I recently re-watched David Fincher’s Seven (1995) and was reminded how influential the movie was. Part atmospheric horror, part serial killer CSI, part existential lamentation, with a surprise ending to boot, Fincher used his grunge, commercial background to not only create a cinematic collage that wormed under your skin, but to forever stamp filmdom with a new signature. People have been aspiring to mimic the film — at least, import some of its elements — ever since. It got me thinking about other movies that have started a trend, captured some cultural zeitgeist, and left filmmakers rushing to duplicate its success and its vibe. Below is my list of 10 films (over the last, um, 30-some years), that have become reference points, genre standards, originals that we are constantly trying to duplicate.
- Alien
- Star Wars
- Toy Story
- Seven
- Reservoir Dogs
- The Blair Witch Project
- This is Spinal Tap
- Blade Runner
- The Matrix
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
Honorable Mentions: Halloween, The Godfather, Airplane, When Harry Met Sally, The Silence of the Lambs, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Any you’d add to the list, or bump?
Honestly, I would take out the Matrix and put Ghost in the Shell in its place (Matrix borrows HEAVILY from GITS, as admitted by the Wachowskis). But the Matrix is more widely known, so who knows?
I’ve never seen Ghost in the Shell, Jay. But after The Matrix, trench coats, cool sunglasses, technological babble, and stylistic martial arts scenes started to show up lots more in flicks.
I’ve seen six out of those sixteen movies. So I don’t know if I’d bump any of them.
This is not really a movie, but I think Roots might have had people trying to duplicate both the format (mini-series) and the story (slave culture/ancestry/historic). I also think ET was a big movie that was a first of its kind, but I can’t think of any titles that tried to duplicate it.
I never got Blade Runner. Maybe because I saw all the knock offs first but Blade Runner just doesn’t do it for me.
The one movie I would add is Rocky.
Rocky is a good selection, RJB. Lots of feel-good, underdog sports movies have followed a similar template.
Die Hard. After that one came out, just about every action movie was blatantly marketed as “Die Hard in a _____” (fill in the blank).
And I don’t know what the first romantic comedy was, but just about every rom-com ever since has followed the exact. same. formula.
You really should add Fritz Lang’s silent classic Metropolis. Films influenced by it are all over your list.