Every Martin Scorsese Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Alongside the earlier Cape Fear, Bringing Out the Dead is Scorsese at his most dark and menacing, crafting a tale of relentless mania for a sleepless paramedic (Nicolas Cage, rarely better) suffering from hallucinatory depression and enveloping grief.

Don't let that write-up confuse you, though: Bringing Out the Dead, written by Paul Schrader, may be dark and soul-crushing, but it's also an acute look at forgiveness and compassion that only Scorsese - a man consistently invested in the power of humanity and faith - could conjure.

Aspects of Bringing Out the Dead won't work for everyone, that's true, but watch Cage's desperation grow and Scorsese and Schrader's optimism shine through the darkness, and you'll be bowled over by the filmmaker's singular vision.