and squad – again as per TV Tropes, “”special operations Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent to kill Walter E Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a Green Beret colonel who has gone mad and formed a personality cult in Cambodia”…Willard and his crew including George “Chief” Phillips (Albert Hall), Jay “Chef” Hicks (Frederic Forrest), Lance Johnson (Sam Bottoms) and Tryone “Mr Clean” Miller (a 14-year-old Laurence Fishburne) — go up a river and into the recesses of humanity.”

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola at the height of his career, it’s a miracle the film was even made, let alone be this good, given a trouble production that’s almost as legendarily epic as the film itself. On that point – and perhaps not surprisingly given that production history – the original cinematic edit is definitely the best. While the ‘redux’ director’s cut has points of interest, Coppola definitely got it right for its original cinematic release.

I’ll conclude with Roger Ebert’s thoughts when adding it to his list of great movies – ” “What’s great in the film, and what will make it live for many years and speak to many audiences, is what Coppola achieves on the levels Truffaut was discussing: the moments of agony and joy in making cinema. Some of those moments occur at the same time; remember again the helicopter assault and its unsettling juxtaposition of horror and exhilaration. Remember the weird beauty of the massed helicopters lifting above the trees in the long shot, and the insane power of Wagner’s music, played loudly during the attack, and you feel what Coppola was getting at: Those moments as common in life as art, when the whole huge grand mystery of the world, so terrible, so beautiful, seems to hang in the balance,,,Apocalypse Now is the best Vietnam film, one of the greatest of all films, because it pushes beyond the others, into the dark places of the soul. It is not about war so much as about how war reveals truths we would be happy never to discover.”

 

FANTASY & SF

 

It’s trippier moments border on some dark fantasy but no – it remains grounded in the mundane reality of our world. Or at least as mundane as the Vietnam War got.

Although it is tempting to conflate, as Kim Newman did in a short story, Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Coppola’s Dracula film – with Harker as Willard and his crew of vampire hunters on a gunboat upriver into Transylvania…

 

COMEDY

 

It has its comedic elements – some of the blackest and driest in film perhaps but they are there, at least according to my sense of humor. Definitely not a comedy though.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 ACTION & DRAMA FILMS (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD-TIER)

 

(1) APOCALYPSE NOW

(2) COEN BROS – THE BIG LEBOWSKI

(3) QUENTIN TARANTINO – KILL BILL

Like Tarantino, I regard the two volumes as one film but if I have to choose – Volume 1.

 

If Apocalypse Now is my Old Testament of action and drama film, The Big Lebowski and Kill Bill is my New Testament.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) CLINT EASTWOOD – THE MAN WITH NO NAME & DIRTY HARRY

His two iconic roles – if I have to choose between them, I’ll go with Dirty Harry (and the first film). After all, he’s the model for Judge Dredd.

(5) BRUCE LEE – ENTER THE DRAGON

(6) JAMES BOND

As for which film – Goldfinger as the film that defines the franchise.

(7) JOHN WICK

Yes – all four films (and counting). As for which is the best among them, the fourth film comes close but the first film remains the definitive film for me.

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(8) ZULU

(9) THE RAID

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

(10) THE FURIOUS

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Action & Drama Films (Revised: 2026 New Entry) (10) The Furious

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Theatrical release poster art (fair use)

 

 

(10) THE FURIOUS (2026)

 

“The Furious detonates into a relentless, blood-soaked spectacle of breathtakingly inventive martial arts choreography, with director Kenji Tanigaki delivering a brutal, balletic action extravaganza” – Rotten Tomatoes.

Yeah, I have to agree with the Rotten Tomatoes consensus on this one, although I’d add frenetic to the adjectives.

“The Furious is a 2025 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Kenji Tanigaki starring Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Joey Iwanaga, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian, and Yanin Vismitananda.”

And it has all the martial arts, reflecting its pan-Asian cast – kung fu (by the Chinese protagonist whose character is mute in the film), judo, pencak silat, karate, muay Thai…

I’m also counting it as a 2026 film for my wildcard tenth place entry because it was theatrically released in that year.

In an undisclosed country within Southeast Asia, a mute tradesman named Wang Wei…just kidding, we’re not here for the plot, except to connect the awesome martial arts scenes, and indeed some critics were caustic about the “clunky” dialogue and “goofy” plot.

That undisclosed country within Southeast Asia is recognizably Bangkok where it was filmed (with some overhead footage I assume is from drones). The villains are cartoonishly evil and all the better for it, coming up against their kung fu nemesis when their goons kidnap his daughter as part of their trafficking business. You never do find out the protagonist’s mysterious background – I’m assuming it involves some supernatural ability for kung fu. Speaking of which, I always like seeing Yayan Ruhian in martial arts film. I have my own head canon that he’s always his Mad Dog character, returning from his death in each film like those eerie Japanese stringy-haired ghost girls (despite being Indonesian).

 

FANTASY & SF

 

No, except to the extent that the intense fighting skill and survival of characters borders on supernatural, as in a few other films in this top ten.

 

COMEDY

 

Again, not really any comedic elements, except occasionally verging on martial arts slapstick or black comedy.

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Odyssey Adaptations (Special Mention: Part 1)

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Cropped from the poster or promotional art for Nolan Odyssey film (fair use)

 

 

TOP 10 ADAPTATIONS OF THE ODYSSEY (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

Sing, Muse, of the special mentions for my Top 10 Adaptations of the Odyssey.

Yes, I’ve featured my Top 10 Adaptations of the Odyssey, but there’s almost three millennia of adaptations for my usual twenty special mentions.

 

(1) MYTHOLOGY – AENEID

 

Wait, what? What’s going on with these special mentions?!

Mythology as an adaptation of the Odyssey? Isn’t the Odyssey itself mythology?

Well yes but as one of the oldest extant literary works of mythology, it obviously had an ongoing influence within classical (and other) mythology as it featured in other literary works.

Some of those literary works have been lost, as with the so-called Epic Cycle – the larger mythos of the Trojan War of which only the Iliad and Odyssey survive – which includes a ‘sequel’ to the Odyssey, the Telegony.

Foremost among the surviving literary works is the Roman Odyssey or Virgil’s Odyssey, also known as the Aeneid.

The Aeneid was essentially imperial propaganda for Augustus, seeking to outdo the Iliad and the Odyssey by combining both – adapting them to the Roman ancestral hero, Aeneas.

After fleeing the falling Troy with family and companions, Trojan hero and legendary founder of Rome, Aeneas, has his own odyssey to Italy, matching many of the same beats from the Odyssey including his own prophetic visit to the underworld. In Italy, he fights his own version of the Iliad but founding a kingdom rather than destroying one.

Bonus points for name-dropping Odysseus (in his Latin name Ulysses) – and with snark to boot.

 

(2) POETRY & LITERATURE – DIVINE COMEDY (INFERNO)

 

As the oldest and foundational work of Western poetry and literature – well, together with the Iliad and excluding any ancient Middle Eastern literature such as the Bible – the Odyssey obviously had an ongoing influence on poetry and literature ever since, as we’ve seen with my top ten entry for Tennysons’s Ulysses.

There’s a few more entries of poetry and literature among these special mentions but for this entry I’ll focus on Dante’s Divine Comedy, particularly its Inferno as it seems directly influenced by the Odyssey via Virgil, at least for its underworld journey – and not least because Odysseus is in it, under his Roman name Ulysses, receiving the punishment reserved in hell for deceitful counsellors.

Dante out-Virgils Virgil, with his epic fantasy voyage through the afterlife, starting of course with the most famous (and fun) of its three parts, Inferno – the characteristic katabasis of heroes or poets into the underworld, or Hell in Dante’s case, with Virgil as his guide no less.

 

(3) FANTASY & SF

 

“Brian Stableford, who described it as a kind of forerunner to science fiction, says it has been reconfigured as science fiction more than any other literary work.” – “The Emergence of Science Fiction, 1516–1914” in Neil Barron (ed.). Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction.

Not surprisingly, there’s a few fantasy & SF entries among these special mentions.

 

(4) ART & MUSIC

 

Apparently, there’s music and operas based on or adapting the Odyssey, but I don’t know any of them except for the loose and quasi-musical adaptation of the Odyssey by the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Where are the rock opera or Broadway adaptations? They would rock! (Feel free to tell me there are actually rock opera or Broadway adaptations apart from my penultimate special mention).

I’m more familiar with adaptations of the Odyssey in art, particularly for the Sirens (albeit more their subsequent mermaid or nymph-like forms rather than their original bird-women version).

 

(5) TROPES – ODYSSEY

 

The Odyssey pretty much has all of them as the ur-example or trope maker – and as per TV Tropes, “we can’t forget to mention that “odyssey” became a word in the English lexicon (and in the many other languages too) for a particularly long and complex journey.”

 

(6) GOSPEL OF MARK

 

Okay, this is a fringe theory but I have to give it special mention – Dennis R. MacDonald argues in “The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark” that the gospel author was deliberately adapting Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

His thesis is that the gospel author wrote it as “a deliberate and conscious anti-epic, an inversion of the Greek ‘Bible’ of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey” – presenting Jesus as a “new hero” that mirrors but transcends those of Homer. (Ironically, the Nolan film does something similar for Odysseus as moral hero).

 

(7) JAMES JOYCE – ULYSSES (1922)

 

I can’t have special mentions for adaptations of the Odyssey without featuring its most famous literary adaptation, in which the Odyssey is adapted to a single day, Thursday 16 June 1904, in Dublin – with Leopold Bloom as Odysseus, his adulterous wife Molly Bloom as Penelope, and Joyce’s alter ego from A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, Stephen Daedalus, as Telemachus.

Not that it’s famous in terms of people actually reading it. I’m always prompted to recall a quip that Ulysses is acclaimed as the greatest novel of the twentieth century and we’ll all know for sure when it is translated into English. The punchline is of course that Joyce wrote it in English but in his idiosyncratic version of it – a version that was on its way to becoming almost completely indecipherable in Finnegan’s Wake.

There’s also the running gag about the book’s “great preface” by Irish comedian Sean Hughes in his TV series Sean’s Show -“I took a year off to read Ulysses. Great book. Well, the preface is, anyway.” Yeah, that’s pretty much where I stopped reading it as well.

 

(8) NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS – THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL (1938)

 

Kazantzakis is better known for his novel The Last Temptation of Christ but of course, being Greek, he wrote an epic poem sequel to the Odyssey. Odysseus sets off on more adventures and ends up in Antarctica, which is strangely apt given the concluding line from Tennyson’s Ulysses used as epitaph for Antarctic explorer Scott’s memorial there

 

(9) ROBERT GRAVES – HOMER’S DAUGHTER (1955)

 

Such is the prevalence or profile of female characters in the Odyssey, particularly when compared to the Iliad, 19th century English novelist Samuel Butler proposed that the “Homer” who wrote the Odyssey was a woman. Butler opined that it was a Sicilian woman, hence setting much of the Odyssey’s fantastic voyage in Sicily – and inserting herself in the Odyssey as Nausicaa.

Not surprisingly, Robert Graves picked up this ball and ran with it in his book Homer’s Daughter.

.

 

(10) ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF – THE WANDERINGS OF ODYSSEUS: THE STORY OF THE ODYSSEY (1995)

 

Rosemary Sutcliff was an English novelist best known for her retellings of history and mythology for children – as here for the Odyssey, published posthumously.

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Mythology Books (Revised 2026)

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Free ‘divine gallery’ sample art from OldWorldGods

 

TOP 10 MYTHOLOGY BOOKS

 

I live in a mythic world.

Mythology has been a subject that has fascinated me since childhood, when I read it avidly – and still does as I read it now, hence my Top 10 Mythology Books.

These are my books of myth and mystery. I’m not going to seek to define mythology for this top ten. It seems to me that people who have studied it far more than I have differ substantially in their definitions of it and I’m not sure that there’s any easy or singular definition in any event. By its nature, myth overlaps with mystery. It is what it is.

Nor am I going to seek to distinguish myth or mythology from overlapping categories such as folklore or legend. If I might use religious metaphor, mythology tends to be defined in a ‘high-church’ sense involving divine beings or sacred narratives, while folklore or legend tend to be defined in a more ‘low church’ sense involving figures or narratives closer to humans and nature. And while we’re on that point, I’m not going to seek to distinguish myth or mythology from the overlapping subjects of religion or ritual. To extend that metaphor, I’m going with a broad church approach here. I don’t have a religion – I have a mythology.

The only thing I would seek to distinguish myth or mythology from is the colloquial or popular usage of the word myth to connote some collectively or commonly held belief that has no basis in fact, or indeed any false story. I use myth or mythology without any implication as to whether any belief or narrative may be understood as true or otherwise.

So that said, here are my Top 10 Mythology Books. This is one of my deep dive top tens, counting down from tenth to first place and looking at individual entries in some depth or detail of themselves. Tenth place is my wildcard entry for the best entry from the present year (2026).

But wait – there’s more! The subject is prolific enough for my usual twenty special mentions per top ten and for honorable mentions beyond that.

Finally, a note on the visual images used in this top ten. Given the copyright in visual images, I use visual images of one of the three following types to avoid infringing copyright – images from the public domain or free images, images licensed for use with attribution, and images as fair use for the purposes of comment, criticism, reaction or review. I tend to use published cover art as fair use for books.

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

Cover of Princeton University Press 2026 hardback edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

(10) JOHN BLAIR –

KILLING THE DEAD: VAMPIRE EPIDEMICS FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO THE NEW WORLD (2026)

 

“Killing the Dead provides the first in-depth, global account of one of the world’s most widespread yet misunderstood forms of mass hysteria – the vampire epidemic.”

In depth, that is, as a serious subject of scholarly study – while Blair entertainingly segues to modern vampire fiction at times, it is to contrast it with what anthropology and other academic disciplines reveal about actual beliefs or practices.

And by vampire epidemic as mass hysteria, Blair doesn’t mean an epidemic of vampires or people believing themselves to be vampires, running around biting people or drinking blood, but mass hysteria of people believing themselves to be stalked by vampires from beyond the grave – and not about to go down without a fight.

That’s right – the people in these vampire epidemics weren’t about to just sit around while the vampires stalked them, but rather to do a little preemptive stalking of their own right back at the vampires – or rather, a little preemptive staking, nipping them in the grave as it were. The front line of the war of the living against the dead was the grave – digging up suspect corpses, which were lucky if they got off only with staking.

An important distinction is that the vampires of vampire epidemics were the corporeal dead – not the incorporeal dead such as ghosts.

And as the subtitle indicates, vampire killing has a long history, from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern New World – “a macabre frontier of life and death where corpses are believed to wander or do harm from the grave, and where the vampire is a physical expression of society’s inexplicable terrors and anxieties”.

In case anyone is inclined to scoff or sniff at superstition, Blair points to the British public in 1732 opening their morning papers to read of “lurid happenings” in eastern Europe – Serbian villagers digging up, mutilating, and burning corpses upon finding them “undecayed and bloated with blood” – where “centuries earlier, the English themselves engaged in the same behavior”.

Vampire epidemics were surprisingly persistent and prevalent throughout history, although interestingly the various beliefs comprising them tend to fall in distinctive geographic “belts” mapped by Blair.

And the most interesting argument by Blair is that they may not be all that bad. There are worse ways for societies to respond to “traumatic moments” – or have an outlet for “fear, hatred, and paranoia” – than by targeting the corpses of people that are, after all, already dead. The most obvious is of course targeting people that are alive and turning them into corpses, rather than taking a corpse and making it more of one – or less of one, depending on how you look at it.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Cover Oxford University Press 2001 paperback edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

(9) RONALD HUTTON –
TRIUMPH OF THE MOON: A HISTORY OF MODERN PAGAN WITCHCRAFT (1999)

 

The history of what Hutton portrays to be the only religion England has ever given the world, modern pagan witchcraft or Wicca.

Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes, among other specialties, in the history of the various strands of contemporary paganism – particularly in this book, which might be regarded as his magnum opus.

It may be somewhat deflating or disillusioning for those who like to imagine modern paganism or neopaganism as descending from an unbroken lineage or tradition back to historical paganism, but Hutton presents Wicca definitively as a twentieth century reconstruction, often artistic or literary in nature.

However, Hutton clearly writes from a respect for the new paganism, consistent with his paean to it as the only religion England has given the world (and I understand that he was actually raised as a pagan in his youth).

And for that matter, what does it matter that it is a reconstruction of historical traditions, rather than a genuine continuation of, as neopaganism likes to present itself, longstanding hidden pagan traditions? Scratch beneath the surface and much the same can be said of other religious traditions. After all, if a historian can characterize even Christianity, from a historical perspective, as a Greek hero cult devoted to a Jewish messiah, then what of reconstruction? And that’s setting aside how much of either side of that characterization – Greek and Jewish – might be further characterized as reconstruction, or at least synthesis of other traditions.

Among his other books prior to Triumph of the Moon, Hutton deflated much the same claims of the ritual year in English paganism or at least tradition in Stations of the Sun – demonstrating the various celebrations to be of much more recent vintage than is often claimed for them.

And after Triumph of the Moon, Hutton has gone on to look at other strands within modern paganism in a similar vein (as more reflecting modern reconstruction than genuine historical tradition) – shamanism, druids, and most recently, various ‘pagan’ goddess figures of folklore in his Queens of the Wild.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Pierrot Publishing, 1st edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

(8) PETER DICKINSON –
THE FLIGHT OF DRAGONS (1979)

 

Here be dragons!

And how! It’s like Jurassic Park, only even more awesome – with dragons! This is a work of “speculative natural history”, which addresses that most awesome question – how dragons might have really existed?

Or more precisely, is there an evolutionary hypothesis that could explain the existence of dragons of mythology and lore?

In doing so, it addresses the question posed by the title – the flight of dragons. Clearly, something extra is needed for the mass of dragons to be lifted by their limited wing area – and if not magic, what?

The answer is the central hypothesis of the work – that dragons were essentially fantasy dirigibles, held aloft by sacs of hydrogen, produced from their own digestive hydrochloric acid. From that, we have their evolution from dinosaurs to most of the tropes of dragons in fantasy, not least their fiery breath, evolved to burn off excess hydrogen but finding use as a weapon – although it also offers explanations for their toxic (or more precisely acidic) blood, their hoards and most other dragon tropes, with an element of legendary embellishment thrown in (intelligence and speech for example).

It also offers explanation for the saddest dragon trope – their absence from reality. Obviously, they were hunted to extinction by humanity and their acidic blood dissolved any bodily remnants that remained behind (so no dragon fossils – alas!)

It’s a nice fantasy theory, even if it seems somewhat contrived or forced at times by standards of biology – but damned if I don’t half believe it, and even more damned if I don’t totally wish that somewhere here or there be dragons…

 

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

1976 Viking edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

(7) KATHARINE BRIGGS –
A DICTIONARY OF FAIRIES (1972)

 

What it says on the tin, the definitive guide to that classic subject of British folklore – fairies.

A classic book, alternatively titled An Encyclopedia of Fairies, which now seems sadly out of print (but still available online), by a classic British folklorist – indeed THE classic British folklorist.

Of course, the term fairies now conjures up images of cute little gossamer-winged pixies like Tinkerbell.

In British folklore, fairies were much different, most aptly styled as the Fair Folk, itself a euphemism for things that would flay you and walk around in your skin – because you sure as hell didn’t want to draw their attention or conjure them up by using names more true to their nature, or worse yet, their true names. In fairness (heh), they weren’t always as extreme as to literally flay you and walk around in your skin, only on occasion and only some of them. Some of them were more neutral or even nice, although even the nice ones were usually weird or had weird alien morality. Indeed, alien is an apt description, as in many ways, the fairies of British folklore have been replaced with the aliens of modern folklore. And this book is a fascinating exploration, arranged as a dictionary in alphabetical entries (cross-referenced to other entries) of the various beings, creatures, attributes, themes and tropes of fairy folklore.

Also there’s an annual Katharine Briggs Folklore Award from 1982, named and awarded by the Folklore Society in honour of Briggs (who served as their president).

 

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

Cover 1996 edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

 

(6) JEAN CHEVALIER & ALAIN GHEERBRANT –
PENGUIN DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS (1969)

 

The Penguin dictionaries are usually of high quality whatever the subject, but the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols is the standout for me.

That might be attributed to the collaboration of its original authors – French writer, philosopher and theologian Jean Chevalier, with French poet and explorer Alain Gheerbant. Their literary background shines forth in the lyrical quality or poetic resonance of the entries – although at times the entries can be somewhat overwhelming in the density of their style.

As for the book itself, well, it’s a dictionary…of symbols. Obviously. Although that understates just how comprehensive the entries are, both in quantity and quality – devoted to the symbolism of myths, dreams, habits, gestures, shapes, figures, colors, numbers, plants, animals and more found in mythology and folklore.

I’ll let Penguin’s own publishing entry speak for it – “This is a remarkable dictionary, exploring the vast and various symbols which abound in literature, religion, national identity and are found at the very heart of our dreams and sub-conscious…each entry is given its complete range of interpretations – sexual and spiritual, official and subversive, cultural and religious – to bring meaning and insight to the symbol”.

 

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

The Ghost Dance of 1889-1891 by Frederic Remington, 1890 – Wikipedia “Ghost Dance” (public domain)

 

 

(5) WESTON LA BARRE –
THE GHOST DANCE: THE ORIGINS OF RELIGION (1970)

 

A sweeping “psychoanalytic account of the birth of religion through the lens of his treatment of the ghost dance religion of native America”.

A sadly elusive and overlooked classic, particularly as anthropologist Weston La Barre regarded it as his magnum opus.

It’s also deliciously snarky, particularly about founding religious figures and classical philosophies.

Essentially, he presents all religion – not just native American – as shamanic in nature. All religions are ghost dances at heart. Indeed, this book led me to see the Bible as the Hebrew dreaming and the great messianic ghost dance.

Don’t get me wrong – I have a soft spot for the ghost dance, both the historical native American ghost dance and its metaphors. Hell – I usually feel my life has been one long ghost dance…

 

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

New World Library, Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, 3rd edition – not the edition I own but the cover I like most (fair use)

 

(4) JOSEPH CAMPBELL –
THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES (1949)

 

Behold the monomyth!

Joseph Campbell, arguably the leading scholar of mythology, developed the monomyth or Hero’s Journey as the archetypal heroic narrative in which the protagonist hero sets out, has transformative adventures and returns home. And it has been a favorite of comparative mythology and literary or writing studies ever since, particularly after George Lucas identified it as a major influence on his original Star Wars trilogy.

Campbell identified it as the monomyth because he saw it to be a universal mythic structure to heroes, or at least a recurring one. Of course, it helps to be a monomyth if you pitch it in broad terms that apply to almost any story – the hero (ad)ventures into the mythic world – the supernatural or mysterious realm – and brings something back, not least himself in transformed form.

As per Campbell – “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

Or even more broadly, a hero goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis and comes home changed or transformed – which is almost any story.

It also helps to structure it in the basic modern dramatic format of three acts – which Campbell styled as departure, initiation (often featuring death and rebirth or resurrection) and return.

And it helps even more to combine this broad structure at the same time with a number of specific variations from virtually every story – which Campbell styled as stages – which themselves have an almost infinite number of permutations.

Even so, you can’t deny the poetic resonance of Campbell’s stages as he styled or titled them – from the Call to Adventure (often accompanied by a Refusal of the Call) that starts it all, through the Belly of the Whale and the Road of Trials as well as my personal favorite The Meeting with the Goddess, to the triumphant return as the Master of Two Worlds and the Freedom to Live.

Of course, the monomyth has its critics – from those who criticize that its very generality (or vagueness) detracts from its validity or usefulness, to those who criticize its male frame of reference (with some offering up the heroine’s journey as an alternative) or its inherently aristocratic (or autocratic) elitism.

Yet, who can deny the emotional resonance of the hero’s journey – and who hasn’t yearned for their own call to adventure?

 

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

HarperCollins 1983 paperback edition (the edition I own) – my favorite cover art for the book! (fair use)

 

 

(3) BARBARA WALKER –
WOMEN’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS & SECRETS (1983)

 

She is the goddess and this is her body!

Also behold the monomyth! Not of Joseph Campbell’s universal hero, but of the universal goddess (although all heroes are her heroes). Or rather – the Goddess, since she is ultimately all goddesses. Virgin, mother, crone – god the mother and mother of god.

Now we get into my top trinity of my top ten books of mythology. Interestingly, Barbara Walker has also written a number of classic references to knitting. Obviously our interest here consists of her books in neo-pagan feminism, of which this entry was first and foremost – as an encyclopedia reference to mythology and religion through the lens, or rather the dance, of the Goddess. Essentially, throughout all entries there is Walker’s monomyth of the archetypal Goddess throughout mythology and history – or rather prehistory (or perhaps herstory), as the Goddess was displaced, firstly into many goddesses, and secondly by male gods or God.

However, like neo-paganism or the goddess movement in general, Walker’s monomyth is not so much a matter of historical accuracy (as many of her historical sources and interpretations don’t hold up under scrutiny) as it is historical reconstruction – the goddess as sacred poetry rather than sacred history. Or as sacred dance – the ghost dance of the Goddess as it were.

Walker herself is an atheist, so she doesn’t believe in the Goddess as a supernatural entity but as a symbol – and one she proposes as healthier for our society.

As she quotes Eugene O’Neill in one of her entries:

“We should have imagined life as created in the birth-pain of God the Mother. Then we would understand why we, Her children, have inherited pain, for we would know that life’s rhythm beats from Her great heart, torn with the agony of love and birth, and we would feel that death meant reunion with Her, a passing back into Her substance, blood of Her blood again, peace of Her peace.” – Eugene O’Neill, “Strange Interlude”

Of course, Walker’s not just talking your New Age Goddess here, all sweetness and light or maiden and mother – baptized between her breasts. She’s also talking your Old Testament bitch-goddess, apocalyptic wh*re or classic White Goddess of Graves – crucified between her thighs.

But meh – that’s no different from my life anyway:

“Sometimes I am the sister who befriends you, sometimes I am the mother who holds you, and sometimes I am the lover who sticks one in your back.”

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT GODDESS TIER?)

 

 

Homer Simpson as Odysseus from “D’oh, Brother Where Art Thou?” in “Tales from the Public Domain” (episode 283 – S13 E14) – aptly enough given his namesake and still one of the best televised adaptations of the Odyssey (fair use)

 

 

(2) HOMER – ILIAD & ODYSSEY

 

“Sing, Muse, of the wrath of Achilles”.

“Tell me, Muse, of the cunning man who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famed city of Troy”

We’re going old school here, the oldest school there is – the Iliad and the Odyssey, the rosy-fingered dawn of Western literature, preceding even literacy as those two epic poems were performed or sung rather than written by their author Homer, with tradition holding that he memorized both and probably changed the story each time he told them. (And no, not that Homer, although I couldn’t resist using him as my feature image). Although everything about Homer – or is that Homers? – is contested, such as whether he was indeed illiterate, or blind, or a man (I do have a soft spot for the theory that while a male Homer authored the Iliad, a female Homer authored the Odyssey), or Greek, or indeed even existed at all, at least as a single person.

“The Greeks held Homer in something like reverence” – as they and everyone else damn well should have or should – “viewing his works as the foundation of their society, in much the same way as modern Europeans view the Bible”. As do I and have since childhood, in which they (or at least the Odyssey) have been hugely influential for me personally, such if you were to peel back the layers of my psyche you’d find them deep within it. Of course, that wasn’t because anyone sung them to me – although again they damn well should have – or even that I read them in their original poetic form, but as a prose adaption of the Oydssey for children (The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin), which still remains the version of the Odyssey lodged within my psyche.

Indeed, the Iliad is my Old Testament and the Odyssey is my New Testament. Aptly enough, given the Bronze Age battle hymns of Iliad and Old Testament, or the hero’s return from death in Odyssey and New Testament.

And while we’re on such comparisons, the Second World War is the American Iliad and the Cold War the American Odyssey.

However, I have always preferred the Odyssey to the Iliad. When people think of the Iliad, they usually think of all the things that aren’t actually in it – the whole mythos of the Trojan War in what is usually referred to as the Trojan Cycle. Instead, the Iliad is an incredibly brief snapshot of the Trojan War – a few weeks or so in the final year of a legendary ten year war. And of course most of that is the greatest Greek warrior Achilles sulking in his tent, because the Greek leader Agamemnon deprived him of the booty, in both senses of the word, of a Trojan girl taken captive. Until of course Achilles’ boyfriend Patroclus is killed by the greatest Trojan warrior Hector – at which time, it’s personal. Well until the Trojan king Priam begs Achilles if the latter could please stop dragging Hector’s dead body behind him while doing victory laps in his chariot.

Ultimately though, the Iliad is just men killing each other and squabbling over women. The Odyssey on the other hand is a ten year maritime magical mystery tour – or dare I say it, Poseidon adventure, as the Greek hero Odysseus just tries to return to his kingdom Ithaca after the Trojan War, barely escaping death as he is tossed from flotsam to jetsam in one shipwreck after another from Poseidon’s wrath. I mean, seriously, he could have walked home faster from Turkey to Greece, although Poseidon probably still would have got him somehow. And he loses all his ships and men en route, returning home as lone survivor – and stranger, as even then he has to remain disguised as a beggar to infiltrate his own household and outwit his wife’s persistent suitors partying it up there. And let me tell you, every dog has its day. Literally and heartbreakingly, as he is recognized by his faithful dog Argos who has awaited his return for twenty years (only to finally pass away with that last effort). But also figuratively and with undeniable satisfaction as he outwits and defeats the suitors.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

 

The title page to the 1611 first edition of the King James Bible – Wikipedia “King James Bible” (public domain)

 

(1) BIBLE

 

The Hebrew dreaming and the great messianic ghost dance.

The holy book of smiting and begetting.

Chosen people and only son.

 

This is the big one – genesis and apocalypse, alpha and omega, allelujah and amen!

Readers of my top tens will be familiar with me playfully classifying the highest tier (or god-tier) entries as my Old Testament or New Testament – a tribute to the influence of the Bible. I do that in a few ways with my Top 10 Mythology Books (or Top 10 Mythologies), but of course at a fundamental level the Bible is itself my Old Testament and New Testament.

Of course, the Bible is helped into top spot in that for many people it is not just mythology but religion, in contrast to classical mythology or other ‘pagan’ mythologies it largely replaced . The Bible is also the heart, still beating in many ways, of ‘Judeo-Christian’ culture that is one of the two predominant cultural influences in what is often termed as Western civilization, along with the ‘Greco-Roman’ culture that vies with it as the other predominant cultural influence – sometimes in alignment and sometimes as rivals. Athens versus Jerusalem and all that – filtered through Rome. It is as the source for religion rather than mythology that most people come to it, as I did, even if I have lapsed from any religious belief in it.

However, it is the book that doesn’t stop giving, even after you stop believing. That is because of its enduring mythic resonance or narratives and language that in its best passages has an enduring lyrical or poetic quality.

In other words, I read the Bible as mythology rather than religion or in short, as poetry rather than history. Don’t get me wrong – my own hot take, to antagonize both believers and skeptics, is that the Bible is of course a lot less historical than fundamentalist believers usually maintain, but has more history than skeptics usually credit. This is a view influenced by Manfred Barthel’s What The Bible Really Says, which among other things proposes more naturalistic explanations of apparently supernatural miracles – even such things as the burning bush, and not in terms of what Moses was smoking. And also don’t get me wrong as to its literary quality – the Bible is an anthology after all, and one of uneven quality. It may be described by believers as the word of God but he could have used an editor. Or for that matter, better writers of a more modern novelistic style even for its better narrative parts, which tend to resonate more when adapted into more modern style – or screenplays.

I mean seriously, the Bible is the original Game of Thrones – people are often surprised just how much sex and violence is in it (or just how much sheer pagan enjoyment it can provide). It is the book of smiting and begetting after all. And as opposed to Game of Thrones, it finishes with a bang rather than a whimper with a much more sensational, if much trippier, finale, at least in the New Testament and the Book of Apocalypse, my personal favorite book in the Bible.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER – WHAT ELSE?)

 

You can return to or find more top tens in my indexed page for top tens of mythology.

 

 

 

 

TOP 10 MYTHOLOGY BOOKS (TIER LIST)

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT GODDESS TIER?)

 

(1) BIBLE

(2) HOMER – ILIAD & ODYSSEY

(3) BARBARA WALKER – WOMEN’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS & SECRETS

 

If the Bible and Homer are my Old Testament of mythology books, then the Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets is my New Testament.

And yes – I know that in a literal sense the Bible is both my Old Testament and New Testament, although in a figurative sense I also claim the Iliad as my Old Testament and the Odyssey as my New Testament. That’s just how mythology is, ok?

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(4) JOSEPH CAMPBELL – THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES

(5) WESTON LA BARRE – THE GHOST DANCE

(6) PENGUIN DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS

(7) KATHERINE BRIGGS – DICTIONARY OF FAIRIES

(8) PETER DICKINSON – THE FLIGHT OF DRAGONS

(9) RONALD HUTTON – THE TRIUMPH OF THE MOON

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

 

(10) JOHN BLAIR – KILLING THE DEAD

 

 

 

 

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Mythology Books (Revised: New Entry 2026) (10) John Blair: Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World

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Cover of Princeton University Press 2026 hardback edition – the edition I own (fair use)

 

(10) JOHN BLAIR –

KILLING THE DEAD: VAMPIRE EPIDEMICS FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO THE NEW WORLD (2026)

 

“Killing the Dead provides the first in-depth, global account of one of the world’s most widespread yet misunderstood forms of mass hysteria – the vampire epidemic.”

In depth, that is, as a serious subject of scholarly study – while Blair entertainingly segues to modern vampire fiction at times, it is to contrast it with what anthropology and other academic disciplines reveal about actual beliefs or practices.

And by vampire epidemic as mass hysteria, Blair doesn’t mean an epidemic of vampires or people believing themselves to be vampires, running around biting people or drinking blood, but mass hysteria of people believing themselves to be stalked by vampires from beyond the grave – and not about to go down without a fight.

That’s right – the people in these vampire epidemics weren’t about to just sit around while the vampires stalked them, but rather to do a little preemptive stalking of their own right back at the vampires – or rather, a little preemptive staking, nipping them in the grave as it were. The front line of the war of the living against the dead was the grave – digging up suspect corpses, which were lucky if they got off only with staking.

An important distinction is that the vampires of vampire epidemics were the corporeal dead – not the incorporeal dead such as ghosts.

And as the subtitle indicates, vampire killing has a long history, from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern New World – “a macabre frontier of life and death where corpses are believed to wander or do harm from the grave, and where the vampire is a physical expression of society’s inexplicable terrors and anxieties”.

In case anyone is inclined to scoff or sniff at superstition, Blair points to the British public in 1732 opening their morning papers to read of “lurid happenings” in eastern Europe – Serbian villagers digging up, mutilating, and burning corpses upon finding them “undecayed and bloated with blood” – where “centuries earlier, the English themselves engaged in the same behavior”.

Vampire epidemics were surprisingly persistent and prevalent throughout history, although interestingly the various beliefs comprising them tend to fall in distinctive geographic “belts” mapped by Blair.

And the most interesting argument by Blair is that they may not be all that bad. There are worse ways for societies to respond to “traumatic moments” – or have an outlet for “fear, hatred, and paranoia” – than by targeting the corpses of people that are, after all, already dead. The most obvious is of course targeting people that are alive and turning them into corpses, rather than taking a corpse and making it more of one – or less of one, depending on how you look at it.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER) – BEST OF 2026

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Mythology Horror (Special Mention: Part 1)

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La Danse du Sabbat – or Dance of the Sabbath, illustration by Emile Bayard From “History of Magic” by Paul Christian, published in 1870 (public domain)

 

 

TOP 10 MYTHOLOGY HORROR (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

But wait – there’s more!

As I said for my Top 10 Mythology Horror list, horror or at least feelings or forms of horror extend well beyond the fictional genre – not least to horror in mythology, given that it is easy to trace the origins of horror to mythology itself.

So there’s more than enough mythology horror for my usual twenty special mentions.

 

 

Yes, it’s the titular Wicker Man from the 1973 film (fair use)

 

 

(1) PAGANISM

 

“Who are these coming to the sacrifice?”

 

Yes, we’re talking folk horror and The Wicker Man.

The horror of Frazer and Graves – the horror of the sacred sacrificial king, from the king’s perspective.

We all have to make sacrifices…

 

 

Tuunbaq, the monstrous spirit being in the shamanic horror of The Terror, first season based on the novel by Dan Simmons (fair use)

 

 

(2) SHAMANISM

 

Sometimes I think all horror is originally shamanic – the shaman as horror protagonist, keeping the dark otherworldly forces at bay beyond the tribal clearing in the wild world or fighting them there.

Or perhaps as horror antagonist, leading those same forces against interlopers.

 

 

Poster for the 2015 film The Witch directed by Robert Eggers (fair use)

 

 

(3) MAGIC & WITCHCRAFT

 

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Obviously, horror in mythology, as in much of horror fiction, tends to be supernatural in nature, or in other words, magic.

More precisely, hostile or malevolent magic – black or blood magic – or in other words, witchcraft.

And particularly for the horror inherent in the archetypal form of witchcraft –  while witchcraft is something that seems well-nigh universal in mythologies or beliefs throughout the world, its archetype is the European witch folklore of the early modern period.

I mean, you knew this was coming from my use of depictions of the Witches’ Sabbath in art for my feature images. The only question might be why I don’t rank witchcraft higher – it’s because while modern horror fiction uses the templates, themes, or tropes of witchcraft, it tends not to directly adapt it, but for notable exceptions such as The Witch or Weapons.

The witchcraft attributed to witches in or by the hunts and trials evolved into a mythos with remarkable complexity and depth. There were the witches themselves, predominantly but not exclusively female (with men as the primary targets of accusations of witchcraft in some areas), with all the various features attributed to them or protections against them – magic and spells of course, the evil eye, flying ointment, necromancy (as with the Biblical Witch of Endor), animal familiars, imps, witch’s marks (to be distinguished from witch marks to ward off witches), witch’s teats, witch’s ladders, and witch balls or bottles (again to ward off witches).

And then there was the witchcraft ‘religion’ itself, usually styled as an anti-religion of service to the Devil in exchange for magic or supernatural power, with its ritual of the Witches Sabbath or Sabbat and all its various elements, not least the great goat himself, the Devil in caprine form, referenced as the Sabbath Goat (as in Goya’s famous paintings) or Baphomet – or Black Phillip to his friends. And of course all the lurid details that went with it.

 

 

Werewolves just chilling by a wall in “Les Lupins” by Maurice Sands, 1858

 

 

(4) LYCANTHROPES & LYCANTHROPY

 

“Ah-hoo, werewolves of London!”

Not just London, but also Europe with the horror of werewolves in European folklore. And not just werewolves of Europe either, but werebeasts throughout the world. Technically that would be therianthropy, as the better-known term lycanthropy is specifically for werewolves (literally from the Greek for wolf and man).

A human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, or some sort of wolf-human hybrid, either on purpose or involuntarily by some sort of curse or affliction (often spread by the bite or scratch of a werewolf), with such transformations typically (but not always) by the light of the full moon.

I’d rank them higher but they’re not too prolific in their archetypal form in modern horror fiction.

 

 

Speaking of The Thing, this version of the Chimera looks a little like the monster-ball form of the Thing – The Chimera on a red-figure Apulian plate, c. 350–340 BC Musée du Louvre (public domain)

 

 

(5) LEGENDARY CREATURES & CRYPTIDS

 

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”

Except, you know, more like something else altogether – as a monstrous source of horror in mythology.

Modern horror fiction tends not to adapt creatures of legend directly – minotaurs and sphinxes and chimeras, oh my – but more the concept of them, as monstrous antagonists or forces, whether supernatural or horrific versions of mundane or natural creatures.

Obviously, I’ve already included a number of legendary creatures in my Top 10 Mythology Horror or special mentions so far – Ghosts, Vampires, and Lycanthropes but arguably also Magic (extending to creatures created or summoned by magic) and Witchcraft (as for Magic but also extending to things like familiars, imps or even the witches themselves). They’ll also feature in further special mentions to come.

You could say cryptids have been part of mythology from its prehistoric origin and resemble legendary creatures, but somewhat distinct from them. Typically, cryptids may be identified as or traced to legend, folklore, or rumor – not in any magical or supernatural sense, but as biological possibilities “in the wild”, in isolation or in hiding, yet unrecognized or regarded as implausible by more mainstream biology.

“Some may be relict survivors of species believed to be extinct or known organisms displaced into inappropriate habitats; others are unlike any known species.”

And some may be sources of horror.

 

 

Perhaps the most terrifying UFO in modern horror fiction – screenshot of the UFO crashing down to Earth in the opening of John Carpenter’s The Thing…and it only gets worse from there (fair use)

 

(6) UFOS

 

Close encounters of the horrific kind.

Okay, this special mention isn’t so much for UFOs as literal alien spaceships of flying saucers, although one does horrifically feature in The Thing. It’s more for the alien or aliens in them.

Or just essentially as shorthand for SF horror.

As in Alien – which does feature a UFO, although as an unidentified object of extraterrestrial origin, where the titular xenomorph is first discovered as one of a batch of eggs.

And as I said, in The Thing – crashing down to Earth in Antarctica and being dug up there.

And in Invasion of the Body Snatchers – although it’s the pods themselves that are the unidentified flying objects, as it is also for the alien in Slither, and implicitly those in The Faculty.

 

 

Poster or promotional art image from The Mummy (1999) (fair use)

 

 

(7) EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

 

You might think this special mention is for mummies.

Sadly, the mummy as undead monstrosity does not originate in Egyptian mythology but in modern horror films (and let’s face it, not too many of them).

Still, there’s something about ancient Egypt as a desert necropolis that lends itself to horror, at least in theme. Egyptian mythology may well be the most chthonic of mythologies – albeit not so much in the name recognition of its underworld (Duat) and more in terms of the afterlife in general. As I said, ancient Egypt almost seems a desert necropolis, with its religion and ritual predominated by preparation for the afterlife – and its monumental statues or architecture as portals to it.

And chthonic means horror!

It’s not just the necropolis side of the equation that brings the horror but also the desert side – the desert that threatens to swallow up that thin line of humanity and nature clinging to the Nile. Not surprisingly, the god Set representing the desert was the recurring monstrous antagonist of Egyptian mythology and hence was also the god of storms, chaos, and violence.

Also, depending on the animal, animal-headed gods can be horrifying. Sobek, anyone?

 

 

Chaos Monster and Sun God, reproduction of Assyrian bas-relief sculpture (public domain)

 

 

(8) BABYLO-SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY

 

Few might recognize the Hollywood horror hero stardom originating in Middle Eastern mythology – the demonic antagonist of The Exorcist. The film opens with a nice gunfighter-style face-off between Max von Sydow’s titular exorcist and this being’s winged statue in an archaeological dig, with a literal dogfight in the background.

Yeah, I’m not naming him – or using even the statue of him as my iconic feature image – because that’s just begging for trouble.

He represents the combination of chthonic, the demonic, and the monstrous that is the template of horror in Middle Eastern mythology – as does another entity of similar celebrity, Tiamat, the primordial goddess-dragon of chaos.

I suppose Inanna or Ishtar might be considered the final girl of Sumerian or Babylonian mythology in the horror template of her descent into the underworld.

Come to think of it, the titular evil dead or demonic Deadites in that franchise originate from Mesopotamia – in-universe within the franchise that is, but it checks out with that chthonic, demonic and monstrous template of horror from Middle Eastern mythology.

 

 

Cover of 20th anniversary edition of Dan Simmons’ The Song of Kali (fair use)

 

 

(9) HINDU MYTHOLOGY

 

Kali Ma!

The iconography of Kali, and arguably even more of her followers like the Thugs or Thuggees, naturally lends itself to horror.

Of course, the horror version of Kali (or her cult) – such as that in The Song of Kali by Dan Simmons – is very much a caricature of Kali in her role as destroyer within the cosmic cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction.

The horror version of the most notorious cult of Kali, the Thugs or Thuggees, may well go beyond caricature to lurid distortion and sensationalism – but hot damn if it doesn’t stick in your head and stay there. Looking at you, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with Mola Ram ripping the still-beating hearts from his sacrificial victims to Kali.

Ironically, the true horror within Hindu mythology is more what Kali destroys in her role as destroyer, which is to say demonic or evil forces.

 

 

Yeah, I couldn’t resist this shot of the Azrec temple from the closing scene of From Dusk Till Dawn just before the end credits (fair use)

 

 

(10) AZTEC MYTHOLOGY

 

As I said for my entry for Aztec mythology in my Top 10 Mythologies, I can’t resist seeing it through the lens of its lurid image in popular culture – that is to say, the closest mythology comes to a horror film or the Cthulhu mythos, both of itself and of its ritual practice of human sacrifice.

So why doesn’t it rank higher in my Top 10 Mythology Horror? Well, simply put, it would but for it not being particularly well known beyond that lurid image in popular culture.

As for Aztec mythology as horror, there’s its deities with their tongue-twisting Scrabble-winning names. The messianic plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl might be one of the few good guys and I have always have a soft spot for love goddesses like Xochiquetzal, but then you have gods like Xipe Totec, the flayed god – whose priests would flay the skin from a sacrificial victim and dance around for days wearing it. Although admittedly I’d go to church to see that.

There’s its ritual practice, infamous for human sacrifice on a grand scale – with the archetypal image of hearts being torn beating from the chests of thousands of victims on stepped pyramids slippery with blood on sacrificial days.

And finally there’s that Aztec mythology is a post-apocalyptic mythology – with the present world being the fifth such world, after the apocalyptic destruction of four previous worlds. Indeed, one might even call it a zombie apocalyptic mythology – with the gods continuously, to the point of constantly dying and returning to life, giving their blood and their hearts to power the sun (fuelled in turn by the literal blood and hearts of human sacrifice), while they literally grew humans from bones smuggled out of the underworld. Or one of many underworlds, since the Aztecs had nine levels of its underworld (and thirteen heavens).