Best Old Films Discovered in 2023

For every recent film misfire, there will always be the assurance of an older gem awaiting discovery.

At the risk of it sounding cliched, these older films really were an educational experience: I was clueless about Peter Watkins's mock-documentaries; wrong about writing off Sidney Hayers; and completely slept on the brilliance of apocalyptic eighties thrillers The Quiet Earth and Miracle Mile until this very year.

Discoveries of 2023:

The Sadist (James Landis, 1963)

The Thrill Killers (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1964)

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1965)

The Bride Wore Black (François Truffaut, 1968)

Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)

Blind Beast (Yasuzō Masumura, 1969)

The House That Screamed (Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, 1969)

Red Sun (Rudolph Thome, 1970)

Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)

Revenge (Sidney Hayers, 1971)

Full Circle AKA The Haunting of Julia (Richard Loncraine, 1977)

The Lady in Red (Lewis Teague, 1979)

Samurai Reincarnation (Kenji Fukasaku, 1981)

Calamity of Snakes (William Cheung Kai, 1982)

The Quiet Earth (Geoff Murphy, 1985)

Miracle Mile (Steve De Jarnatt, 1988)

The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper, 1990)

Croupier (Mike Hodges, 1998)

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (Matthew Bright, 1999)

Pusher II (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2004)

Hotel Coolgardie (Pete Gleeeson, 2016)

Honourable Mentions: Chained Girls (Joseph P. Mawra, 1965); If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (Ron Ormond, 1971); Black Magic Rites AKA The Reincarnation of Isabel (Renato Polselli, 1973); Deadly Strangers (Sidney Hayers, 1975); Dr. Caligari (Stephen Sayadian, 1989); Hitcher in the Dark (Umberto Lenzi, 1989); Kolobos (Daniel Liatowitsch & David Todd Ocvirk, 1999); Night of the Rat (David R.L, 2015); Maniac Driver (Kurando Mitsutake, 2021).