Empire's 50 Greatest Independent Films

Some great horror choices on there. Nice to see HG Lewis get some credit.

No HALLOWEEN on there? I call foul.

If Resevoir Dogs trumps Pulp Fiction, then Black Christmas trumps Halloween.

I've seen 39.

I know technically Passion Of The Christ is an indepedent, but so technically is Empire Strikes Back isn't it ? But still, Christ's namesake knows why it's there. It's not even that good. Impactful I guess, but so was Ishtar and Hudson Hawk

No Halloween, Hard Eight, American Movie, late Welles or - heinously - Sam Fuller.

And Goodnight, And Good Luck should surely be in the next incarnation.

No Terrence Malick.

"Terrence Malick" is not a movie. If he were, he'd be on the list, but unfortunately he's not and the movies he's been in don't deserve to be on the list.


Lol @ Donnie Darko as number 2. Absurd. Also, if City of God can be there, can't any foreign film? Kinda iffy.

I don't recall ever seeing Malick in a movie. I was under the impression that he's a director. Care to enlighten me?

Maybe he's confusing him with Terence Mann - Chorus Line is probably below the bar...

Are his picture indies ? I dunno, I thought they were all bank rolled by studios essentially ? Wrong ? Could be. But it's certainly the reason Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Last Picture Show or any of the 5 BBS pictures can't be included on such a list - great as they are. They were bankrolled by Columbia Pictures with savvy Bert Schnieder getting carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with the cash. But they were still studio pictures.

Well he's not on the list either because his pictures are indeed bankrolled by big studios (which I doubt), or because according to the Empire peeps, his pictures aren't that great.

Where's Shakes The Clown?

Well, I have seen eight of them on that list:

-The Passion of the Christ (I refused to see this in theaters due to the possible weepy christian attendence.)
-Being John Malkovich
-Lost in Translation (my parents really, really HATED this movie, while I thought it was pretty good but not great.)
-Sideways (good to see that in the list)
-Monty Python's Life of Brian
-Clerks (good but not really that great)
-Donnie Darko (one of my favorites)
-Reservoir Dogs

Are you sure that's an independent?

37. It's a pretty predictable list (with a few notable missed opportunities as mentioned above), especially as they seem to have a one-film-per-director policy.

Wasn't THE TERMINATOR financed by Orion?

TCM above BWP? For shame. Also, THE DESCENT is a bit odd. Going by the description, I suppose they wanted to shoehorn a brit in.

Yeah, Volta, I'm flat out wrong and I don't know what I was thinking. Days of Heaven, Thin Red Line (right), the new Colin Farrel one....I don't know what I'm talking about and I must have gotten him confused with someone else, probably Terrence Howard and the hugely overrated (independent, too, I think) Hustle and Flow.

I didn't know he worked independently, though and I don't know what movie of his you're specifically referencing but I assume Days of Heaven. I admittedly haven't seen Days of Heaven yet but it's one of my top four movies on my "to see" list. (Suspiria, Touch of Evil, and Veronika Voss being the others.)

I'm at the point where when I hear the word "independent" to describe a movie, I just roll me eyes. It seems to have lost its meaning entirely. Tarantino, for instance, has never made an independent film, except perhaps the unreleased My Best Friend's Birthday. He's made art house films, or alternative films, but he's never financed a movie himself, without contribution from a production company. Maybe I'm just too caught up in semantics, but the casual use of the word really irks me.

Will this feature also appear in an issue of Empire?

Haven't seen too many of them, but I like the picks they made. I feel Shaun of the Dead was robbed, though.

I've only seen 34. I feel lame. There are a bunch of movies on that list that I know I need to see, but still haven't yet. Not a bad list of movies, though. Although the order does seem fishy in some places. But aren't all lists like that. So no big deal.

Let me make this clear that I'm not defending this movie in any way as it's been ripped apart in other threads, but considering the legion of fans it has since debuting on video, wouldn't Boondock Saints be considered an independent?

ive seen 41.

Only seen half, myself. But I own 23 of them on disc, including their (many laughable) top 10, if that counts for anything. No? Alright then.

Stupidity is everywhere...

[QUOTE=Policar]"Terrence Malick" is not a movie. If he were, he'd be on the list, but unfortunately he's not and the movies he's been in don't deserve to be on the list.
QUOTE]

That is the most ignorant statement I have ever heard. True, he is not a movie but a person. And He is NOT an actor jackass, he is a writer and director and a very talented one as well. My advice to you is pick up a copy of Great Expectations and a can of diet coke and chill out. You are very stupid and should keep your ignorant opinions to yourself unless you have something intelligent to say. And by the way, I've seen all 50 on the list.
If a person thinks Terrence Malick is an actor in shitty indie films, you should not be allowed to post on this or any movie news site. Jackass...

I urge you to commit suicide. You'll feel better...

I was about to respond with some sarcastic rant but it's not worth the time. I'm sorry you got so upset over a stupid mistake.

I already explained myself; I mistook the name (somehow) for Terrence Howard's (and the incredibly overrated Hustle and Flow) and quickly typed something that was flat out wrong. Yes, I know who Malick is and what movies he's made. My friends with interests in cinematography have recommended Days of Heaven to no end. My other friends have told me that Thin Red Line sucks, though. Admittedly, I've never seen one of Malick's movies, but I'm sure I will eventually. (I actually tried to rent one but couldn't find a rental place that carried it.)

I'm not going to get into a shouting match, especially with someone who measures his worth by how many movies he's seen on an arbitrary list. (I haven't seen most of them, and I'll admit it, and I'll even admit that those I have seen I'm not even a big fan of.)

I'm shocked you're getting so worked up over a mistaken name and an admittedly stupid mistake. I don't even have to defend myself; the absurd intensity of your over-reaction (and your failure to read my follow-up post) negate your response entirely.

Anyhow, I'm planning to rent Days of Heaven soon anyhow, and I'll tell you what I think when I do.

I liked SIDEWAYS but wasn't Fox Searchlight behind that movie from the start? Maybe I'm off but that didn't seem like an independant film.

NARC should be on this list.

I've seen exactly half of them, and own most of those. Then bits and pieces of about 5 more. I know I've seen Eraserhead too, but I don't remember it at all so I decided not to count it.

Great list though, further proof that Empire is one of the few "great" movie magazines. Like someone else said, Halloween should have been on there somewhere, despite the fact I'm not a big fan of it.

Also, I think it's kind of funny that Resevoir Dogs has a black and white pic yet Clerks gets the color treatment.

Narc is great, but It was backed by The Cruise.

after the fact, that doesnt count does it?

should be on the list.

The film was made outside of the studio system, the special features on the DVD do a good job of showing that the production was constantly in danger of being shut down due to not making payroll. Ray Liotta was one of the film's producers and both Jason Patric and himself deferred their pay through most of the production. It's the type of action that makes me look the other way when Liotta cashes in on something like DUNGEON SIEGE.

After NARC was completed it started to be screened by various folks in the business, among them was Tom Cruise. He was key in getting the film picked up and distributed by Paramount.

I've seen 37, but I have some notable misses, like Eraserhead for example.

I've seen 32, but also haven't caught Eraserhead yet. I'm ashamed.

Donnie Darko number 2? Ridiculous. Why is Swingers so low on the list? It's an indie's indie about the town of indies. Gross Pointe Blank? Where did that come from?

And what is the criteria they're using for "independent"? Independently funded? Shot? A lot of these movies were financed by studios. El Mariachi is definitely an indie, but Terminator? What the fuck? Do they mean independent spirit? Independent in story concept? I don't get this.

Wow, I never knew how many films can be considered "indie". I guess I just don't follow the financing aspect of the biz that much. I've seen 29 of those films, but honestly, if someone just showed me the movies on that list and asked me what the all had in common, I doubt I would have guessed that they were all independent films. I'm not sure if that reflects ignorance on my part or loose definitions on their part. Still, not a terrible list, overall.

Just got issue 198 in the mail, it´s the biggest issue yet i think, 248 pages.
Empire and Total Film are the best film magazines out there.

Go out and buy Eraserhead now!
You won´t regret it.

Of course it's the bggest issue yet, they've got Potter & Narnia press conferences to regurgitate into mammothly drawn out exclusive articles...

I really like Total Film but Empire went to the dogs when Emma Cochrane took over editorial reins and made it Heat/Glamour for film. Sadly, editor Colin Kennedy hasn't quite been able to wrestle it back to its glory days in the early 90s so it's just left a really schizophrenic magazine - some deft, magnificent (usually retro) articles dove tailing against shoddy, tabloidesque tattling for pages and pages.

They had a Contributors Confessions feature a while back and people like Kim Newman were saying, you know, 'I don't like Star Wars that much' or 'some of John Ford's work was a bit pretentious', that sort of thing. Then one contributor who was quite prolific said they'd blagged into the job during the interview by lying and saying she'd seen The Godfather and other films when she hadn't. All because it would be quite cool to work in a film mag. Top notch crendentials there !

I stopped buying Empire sometime in the 90s, when there was a noticeable increase in the number of advertising pages and a parallel decrease in the quality of the reviews. I usually read Sight & Sound these days.

Pretty good list. When I see something like this, it usually motivates me to go get a couple of the ones on it that I've missed. I haven't seen "Descent"--anybody have anything to say about it?

Interesting list.

I've seen 23 of them [and of those, only own 10 on DVD]. There are several on there that I have long meant to see, but for some reason or another never got around to. Time to get cracking, I suppose.

Some of you young'ns should probably start brushing up on your pre-90's movies before posting. Your missing out on the best films of all time. Particularly Terrence Malick's movies. If these films are at the top of your Must See list, go to the fucking video store and rent them.

I've been trying to find it from time to time, but it hasn't been available, at least not when I have been looking. I'm a David Lynch fan, so I'm keeping my eyes open.

ERASERHEAD is released by Lynch. Go to his website www.davidlynch.com.

You won't find it in stores, except a place like Kim's in NYC. Some resellers like diabolikdvd.com and xploitedcinema.com carry it, though.

I'm sorry, but that list is totally invalidated by the presence of freaking Cube. That movie has some of the worst acting ever, and the script is an over-blown episode of The Outer Limits.

40. 39 if you count the fact that I've desperately tried to forget Buffalo '66. I may catch flak for this, but Buffalo '66 was a movie that I just cannot get myself to enjoy. Of course, I haven't watched the whole thing since I was like 15 (the first time I saw it). I have seen all of the top ten, so I feel happy for that. And because of the list I added a couple movies to my "to watch" list.

While seeing Sweet Sweetbeck's Baadasssss Song wasn't necessarily a surprise, I liked that they picked it. I hadn't seen it for a long while, but I re-watched it after watching Baadasssss! Though dated, it was still fun, funky, and darned entertaining.

And I agree with those who think Halloween should have been included. Using Dark Star as its replacement seems to me to almost be a choice they made to simply NOT choose Halloween, while also showing that they know more about movies than you do. Halloween, not Dark Star should have been on that list.

Well, I've only seen 14 of them but that's why they invented Netflix, right?

Will try to see the other 36 asap.

Oh and I totally agree on the non-inclusion of Halloween. Bad form, indeed.

Buffalo 66 remains one of my favorite independent movies. Also its criminal Halloween didn't make the top ten let alone the list.

They used to have it for sale at Discshop.se but it seems to be out of print at the moment.

Amores Perros
The Passion of the Christ
The Blair Witch Project
Lost in Translation
The Evil Dead
Memento
The Terminator
Donnie Darko


That's it. I was hoping to see American History X on the list... and i find Donnie Darko a lil bit overrated. Lost in Translation bored me.

It's nice to see a John Waters movie given a nod.

Should Bubba Ho-Tep be on this list? Is it an independent film?

Too obscure/not reverential enough for the average Empire reader ?