Can you believe that after twelve years of writing lists we haven’t ever done a list of the best movies of all time? It’s true! So today we correct that terrible oversight.

You may find yourself staying in a lot over the next few weeks, and if you are, what better what to relax, and forget about your problems, than with a movie?

10 Influential Movies With Dark And Surprising Origins

No need to cross the door. There are thousands of films available on streaming services around the world. But which one do you choose? And how do you know it is going to be great?

You could watch hundreds of trailers, read thousands of reviews and make a spreadsheet ranking every film for watchability.

Or you could just read this list, and start watching some really great films.

20 Call Me By Your Name, 2017

If you are looking for a coming of age romance, or you just want something to make think of summer, try Call Me By Your Name. Released in 2017, it stars Timothée Chalamet as 17-year-old Elio, living with his family in an idyllic Italian villa. Armie Hammer is slightly miscast as Oliver, who is supposedly 24, but doesn’t look it.

Once you have got over that, however, the film is a beautiful story of first love. If you had to describe the pace of the movie in one word, it would probably be ‘languid’. It’s as if everyone is too hot to move quickly. The scenery is stunning, Hammer acts better than he ever has before, and Timothée Chalamet is brilliant as a young man who finds everything arousing – women, men, fruit.

It is not a movie about forbidden love. In Call Me By Your Name, all love is allowed, and celebrated.

Notably this is also the most significant film produced by James Ivory since the death of his partner in business and life, Ismail Merchant who, under the Merchant Ivory label, gave us such greats as Remains of the Day and A Room With A View.

19 The Seventh Seal, 1957

The Seventh Seal regularly makes an appearance on the list of the Greatest Movies Ever. Some people who voted for it actually watched it. The rest should.

Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and set during the time of the Black Death, the film famously features Death playing chess for the possession of a human soul.

Is he playing to win, or does he have a different motive?

The movie is said to be an Existentialist Masterpiece, but don’t let that put you off.

Come and join the Dance Macabre.

18 Tokyo Story, 1953

Tokyo Story is a 1953 film by Yasujiro Ozu. If you haven’t heard of it, you should have. It is often regarded as one of the best films ever made, but, being in Japanese, has suffered from lack of exposure in the West.

Time to correct that. It is a simple story of an elderly couple who visit their children in Tokyo, only to find themselves largely ignored. Only their daughter-in-law makes an effort to be kind.

Their kids are vile, and far too busy with their own lives to care about their parents, and can’t wait to ship them off again. They give them passes to a health club because they want their room for an office.

Not a feel-good movie, this one, with its themes of loss and loneliness and the decline of family, but it is a simple story, beautifully told.

Bring tissues.

17 Die Hard, 1988

The only thing that makes Die Hard a Christmas movie is the Christmas tree in the lobby of the Nakatomi building, but don’t let that put you off. Alan Rickman plays the baddie, Hans Gruber, who will definitely kill you, but he will do it suavely.

Bruce is having a bad day. But it’s nothing to how bad it’s going to get. Die Hard spawned a million imitations. One lone tough guy, who prevails against overwhelming odds, whilst still finding time for humor. One dead bad-guy is used as a Post-It Note, with the message ‘Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho’ scrawled across his body.

There is one wince-inducing scene where Bruce has to walk over broken glass in bare feet, but other than that, its high-octane, explosive good times all the way.

Welcome to the party, pal.

16 Some Like It Hot, 1959

Some Like It Hot is the ultimate feel good movie. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are fantastic as a couple of musicians on the run from mobsters after witnessing a mob shootout. They join a big band that is heading out on tour, only to discover that it is an all-girl group. Cue Lemmon and Curtis in drag. Unsurprisingly, Tony Curtis made rather a good-looking woman, although Lemmon had his admirers too.

Marilyn Monroe also stars as the band’s singer, Sugar Kane, in which she famously sings ‘I wanna be loved by you’, which is a recommendation on its own.

It’s hard to find anything to criticize in this movie. Which is surprising, since the film-shoot was said to be difficult. Monroe famously needed 47 takes to get the line, ‘It’s me, Sugar’, right. And when she had to say, ‘Where’s the bourbon?’ whilst rummaging through some drawers, the director, (Billy Wilder again) ordered the words to be pasted inside every drawer.

It took 59 takes.

But nobody’s perfect.

Top 10 Best of the Best in Movies

15 The Princess Bride, 1987

Cool guys get their pick of hero films, but if you are a little bit clumsy and a little bit of a chump, there is always The Princess Bride. The plot is, shall we say, complicated, but there are a variety of hero roles to choose from. You could be Westley, the farm hand who loves Buttercup (that’s a girl not a cow) and would do anything to please her. Or a giant named Fezzik, who is, well a reasonably friendly giant. Or Inigo Montoya, a Spanish fencing instructor on a quest for revenge against a 6-fingered man.

Which is enough hero for anyone.

The film, a fantasy/comedy/fairy-tale has become a cult classic, despite the ropey sets, cheesy dialogue and Mandy Patinkin in a truly awful wig. The ‘heroes’ succeed more by luck than judgement, but a win is a win, and a hero is a hero.

And anything else is inconceivable.

14 The Great Dictator, 1940

Charlie Chaplin made a lot of great silent films, of which City Lights is generally considered to his greatest, and he continued to work in the medium of silence long after everyone else was making talkies. But then, in 1940, just to prove that he could do it, Chaplin made his first full-length talking film. And it was a great one.

The Great Dictator was a film about fascism. At a time when the world was at war, Charlie Chaplin made a film lampooning Hitler and Mussolini, and the ridiculousness of their ideology. He starred both as the dictator, Adenoid Hynkel, and as a persecuted Jewish barber, who looks remarkably like a much-loved tramp.

After a complicated series of events, the barber is mistaken for the Adenoid Hynkel, and is pushed on stage to address a great rally. After some reluctance, the barber seizes the opportunity to make a different kind of speech, which leaves his audience feeling at first confused, and then empowered.

You are not machines.

The Great Dictator has everything that you know and love about Charlie Chaplin movies. Plus anti-Nazi propaganda.

It’s da banana.

13 Sunset Boulevard, 1950

Sunset Boulevard is a film about a washed-up movie star. Possibly Billy Wilder’s greatest movie, it starred Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, the aging silent movie star who lives alone, except for her butler.

The film isn’t just about the movie industry. It’s also about the arrogance of youth, the fragility of age, and dreams we can’t let go of. Mostly, it is a movie about obsession. Norma Desmond’s obsession with recapturing her stardom, her butler’s obsession with her (he wasn’t always her butler), and a playwright’s ruthless ambition to Make It in Hollywood.

Gloria Swanson took a huge risk in playing a washed-up has-been obsessed with her fading beauty, unable to come to terms with no longer being adored. After all, she was herself a former silent movie actress whose career stalled with the advent of the talkies, and she could have done lasting damage to her reputation. In the end, however, Sunset Boulevard became the outstanding film of her career, and ensured that she has a place in the top 10 of everyone’s greatest movie list.

12 Reservoir Dogs, 1992

A list about great movies wouldn’t be complete without at least 1 Tarantino film.

And there are plenty (well 9) to choose from. But we only have 20 films in this list, and so we are restricting ourselves to 1 QT film. And the most Tarantino-esque movie of all, is Reservoir Dogs.

His first feature film (according to his count), Reservoir Dogs has everything. It has pretty much every motif that he is famous for, from the shot looking out from the trunk of the car, to the Mexican standoff. It has more blood than could possibly fit inside one human body, and a disturbingly musical psychopath who sings while he works. It has sharp-suited criminals and long tracking shots.

It doesn’t have any women with bare feet, but only because, apart from a couple of background artists, there aren’t any.

11 One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975

Jack Nicholson plays crazy rather well. There’s The Shining, of course, where he is psychotic, or As Good as it Gets, where he has OCD, and, of course, he’s the Joker, which is madness personified.

Tell me, did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

But his best film about insanity, was the one where he is the only sane man in the lunatic asylum. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a celebration of individualism, and a cautionary tale about pretending to be mad, when you’re not.

Based on Ken Kesey’s novel of the same name, the film won 9 Oscars, including Best Director, Film, Actor and Actress. Brad Dourif was also nominated for his supporting role as Billy Bibbit, a young man who discovers his manhood in a night of glory, and loses it again the morning after.

Louise Fletcher is terrifying as Nurse Ratched, for whom orderliness is next to godliness and sanity cannot be allowed if it makes the place look untidy.

The film’s end is truly horrifying, but compulsive viewing, nonetheless.

10 The Usual Suspects, 1995

Some films are easy to follow. Others make you pay close attention. For The Usual Suspects, you might need to take notes.

Described as a ‘neo-noir’ movie (like Noir, but newer), The Usual Suspects makes heavy use of flashback to tell the story of a group of con men, a jewel heist, a mysterious crime lord with a ridiculous name, who may, or may not, exist, a shit ton of cocaine and an explosion on a ship.

Kevin Spacey plays Verbal Kint, a weasel-like con man that no one likes, who is scared to death that Keyser Soze or his henchman, the equally implausibly named Kobayashi will wreak revenge on him and his family, if he tells what he knows.

Gradually, Verbal is persuaded, cajoled and threatened into telling his, frankly incredible, story, and the police, let him go.

And like that, he’s gone.

9 Apocalypse Now, 1979

Apocalypse Now is Francis Ford Coppola’s startling retelling of Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness. It stars Martin Sheen as Captain Willard, who is sent up-river in Vietnam to find Colonel Kurtz, as played by Marlon Brando, who is leading a team of Special Forces and who is believed to have gone mad.

The movie beautifully captures the true nature of war. Long periods of being shit-scared, while absolutely nothing happens, followed by brief bursts of action that achieves nothing.

Brando does not appear until late in the movie, but his appearance is worth the wait. Is Kurtz insane, or is being insane the only sane thing to be when you are living on your last nerve in the jungle, waiting for an unseen enemy to kill you in unspeakable ways?

Brando’s appearance is surreal and disturbing. As is the end of the movie. Will the horror of his actions have the same effect on Willard as it does on Kurtz? Is the horror contagious?

Although the shooting was beset by problems, not least Martin Sheen’s heart attack and Brando’s lack of preparation, the final cut of Apocalypse Now, edited, it is rumored, from over a million feet of film, is consistently voted one of the best films ever made about war.

8 Toy Story, 1995

Toy Story is a film of firsts. It was the first entirely computer-animated feature length film. It was the first feature by a new company called Pixar. And it was the first film to have the marketing built right in. Because the characters were all toys.

You make a kids film with toys in it, and then you sell the toys.

Genius.

What was also genius, was the script. The idea of toys that come to life when no one is watching wasn’t exactly new. But that didn’t matter, because the script was not about toys. It was about friendship. Toy Story is a buddy movie. It’s a movie about acceptance. Accepting ourselves, even when we don’t live up to our expectations, and accepting our friends, even when they are really irritating and give themselves stupid catchphrases that make no sense.

The script was so good, in fact, that it was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. Watch this film with your kids, or better yet, without them, and let it take you to infinity. And beyond. (See? No sense at all.)

7 The Matrix, 1999

The Matrix was a 1999 sci-fi movie from the Wachowskis that was unlike any other sci-fi ever. Sure, it had the same dystopian future, we’ve-all-been-taken-over-by-aliens shtick going on, but apart from that, totally new.

For a start, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and even Laurence Fishburne, looked cool. All black clothes, slicked-back hair and great sunglasses. They also had awesome Kung Fu moves. And then there were the special effects. Ground-breaking doesn’t begin to describe it. They may not have invented ‘bullet time’, but no one had ever used it as well.

The Matrix showed us that anything was possible. The trick was not to try and bend the spoon, but to realize that you can make $460 million by persuading people that the spoon is not there.

Both Matrix sequels were appalling, but nothing can take away the memory of seeing the first one.

Unless you take the blue pill.

6 Fight Club, 1999

The first rule of soap club is… It’s not about the soap. It’s about the fighting.

Fight Club, based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, is a film about men’s loss of identity in a civilized world. Or about the increasing dissatisfaction with capitalist society.

Or it maybe it was about the fighting.

Edward Norton, an insomniac who travels the world to look at car wrecks, literally, meets Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). Tyler is everything that he is not. He is smart, he is tough, and he is without fear.

One of them is crazy.

They start a fight club because they don’t want to die without any scars. And soon half the city has a black eye or a busted lip.

While it barely made a splash when it was first released, Fight Club has become one of the most quotable films in history.

And the second rule of Fight Club is…

5 The Dark Knight, 2008

Not all superheroes movies are the same. They can be fun, sure, but they’re not usually good, and they are rarely great.

Last year’s Joker, with Joaquin Phoenix, was certainly great, but can hardly be called a superhero movie. It merely inhabited some of the same spaces. But The Dark Knight, which also features, a Joker, does qualify. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Christian Bale as Batman, this is a much more sinister film than most superhero movies.

Gotham is a very dark place, both literally and metaphorically. And Christian Bale is great, but Heath Ledger is better. He brings a dangerous level of insanity to the Joker, his last great role.

The movie broke box office records, not just as tribute to Ledger but because the film made being a superhero sexy. Out went the spandex costumes, and in came black leather, moody lighting, and a bad guy so exuberant that you can’t help loving him a bit too.

4 Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1991

Terminator 2 was better than The Terminator. Unfortunately, while the laws of time continued to be suspended throughout the rest of the Terminator series, the law of diminishing returns reasserted itself after Judgement Day, and by the time we reached Terminator 6, Dark Fate, it was considerably less good.

But still with Terminator Action.

Which is pretty cool.

But Terminator 2 was the one. It still had Arnold Schwarzenegger. But this time he had lines. He still said ‘Sarah Connor’ a lot, but he said other cool stuff too. Like, ‘hasta lavista, baby’.

And, ‘I’ll be back’.

It has lots of shooting, machines, chases, and blowing stuff up. If you are looking for great action, explosions and unnecessary muscle (and who isn’t), this is the film for you.

3 The Empire Strikes Back, 1980

There are lots of great movies about space. 2001: Space Odyssey, Alien, Guardians of the Galaxy (kidding). But Star Wars is in a galaxy of its own. Not those horrible later Disney versions, of course, but certainly the first 3 films. And if we could only pick 1, The Empire Strikes Back is it.

It has everything. Not only Luke, Hans, Leia and Darth Vader to provide the drama, but also some robots and a tiny Jedi master called Yoda, who talks kind of funny.

There are plenty of light-saber battles, explosions and a mind-blowing plot twist involving parental lineage, which make this film a must.

But, for best results, you should always watch The Empire Strikes Back after watching A New Hope. And if you’ve watched the first 2 films, you might as well keep going and watch The Return of the Jedi, too.

But stop there. For the love of God, stop there.

2 Harold and Maude, 1971

Can’t decide between a black comedy or a love story? Why not have both?

Released in 1971, Harold and Maude is the story of a teenage boy obsessed with death and suicide. He meets Maude at a funeral, and falls in love. Maude loves life, perhaps because, at the age of 79, she knows that she doesn’t have much of it left.

Maude teaches Harold a lot. While he drives around in a hearse, and continually plans his own demise, Maude makes every second count. She teaches him how to appreciate life. She teaches him to play the banjo.

And she teaches him how to love.

Harold and Maude is touching, funny, and yes, OK, it’s a little bit strange. But it has a whole lot of joie de vivre and a soundtrack by Cat Stephens

So, watch the film, and if you want to sing out, sing out.

1 12 Angry Men, 1957

The best courtroom drama ever, wasn’t filmed in a court room. There were no impassioned speeches for the defense, no expert witnesses, no damning testimony. There were just 12 Angry Men. Made in 1957, it starred Henry Fonda as Juror #8, and Lee J Cobb as Juror #3. As well as 10 other guys, obviously.

The film is a fascinating study of Crowd Behavior, and how people will abdicate responsibility to anyone with a stronger personality than their own. It was also ground-breaking, in that it was filmed almost entirely in one setting – the jury room, filled with 12 people who don’t know anything about each other. Not even their names.

After a cursory discussion, 11 jurors vote guilty. Only 1 man stands out against them. Yes, you’ve guessed it, Henry Fonda is not satisfied. He insists that they discuss the evidence, questions the reliability of the witnesses, and the rarity of the supposedly rare murder weapon, found in the defendant’s pocket. Henry Fonda, in fact, does the job that the defending barrister should have done, but presumably didn’t.

Fonda is not a man to be swayed by peer pressure, the cramped confines of the room, the heat, or the raging thunderstorm outside. He is prepared to sit there, calmly, and discuss the case all night, if need be.

12 Angry Men is tense, and genuinely suspenseful. It shows us how much we are swayed by the opinions of others and how far our own prejudices inform our thinking.

Most of all, it shows how one person, standing up for what is right, can make a difference. And who doesn’t want to watch that?

10 Ridiculous Myths We Believe Because Of Movies

The music to come out of the small island country of New Zealand is as eclectic, varied and unique as the people themselves. Influenced by rock, pop, jazz, blues, hip-hop and the Maori people, New Zealand’s music inevitably gets its own creative kiwi interpretation.

Here are ten tracks, some well-known, others not so much, to give some insight into what musicians in the antipodean nation have produced.

Top 20 Cool Facts About New Zealand

10 Keith Urban “Blue Ain’t Your Color”

“Blue looks good on the sky
Looks good on that neon buzzin’ on the wall
But darling, it don’t match your eyes
I’m tellin’ you
You don’t need that guy
It’s so black and white
He’s stealin’ your thunder
Baby, blue ain’t your color”

Keith Urban is a New Zealand born country singer who released his self-titled debut album in Australia in in 1991, before moving to the US the following year. First working as a session musician in Nashville, Urban formed a band, “The Ranch”, who released one album and charted two singles before breaking up.

Urban released his solo debut album in 1999. The second single “Your Everything” made him the first New Zealand male performer to reach the Top 10 in the American Country Musicchart.

At the 48th Grammy awards, he earned his first Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song “You’ll Think Of Me”. To date he has released 11 studio albums and has had 20 Number 1 singles on the US Billboard Country Chart , with over 40 tunes making it into the Top 10. .

“Blue Ain’t Your Color” was the fourth single off Urban’s eighth studio album “Ripcord” and has proved to be his biggest single to date. It spent 12 weeks at Number 1 on the Hot Country Chart and earned the country singer American Music Awards for Favorite Male Country Artist, Favorite Country Song and Favorite Country Album.

Urban is also known for his roles as a coach for one season on the Australian version of the singing competition “The Voice” and as a judge for four seasons on “American Idol”. The popularity of these shows increased his profile across a wider segment of the television audience.^[1]

9 Flight of the Conchords “Ladies of the World”

“Oh you sexy hermaphrodite lady-man-ladies
With your sexy lady bits
And your sexy man bits too
Even you must be in to you
All the ladies in the world
I wanna’ get next to you
Show you some gratitude”

Comedic Kiwi duo Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie formed The Flight of the Conchords after meeting at Victoria University in Wellington.

After doing the rounds of various comedy circuits and festivals, the BBC commissioned a six-part radio show starring the duo, which first aired on BBC Radio Two in Sept 2005. The series followed The Conchords in their capacity as “New Zealand’s fourth-best folk guitar-based jazz, techno, hip-hop duo”, trying to break into the music scene in England. Their manager, Brian (played by Rhys Darby), made regular calls to Neil Finn (see Crowded House and Split Enz) who played a patient mentor and advisor, giving advice on how to succeed in the music industry in England. Comedian Jimmy Carr also featured throughout in the series, playing a passionate fan called Kipper.

This was followed by the quirky HBO series, that ran for two seasons. Along the lines of the radio show, the plot revolved around a fictional version of the comedic duo as they try to achieve success as a two-piece folk band in New York City.

The popularity of both the radio show and the HBO series saw the band release their “The Distant Future” EP in2007. Rolling Stone magazine scathingly dismissed the EP as “a souvenir of the show” and being “hard to imagine wanting to play it over and over”. However, in Feb 2008, Flight of the Conchords became the first non-American act to win Comedy Grammy. This was an achievement that put them alongside legends of comedy such as The Smothers Brothers and National Lampoon.

For Bret McKenzie, more musical success came in 2012 when he won an Academy Award for the best original song in a film. The song ‘Man or Muppet’ was one of four he contributed to the 2011 feature film “The Muppets”. Amongst many other acting roles, Jemaine Clement went on to voice the psychopathic cockatoo Nigel in the hit movie ”Rio”, also writing and performing the awesome track “Pretty Bird”.^[2]

8 Hayley Westenra “Who Painted the Moon Black?”

Did you see how hard I’ve tried?
Not to show the pain inside
Just as you walked away from me
Who painted the moon black?
Just when you passed your love back
Who painted the moon black?

First reaching international attention as a teenager, classically trained singer Hayley Westenra released the cross-over album “Pure” in 2003. The album went on to be certified 12x platinum in New Zealand, double platinum in the UK and platinum in Australia. “Pure” went straight to Number 1 in the UK classical music chart, and entered the pop charts at a respectable number 8.

The album itself was an eclectic mix of classical, hymns, cheesy light Euro pop and re-worked traditional Maori songs.

Promoted by a somewhat cringeworthy video of the singer grooving uncomfortably in front of a green-screen, “Who Painted The Moon Black” appeared more like a New Zealand tourism commercial. Unflattering video aside, the album remains fastest selling classical debut album of all time.^[3]

7 OMC “How Bizarre”

“Destination unknown, as we pull in for some gas
Freshly pasted poster reveals a smile from the past
Elephants and acrobats, lions, snakes, monkey
Pele speaks “righteous, ” Sister Zina says “funky”
How bizarre
How bizarre, how bizarre”

Outside of New Zealand, OMC’s 1995 track “How Bizarre” is generally regarded as a one ‘hit wonder’. The infectious pop-rap single from OMC (in full the Otara Millionaire’s Club, a tongue-n-cheek reference to their humble beginnings in one of NZ’s poorest suburb) was featured on their debut album of the same name.

The song appeared on US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart and went on to spend 36 weeks their Hot 100 airplay charts, peaking at number 4. It also featured in music charts in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland and throughout Europe. It reached number five in the UK, and it made the Top 10 in popular music charts everywhere from Portugal to Israel.

Record label owner, Simon Grigg, described OMC’s unique sound as being a fusion of the mishmash of sounds that New Zealanders are exposed to. It’s the classic Kiwi strum meets punk rock meets disco meets a South Pacific beach party meets classic soul meets reggae and everything in between.” It culminated in a song that “was everywhere. It was so huge. New Zealanders don’t realise how massive it was. It was such a ubiquitous radio record. It was the number one radio record in New York City that year – bigger than the Spice Girls.”

While OMC went on to find some further international success, they never stormed the charts to such an extent as “How Bizarre” had done, resulting in the song being listed as the 71st greatest one-hit wonder of all time by VH1. Sadly, charismatic frontman Pauly Fuemana died in 2010, aged just 40, due to complications from a rare neurological disorder.^[4]

6 Shihad “Comfort Me”

“Back up, evolution here
All the sick fucks being born to kill
They just need someone to tell them they’re safe again
They all need someone to tell them that somebody cares
What have we become
Could you comfort me, comfort me?
The whole world’s come undone
Could you comfort me, comfort me?“

For me personally, picking a favourite Shihad track is like picking a favourite bag of potato chips – many are favourites, most I genuinely like and only a rare few do I turn away from. Shihad put on a high energy, tight sounding, engaging show and have put out some very solid albums in their almost 30 years together.

Formed in the late-1980’s, Shihad were a well-established rock act throughout New Zealand and Australia. Through the festival circuit, they were also gaining a foothold in Europe. Off the back of their critically acclaimed fourth album “The General Electric”, many in the music industry felt that they were poised for commercial success in the lucrative Americal market, but then the Sept 11 terrorist attacks occurred. “Impeccable timing,” singer Jon Toogood later commented. “All the ducks were lined up. Then the war happened – in 2001 the name Shihad wasn’t going to fly.”

The band had chosen their name after seeing David Lynch’s 1984 cult classic film ‘Dune’, which repeatedly uses the Islamic term ‘Jihad’. Founding member and drummer, Tom Larkin, explains that “When we were 15, we were all into this sci-fi movie Dune. See, Dune uses all these Arabic words throughout the movie and the end battle is a Jihad. We were stupid and thought it’d be a great name for a band so we called ourselves Shihad ’cause we couldn’t even spell it.”

In the wake of the terror attacks, the band’s American record company and management pressured them to change their name and reluctantly, they became “Pacifier”. Unfortunately, in the tense and uncertain political climate, the timing was off and commercial success evaded the band. Two years later, they became Shihad once more.

In 2012, the band released a 102-minute long documentary “Beautiful Machine”. Described as “a wild ride from anonymity to being the next ‘It’ band, and into the present day, Shihad: Beautiful Machine is an unflinching look at the elusive reality of a true rock dream.”

Although they have yet to achieve the acclaim that many might have expected, after thirty years and nine solid albums, fans are hopeful that Shihad will keep on rocking, putting on their legendary shows for the next generation of fans. Who knows, with a little luck and better timing, they might just achieve the success and acclaim that they so rightfully deserve.^[5]

15 Interesting Places and Events in New Zealand

5 Shona Laing “(Glad I’m) Not A Kennedy

“The family tree is felled
Bereavement worn so well
Giving up on certainty
Wilderness society

Wearing the fame like a loaded gun
Tied up with a rosary
I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy”

Songstress Shona Laing found fame in New Zealand as a teenager in the early 1970’s when she finished runner-up in a television talent show. Perhaps Laing’s most well known song “(Glad I’m) Not A Kennedy” was released twice, first from her 1985 album “Genre”, then re-mixed and re-released on her album “South” two years later.

The song itself was inspired by a television appearance, when Senator Ted Kennedy announced his intention to become a presidential candidate. His on screen presence did not make a favourable impression on Laing, who later explained “I actually just said those words out loud: ‘God, glad I’m not a Kennedy.’ And bells went off, whistles rang and I went straight out to the shed to write it, and it was done and dusted in half an hour. It poured out.”^[6]

4 Lorde “Royals”

“And we’ll never be royals
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz”

Singer Lorde, aka Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, leapt to international stardom with the 2013 release of her critically acclaimed album “Pure Heroine”.

The song describes the lavish and decadent lifestyle of contemporary stars with a edgy sarcasm. “What really got me,” she explained “is this ridiculous, unrelatable, unattainable opulence that runs throughout. Lana Del Rey is always singing about being in the Hamptons or driving her Bugatti Veyron or whatever, and at the time, me and my friends were at some house party worrying how to get home because we couldn’t afford a cab. This is our reality!”

The song spent nine weeks at the top of U.S. Billboard 100, making the 16-year old Kiwi the youngest artist to do so since Tiffany in 1987. Her reaction to the achievement was that “It feels like a combination of my birthday, Christmas and washing my hair after a month of not doing so.”

It also topped the charts of New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. To date, it has sold over 10 million copies globally. In 2014, the song won a Grammy for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.^[7]

3 Split Enz “Six Months In A Leaky Boat”

“Aotearoa
Rugged individual
Glisten like a pearl
At the bottom of the world
The tyranny of distance”

Released in 1982, “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” was the second single off their album “Time and Tide”. The song, written by band member Tim Finn, is usually interpreted as being a homage to the often perilous six month sea voyage that settlers took to come to New Zealand.

The single reached a dismal number 83 in the UK singles chart, largely due to the airplay ban by broadcasters at the BBC, who felt that the reference to “leaky boats” might have a negative impact on morale of the British Royal Navy while they were fighting the Falklands War against Argentina. They implied that the song was too provocative and was a thinly veiled criticism of the war, despite the fact that the song had in fact been written and recorded months earlier.

Split Enz members, brother Tim and Neil Finn have since confirmed that in addition to the theme of colonial settlement, the song also served as a metaphor for Tim’s relationship breakup and subsequent mental breakdown. “I was going through a lot of stuff. I had broken up after a long relationship and I was feeling a mixture of guilt and terror and sadness and whatever you go through. It was a hard time.” Tim later explained.

“Time & Tide” went on to become the band’s third number one album in both New Zealand and Australia, while eventually clawing its way to number 71 in the UK.^[8]

2 Mi-Sex “Computer Games”

“I fidget with the digit dots and cry an anxious tear
As the XU-1 connects the spot
But the matrix grid don’t care
Get a message to my mother
What number would she be
There’s a million angry citizens
Looking down their tubes at me”

How the heck can this track be forty years old???

“Computer Games” was the second release off their iconic debut album “Graffiti Crimes” (1979). The song peaked at number one in Australia, number two in Canada and number five in New Zealand. It also gained some traction in Europe and North America, although it was felt that their ‘risqué’ band name did not help them gain airplay in more conservative markets.

The video that accompanied the song was considered to be very cutting edge at the time. It starts with the band breaking into the data centre for then super-computer mainframe at Control Data in Sydney, Australia. As the band performs, the old school graphics projected behind them include a driving game and Star Wars-esque tie fighters, while data tapes spin and printers spew out a river of paper.

The synth-pop electro new wave band formed the year earlier, by frontman Ian Gilpin, keyboard player Murray Burns, Don Martin on bass, Kevin Stanton on lead guitar, and drummer Richard Hodgkinson.

Principal songwriter, Murry Burns later recalled that when Mi-Sex arrived in Australia in late 1978, bands were “still wearing white flares”. He added that “They were great but they hadn’t jumped into the edgy sound of the 80s. . . think we paved the way for a certain style of music, the likes of INXS and Icehouse . . . We got a great following very quickly.”

Following the tragic death of singer Ian Gilpin in January 1992 following a car crash, the band felt that they would never perform again, despite a nostalgic surge in popularity for 80’s pop music. But when faced with the opportunity to reunite for several gigs around Australasia, they went for it and “it’s really, really good fun”, confirms Burns.

“Computer Games” solidified their place in New Zealand music history. “It was unusual, one of those not-repeated songs . . . We got labelled with that song quite strongly, ” Burns says. The band’s unique sound, tight musicianship and futuristic imagery earned both the single and the album platinum status.

Advance one level on green!^[9]

1 Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over”

“Now I’m towing my car, there’s a hole in the roof
My possessions are causing me suspicion but there’s no proof
In the paper today, tales of war and of waste
But you turn right over to the T.V. page
Hey now, hey now
Don’t dream it’s over”

Like the often bitter long-standing debate over the true origins of the humble pavlova, internationally acclaimed band Crowded House has been claimed by both New Zealand and Australia.

Fronted by former Split Enz member, New Zealand born Neil Finn (currently a member of Fleetwood Mac), who is vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter, clearly and unequivocally, this in my humble opinion is a New Zealand band!

Admittedly, Neil Finn told an Australian newspaper that Crowded House was a proud Australian band and most of its songs were inspired in Melbourne. Finn went on to state that Melbourne was the “birthplace of Crowded House and was always the town we chose to return to. It’s forever deeply ingrained in our collective psyche and was the backdrop for many of our best musical moments.” Sorry Neil, Crowded House is a Kiwi band and that’s that.

Their self-titled debut album, released in 1986, featured the single “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, which became an international hit, peaking at Number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Band frontman Neil Finn has described the lyrics of this song as “on the one hand, feeling kind of lost and, on the other hand, sort of urging myself on”.^[10]

Top 10 Wacky Things New Zealanders Love To Eat

Mickey Mantle is a legend. One of the greatest baseball players of all time, he is undoubtedly the best power-hitting switch-hitter (batting both lefty and righty) ever. Mantle played in the 1950s and ’60s when players were fast and loose both on and off the field. For as great as he was on the field, Mantle gave new meaning to the word “debauchery” off the field.

10Every Morning Started With A Drink

Mantle put up tremendous numbers throughout his career. He smacked 536 home runs, still the most in a lifetime by a switch-hitter. His power and bat speed were amazing and even more incredible when you consider that he played practically every game after a big night of drinking.

Today’s athletes are careful of what they put in their bodies. Most have specialized diets and talk at length about their specific ways to stay in shape. But not “The Mick.” Throughout his career—actually, almost his entire life—he began every morning with what he called “the breakfast of champions.” And it wasn’t Wheaties.

Mickey’s breakfast of champions was Kahlua and cream and a shot of brandy. And that was just to get him going for the rest of the day. Throughout his career, the general public was pretty much in the dark about Mantle’s heavy drinking.

9He Thought He’d Die Young

Mickey never got over the death of his father “Mutt.” Born Elvin Charles Mantle in 1912, Mutt was 19 when son Mickey was born. Mutt raised his son to be a ballplayer, even naming him after the Detroit Tigers’ Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane (even though Cochrane’s real name was Gordon).

To train Mickey, Mutt pitched right-handed to his son and forced him to bat lefty while Mickey’s grandfather, a southpaw, threw lefty to Mick to make him bat right-handed. Things went south for Mutt during his son’s first World Series. It was 1951—Mickey’s rookie season—when he hurt his knee during the World Series against the New York Giants.

Trying to help Mickey walk, Mutt collapsed under the weight of his son. Mutt had Hodgkin’s disease, a common illness in the Mantle family. Both Mickey’s grandfather and uncle had died from it at relatively young ages. Mutt died less than a year later. Mickey said that he always feared that he would die young from the disease, so he lived his life recklessly and used alcohol to “escape the pain of losing my dad.”

8He Believed He Could Fly

Mickey’s drinking buddy was Billy Martin. Best recalled as a fiery manager, most famously with the Yankees five times, he was Mantle’s teammate in the 1950s. Martin was a scrappy Italian—the opposite of The Mick—but the two had something very much in common: They loved to get to the bottom of a bottle.

One infamous episode occurred in Detroit. After far too many drinks, the two made it back to Mantle’s hotel room. Martin said to Mantle, “Let’s climb out on the ledge and see what’s going on in the other rooms.”

So out the two went, onto the 22nd-floor ledge of the hotel. They crawled drunkenly to the first window and saw nothing. It was the middle of the night, and their teammates were all fast asleep. It was too narrow to turn around, so Mantle and Martin inched the entire way around the building until they returned to their room and sheepishly crawled back inside.

7Fireworks Off The Field

Mantle’s other drinking buddy was Whitey Ford. Like Mantle, Ford is a Hall of Famer and remembered as a great clutch pitcher with 236 career wins. Mantle, Ford, and Martin were a threesome of trouble, but Mantle could easily cause a ruckus with just one of them. Just as Mantle and Martin had their infamous Detroit hotel incident, Mantle and Ford did some damage of their own, literally!

After a game in Baltimore, Mantle and Ford missed the team bus to Washington, DC. It wasn’t that far away, so the two shared a taxi to catch up and join the team at the hotel. Before they left, they grabbed a bottle of Scotch to make the trip a bit smoother.

Along the way, they spotted a fireworks stand and persuaded the taxi driver to stop. Mantle and Ford purchased Roman candles and, startling the driver, decided to light one right in the cab! They still had some left when they got to the elegant Shoreham Hotel. Opulence be damned, Mantle and Ford exploded the rest of the Roman candles in Mantle’s room, scaring their teammates and unsuspecting hotel guests.

6He Loved The Ladies

Mantle married his high school sweetheart, Merlyn Johnson, in 1951. That didn’t take him off the market, however. Later in life, Merlyn learned of The Mick’s womanizing, and the last six years of their marriage, they lived apart. They were still married when Mantle died in 1995.

If Mantle had three loves in life, they were baseball, wine, and women. His baseball skills may have slipped, but he never felt that he lost his other two passions. In a 1980 interview with New York magazine, Mickey let a female reporter know that he was still sharp in his game. While lamenting his other activities, he noted that he could still hunt and fish. “What do you hunt?” the reporter asked. Mickey replied with a grin, “Puss.”

If reporters did know of Mantle’s tomcat behavior during his playing days, they kept it to themselves. Besides a great place to set off fireworks, the Shoreham Hotel was another of Mantle’s favorite stops on the road. Mantle would go to the roof of the hotel for what he called “beaver-shooting.” A pathetic Peeping Tom, he spied on any females he could, preferably ones who were naked.

5The Hungover Home Run

Mantle liked to tell people that he never hurt his team by being drunk or hungover on the field. There is, however, a famous anecdote from Jim Bouton’s revealing look at baseball from the inside. As The Mick’s teammate, Bouton naturally had stories to tell.

One of the most controversial tales from Ball Four was Mantle’s home run with a hangover. The story was that Mantle was nursing an injury and not expected to play. So the evening before, Mantle had taken a few more risks than usual and was especially hungover for the game. In a pinch, Mantle was called upon to take an at bat, and despite the fact that he could barely see, he walloped a long home run to left. Squinting at the adoring crowd, Mantle said, “Those people don’t know how tough that really was!”

Baseball being what it is, someone was determined to find out if the story was true. Of Mantle’s 536 career home runs, five were pinch-hit home runs. Only three of the five were at home. As he was hungover, it seems logical that the game was a day game. And lo and behold, only once did Mantle homer as a pinch-hitter during a day game at home. On August 4, 1963, The Mick connected off of George Brunet to tie the game at 10. It was Mantle’s first game since a foot injury in June. The story is true.

4He Made A Mockery Of A Grand Jury

May 16, 1957, was supposed to be a joyous night out for Mantle and his teammates. It was the celebration of Billy Martin’s 29th birthday, and Sammy Davis Jr. was headlining at the Copacabana nightclub in New York. A few hecklers started to racially insult Davis Jr. (who was actually half–African American and half–Puerto Rican).

All that can be said for certain is that a heckler ended up with a broken jaw. Practically every story has Hank Bauer being the first to throw a punch. For his part, Bauer, who was batting a measly .203 that season, told police, “I didn’t hit him. I ain’t hit anybody all year.”

Bauer wasn’t the only one to get off a zinger. The parties appeared before a grand jury to try and get to the bottom of the incident. Mantle’s testimony went as follows:

“Did you see a gentleman lying unconscious on the floor near the Copa entrance?” a juror asked.

“Yes, I did,” Mantle answered.

“All right, do you have an opinion as to how this could have happened?”

Mantle paused, thought hard, and replied, “I think Roy Rogers rode through the Copa, and Trigger kicked the man in the head.”

The district attorney threw out the case for insufficient evidence.

3His Favorite Yankee Stadium Memory Was Off The Field

As Yankee Stadium approached its 50th birthday in 1972, team officials requested memories from their greatest players of their favorite memories at the stadium. Mantle—a three-time MVP, Triple Crown winner (leading the league in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average in the same season), and seven-time World Series champ—surely had plenty from which to choose. He chose none.

When filling out the form from the Yankees, Mantle answered the statement, “I consider the following my outstanding experience at Yankee Stadium” like this: “I got a blow job under the right field bleachers by the Yankee bull pen.”

The Yankee form followed up with: “This event occurred on or about (give as much detail as you can).”

Classy as ever, Mantle answered, “It was about the third or fourth inning. I had a pulled groin and couldn’t f—k at the time. She was a very nice girl and asked me what to do with the cum after I come in her mouth. I said don’t ask me, I’m no cock-sucker.”

And he signed it, “Mickey Mantle, The All-American Boy.”

2The Liver Controversy

When Mickey Mantle became sick in 1995, it wasn’t a total shock that alcoholism was the cause. What was surprising is that Mantle was on the transplant list to receive a new liver for only two days before securing a match. Just the idea of a drunk who ruined his or her own liver getting a new one was (and is) controversial enough, but now you have a famous drunk—and a hero to many baseball fans—seemingly moved to the front of the line.

A review showed that Mantle received no special treatment; he just got lucky. Having quit drinking in 1994, Mantle had been sober for a year. It seemed like a donor match might be the thing that finally set The Mick on the straight and narrow. But doctors hadn’t realized that cancer had already spread from Mantle’s diseased liver to the surrounding bile ducts. It was terminal, new liver be damned.

In a statement reflecting on his lifestyle, Mantle said, “I’d like to say to kids out there, if you’re looking for a role model . . . don’t be like me.” On August 13, 1995, two months after the liver transplant, Mickey Mantle was dead.

1His Alcoholism Ruined His Family

Mantle believed that alcoholism ran on his mother’s side of the family. He undoubtedly spread it to his own children. Mickey admitted that he was more “The Mick” to his kids than “Dad.” His four sons were his drinking buddies.

Late in life, he lamented his relationship with his kids, wondering if he had squandered his own kids’ athletic abilities because he was too often at a bar instead of in the backyard throwing batting practice. Mickey Mantle Jr. had a brief and unremarkable professional career in the low minor leagues. Mantle’s wife tried to keep up with her husband’s drinking and, like Mantle, ended up at the Betty Ford Center.

Youngest son Billy, named for friend Billy Martin, died at age 36. Like his grandfather, Billy had suffered from Hodgkin’s disease, but it was a heart attack—weakened from substance abuse—that ended his young life at 36. Mickey’s namesake, Mickey Jr., died from cancer in 2000. Like his parents, he also spent time at the Betty Ford Center. All four of Mickey Mantle’s sons did time in rehab. None made the major leagues like their father, but all inherited his lust for liquor.

Jake wrote a trivia e-book filled with crazy stuff like the kind you just read in this list. You can follow him on Twitter for more useless facts.

In almost every horror movie ever made, a hero or heroine goes up against a ruthless killing machine. In the end, the monster is dead (until the next sequel), and life returns to normal, but that’s not the only format a horror movie can take.

There is a sub-genre known as Reverse Horror, which works like this: the monster is the protagonist, and the victims are the bad guys. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but it will make sense when you check out these ten Reverse Horror films that are arguably the best the genre has to offer.

Incidentally, spoilers to follow…

10 Freaky Facts About Popular Horror Movies

10 Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil

While the film is definitely a comedy first, it’s also a brilliant take on the concept of a Reverse Horror movie, making it the best example ever put to film. This 2010 film starring Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk is told from two points of view; the two guys in the title, and a bunch of teenagers who immediately assume they are evil backwoods monsters. In a normal horror movie, the plot would be simple: privileged kids make their way into hillbilly territory, make bad choices, and wind up being slaughtered, but that’s not how this movie plays out.

Instead, Tucker and Dale are ordinary guys who enjoy spending time in the woods. Sure, they’re rednecks, but they aren’t evil monsters. Despite this, a series of misunderstandings make it clear to the kids that they are the movie monsters they think they are, so they decide to do something about it. Of course, every action they take leads to their death in brutal and violent ways, which only serves to freak out the titular heroes of this film. The movie is ingenious at how it tackles the Reverse Horror genre, and it’s equally hilarious.^[1]

9 Frankenstein

The story of Frankenstein’s Monster is one of pure tragedy, and that’s not just because people incorrectly identify the unnamed monster as “Frankenstein” all the time. The story is all about a scientist who wants to conquer the barrier between life and death. To do this, he commits various taboo acts by digging up the bodies of the recently deceased. He then stitches them together, and in an effort at playing God, Dr. Victor Frankenstein manages to give life to a superhuman specimen, and Frankenstein’s Monster was given life.

When the so-called monster makes his way into the world, he’s immediately treated as a villain. Each interaction with the people he meets plays out terribly for him. The thing about the monster is that he never asked to be made into the thing he became. Despite looking like a giant monster walking corpse, he was misunderstood and afraid of the outside world. He was treated as a monster, but in the end, it was the villagers who assaulted him and his creator, who treated him terribly that were the true monsters of the film.^[2]

8 I Am Legend

Throughout most of I Am Legend, it’s clear who the monsters are, seeing as they look and act exactly like what a movie monster should be. They are nocturnal, enjoy eating the flesh of the living, attack anything they see, are allergic to sunlight, and have a nasty disposition. The movie follows Will Smith’s Colonel Robert Neville as he works tirelessly to come up with a cure to the infection that has turned the majority of the world’s survivors into merciless killing machines. He does this by taking them captive and injecting them with experimental vaccines based on his own immunity.

That last bit should have been a clue, and it becomes clear as the film makes its way into the third act. Neville has been kidnapping these so-called monsters for years, experimented on them, and ultimately, he ended up killing them in the process. Instead of the infected being the monsters, Neville was the monster all along, and the real victims were the infected, who have adapted to their condition to become the next step in human evolution. Neville represented the terror that struck during the day when they were vulnerable, and he realizes this too late as the film comes to an end.^[3]

7 I Know What You Did Last Summer

When I know What You Did Last Summer hit theaters in 1997, it offered a somewhat new take on the slasher horror genre. In the movie, a group of kids are drinking and driving when they kit someone on a dark road. When they freak out over the implication of what a DUI/vehicular manslaughter charge will do to their futures, they agree to dump the body into the water, and never again discuss what happened. They went on to live their lives, but a year later, a letter shows up to one of the girls’ houses, stating, “I know what you did last summer!”

From that point forward, each of the people involved in the hit and run ends up on the wrong side of a massive hook, as they are slaughtered one by one. It’s a typical slasher horror movie, but with a twist. The killer is the man they hit and left for dead a year earlier. While his method of getting revenge is a little on the psychotic side, it’s hard to argue his victims didn’t deserve what they got. After all, they nearly killed him, dumped him in the water, and went about their lives, leaving him to pick up the pieces of his before finally going after the monsters (teenagers) who nearly killed him.^[4]

6 King Kong

Whether it’s the original King Kong from 1933 or Peter Jackson’s remake in 2005, the film’s basis remains the same. A group of filmmakers heads out to a mysterious place called Skull Island, where a rumored beast is said to roam the dangerous landscape. Along with the filmmakers are the actors, one of whom is a beautiful woman starring as the film’s female lead. After arriving, everything goes to hell rather quickly, and the woman is sacrificed to Kong, the island’s gigantic ape, but he doesn’t eat her — he fancies her.

When she’s taken, the filmmakers head out to try and get her back, and in doing so, they manage to capture King Kong. With such a prize on hand, they have little choice but to head to New York City to show him off. They chain the King and premiere the beast to the world, but he manages to escape. After taking the woman up the Empire State Building, aircraft manage to shoot him down, killing the great beast. The movie closes with “It was beauty killed the beast,” but that’s not true. The real villains of this movie were the men who went into Kong’s home, stole him from it, and led to his death, making the giant beast the real victim of this film.^[5]

10 Historic Events That Are Creepier Than A Horror Movie

5 Swamp Thing

At first glance, the muck monster that is the Swamp Thing is a classic movie monster, but he didn’t always look that way. Before he called the swamps his home, he was a man named Alec Holland, but when he’s doused in chemicals, set on fire, and dumped into the Louisiana swamps by Dr. Anton Arcane, his body mutated. He changed from being a normal human, and morphed into a new kind of creature… a monster of the swamps best described as a Swamp Thing!

His appearance is indeed that of a classic movie monster, as he’s made up of the muck and plant matter of the swamp. He also has superpowers, including increased strength, durability, and the ability to make plants grow and do his bidding, but he’s not the monster of this film. He’s actually the hero, and when his transformation is complete, he takes his vengeance out on Dr. Arcade and his henchmen. To anyone who knew the character before seeing the movie, they would have known who the true hero and villain were in the film, but a casual viewer… not so much.^[6]

4 The Cabin In The Woods

On the surface, Cabin in the Woods seems like a typical horror movie featuring zombies, a group of unsuspecting teens, and a bunch of bad decisions, but it’s far more than that. The plot does follow a group of teenagers who vacation in a cabin in the woods, where they fall victim to zombies, but the undead aren’t the real monsters in this movie. There’s something going on under the surface — literally, under the cabin’s surface, which is where the real villains of this film could be found.

A couple of engineers named Sitterson and Hadley are the real bad guys in this movie. They are the ones manipulating the events in and around the cabin to ensure the kids meet proper horror movie deaths. It turns out, they are part of an international project meant to keep humanity from being destroyed by horrific subterranean deities called the Ancient Ones. They do this by manipulating the kids via pheromones and drugs that get them to engage in sexual activity and other horror movie tropes used to bring on the monsters. In the end, the kids turn out to be the victims of the engineers and their Director, while the zombies turn out to be little more than a tool used by them.^[7]

3 The Others

Nikole Kidman took the role of Grace in 2001’s The Others, and the movie is incredibly strange but in a good way. In the beginning, she is shown to be incredibly overprotective of her children, who are allergic to sunlight (they aren’t vampires, it’s a real condition). She hires three people to help on her property, but soon after she does this, strange things begin happening all around the home. The curtains are drawn throughout the house, putting the children in jeopardy, and one of the children begins communing with the ghost of a little boy. Other paranormal events take place, and it’s clear the home is haunted.

As the film continues, more and more strange things occur, and it’s revealed that Grace did something terrible to the children in the past, but it’s not clear what that was. Just when the viewer thinks they know what’s going on, the whole plot is flipped upside-down, and it turns out that Grace and the kids (as well as the help) had been dead all along. The “ghosts” of the house were the living, who had taken up residence in the home long after Grace killed her children and herself. They were the ghosts, who had been terrifying the living all along.^[8]

2 Poltergeist

Poltergeist spends a lot of time making sure the viewer knows that the ghosts haunting the house are not only causing trouble, but they are also malevolent and out to get the family. As each interaction with the poltergeists continues, the stakes are pushed higher and higher until Carol Anne is sucked into the television, leaving a hopeless family with few options in getting their daughter back. Add to that the murderous clown that still gives people nightmares, the corpses in the pool, and the deadly tree, and the villains in Poltergeist are clearly the ghosts.

Only they aren’t! As you make your way through the movie, it becomes clear that the ghosts aren’t evil spirits intent on destroying all life — well, most of them aren’t. Instead, they are the disturbed spirits of the people who were buried under the property. As the film closes out in the third act, Craig T. Nelson’s character grabs his boss and screams that they moved the tombstones, but they didn’t move the bodies! Ultimately, the living were the ones who caused all the problems and had the dead been treated with respect, none of the bad things that happened in the film would have come to pass.^[9]

1 Carrie

Carrie is an interesting film due to the complexity of the characters and how it completely upends the nature of the titular girl in the end. As the movie begins, the viewer meets Carrie and her insane and fanatical mother, who barely manages to take care of her daughter. She’s mercilessly teased at school, and when she has her first period while in the school locker room, she freaks out because her mother never explained menstruation to her. This only makes the kids tease her more, and her life is clearly not going well.

By the third act, Carrie is taken to the prom, and she’s elated, but it doesn’t last long. When the kids pull a prank on her by dumping a bucket of pig’s blood all over her, it triggers her latent psychokinetic abilities. From there, the film shifts from Carrie being the victim to being the monster. She kills almost everyone attending the prom, up to and including the school teachers and administrators. With this, the film flips from straight-up horror to a reverse horror by redefining the main character from being the victim to also being the film’s villain.^[10]

Top 10 Must-See Recent Genre-Defying Horrors

There are a lot of women centric tv shows out there. Several of these shows are unabashedly, explicitly about women, their lives, their wants and desires. Today viewers are becoming more and more sensitive on how women are presented on-screen and these engaging stories are full of feminist ideas. Ready or not, here are the 10 greatest women centric TV shows you need to watch.

The 10 Greatest Women Centric TV Shows Ever

10. Lost Girl

Premiered on 2010.

Lost Girl is a supernatural drama from Canada. Highly popular and critically acclaimed, Lost Girl follows our bisexual protagonist Bo Dennis who learns that she can feed on the sexual energy of humans. After the discovery Bo embarks on a search of her origin, on her way helping those who need her help. Interestingly Bo’s sexuality plays a significant role in the show’s narrative device.

8. Once Upon A Time

Premiered on 2011.

Created by the writers of Lost and Tron: Legacy, OUAT is quiet a unique American television series. It’s a fairy tale drama where modern-life and legend collide. Set in a  seaside town of Storybrooke where resident are living unaware that they are characters from fairy tales stories doomed into this real-world by the curse of the Evil Queen.

9. Buffy The Vampire Slayer  (1997-2003)

This American television series has got a huge fandom with cult-following. Pretty evident by the name, our bad-ass lady, Buffy Summers is a vampire slayer. Bagging a number of titles like  Time magazine’s “100 Best TV Shows of All-Time”,  Empire ’​s “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” et al and awards such as Emmys and Golden Globe nominations, Buffy has influenced the direction of numerous other television series.

7. The 100

Premiered on 2014.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this American drama flourishes on an excitingly suspenseful atmosphere. 97 years after the Nuclear War that wiped off almost all life on Earth, a bunch of juvenile criminals are sent to find out exactly how habitable the Earth has become. But when you set a hundred teenagers free to do whatever the hell they want, what follows next is chaos.

Regarded as one of the “coolest and most daring series on TV”, The 100 has the first post-apocalyptic and The Cartoon Network Television Network’s first bisexual lead in a show.

6. Carmilla

Premiered on 2014.

Carmilla is a web series from Canada based on the novella of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu.  Staring the very talented Natasha Negovanlis and Elise Bauman, the story is set at the fictional Silas University in Styria, Austria. We follow Laura, a freshman student enthusiastic journalism student trying to investigate the disappearance of her roommate and other university girls while also dealing with her new, dark, brooding and mysterious roommate, Carmilla.

The series follows a multi-platform storytelling method and is available on YouTube for free where the first season has got over 21 million views. Carmilla has been raved for its almost all-female cast and amazing representation of LGBT characters.

5. Outlander

Premiered on 2014.

British-American drama series is based on the brilliant novels of the same name by Diana Gabaldon. The story revolves around a married World War II nurse Claire Randall (played by the incredible Caitriona Balfe) who falls through time and finds herself in the Scottish highlands in 1743.

Outlander was voted as the Favorite Cable Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show in People’s Choice Award and the  Critics’ Choice Television Award for Most Exciting New Series.

4. Agent Carter

Premiered on 2015.

Agent Carter follows the character Peggy Carter, an SSR agent who in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) features beside Captain America. Hayley Atwell plays the brilliant agent who after serving in the World War II faces sexism when working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R.) while trying to save the world from evil forces.

The show is a real gem. A stylish drama with a winning combination of cheeky-fun, sophisticated actions and burst of excitement.

3. Orange is the New Black

Premiered on 2013.

An American comedy-drama OINB is based on the memoir of Piper Kerman – Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison published in 2010.

The first series focuses on Piper Chapman who in her mid-thirties is sentenced to prison for her association with a drug runner 10 years ago. In the two following seasons, the show’s primary focus expands from Piper to over other prison-mates in the women’s federal prison as they try to make their way through the system, relishing their past lives and adjusting to their lives behind bars. In 2014, OINB was named the most watched show on Netflix and has won a slew of awards and nominations since.

2. The Legend of Korra

Premiered on 2012.

A follow-up series to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, Korra is created by the brilliant animation directors, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. Set in 70 years after the events of ‘The Last Airbender’, the show follows the next Avatar, ‘Avatar Korra’ and her quest to bring balance in a time of political and spiritual unrest in a modernizing world.

This American animated television series has been highly praised for its production quality, for addressing socio-political issues like terrorism, fascism, anarchy and unrest. The Legend of Korra has also been critically and commercially acclaimed for its positive representation of races, gender, ageism and sexual orientation.

1. Orphan Black

Premiered on 2013.

It’s a Canadian sci-fi television series starring Tatiana Maslany in lead role. Everything about Orphan Black is a potential spoiler. But without ruining the fun, let’s just know that the show follows a street-wise woman Sarah Manning with a troubled past. One day she witnesses a suicide of another woman who looks just like her. Sarah decides to assume the identity of that woman for monetary benefits, unknown to the epic mess she was getting into.

Raved by both fans and critics, Orphan Black is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that has feminist subtext interwoven into the plot. After 2014 Emmy snub, Maslany has been nominated for this year (2015) Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Drama. My fingers are crossed.

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Since 1934, DC Comics has been producing great comics with incredible superheroes who are pitted against some of the toughest villains. Here we are going to list down the 10 greatest DC comic villains:

10. Great Evil Beast

At number 10 position in the 10 greatest DC comic villains lies the Great Evil Beast. Also sometimes known as the Great Darkness or the Ultimate Darkness, the Great Evil Beast is a cosmic entity. Devoid of any kind of light, it came to being when a group of madmen who called themselves Brujería decided to contact the Great Darkness but something went wrong and the furious Great Evil Beast awoke.

It wasn’t aware of its existence before and upon waking up, it was dazzled and confused. It soon learned about the concept of good and evil. The realm of the Great Darkness is called the Sunless Sea or the Shadowlands.

See also: Top 10 Forgotten Princesses Adapted in Comics

9. Imperiex

Created by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill Imperiex made its first appearance in Superman (vol. 2) #153 in 2000. In the form of energy, the Imperiex lives inside a gigantic humanoid set of armour. He is somewhat of a god-like figure who destroys and recreates universes.

Among his several abilities he has superhuman strength, durability, stamina and can create black holes that he uses to suck up universes. In the crossover “Our Worlds at War”, Imperiex appears as the main antagonist.

8. Darkseid

At number 8 position in the 10 greatest DC comic villains lies the Darkseid – a super villain created by writer-artist Jack Kirby. He debuted in the Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 in 1970. He rules the planet Apokolips. Modelled after Adolf Hitler, Darkseid’s ultimate goal is to conquer the universe.

He was even dressed after Hitler’s fashion and world of Apokolips was more or less based on Nazi Germany. His primary power is a form of energy called the Omega Beams which is capable of eradicating all things at sight. Only three superheroes are considered worthy match to Darkseid, namely, Orion, Doomsday and Superman. The Darkseid has appeared in a number of television series, films, video games, etc.

7. Anti-Monitor

The Anti-Monitor was the primary antagonist in the miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. The Anti-Monitor has almost a human-appearance with big features, wide mouth and luminous eye socket. When he was destroyed by the Supergirl he took an unstable form which gave us a peek into what Anti-Monitor really is.

He is a mass of energy held by his armour that he called his “Life Shell”. One of the most formidable foes in the DC Universe, the Anti-Monitor is of a vast size, with unimaginable strength extraordinary durability and has the capability of destroying entire universes. After dying, he again returned in the Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1 in 2007.

See also: Top 10 Sexiest Female Comic Book Characters

6. Neron

At number 6 position in the 10 greatest DC comic villains lies Neron. Created by Mark Waid and Howard Porter, Neron first appeared in 1995 in Underworld Unleashed #1. His place of origin is hell and therefore he falls into the Demon species. He has a number of nicknames – “Wishweaver”, “Lord of Lies” and the “King of Hate”.

His job is to persuade people into giving up their souls in exchange of their greatest desire. His special powers are his superhuman strength, telepathy, teleportation, shapeshifting and mastery of maleficium. He is usually drawn to pure clean souls with an intense desire to control and corrupt them.

5. General Zod

General Zod is one of Superman’s arch enemies. Created by Robert Bernstein and by George Papp, General Zod made his debut in Adventure Comics #283 in 1961. He too was born in Superman’s home planet of Krypton and was a warlord there. He exhibits similar super power to that of the Superman.

When he was in Krypton he attempted to take over the planet by building an army of his own clone. He posses cool powers like great strength, speed and power of endurance. He also has incredible vision power. In the latest Superman film Man of Steel (2013), General Zod was played by Michael Shannon.

See also: 10 Greatest Marvel Comic Villains

4. Paragon

At number 4 position in the 10 greatest DC comic villains lies Paragon. Created by Kurt Busiek and Chuck Patton, he first appeared  in Justice League of America vol. 1 #224  in 1984. In the first face-off with the Justice League of America, Paragon squashed them but later the Red Tornado and Green Lantern managed to take him down.

A recurring opponent of Superman, Paragon’s initial goal was to eradicate weak people which just meant three fourth of the whole human population. Among his superpowers, he can duplicate the physical and mental abilities therefore can copy superhuman powers.

3. Amazo

Created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, Amazo debuted in The Brave and the Bold #30 in 1960. Amazo originally started as a one-off story but soon became a recurring villain of the Justice League of America. He is an android created by a mad scientist, Professor Ivo obsessed with the concept of immortality.

Later Amazo reincarnates over and over. His greatest power is the power of duplication of superheroes strength like that of Superman or the speed of Flash. He also ends up duplicating other abilities of the original Justice League of America. Amazo has regularly appeared in several animated television series, video games etc.

2. Nekron

At number 2 position in the 10 greatest DC comic villains lies Nekron. Created by Mike W. Barr, Len Wein and Joe Staton, Nekron appears as a super villain in Green Lantern comics. He first appeared in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps (vol. 1) #2 in 1981.

Nekron hails from a place adjacent to Hell, called the Dead Zone. He himself is an embodiment of death and has got unlimited power. He grows without limit, raises the dead, kills with a touch and is devoid of soul. In the “Blackest Night” story published between 2009 and 2010, Nekron was the primary antagonist.

See also: 10 Inspirations Behind Comic Book Supervillains

1. Parallax

Parallax is a super villain created by writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 3, #48 in 1994. Parallax’s primary weapon is with fear and mind-control. He is so powerful that he has in the past managed to take control of Spectre, Wonder Women and Superman.

The only way to beat him is to overcome fear.  Parallax has no true physical form and is really an evil energy that feeds off people’s fear.

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The Hot 100 is not a meritocracy. If it was, then “The Monster Mash” would have just spent its 58th year at the top. Many of the most iconic songs ever recorded were denied the #1 position for comparably worse records. Immortal classics stalled at #2 behind forgettable one hit wonders, frivolous novelties, or just plain garbage. History has vindicated the following ten songs as transcendent. They just were not quite enough to prove it at the time.

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10 Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Song that kept it off: Kris Kross’ “Jump”

The stranger thing might be that “Bohemian Rhapsody” nearly topped the charts seventeen years after its 1975 release. The cultural power of Queen’s operatic odyssey has never faded. It took a couple of headbanging doofuses to revitalize interest in the classic rock mainstay. An iconic scene in Wayne’s World features five friends jamming out to the gloriously theatrical “Galileo” breakdown. The movie’s popularity spurred the song to chart seven spots higher than it did decades earlier.

The top two in May of 1992 were as backwards as Kris Kross’ pants. Outside of their gimmick, Kris Kross were a couple of kids who lucked into an irrepressible hit. It is not fair to write Kris Kross off as flashes in the pan, but “Jump” remains their singular defining moment. More importantly, “Jump” launched Jermaine Dupri’s production career.

Compared to the short-lived fame of Kris Kross, “Bohemian Rhapsody” still remains omnipresent. Following the biopic that shares its name, “Bohemian Rhapsody” joined the exclusive list of songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate decades. It has quite the legacy. Still, the fact that Freddie Mercury’s signature tune lost to Kris Kross for eight continuous weeks is wiggida wiggida wiggida wack.^[1]

9 Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone”

Song that kept it off: 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop”

New York’s post-punk revival was all about grit. Indie upstarts in the early 2000’s retreated to the abrasive aesthetics of bygone eras to recapture something lost in a post 9/11 world. It is cosmically unjust that the people who shepherded this sound into the top ten were a prepackaged reality show diva and the Swedish mercenaries responsible for Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. In their defense, they absolutely nailed it.

Pop Svengali Max Martin felt “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was missing something. He was alone. “Maps” is among the most celebrated songs of the new millennium. Martin still thought the tender ode of devotion needed a more powerful chorus. That idea eventually morphed into the single, “Since U Been Gone.” Clarkson’s anthemic roar saved her from American Idol irrelevance and prefaced a new age of pop singers backed by guitars from Katy Perry to P!nk.

On the other hand, her main rival, 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop,” was already a fading relic during its nine-week perch. By 2005, braggadocio rap’s reign was declining. “Candy Shop’s” insipid wit and ham-fisted metaphors encapsulated exactly why the genre waned.^[2]

8 The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”

Song that kept it off: Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs’ “Sugar Shack”

Phil Spector is one of pop music’s worst villains. He should be remembered as an abusive demented murderer. Equally, he should be hailed for producing one of the purest bursts of euphoria ever put on record. History is funny like that.

Nowhere as bad as the monstrous Spector, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs are responsible for another great injustice against the Ronettes. In the creative nadir between the explosive birth of rock and roll and the dawn of the British Invasion, goofy treacle like “Sugar Shack” could become the best-selling song of 1963. Among the lone geniuses climbing the charts, the Ronettes were the muses for Phil Spector’s innovative girl group sound. “Be My Baby’s” evocative opening heartbeat drum fill is the most overanalyzed 1963 recording outside of the Zapruder film. Conversely, “Sugar Shack’s” beat is a clumsy Hammond amble resembling a farting accordion. The Ronettes perfected the dizzying rush of new found love. It certain makes for a more compelling subject than a smarmy creep hitting on a woman at her job.^[3]

7 The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie”

Song that kept it off: The Singing Nun’s “Dominique”

Perhaps, the country needed a balm. Appropriately, the first #1 song in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination was a simple ode to an earlier fallen Catholic leader. Few other justifications explain how the wholesome French ballad “Dominique” beat out one of the foundational chaotic texts in all of rock. Despite the fact that their sole hits could not be more sonically dissimilar, both The Kingsmen and The Singing Nun got into trouble with their respective governments.

The Kingsman’s formative garage rock stomper “Louie Louie” was so raucous that the FBI investigated its muddled vocals. Apparently not too busy dealing with the Kennedy assassination, federal officials spent two years listening to the amateurish cover to hear if the audio buried any questionable lines. They could have saved a lot of time just listening to the Richard Berry original. In the end, they determined that the lyrics were completely unintelligible. Embarrassingly, they never realized that drummer Lynn Easton shouts “f*ck” after flubbing his cue.

Sister Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers’ track has a much sadder background. Belgian authorities hounded her for back taxes. They could not believe she never got any residuals from her global smash. Her label and convent scammed her out of a fortune. Decker was forced out of her convent. Following a crisis of faith, Decker started dating Annie Pécher. In 1985, the two long term partners intentionally overdosed on barbiturates and alcohol. A nearby note read, “We hope God will welcome us. He saw us suffer, so He should show clemency.”^[4]

6 Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”

Song that kept it off: Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”

Marvin Gaye had enough. Begrudgingly stuck in the sidelines, he resented not fighting like his brother stationed in Vietnam. He could still serve his country. Using his dissolving family as a microcosm for society at large, Gaye saw how violence divided the nation. His soul-searching call for unity resonated with a bit less people than a song about getting drunk with a bullfrog.

Three Dog Night’s brassy fluke “Joy to the World” is one of the dumbest novelties of all time. “What’s Going On” is such a tightly constructed standalone single that it still served as the title track of a cohesive elegy of an album. “Joy to the World” barely strings along inane non sequiturs into something with the passing semblance of verses. So consumed by Vietnam, Gaye was thrown into depression. The only time the simpleminded Three Dog Night mention the war, they immediately undercut it by saying that they just want to make sweet love. Hopefully, this refers to someone other than their amphibian friend Jeremiah.^[5]

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5 Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”

Song that kept it off: Fergie’s “London Bridge”

In 2006, two songs posed questions. Along with Gnarls Barkley collaborator Danger Mouse, Cee Lo Green contemplated whether he was crazy to think he could will his marriage back from the dead after his wife asked for a divorce. Even if he could rekindle the relationship, would it merely be a bleak visage of what it once was? Why even be a part of a marriage like that? Fergie simply wondered, “how come every time you come around [her] London, London Bridge wanna go down, like London, London, London?”

The ethereal haunt of “Crazy” could not compete with twin raunchy powerhouses, Nelly Furtado’s dynamically flirtatious “Promiscuous” and Fergie’s obnoxiously clunky “London Bridge.” Fergie succinctly describes “London Bridge” in its own opening two words. If one can ignore the incredibly cumbersome simile that some anatomical feature is comparable to either a historical English landmark or a children’s nursery rhyme, it still contains the woefully cringeworthy refrain of “me love you long time”. If only history repeated itself and “London Bridge” had fallen down.^[6]

4 The Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown”

Song that kept it off: SSgt. Barry Sadler’s “The Ballad of the Green Berets”

During one of the most fruitful explosions in pop culture history, a plodding pretentious piece of pro-war propaganda was the bestselling single of 1966. The five weeks stay on the summit meant something assuredly better was blocked off.

In their own ways, “The Ballad of the Green Berets” and The Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown” are both reactionary records against disaffected youth. Their targets could not be more different. The Stones’ condemnation against spoiled elites is filled with venomous derision. Bill Wyman’s propulsive bass line elevates Mick Jagger’s mocking sneer into effigy of London’s Swinging Sixties. Barry Sadler’s take down is comparatively lifeless. The faux military drum roll is the closest thing to a pulse. It carries Sadler’s monotone story where a soldier dies and wishes his child joins the same organization responsible for his death. Stoic Sadler never questions the needlessly cruel conflict. He displays no emotion either way.

Barry Sadler did not have much success outside of pop music. The royalties off one song dried up pretty quickly. He moved to Nashville to revitalize his career. In 1978, he shot Lee Emerson Bailey, Marty Robbins’ and George Jones’ former manager, over a woman. Sadler claims that he saw a glint of metal in the unarmed Bailey’s hand. Sadler only served 28 days in prison for the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. Out of prison, Sadler moved to Guatemala to train Nicaraguan contras. Either accidentally by his own hand or in a robbery, Sadler was shot in the head. The resulting coma contributed to a fatal heart attack at 49. The Rolling Stones ended up doing pretty well for themselves.^[7]

3 Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin’ But A G Thang”

Song that kept it off: Snow’s “Informer”

Snow was not an imposter. He was a criminal living among Jamaican immigrants. Yet compared to the effortless swagger of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Snow seems desperate. Every choice sounds like a man floundering his credibility. Gangstas threatening to stab someone are a lot more believable when they call it anything other than “licky boom-boom down.”

Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre were at the door, ready to make an entrance. Snow did not back on up. Snoop and Dre would have given the #1 slot some much needed legitimacy. The first batch of rappers to top the chart were an assortment of ridiculous wannabees, like Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark, or momentary highlights, like P.M. Dawn. With his Toronto born patois, Snow is firmly in the first category. Snoop and Dre are neither. They were pioneering artists trailblazing a whole new style of hip hop, G-funk. Instead, the public chose a Canadian putting on a fake accent bragging about being anally probe by a police officer.^[8]

2 Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang”

Song that kept it off: Larry Verne’s “Mr. Custer”

The only time Sam Cooke hit #1 it did not count. Cooke’s shimmery coo “You Send Me” peaked in an early forerunner of the Billboard charts, the Best Sellers in Stores. In 1958, Billboard consolidated their respective lists into the Hot 100. When it came time to properly ascend, he was blocked by one of the most repellent hits ever.

In theory, both “Chain Gang” and “Mr. Custer” describe historical minorities suffering. In practice, the differences are stark. Cooke empathizes with the plight of abused prisoners yearning to reconnect with loved ones. Verne idolizes a genocidal madman and treats those fighting his invasion as a punchline. “Chain Gang’s” beat is driven by inmates’ sledgehammers, turning their tortuous exploitation into a celebration of resilience in an intolerant justice system. Conversely, “Mr. Custer” destroys any momentum by interrupting the melody with yelped out racist caricatures of Native American war cries and spoken word sketches. For a week in 1960, the record buying public preferred a yokel belching out a southern twang over the angelic voice of one of the greatest soul artists of all time. American taste has always been inexplicable.^[9]

1 Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street”

Song that kept it off: Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing”

The most egregious block in chart history has nothing to do with the respective songs’ quality. Both “Baker Street” and “Shadow Dancing” have merits. They work as companion pieces for the same ennui. “Baker Street” wallows in bourbon-soaked dread. “Shadow Dancing” is cocaine propelled anxiety. Nor does it have anything to do with fatigue of Bee Gee’s cultural onslaught. In the height of disco, Barry Gibb was so prolific that his younger brother could turn his runoff into the biggest selling song of 1978. The problem with the “Baker Street’s” silver medal status is that its gold was stolen.

For six of “Shadow Dancing’s” seven-week run, “Baker Street” sat within striking distance. In one weeks, chart tabulators told America’s Top 40’s producers “Baker Street” finally broke through. Billboard chart director Bill Wardlow protested. Gibb’s managers threatened to remove him from a Billboard show if “Baker Street” knocked off “Shadow Dancing.” Host Casey Kasem re-recorded after Wardlow called. Even outside of the lyrics, “Baker Street” could not win.^[10]

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About The Author: Nate Yungman’s favorite song is “Baker Street.” If you thought this article was a load of number two, then you can email comments or questions to [email protected]. If you thought it was the tops, follow him on Twitter, @NateYungman

If you live in the the United States (and even if you don’t) you’ve probably heard about a number of the country’s prominent historical figures. But what about the history of those who were there before? Even many Americans know very little of Native American history.

One of many overlooked aspects of Native American history is the long list of exceptional men who led various tribes as chiefs or war leaders. Just as noble and brave as anyone on the Mexican, British, or American sides, many of them have been swept into the dustbin of history. Here are ten of the greatest Native American chiefs and leaders.

10 Victorio

A member of the Apache tribe, Victorio was also the chief of his particular band, the Chiricahua. He was born in what is now New Mexico in 1809, when the land was still under Mexican control.^[1] For decades, the United States had been taking Native American lands, and Victorio grew up in turbulent times for his people. Because of that experience, he became a fearsome warrior and leader, commanding a relatively small band of fighters on innumerable raids.

For more than ten years, Victorio and his men managed to evade the pursuing US forces before he finally surrendered in 1869. Unfortunately, the land he accepted as the spot for their reservation was basically inhospitable and unsuitable for farming. (It’s known as Hell’s Forty Acres.) He quickly decided to move his people and became an outlaw once again. In 1880, in the Tres Castillos Mountains of Mexico, Victorio was finally surrounded and killed by Mexican troops. (Some sources, especially Apache sources, say he actually took his own life.)

Perhaps more interesting than Victorio was his younger sister, Lozen. She was said to have participated in a special Apache puberty rite which was purported to have given her the ability to sense her enemies. Her hands would tingle when she was facing the direction of her foes, with the strength of the feeling telling how close they were.

9 Chief Cornstalk

More popularly known by the English translation of his Shawnee name Hokolesqua, Chief Cornstalk was born sometime around 1720, probably in Pennsylvania.^[2] Like much of the Shawnee people, he resettled to Ohio in the 1730s as a result of continuous conflict with invading white settlers (especially over the alcohol they brought with them). Tradition holds that Cornstalk got his first taste of battle during the French and Indian War, in which his tribe sided with the French.

A lesser-known conflict called Lord Dunmore’s War took place in 1774, and Cornstalk was thrust into fighting once again. However, the colonists quickly routed the Shawnee and their allies, compelling the Native Americans to sign a treaty, ceding all land east and south of the Ohio River. Though Cornstalk would abide by the agreement until his death, many other Shawnee bristled at the idea of losing their territory and plotted to attack once again. In 1777, Cornstalk went to an American fort to warn them of an impending siege. However, he was taken prisoner and later murdered by vengeance-seeking colonists.

Cornstalk’s longest-lasting legacy has nothing to do with his actions in life. After his death, when reports of a flying creature later dubbed the “Mothman” began to surface in West Virginia, its appearance was purported to have come about because of a supposed curse which Cornstalk had laid on the land after the treachery that resulted in his death.

8 Black Hawk

A member and eventual war leader of the Sauk tribe, Black Hawk was born in Virginia in 1767. Relatively little is known about him until he joined the British side during the War of 1812, leading to some to refer to Black Hawk and his followers as the “British Band.” (He was also a subordinate of Tecumseh, another Native American leader on this list.) A rival Sauk leader signed a treaty with the United States, perhaps because he was tricked, which ceded much of their land, and Black Hawk refused to honor the document, leading to decades of conflict between the two parties.

In 1832, after having been forcibly resettled two years earlier, Black Hawk led between 1,000 and 1,500 Native Americans back to a disputed area in Illinois.^[3] That move instigated the Black Hawk War, which only lasted 15 weeks, after which around two-thirds of the Sauk who came to Illinois had perished. Black Hawk himself avoided capture until 1833, though he was released in a relatively short amount of time. Disgraced among his people, he lived out the last five years of his life in Iowa. A few years before his death, he dictated his autobiography to an interpreter and became somewhat of a celebrity to the US public.

7 Tecumseh

Another Shawnee war leader, Tecumseh was born in the Ohio Valley sometime around 1768. Around the age of 20, he began going on raids with an older brother, traveling to various frontier towns in Kentucky and Tennessee. After a number of Native American defeats, he left to Indiana, raising a band of young warriors and becoming a respected war chief. One of his younger brothers underwent a series of visions and became a religious prophet, going so far as to accurately predict a solar eclipse.

Using his brother’s abilities to his advantage, Tecumseh quickly began to unify a number of different peoples into a settlement known as Prophetstown, better known in the United States as Tippecanoe.^[4] One day, while Tecumseh was away on a recruiting trip, future US president William Henry Harrison launched a surprise attack and burned it to the ground, killing nearly everyone.

Still angered at his people’s treatment at the hands of the US, Tecumseh joined forces with Great Britain when the War of 1812 began. However, he died at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813. Though he was a constant enemy to them, Americans quickly turned Tecumseh into a folk hero, valuing his impressive oratory skills and the bravery of his spirit.

6 Geronimo

Perhaps the most famous Native American leader of all time, Geronimo was a medicine man in the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua. Born in June 1829, he was quickly acclimated to the Apache way of life. As a young boy, he swallowed the heart of his first successful hunting kill and had already led four separate raids before he turned 18.^[5] Like many of his people, he suffered greatly at the hands of the “civilized” people around him. The Mexicans, who still controlled the land, killed his wife and three young children. (Though he hated Americans, he maintained a deep-seated abhorrence for Mexicans until his dying day.)

In 1848, Mexico ceded control of vast swaths of land, including Apache territory, in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This preceded near-constant conflict between the new American settlers and the tribes which lived on the land. Eventually, Geronimo and his people were moved off their ancestors’ land and placed in a reservation in a barren part of Arizona, something the great leader deeply resented. Over the course of the next ten years, he led a number of successful breakouts, hounded persistently by the US Army. In addition, he became a celebrity for his daring escapes, playing on the public’s love of the Wild West.

He finally surrendered for the last time on September 4, 1886, followed by a number of different imprisonments. Shortly before his death, Geronimo pleaded his case before President Theodore Roosevelt, failing to convince the American leader to allow his people to return home. He took his last breath in 1909, following an accident on his horse. On his deathbed, he was said to have stated: “I should never have surrendered; I should have fought until I was the last man alive.”

5 Crazy Horse

A fearsome warrior and leader of the Oglala Sioux, Crazy Horse was born around 1840 in present-day South Dakota.^[6] One story about his name says that he was given it by his father after displaying his skills as a fighter. Tensions between Americans and the Sioux had been increasing since his birth, but they boiled over when he was a young teenager. In August 1854, a Sioux chief named Conquering Bear was killed by a white soldier. In retaliation, the Sioux killed the lieutenant in command along with all 30 of his men in what is now known as the Grattan Massacre.

Utilizing his knowledge as a guerilla fighter, Crazy Horse was a thorn in the side of the US Army, which would stop at nothing to force his people onto reservations. The most memorable battle in which Crazy Horse participated was the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the fight in which Custer and his men were defeated. However, by the next year, Crazy Horse had surrendered. The scorched-earth policy of the US Army had proven to be too much for his people to bear. While in captivity, he was stabbed to death with a bayonet, allegedly planning to escape.

4 Chief Seattle

Born in 1790, Chief Seattle lived in present-day Washington state, taking up residence along the Puget Sound. A chief of two different tribes thanks to his parents, he was initially quite welcoming to the settlers who began to arrive in the 1850s, as were they to him. In fact, they established a colony on Elliot Bay and named it after the great chief. However, some of the other local tribes resented the encroachment of the Americans, and violent conflicts began to rise up from time to time, resulting in an attack on the small settlement of Seattle.^[7]

Chief Seattle felt his people would eventually be driven out of every place by these new settlers but argued that violence would only speed up the process, a sentiment which seemed to cool tempers. The close, and peaceful, contact which followed led him to convert to Christianity, becoming a devout follower for the rest of his days. In a nod to the chief’s traditional religion, the people of Seattle paid a small tax to use his name for the city. (Seattle’s people believed the mention of a deceased person’s name kept him from resting peacefully.)

Fun fact: The speech most people associate with Chief Seattle, in which he puts a heavy emphasis on mankind’s need to care for the environment, is completely fabricated. It was written by a man named Dr. Henry A. Smith in 1887.

3 Cochise

Almost nothing is known about the childhood of one of the greatest Apache chiefs in history. In fact, no one is even sure when he was born. Relatively tall for his day, he was said to have stood at least 183 centimeters (6′), cutting a very imposing figure. A leader of the Chiricahua tribe, Cochise led his people on a number of raids, sometimes against Mexicans and sometimes against Americans. However, it was his attacks on the US which led to his demise.

In 1861, a raiding party of a different Apache tribe kidnapped a child, and Cochise’s tribe was accused of the act by a relatively inexperienced US Army officer.^[8] Though they were innocent, an attempt at arresting the Native Americans, who had come to talk, ended in violence, with one shot to death and Cochise escaping the meeting tent by cutting a hole in the side and fleeing. Various acts of torture and execution by both sides followed, and it seemed to have no end. But the US Civil War had begun, and Arizona was left to the Apache.

Less than a year later, however, the Army was back, armed with howitzers, and they began to destroy the tribes still fighting. For nearly ten years, Cochise and a small band of fighters hid among the mountains, raiding when necessary and evading capture. In the end, Cochise was offered a huge part of Arizona as a reservation. His reply: “The white man and the Indian are to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread, and be at peace.” Unfortunately for Cochise, he didn’t get to experience the fruits of his labor for long, as he became seriously ill and died in 1874.

2 Sitting Bull

A chief and holy man of the Hunkpapa Lakota, Sitting Bull was born in 1831, somewhere in present-day South Dakota.^[9] In his youth, he was an ardent warrior, going on his first raid at only 14. His first violent encounter with US troops was in 1863. It was this bravery which led to him becoming the head of all the Lakota in 1868. Though small conflicts between the Lakota and the US would continue for the decade, it wasn’t until 1874 that full-scale war began. The reason: Gold had been found in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota. (The land had been off-limits thanks to an earlier treaty, but the US discarded it when attempts to buy the land were unsuccessful.)

The violence culminated in a Native American coalition facing off against US troops led by Custer at the aforementioned Battle of the Little Bighorn. Afterward, many more troops came pouring into the area, and chief after chief was forced to surrender, with Sitting Bull escaping to Canada. His people’s starvation eventually led to an agreement with the US, whereupon they were moved to a reservation. After fears were raised that Sitting Bull would join in a religious movement known as the Ghost Dance, a ceremony which purported to rid the land of white people, his arrest was ordered. A gunfight between police and his supporters soon erupted, and Sitting Bull was shot in the head and killed.

1 Mangas Coloradas

The father-in-law to Cochise and one of the most influential chiefs of the 1800s, Mangas Coloradas was a member of the Apache. Born just before the turn of the century, he was said to be unusually tall and became the leader of his band in 1837, after his predecessor and many of their band were killed. They died because Mexico was offering money for Native American scalps—no questions asked. Determined to not let that go unpunished, Mangas Coloradas and his warriors began wreaking havoc, even killing all the citizens of the town of Santa Rita.

When the US declared war on Mexico, Mangas Coloradas saw them as his people’s saviors, signing a treaty with the Americans allowing soldiers passage through Apache lands.^[10] However, as was usually the case, when gold and silver were found in the area, the treaty was discarded. By 1863, the US was flying a flag of truce, allegedly trying to come to a peace agreement with the great chief. However, he was betrayed, killed under the false pretense that he was trying to escape, and then mutilated after death. Asa Daklugie, a nephew of Geronimo, later said this was the last straw for the Apache, who would began mutilating those who had the bad luck to fall into their hands.

Guitarists always played a crucial role in rock history. It’s hard to imagine a rock band without a good guitar player. Some guitarists just walk with other band members but some makes their own identity and their fans listen to the music just for their solos. These extraordinary people don’t need lyrics to express their feelings because they can do the same with their guitar strings. This list is to rank greatest guitarists along with the tracks in which they portrayed their best skills.

The 10 Greatest Guitarists and Their Best Solos

10. Eric Johnson

Best Solo – Cliffs of Dover

He is so versatile that alongside being an excellent electric guitarist, he can also play acoustic, steel string guitar and bass guitar but other than that he is a pianist and vocalist. No doubt, some magazines called him ‘ one of the most respected guitarists on the planet ‘ but the truth is Johnson is one of the greatest guitarists that ever existed. If you want to know how perfect his guitar skills actually are, just listen the track “Cliffs of Dover”.

9. Joe Satriani

Best Solo – The extremist

Satriani is considered a highly technical guitarist and has been referred as top guitar virtuoso. He has mastered in many performance techniques including legato, two handed tapping, volume swells, harmonics and extreme bar effects.

He is the 15 time Grammy award nominee and has sold more than 10 million albums making him the best selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time. His all compositions are unique and stunning but we prefer to go with the title track of his most acclaimed album The Extremist.

8. Randy Rhoades

Best Solo – Mr. Crowley

Despite having very short musical career as he died at the age of 25 during a plane crash, he is recognized as one of the greatest guitarists of all time who influenced many later artists. He was a major influence on neoclassical metal.

His track Mr Crowley vividly portrayed his amazing guitar skills. Mr Crowley has not one, not two but three stunning guitar moments but the masterpiece’s climax is the ultra solo.

7. Eric Clapton

Best Solo – Layla

He is the only guitarist who has appeared three times in Rock and roll hall of fame, once as solo artist and separately as a member of Yellowbirds and Cream. He is the recipient of 18 Grammy awards and has been considered among the most influential and greatest guitarists of all time.

His two most popular signature tracks are Leyla and crossroads. You can pick any one from them to get idea about his guitar skills.

6. David Gilmour

Best Solo – Comfortably Numb

The artist has more than 50 years of career span and has worked as guitarist and co-vocalist in progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The band has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide and it couldn’t be possible if Gilmour wasn’t there. Comfortably numb is recognized as one of the of best guitar solo of all time.

See also: The 10 richest rappers of all time.

5. Brian May

Best Solo – Bohemian Rhapsody

He is best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. As the member of queen, Brian is regarded as a virtuoso musician and identified with distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work. Brian May explore wide variety of styles in guitar including sweep picking, tremolo, tapping, slide guitar, Hendrix sound licks, tape delay and melodic.

He has also performed notable acoustic work but he is mostly recognized for his melodious riffs in Bohemian rhapsody. Brian came fifth in our list of greatest guitarists and their solos.

4. Jeff Beck

Best Solo – Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers

Most of the Jeff back’s recorded outputs have been instrumental with focuses on innovative and unique sound. His releases have spanned genres ranging from blues rock, hard rock and jazz fusion. Being one of the most influential and innovative guitarist of all time he has won Grammy award six times for Best rock instrumental and one time for Best pop instrumental performance.

He has appeared two times in Rock and Roll hall of fame, once as solo artist and as the member of Yardbirds. He has crafted many masterpieces but you can pick “cause we’ve ended as lovers” in which he used sound distortion to make unforgettably melodious sound.

See also: The 10 richest musicians of all time.

3. Slash

Best Solo – Sweet Child o’ Mine

This Artist has created some of the greatest guitar riffs of all time and earned the title ” riff lord “, night train and November rain are just the name of few. He is best known as the lead guitarist in Guns N’ Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success and critical acclaim in late 1980s and early 1990s.

In sweet child o’ mine slash created the best guitar sound and made it the greatest guitar solo ever. Does there remain a doubt as to why Slash is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists to ever exist?

 2. Jimmy Page

Best Solo – Stairway to Heaven

Led Zeppelin achieved international success with their number one single, stairway to heaven and Jimmy Page gave outstanding guitar performance in it. He has also been a member of Yardbirds before he founded one of the most successful band in Rock history Led Zeppelin.

He is described as the genius guitarist and many acclaimed guitarists are influenced by him including Joe Satriani and Slash.

See also: 10 highest paid female singers.

1. Jimi Hendrix

Best Solo – Voodoo Child

The legend had only four years of career span and recognized as the pioneer of using electric guitar as the instrument in rock music. Probably many guitarists can play guitar better than him but it couldn’t be possible if he didn’t started this. He is known to be the greatest guitarist of all time and one of the greatest artist ever lived.

During the opening of voodoo child Hendrix created one of the best known wah-wah riffs of the classical rock era. Hendrix opened the range of the electric guitar into areas no musician had ever ventured before and changed the rock music forever.

10 Greatest Guitarists and Their Best Solos

1. Jimi Hendrix (Voodoo child)
2. Jimmy Page (Stairway to Heaven)
3. Slash (Sweet Child o’ Mine)
4. Jeff Beck (Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers)
5. Brian May (Bohemian Rhapsody)
6. David Gilmour (Comfortably Numb)
7. Eric Clapton (Layla)
8. Randy Rhoades (Mr. Crowley)
9. Joe Satriani (The Extremist)
10. Eric Johnson (Cliffs of Dover)

Movies! Of course we all are fond of movies and love to include them in our family and friends gatherings to have a wholesome enjoyment. Though most of the movies are noted for their sweet, harmonious and amusing themes, there are some that are celebrated for having unusual storylines and such themes also that are bizarre and have odd effects on their audience.

These movies are often based on the untold peculiar social, cultural and religious premises that are considered unfit to be discussed rather because of their mysterious nature or because of the controversy related to them. In both the cases, these movies attract much critical appraisal and views. We have collected list of some of the most deemed notorious, the cult movies for you to choose and enjoy your next movie.

Top 10 Greatest Cult Movies Ever Made

1. Spartacus

The movie is based on the character of Roman slave Spartacus who caused uprising against the Roman government in 73 BC, he was a Thracian gladiator forced to fight for the amusement of Roman elite and later defeated it.

But what we are talking about here are the Spartacus movie series made for British television; though it is also based on the gladiator character of Spartacus but with much much more DETAILS of the happenings of Roman throne. The series are considered to be unfit and too violent for the taste of British viewers while some of its parts like Blood and Sand were on the verge of getting banned.

The movie has extremely violent and explicit sexual and bloodshed scenes, which cause the viewers to shut or bulge their eyes out in horror and disbelief. The movie has displayed some of the most overt sexual techniques like threesome, oral sex, homosexuality, masturbation and group sex; moreover the scenes were strikingly CLEAR frontal nude view of men and women. The bloodshed is highly defined with excessive decapitating and carnage in the arena; the war scenes and mutilating of human body are horrific and unbelievingly realistic.

Though one of the main characters of the movie, Hannah, stated in his interview that the movie series are on-aired after 10 pm, the time by which the kids are peacefully in beds, hence making it less threatening. But still Spartacus continues to be one of the most controversially explicit movies ever made. You may like; top 10 war movies.

2. In the Land of Blood and Honey

The movie is the debut made by one of the hottest and successful Hollywood stars, Angelina Jolie, as her doorway to the world of directorship. The movie is based on the universal subject of war and the conditions during and after the act; on the surface it is a romantic tale of a Serb officer Danijel and Bosniak prisoner Ajla.

The story deals with the treatment of Bosniak Muslims, especially women, in the war camps most commonly referred as ‘rape camps’. As soon as the movie is released, and even during its making, it received criticism more than acclaim; the Bosniak women association objected on the subject as they believed that Jolie is trying to bring their personal matters on universal level, which is unacceptable by them. Apart from this, the movie contains love making scenes between Danijel and Ajla, which caused another conflict as Ajla is a Muslim girl and such lucid depiction of sex is considered offensive by the Muslim viewers.

Apart from all the controversy, the movie was a disturbing experience for the war survivors, especially the women raped during it, as they feel as if the war is still going on. Another controversy that strikes is that the story was claimed to have been stolen by the director, which she counteracted by saying that she had collected the information through varied sources. You may also like; top 10 war movies.

3. Stigmata

The movie was released in 1999, based on supernatural horror theme and was directed by Rupert Wainwright; movie is based on the common belief of stigmata, which deals with the occurrence of Christ’s five signs on crucifixion.

The movie revolves around an atheist Pittsburgh hairdresser, the role played by Patricia Arquette, and her life during and after having experienced stigmata. Stigmata is a Roman Catholic religious belief of having Christ’s sacred wounds on body of priests and other religious people as a result of having close affiliation with Christ and desire to experience His pain.

The movie shows Catholic Church and the stigmata in negative light as Patricia (Frankie) is shown as a possessed being with appearance of Holy Wounds. The release of the movie was received with huge success as it was immensely fruitful in acquiring considerably large budget, but this did not stop the religious figures from criticising it. Frankie is possessed by the deceased investigating Father Almeida who has found and was translating the missing Gospel; the Gospel was a threat to the Church as it says that holiness is not limited to Church only, which is something the Church does not want the people to know.

4. Blue is the Warmest Colour

Gyrating around the theme of love affair between two girls, Blue is the Warmest Colour is some of the movies that caused disturbance in France. The movie consists of a 14 years old girl who is experiencing sexual awakening but is not interested in boys; she dreams of being sexually involved with a blue haired senior girl who afterwards becomes her lover.

The movie contains sexual scenes between the two girls, which raised eyebrows of many viewers; however it succeeded to win the award in France. Though the movie was notable for its unusual and daring theme, the director and both the lead actresses had many issues, which they expressed in their interviews.

The director, Kechiche, goes as far as saying that he wished that he did not made the movie on the first place and that he was about to replace one of the actresses because of her unsatisfactory performance. While the story on the actresses’ part showed an entirely different side of the coin, both the actresses, Seydoux and Exarchopoulos, admit that the director was a ‘torture’ to work with and only his fame and expertise made them to work with him. As both the actresses were heterosexual in nature, shooting lesbian sex scenes was immensely difficult for them with the director’s ever increasing demands. Moreover, they acknowledge that they do not want to work with the director ever again.

5. Viridiana

Directed by the exiled director Luis Bunuel and produced by Gustavo Alatriste, Viridiana is some of those films that are sure to stir your spiritual belief. The movie has the themes of rape, incest, evil and hollowness of ideal religious beliefs at its base and believed to be Bunuel’s backlash against the government and Church.

The story is about a young nun who is about to take her sacred vows, she is invited by her uncle who is mourning his wife’s death on the night of their marriage, her uncle is astonished at her astounding resemblance with his dead wife and even proposes to her, which she declines. He forces her into wearing his deceased wife’s wedding gown and spikes her drink with the help of his faithful servant taking her to his room where he attempts to rape her but stops in horror and humiliation.

Later he tells her that he did not rape her and kills himself with a skip rope leaving all of his property and estate to Viridiana. The girl cancels her return and changes the house into a shelter for poor and devastated people including beggars, poor women and children. Soon afterwards her good deeds are rewarded by the rape attempt on her by the people living in the house; however, she is saved by her uncle’s illegitimate son.

The movie has an infamous scene where all the people of the house are acting in the way of Da Vinci’s famous painting of the last supper in a comical manner. The film has believed to mock the Christian belief of goodness as it shows the difficulties faced by Viridiana in her quest of doing well to all; at the end Viridiana is shown in a more realistic light as she is now a changed woman playing cards with fellow residents.

The movie was deemed controversial and banned on several grounds; of having shown an incest inclination of a man towards his niece, religious weakness in people apparent from their mocking of the last supper painting and showing of the irrational goodness of the young nun.

6. Baise-Moi

Baise-Moi is the French crime thriller revolving around two women and their meeting of roads and combined journey of crime, violence and sex. The film received a lot of media hype and coverage due to graphically explicit sex, sadism and it’s shocking title as Baise-Moi in English is ‘Fuck Me’.

The movie is based on the bestseller novel written by one of the directors Virginie Despente but did not receive the same acclaim as of the book. Virginie Despente directed the movie in collaboration with Coralie Trinh Thi, both the directors are known as former porn stars while the actresses in the lead roles, Karen Lancaume and Raffaela Anderson, are also associated with porn industry.

The story is about two independent women who feel themselves as misfits in the society they are living it, Nadine (Lancoaume) works as a part time prostitute and Manu (Anderson) works as a minor porn star. After meeting, both of them form a team and starts making their own ways and get involved in a number of killings. The movie was banned in a number of countries including its hometown France; it was released in UK with rating R18 and is considered as violent porn in many countries.

The directors rejected the claim saying that the film is not meant for masturbation hence it’s not porn; the movie has real sex scenes as the heroines are porn stars and have no problem in filming it. The movie is the very first one to show penis entering into vagina in the gang rape scenes and the anal penetration of a man through gun.

7. I Spit on Your Grave

Remembered as one of the most hated movies ever made, I Spit on Your Grave had created considerably impressive upheaval both in 1978 and 2010; the 1978 version starred Cammille Keaton while the later version has Sarah Butler.

The film has a typical and common theme of rape and revenge but with a more vivid and disturbingly realistic depiction; a lonely young woman rents a cabin in a nearly deserted neighbourhood and is spotted by a low profile gas station worker who later rapes her with his two friends and a police officer. Later on Jennifer (Sarah Butler) takes her revenge in an utterly horrific and detailed manner as she chopped, raped and tortured them to death.

The film was condemned and banned on the grounds of extreme violence, nudity, obscene language and lengthy rape and torture illustration. It is disqualified on both professional and moral means as the critic remark that the movie has low quality sound and artistry with nothing exceptional rather than high and distorted sound.

The remake of the movie received same negative comments as Roger Ebert states that the 2010 version is the ‘despicable remake of the despicable 1978 film’. The movie has lucid scenes of Jennifer’s rape, Jennifer’s anal raping of the sheriff with his rifle, cutting off of one of the boy’s penis and the killing of other boys, which came as a shock to the viewers.

8. The Magdalene Sisters

The film is directed by Peter Mullen and is based on the negative character of religious institutions and their treatment of the women residing there; the movie is purely a work of fiction but was aimed at giving voice and recognition to the former and rescued residents of the Magdalene laundries.

However, the story is loosely connected to the actual account of the Magdalene Asylums and the treatment women receive there; the former Magdalene Asylums’ inmate Mary-Jo McDonagh articulated that the real happenings were worse than the ones shown in the movie.

The story centres on three women; Rose having an illegitimate son, Margaret who was raped by her cousin and Bernadette, fond of flirting with boys. The three women are sent to the asylum to repent for their sins and are received by the Head Sister; the Sisters teach the women that washing clothes mean that they are washing away their sins through hard work. They even make fun of their bodies by criticising the differences and change their names as an act of eradicating their true identity.

The reason the film for making serious controversy is the way the religious figures are portrayed in it; one of the girls at the asylum was sexually abused by a reputable Father and later the same girl was delivered to the mental asylum to stop the issue from heating up.

On its release where the movie received positive comments, though it was very rare, it caused some grave distaste too, especially among the religious society. William Donohue, president of conservative Catholic league, condemned the movie severely and demanded Disney to break its ties from Miramax whereas the Vatican believed it to be a sheer piece of exaggeration and insult to the ecclesiastical institutions and bodies.

9. Grotesque

Grotesque is a Japanese movie written and directed by Koji Shiraishi and had resulted into a considerably high level of horror and storm. The movie is themed on psycho killer and torturer who kidnaps innocent people and kills them for his pleasure; much of the shock for the acute representation of violence is because the movie does not have anything in it besides violence.

In the beginning a couple is shown sitting in a cafe and talking about their future together, in the very next scene the same couple is shown shackled in what seems like a basement with white plastered walls. The main character is introduced who is a doctor as apparent from his dealing with his victims’ wounds; he starts cutting and chopping their body parts out one by one. As he cuts off their fingers, hauls out the man’s eyeball, cuts off the girl’s leg and man’s genitals. He rapes them in front of each other and later treats them to health. He tells them that he acquires extreme pleasure from torturing them and in one of the most disturbing scenes he rapes the man in his eye socket too.

In the final scene he pulls out the intestine of the man while keeping the girl on the other side of the room, he tells the man to reach and save the girl which results in his heavy bleeding and death. The thing which makes the respective film all the more appalling is that it does not have any storyline, character development, the motive of the killer and even the name of the doctor is unknown. The bizarre surrounding, wacky personality of the doctor and the lifelike torture scenes fuel up the disturbing effect of the movie.

10. Fire

Directed by Deepa Mehta, Fire is the first movie in the renowned Deepa Mehta’s Elements Trilogy; the story is loosely based on the Ismat Chughtai story A Quilt (Lihaaf) and has two of the prominent Indian actresses in its lead role, Shabana Aazmi and Nandita Das.

The movie is based on a middle class Indian joint family where both Aazmi and Das are married to two brothers of the family. Sita (Nandita Das) longs for her husband and attention, which she is unable to receive and feels lonely and desolate; as the film progresses, it is revealed that Aazmi is experiencing the same fate as both the men are busy in doing business. In such moments of solitude both the women become lovers and seek solace in each other’s company; at the end they leave their husbands and unite with each other.

The movie was condemned by the social circles of India as it is the country where family system has strong roots and, much or less, many of the women lead the same life of isolation. Mehta’s movie has uncovered a corner of a usual Indian household, which is not acceptable in the conservative eastern society. People believed the film to be a source of corruption for women as its one of the few movies that has openly portrayed the theme of homosexuality. The director received verbal threats and had lived under complete police protection for a long time as the people attempted to attack her.

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