We take a look at the cinematic offerings of 2015 with ten must-see modern classics from ten years back…
A look down our time telescope to a decade ago sees us peek into 2015 with a Robert Eggers picture to behold as well as a thriving horror genre offering up plenty of cult gems. So it’s not entirely unlike 2025, where Eggers’ latest Nosferatu is biting into the neck of the box office as we come off the back of a year with plenty of cult horror movies and more on the way.
The last few years have seen a nice upswing in the amount of creatively ambitious and interesting auteur indie films. Sure, the tentpole market has been a tad dour, but the rise of enthralling indie cinema means that cinephiles have plenty to fall in love with. That uptick may well have started in 2015, when studios like A24 were just starting to gain traction and there were plenty of now-established voices just announcing their presence in cinema. It’s time to live deliciously with these ten must-see films from 2015…
Mad Max: Fury Road
Tentpole cinema has been a decidedly mixed bag for decades now. There’s an adherence to formula and franchise over originality and genuine directorial vision. However, one big blockbuster in 2015 really stood out and as far as this type of movie, has rarely been matched since. Mad Max: Fury Road was George Miller’s long-awaited return to a post-apocalyptic sandy wilderness. Here, minus Mel Gibson we had Tom Hardy becoming the titular anti-hero who tended to amble into someone else’s grander story.
Fury Road initially made its presence felt with incredible trailers that teased us with a film of blistering greatness. Even in 2015, trailers were becoming increasingly dull and formulaic, often resorting to just giving the entire film away because studios didn’t think audiences were that fussed about giving away any twists. Still, those trailers were spine-tinglingly good (in fact they’ve not been bettered since). The film? It lived up to the tease. Absolutely spectacular action in a ruthlessly simple plotline and Charlize Theron stealing the thunder of Tom Hardy. Miller’s visionary reboot of his iconic franchise was pulse-pounding and relentless with astonishing set pieces. In truth, last year’s Furiosa was a laboured letdown in comparison.
Our Little Sister
Let’s go in completely the opposite direction now and calm things the hell down. Hirokazu Kore-eda reinvigorated the Ozu-styled humanist melodramas in Japanese cinema, continually crafting simple, nuanced and engaging tales of the family dynamic in a whole array of different ways. In Our Little Sister he tells the tale of three sisters reconnecting with their estranged father and discovering they have a half sister.
It’s charming, heartfelt, compelling and beautifully observed. Kore-eda never intrudes on his drama, always taking the most simple and objective approach. He garners wonderful performances and patiently brings his audience into the drama.
Green Room
Jeremy Saulnier had a very good comeback in last year’s Rebel Ridge, reminding us of the exciting voice emerging between 2007 and 2015, with Murder Party, Blue Ruin and this: Green Room. Saulnier excels in taking simple concepts and adding a sense of irreverence that makes them feel fresh.
Green Room sees a punk band fighting for their lives after witnessing a murder at the club they’re performing at and soon realising it’s a Neo-Nazi gang’s haunt. The late Anton Yelchin was a magnetic lead as always, whilst Patrick Stewart is surprisingly menacing as the head of the neo-Nazis. Confined, tense, and darkly comic at times, it’s a brilliant little indie horror/thriller.
The Witch
Robert Eggars has established himself as one of modern cinema’s visionary voices, and yet his films are birthed on well-trod paths. We’ve had plenty of folk horror as well as Nordic mythology. His breakout film, The Witch was a nice left-field approach to an old idea, crafting a slow-building, ambiguous and atmospheric folk horror with plenty of gothic flourishes.
Anya Taylor-Joy was clearly destined for big things, as evidenced by her mesmerising performance. Loaded with detail and cinematic reference, Eggars leaves plenty of memorable images throughout. You’ll also want to live deliciously after this. You’ll also be wary of goats.
The Gift
A kind of Hitchcockian/Kingian psychological thriller that felt like a good 90s potboiler, The Gift showed off not just Joel Edgerton’s magnetism on camera but his talents behind it, starring and directing.
Edgerton is Gordo, a long-lost acquaintance of Simon (Jason Bateman) who reintroduces himself and becomes an unshakable and increasingly intimidating presence bearing gifts. What secrets does he hide? The Gift came with little fanfare but gathered plenty of buzz because it was so well made. The small cult following accrued was well warranted, although this feels like it’s beginning to unfairly fade into the ether a little. If you never got word from the film buffs around the water cooler on this one, then be sure to check it out.
The Survivalist
Stephen Fingleton’s brooding and compelling post-apocalyptic film is an impeccably shot and atmospheric low-budget thriller. Assured, nuanced and sparse on dialogue, Fingleton’s film is gripping from start to finish.
Martin McCann plays the lone survivalist trying to maintain his self-sufficiency, away from anyone else when two women (Olwen Fouere and Mia Goth) enter his territory deep within the woods. Against his better judgment and with the unspoken promise of physical intimacy with Goth, he lets them stay. There’s a tension that brims with the two women seeking a moment to rid themselves of him until the younger (Goth) starts to form a connection. It’s a great film that not only showed the immense promise of Goth (who is incredible) but also of Stephen Fingleton as a director. He’s not managed to follow it with anything up to this level…yet.
Bone Tomahawk
A small town in the Old West is terrorised by a group of savage cannibals. The Sheriff (Kurt Russell) and his posse head out to try and take them out, with gruesome consequences.
S. Craig Zahler announced himself grandly with this entertaining and gruesomely gnarly Western/horror. He’s aided with the kind of stellar cast not usually afforded to a film of its budget level but he delivers something that has everything a bloodthirsty horror fan might crave. Like Zahler’s other films, it’s a tad overlong but he’s still one of the best genre filmmakers doing the rounds.
Tangerine
Sean Baker really made a name for himself with Tangerine, a low-budget drama which was shot on iPhones (with the aid of several cinematic bells and whistles). The plot centring on the misadventures of two transgender prostitutes also gained plenty of attention, but Baker never caricatures them and places Alexandra (Mya Taylor) and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) into a visceral and propulsive day and night of anarchy.
It takes a while to catch up with the pace and the frenetic energy of the film’s camera work, editing and indeed characters, but once you’re in you’re hooked. Taylor and Rodriguez are both thoroughly engaging throughout this odd odyssey.
The Lobster
Before Yorgos Lanthimos became an Oscar-magnetising darling with The Favourite and Poor Things, he was that oddball making quirky unrestrained cult films like Dogtooth and The Lobster.
The near future sees singletons head to a special hotel looking for love. They have 45 days to find it, and a very particular condition should they not. Colin Farrell begins his Farrell-nnaisance here, well matched by the effervescent Rachel Weisz. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it film, given Lanthimos’ very particular style and approach to performances, but if you tune into the vibe there’s plenty to enjoy.
Sicario
Denis Villeneuve has gained a reputation for his deep-genre cinema but in 2015 he made a more straight-up crime thriller that still had plenty of psychological depth. Emily Blunt plays an FBI agent tasked with shutting down a cartel running the US/Mexico border.
Taylor Sheridan’s breakout script has depth and a complex female lead as well as an engaging and enigmatic antagonist (Benicio Del Toro). Villeneuve as we’ve come to expect, has a perfect grasp of constructing his scenes and delivering thrilling set pieces. Blunt is brilliant and Josh Brolin is as charismatic as usual. Benicio Del Toro is electrifying and steals the film.
What’s your favourite film of 2015? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth or hit me up @JolliffeProductions,..
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