Stalker might be most innately difficult movie to make our list - at least from a sheer "entertainment" perspective. Because Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's slow and mediative sci-fi masterpiece is one of those movies that chooses to reward only patient viewers. If you're easily bored, or the thought of three hours of characters walking through a wasteland just chatting about whatever comes to mind doesn't sound like your idea of a good time, then this one probably isn't for you. And yet here is a movie that, if given a chance, will wash over you, tunnel deep inside your consciousness, and never let go; as a result, it undoubtably ranks as essential sci-fi. Much - if not all - of Tarkovsky's work could be called existentialist, and Stalker is no exception. Set at some point in the future, the plot follows a man whose job - as the "Stalker" of the title - is to navigate a dangerous, quarantined terrain on the outskirts of a city called 'the Zone," rumoured to send anyone who enters it barking mad. But there are also rumours that, having ventured into this wasteland, a man's deepest desires will be granted. And so we follow the Stalker as he accompanies two men, a Writer and a Professor, on a long, dream-like odyssey into the unknown. The cinematography is phenomenal; the direction impeccable. Truly haunting.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
