During the pandemic I stopped watching movies and became obsessed with a video game called Dark Souls and getting good at leaping up on a wall in Oolacile. If what I’ve written makes no sense or sounds pointless to you, it was, but believe me, at the time, nothing was more logical or rational¹.

The quarter prior to this summer, I was finally back in a classroom, and I realized I loved movies again. I thank the students for that, as they gave me someone to talk with about the films. This summer, reinvigorated, I watched countless films, a swath of which were slashers and gialli. My wife somehow put up with me during this completely different descent; I thank and love her for that. Because of this, she gets the actual “Best” award; she deserves it.

This is a best “best” of list of 13 films I watched.

• Best Bad Movie – The Prey (1980)
• Best Marion Davies Film – Not So Dumb (1930)
• Best Total Shit Show (Rip Torn is a Hero) – Maidstone (1970)
• Best Antonioni – L’Avventura (1960)
• Best Transfer (UHD/4k) – Tenebrae (1982)
• Best What the Hell is this Film I am sooooo completely lost… – Sweet Trash (1970)
• Best Theme Song (Amanda Lear) – The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)
• Best Contemporary-ish Film – The Stylist (2020)
• Best Performance (Yaphet Kotto) – Bone (1972)
• Best Silent Film that Nerds on the Web Argue if whether it qualifies as Silent or Not – The Single Standard (1929)
• Best 8mm – The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1987)
• Best Action – John Wick (2014)
• Best Nic Cage, but also the only Nic Cage film I watched, so this film probably shouldn’t count for anything – Valley Girl (1983)