Top 10 Films

Top 10 Films was launched in November 2009. It was essentially set-up to allow me an outlet for my love of film lists, but has grown to incorporate reviews, news, opinion pieces and special features, such as Heroes Of The 1980s Hall Of Fame, iconic film moments and classic scenes. The site has developed substantially since its inception – we are now working with all the major film distributors in the UK, have a team of regular contributors, and a dedicated readership.

For me, the site stands out because, although there are many other websites and blogs producing some wonderful film lists, Top 10 Films is the only site in the world that has a ranking of films based on the amount of top 10 lists the films appear on. This is a handy and unique tool that differs from standard review grades and community-based averages, such as IMDB.

I have always felt that a list of films says as much about the person writing it as it does about the films themselves. That’s what makes lists so much fun to read and write. I think the popularity of the site (we celebrated passing 1,000,000 hits recently) is down to the simplicity of reading top 10 lists in the fast-paced environment of the world wide web, as well as the information that can be garnered from them in bite-sized fashion. With Top 10 Films, I always aim to produce top 10s that are both interesting to read and informative.

I think one of my proudest moments with Top 10 Films occurred recently with my very first blogathon. I was originally encouraged to adapt an article I wrote about John McTiernan’s Last Action Hero into a bloggers meme. This involved the film’s idea of a magic cinema ticket that could transport its owner into any film he or she wished. Very quickly, the blogathon went viral with writers from around the world (from the USA and Canada to the UK, Continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand) taking part. It was pleasing that the idea allowed so many people to write such entertaining articles

I’ve been writing about film for over ten years now and my interest in subtitled films began sometime in my late teens when I discovered George Sluizer’s The Vanishing and thought it had one of the best endings I had ever seen. Thankfully, the success of Guillermo del Toro and others in Hollywood has prompted me to visit their foreign language films, with The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth becoming two of my favourite foreign films of the last few years.

I have also enjoyed a lot of the recent East Asian horror films from directors such as Takashi Miike (Audition) and Hideo Nakata (Ring), and the work of Bong Joon-ho with films such as Mother and The Host. It has also been exciting going back and watching all Jackie Chan’s early martial arts films.

Elsewhere, I have found that Europe is making far better horror films than the USA. I would include English-language films such as Eden Lake and Dead Man’s Shoes in this category, but Continental Europe has been producing some genuinely chilling works, such as Alexandre Aja’s Switchblade Romance and David Moreau and Xavier Palud’s Them (both of which were made by French production companies).

Daniel Stephens, founder of Top 10 Films

Website: www.top10films.co.uk

For more world cinema-related recommends, click here, and remember to join the discussion with fellow foreign film fans on our facebook page.

Similar Recommended

Hangul Celluloid began life in early 2008 as Burnt Celluloid, covering any,
and all, films that I felt were worth writing about (for whatever reason),…