7. ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (1990)
The push to make Robert Downey Jr. a rom-com leading man was a short-lived one, but it works in this quirky fantasy in which a quartet of ghosts killed in a freak bus accident (played by Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard, Tom Sizemore and Kyra Sedgwick) become spiritually tied to Thomas (Downey). It’s not until he’s a full-grown, callous businessman royally screwing up his relationship with Annie (the perfect-as-ever Elisabeth Shue), that they realize they’re not Thomas’ guardian angels, but ghosts meant to use him to tie up their unresolved issues. And sometimes that means inhabiting Thomas’ body. At a B.B. King concert. To sing the national anthem. (It’s more charming than it sounds.)
8. ‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999)
“I see dead people.” That line has been so often parodied since a very scared Haley Joel Osment first uttered it nearly two decades ago that it’s easy to forget what a phenomena this film — and the impact of that line — was when it was released. Osment plays a troubled young boy who can see the dead, and Bruce Willis stars as the child psychologist who tries to help him. The smartly executed thriller got six Oscar nominations, including one for Osment (who was just 11) and one for best picture, and raked in a worldwide gross of over $670 million. And if director M. Night Shyamalan could never quite replicate that first success, maybe it was because he set the bar too high.
Spoiler alert for a 27-year-old movie, because its very presence on this list shows the film’s hand. But even if you’ve somehow missed this dark gem of a psychological thriller, knowing the twist won’t diminish the emotional wallop it serves when wounded Vietnam veteran Jacob (Tim Robbins) gets to the bottom of the debilitating hallucinations he’s been suffering. Is it the specter of PTSD, the aftereffects of government testing, a break from reality? Or is there some more sinister purpose behind the demonic apparitions? It’s a strange, scary journey to the light.
6. ‘Hellraiser’ (1987)
Clive Barker has a twisted mind, bless him. With a budget of a million measly bucks (chicken feed in a film this reliant on makeup and special effects), Barker opened a portal to hell with a puzzle box and the frightful images have lingered ever since: flayed corpses, skinned bodies, lipless mouths with chattering teeth and a nail-studded ghoul affectionately known as Pinhead. The Cenobites are the keepers of this sadomasochistic carnal realm, and they have such sights to show us.
5. ‘Heaven Can Wait’ (1943)
Only Ernst Lubitsch could devise a conversation with the devil this cordial. When charming Lothario Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) kicks the bucket, he doesn’t even bother knocking on heaven’s door, but instead makes a beeline for hell, where surely he must belong for all his years of philandering (even when married to a heart-stopping Gene Tierney). The devil won’t have him at his word, so Henry must prove his unworthiness by sharing the story of his enviably colorful, wonderful life in this vivacious Technicolor comedy — one that even the devil has to admire.
4. ‘Wings of Desire’ (1987)
Set in a lonely and gray West Berlin. Wim Wenders’ German love story is an unconventional fantasy of aching isolation.