20 Great Films You Won't Believe Aren't On IMDb's Top 250

Rating: 7.8

Blue Velvet is legitimately the most terrifying film in history.

From the first shot, there is something unbearably horrifying about Blue Velvet. Of course, Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth is a nightmarish villain, but the sense of terror he invokes is within every frame of the film.

Every single shot of the film is unsettling, unnerving and unbearably tense. There is not only an overwhelming sense of darkness, horror and fear running through the entire movie, but the sense of incongruity and the horror lurking beneath normal suburbia is also utterly chilling. Combine this with the horrific violence, general nastiness and surreal, nightmarish aesthetic and you've got a film that's a beyond-harrowing descent into the abyss.

Blue Velvet is paradoxically also a film you'll be very happy to watch again. Amidst all the terror, there are moments are startling warmth, thanks in part to Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern's brilliant performances. It's one of cinema's most beautiful nightmares and it's still David Lynch's masterpiece.

Given that it is, alongside Raging Bull (which thankfully is on the list), probably the best film of a not-that-great cinematic decade, its absence is a real travesty.

Where It Should Be: #50-#100