As of the writing of this, I am 21 years old; and throughout my life I have seen quite a number of films, ranging from a number of genres and eras. However, there still remains countless amounts of movies that I’ve haven’t see before. For this post, I’m going to be listing down ten classic and beloved movies that I have never seen, why I’ve never seen them, and why I decided to include them in this list. I plan on watching the films within the coming weeks, and after I finish watching all of them, I’ll be making a follow-up to this post telling you all my thoughts on each of them. Without further ado, in alphabetical order, here are 11 Classic films I’ve never seen.
Akira (1988)
As I’ve mentioned in previous articles of mine alongside films, Anime is a huge passion of mine. So it’ll come as a huge surprise that I’ve never seen one of the most influential films in not just Anime, but in Animation in general: Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. Based on the Manga of the same name, this post-apocalyptical work is one of the first Anime films that made it big in the US, developing a huge cult following and having huge impact on the Cyberpunk genre, Adult Animation, and has greatly inspired many different films like The Matrix, Chronicle, Looper and so many more. As for why I haven’t seen it yet: I only became interested in Anime around my first year of High School, and at that point as I was mainly focusing on episodic series and not so much feature length films. However, as of late, I’ve been wanting to get into more Anime films. This seems essential for any fan of the genre.
Alien (1979)
One of my favorite genres is Science Fiction, so you’ll probably find it a complete shock (and maybe even be disgusted and disappointed) that I haven’t seen one of the most groundbreaking film of that genre: Ridley Scott’s Alien. There really isn’t a whole lot of things I can say about Alien that haven’t already been said. It’s one of the most influential films in both Science Fiction and Horror, it spawned a huge franchise consisting of more films, novels, video games etc., and Ripley is one of the most significant female protagonists in the history of the medium. As for why I haven’t seen it, the first time I became aware of the film was I way too young to see it. By the time my parents were comfortable with me watching R-Rated films, I wasn’t really interested in watching them. Now that I want to explore more films now, I owe it to myself to watch this one.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
One of my favorite decades of film has definitely got to be the 80s. Sure, in hindsight, some of the stuff was incredibly cheesy…but that’s part of the charm to me! There’s just something about the media that came out of it that just screams uniqueness, and in a way, timeless. I’ve seen quite a bit of the essential 80’s classic films, but one I’ve never quite gotten to from this decade is The Breakfast Club. Why haven’t I seen it? Despite being a movie I know I would most likely enjoy, it’s just never came into my life. Unlike other films that were introduced to me by my family members, I just didn’t see any references to it in other media I was consuming, with the exception of an episode of “Futurama”. Times have changed, and I feel this is a perfect moment to knock this film off my watchlist.
Godzilla (1954)
I’ve always had somewhat of an interest in giant monsters or Kaiju ever since I was a young kid. Without a doubt, the biggest face of them all is Godzilla. I mean, he is called the “King of the Monsters” for a reason. Now, I wouldn’t call myself the biggest Godzilla fan, but I’ve seen a decent number of films starring the character, and I’ve always had a huge interest in watching the very first film in the franchise, especially since this one is a lot more darker and serious in tone compared to most later films. By the way, when I say the first Godzilla film, I’m specifically referring to the original Japanese version from 1954 and not the Americanized version from 1956. The reason for why I haven’t seen it yet is because it wasn’t until recently when I became interested in foreign media that wasn’t Anime or video games. Plus, like I previously said, I’m not a big Godzilla fan. At most, I’m only a casual one, but I still want to see this one not only to become more knowledgeable in the franchise.
The Graduate (1967)
In contrast to the 80s, the 60s are a decade that I’m not too terribly familiar with. I’ve seen a couple films from the era, but overall I’m not too familiar with the films, in general. One movie that I see everywhere, whether it be parodies/references, mentions from family members or Movie reviewers on YouTube, is The Graduate. It’s constantly regarded as an all time classic in both the Romantic and Comedy genres and served as a breakout role for legendary actor Dustin Hoffman. What generally interests me about the film is really just to know all the major context behind the famous scenes as well broadening my horizons of watching a Romantic Comedy, a genre I’m not at all familiar with.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 (2003/2004)
One filmmaker I owe it to myself to get more familiar with is Quentin Tarantino. His films, to me, have always seemed to deal with dark themes, as well as being very unconventional. Out of his movies, the only ones that I’ve seen are Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight, so when it came to deciding which one of his films I wanted to watch for this article I’ve decided the one, or should I say two, films that interested me the most: Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2. Before Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I would argue that Kill Bill was his most unique film, as it draws inspiration from Martial Arts films, Samurai films, Blaxploitation, etc. I’m definitely looking forward in checking these two out.
The Matrix (1999)
Surprising as it easily seems, I haven’t seen this 90s classic. I think I would enjoy it, as it takes many inspirations from Anime (including the aforementioned Akira), Martial Arts films and other Eastern sources, as well as being a staple of the Science Fiction genre and being such a huge pioneer in special effects, even coining the term “bullet time” it seems like a film that So why haven’t I seen it!? Well, the simple reason for that is I always knew of the film’s existence, going way back to when I was just a young kid, but through a combination of being too young, and not being a film addict at the time…I was just never in the right situation to get into it. But don’t worry, things are about to change, and out of all the films listed here this is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to the most.
Psycho (1960)
Another filmmaker I want to get more familiar with is Alfred Hitchcock. His films honestly seem like the type of that I absolutely love, with their emphasis on suspense and dark themes. However, unlike Taratino, I’ve yet to see any of his films. I believe the one I should definitely start out with is arguably his most iconic film: Psycho. I’ve always been aware of the film, it’s just that iconic, but what really peaked my interest in the film was that in one of my television classes, we saw an episode of the prequel TV series Bates Motel, and just that one little episode left a big impact on me. I haven’t seen the film yet due to similar reasons above (too young, not big into film etc.), but I also kind of find a little hard to go back and watch black and white films. I don’t have anything against them, but I guess just find difficulty watching something not in color. But I want to try and improve that, and I think Psycho is a good start!
Seven Samurai (1954)
As you probably guessed from the previous entries of this list, I’m very invested in Japanese culture and media. One of the most noteworthy Japanese films out there is Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Outside of the typical Japanese aspects contained in the film, like Samurai and whatnot, the thing that interests me the most about the film is how it played in being one of the main inspirations for Star Wars. As a fan of Star Wars, that only peaks my interest even more about the film. The reasons for why I haven’t seen it are pretty much identical to Godzilla, with not being too familiar with foreign media, but in addition to all of that, I’m very eager to see where all these films that I loved get their inspiration from.
The Thing (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
Shown: Kurt Russell
Finally we have a film that’s partially responsible for inspiring me to make this list: John Carpenter’s The Thing. One genre that I’ve been trying to get into more is Horror. In general, I find the genre, in a way, a little too formulaic for my liking. But this film is generally considered to be one of the greatest Horror and Science Fiction movies of all time. Plus the overall concept of the film and the groundbreaking special effects that I’ve seen snippets of amazed me. Also, during this, me and millions of other people have been playing the social deduction video game Among Us, which definitely quite a number of cues from The Thing. As previously stated my lack of interest in Horror movies have been my main reason for not watching The Thing, but I feel that this one is so much more than just a Horror movie. If I still don’t end up becoming a Horror movie fan, I have a good feeling that I will enjoy this film.
And there’s my list of 11 classic films that I’ve Never Seen. As previously mentioned, I will be making a follow-up article where I will give my thoughts on all the movies listed here after I see them all. I’ll update this post once that article is up. Other than that, I hope you all have a nice day!
