2020 started off with me finding a haven of cult cinema in one of the last video stores in Chicago: Odd Obsession Movies. Every trip I would bring back four movies and everytime there would be at least one or two gems in the pile.
Then the unthinkable happened: COVID-19. On April 28, Odd Obsession announced it would be closing its doors. Small businesses have been devastated by the coronavirus, but this hurt on a personal level. A video store I had just come to love had to close. Streaming sites took out Blockbuster and Hollywood but those video stores didn't really carve out any niche in their communities. You're not gonna find Combat Shock at a Blockbuster. The one caveat they added to their announcement was that they were to go into hibernation while the world gradually settles into the new normal and possibly have a not-too-distant-future life with more profitable entities.
Then came the quarantine.
Lockdown caused a lot of films on my "to watch" list to be watched through various means. Streaming sites like Criterion Channel proved helpful. Probably most common were discoveries through boutique blu ray distributors. Criterion, Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome, Severin, AGFA all contributed. Films like Jeanne Dielman blew me away in how cinema can stretch time to its limits and still be hypnotizing. Blonde Death blew me away in how a shot on video film can be just as unpredictably entertaining as anything John Waters made.
I tried narrowing it down to a top 20 and it was virtually impossible. Best I could do was a Top 25. I made too many discoveries this year. Hopefully this list will help you discover a few hidden gems.
FILMS
JANUARY
Leviathan (2014)
Fireworks (1997)
FEBRUARY
The Train (1964)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
The Devil (1972)
Poetry (2010)
Poor Pretty Eddie (1975)
Reflections of Evil (2002)
A Place In the Sun (1951)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
MARCH
Streets of Fire (1984)
The Silent Partner (1978)
The Fifth Cord (1971)
Targets (1968)
Tenement (1985)
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Miracle Mile (1988)
Unstoppable (2010)
The Telephone Book (1971)
Class of 1984 (1982)
News From Home (1976)
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
Canoa: A Shameful Memory (1976)
The Big Gundown (1966)
APRIL
The Fan (1982)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
California Split (1974)
Kings of the Road (1976)
Dolemite (1975)
The Big Bird Cage (1972)
Sudden Fury (1975)
Pixote (1981)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Kanal (1957)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (1976)
The Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)
Taipei Story (1985)
Harlan County USA (1976)
The Human Tornado (1976)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Fat City (1972)
Polyester (1981)
Out of the Past (1947)
Short Eyes (1977)
Destroyer (2019)
MAY
Massacre Mafia Style (1974)
Dark of the Sun (1968)
Parents (1989)
The Cremator (1969)
Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987)
There's Nothing Out There (1991)
Husbands (1970)
JUNE
Emma Mae (1976)
The Big Racket (1976)
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)
LA 92 (2017)
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
Boys In the Sand (1970)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Blonde Death (1984)
Sole Survivor (1984)
JULY
The Candy Tangerine Man (1975)
Angel (1984)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Blood Games (1990)
Matewan (1987)
The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1977)
SEPTEMBER
Unmasked Part 25 (1989)
Vampyres (1974)
The Day of the Beast (1995)
OCTOBER
Baby Blood (1990)
A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)
Grave Robbers (1988)
Blood On Satan's Claw (1971)
Sledgehammer (1983)
Things (1989)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
Pulse (2001)
The Living Dead Girl (1982)
The Grapes of Death (1978)
Twins of Evil (1970)
The Midnight Hour (1985)
WNUF Halloween Special (2013)
Ghostwatch (1992)
NOVEMBER
The Passing (1984)
Night and the City (1950)
Through A Glass Darkly (1961)
The Tenant (1976)
Four Lions (2010)
DECEMBER
Nocturama (2016)
Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)
Field Niggas (2015)
A Touch of Sin (2013)
Bad Black (2016)
Tongues Untied (1989)
Wanda Whips Wall Street (1982)
Decoder (1984)
TOP 25 DISCOVERIES
The Devil (1972)
Reflections of Evil (2002)
The Silent Partner (1978)
Targets (1968)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
The Telephone Book (1971)
News From Home (1976)
The Big Gundown (1966)
The Fan (1982)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
Kings of the Road (1976)
The Rudy Ray Moore films (Dolemite, Human Tornado)
Out of the Past (1947)
Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987)
Emma Mae (1976)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Blonde Death (1984)
Sole Survivor (1984)
The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1977)
Blood On Satan's Claw (1971)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
The Grapes of Death (1978)
Ghostwatch (1992)
A Touch of Sin (2013)
Bad Black (2016)
Tongues Untied (1989)
BOOKS
FICTION
1. The Peregrine by J.A. Baker (1967)
2. The Stranger by Albert Camus (1948)
3. Blackwater by Michael McDowell (1983)
4. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (2014)
5. Clockers by Richard Price (1992)
6. Last Evenings On Earth by Robert Bolano (1997)
7. Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock (2009)
8. Last Days by Brian Evenson (2009)
9. Misery by Stephen King (1987)
10. The Wide Carniverous Sky by John Langan (2013)
NON FICTION
1. And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDs Epidemic by Randy Shilts (1987)
2. Confessions of A Mask by Yukio Mishima
3. Tune In: All These Years, The Beatles Volume One by Mark Lewisohn (2013)
4. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (2019)
5. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom (2013)
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