Movie lovers are incredibly lucky, for there is a form of greatness that is prolific in cinema, delivering iconic movies that become enshrined in the annals of cinematic history with their storytelling excellence, technical mastery, and searing emotional impact. There is another kind of greatness, though, that is far rarer, a revolutionary kind that, when it emerges, recalibrates the landscape of the art form, redefining entire genres if not pioneering new ones, and laying a platform that is emulated time and time again.
Through precision, power, and perfection, these pictures presented a blueprint of narrative, tone, and style that evolved the medium in new and interesting ways. While dozens, maybe even hundreds of movies have achieved this astonishing feat, the ones on this list are among the most integral, influential, and incredible. Ranging from awe-inspiring accomplishments of action cinema to some of the most important titles in horror history, these films laid the groundwork for so much that succeeded them.
‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)
Prior to 1968, the term zombie was relatively vague, a term used to describe mindless servants primarily in folklore. The meaning of the word changed drastically with the release of George A. Romero’s horror hit Night of the Living Dead, the first true zombie movie and a pivotal pioneer of one of the most popular and evergreen subsections of horror storytelling at large.
However, the film’s innovative brilliance isn’t limited only to zombie horror, though it has spawned hundreds of replicas within the subgenre. Its use of gritty realism and its exploration of horror monsters as a catalyst for social commentary were also hugely influential. Night of the Living Dead is now almost 60 years old, yet its impact on horror entertainment is perhaps more apparent now than it has been at any stage since its release. Still, in all this time, and with all these reiterations, it has never been surpassed, a fact that stands as a testament to Romero’s genius and the mastery of the film itself.
‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ (1937)
The first animated feature film produced in the United States and a defining achievement in the history of Walt Disney’s illustrious career in the medium, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves effectively created an entire new format of cinematic entertainment. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the 1937 movie uses animation, comedy, and musical numbers to conjure a mesmerizing fantasy of imaginative wonder and family-friendly allure.
It immediately ushered in a new age of animated entertainment, defined by its use of Technicolor and its renewed approach to character design. It demanded more nuanced and vibrant visuals as well as soulful vocal performances that could generate drama, heartache, and tension in addition to comedy and singing. This blueprint of family animation is still adhered to today, be it in the balance of comedy, adventure, fantasy, and musical beats, or simply in the endeavor to create as vibrant and vivacious a visual spectacle as is possible.
‘Jaws’ (1975)
Released in the summer of 1975, Jaws presented an entrancing and exciting story of suspense and spectacle that enthralled viewers on its way to becoming the first film to ever surpass $100 million at the U.S. box office, and, with its worldwide intake of $470 million, the highest-grossing movie the world had ever seen. With this marriage of success, suspense, and spectacle, the blockbuster was effectively born.
While its story and tone have been hugely influential, it is the film’s release strategy that made it such a defining pioneer of blockbuster cinema, with its unprecedented wide-release strategy and its monumental marketing campaign redefining how movies were sold and presented to the public. Every aspiring major release since has emulated this approach, striving to mimic the way in which Jaws became more than just a movie, but a cultural event as well. With this marketing strategy being complemented by Steven Spielberg’s unparalleled eye for sheer entertainment value and his technical genius, Jaws created blockbuster cinema, and it remains one of the best examples of the genre that audiences have ever been treated to.
‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1998)
A groundbreaking success for horror cinema, The Blair Witch Project not only popularized the found-footage subgenre but also recalibrated how movies can be marketed with innovative use of the internet in its advertising campaign. The film itself, a low-budget chiller following three students whose endeavor to document a folklore horror in the Appalachian Mountains, is heralded as being one of the most impactful and viscerally terrifying horror movies ever made.
Its defining masterstroke is how it leans into its found-footage premise, utilizing shaky camerawork and improvised dialogue to conjure a palpable sense of realism that works in concert with its oppressive atmosphere of evil and dread to leave viewers petrified. The effectiveness of the approach as a spectacle was one thing, but the fact that the movie also went on to make almost $250 million against a budget of less than $1 million was just as essential to establishing one of the most prolific and defining horror subgenres of the early part of the 21st century.
‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)
An absorbing and timeless epic that stands among Akira Kurosawa’s most defining masterpieces, Seven Samurai is an awe-inspiring spectacle of epic period cinema and one of the greatest movies ever made. It also effectively pioneered the “assembling the team” trope with its story of seven warriors banding together to defend a helpless village from a vicious bandit gang.
This approach invests in impressionable character designs, working towards a clear objective, and exploring the differing dynamics between characters. It has transcended genres, becoming an essential blueprint for everything from heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven, superhero blockbusters like The Avengers, fantasy phenomena like The Lord of the Rings, and, perhaps most recognizably, in Westerns like The Magnificent Seven. Furthermore, Seven Samurai’s elaborate action choreography and dynamic cinematography also proved to be innovative qualities that have been emulated countless times in the ensuing decades.
‘Die Hard’ (1988)
Plenty of action movies from the 1980s are celebrated as being entirely of their time; excessive, propane-laden bonanzas of impenetrable muscle-clad heroes taking down their enemies with brute force and explosive glory. However, amid the maniacal machismo of the decade, the ’80s also produced what has become the basis for a great many action pictures. 1988’s Die Hard is a taut and contained action thriller that supplants the steroid-enhanced super soldiers with an ordinary though determined everyman defined as much by his flaws and vulnerabilities as he is by his gun-toting gallantry.
Most notably, it led to a litany of movies that could be summarized as “Die Hard on a…”, be it Air Force One being Die Hard on a plane, Speed being Die Hard on a bus, or even The Rock being Die Hard in Alcatraz. Such movies emphasize the humanity of their protagonists, presenting relatable heroes combating insurmountable odds with their wits as they overcome sequential obstacles, all while knowing that waiting for back-up isn’t an option. They are exciting, sharp, and propulsive, capitalizing on the precision and punch of Die Hard, which has largely defined action cinema over the better part of the last 40 years.
‘Halloween’ (1978)
While it can’t be said that Halloween pioneered slasher cinema—that honor would belong to either The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, A Bay of Blood, Black Christmas, or maybe even Psycho—the impact that John Carpenter’s thrilling masterpiece had on the genre is completely unmatched. The story of Michael Myers’ (Nick Castle) murder spree in the small town of Haddonfield quickly became the defining blueprint for the subgenre, embedding such tropes as the final girl, a menacing masked killer, and a sequential series of gruesome slayings as integral foundations that hundreds of ensuing movies have emulated.
Its impact was immediate, with major franchise slashers like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street replicating this tone of taut suspense and graphic violence throughout the 1980s, while more recent movies like the Terrifier films and Scream have also soared by implementing the formula Halloween established. It was also a technical marvel, incorporating point-of-view shots and eerie shot repetition that imbued horror cinema at large with a renewed appetite for pushing filmmaking boundaries and experimenting with the form.
‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)
Universally heralded as one of the greatest movies of all time—if not the outright best—Citizen Kane is an enthralling and elaborate character study that explores the life of a deceased newspaper tycoon through a reporter’s efforts to unearth the meaning of his final word. It is admired for its groundbreaking technical feats, be it the innovative use of deep-focus cinematography or its intricate and advanced set design. However, it also revolutionized the way in which stories can be told on the screen.
Through its extensive use of flashbacks and enigmatic, puzzle-like quality, Citizen Kane established a formula for non-linear narrative that has become a framework for hundreds of movies since. Additionally, its use of several unreliable narrators and biographical structure (albeit fictional) has also had a tremendous impact on the form. The fact that, even after 85 years since its premiere, Citizen Kane still stands as such a lauded classic of cinema as well as one of the most influential movies ever made is testament enough to its timeless greatness.
‘Star Wars: Episode I – A New Hope’ (1977)
Virtually every single element of Star Wars: Episode I – A New Hope stands as a groundbreaking achievement in cinema, with the movie pushing boundaries creatively, commercially, and culturally. Surpassing the aforementioned Jaws at the box office, it solidified the popularity and financial appeal of blockbuster cinema, while its space opera story of heroism—infused with inspiration from a litany of different genres—paved the way for studios to back more imaginative movies while featuring pioneering technical achievements, encompassing everything from revolutionary visual effects to detailed miniatures and puppet-controlled characters.
In today’s world, however, the most prominent idea that Star Wars established is arguably its efficiency at developing an expansive story world that spawned an extended cinematic franchise. This approach has become prolific in 21st-century cinema, with everything from superhero entities like the MCU to fantasy adventures like Harry Potter mimicking it and its ability to set a simple platform and continuously grow it going forward.
‘The Godfather’ (1972)
Gangster movies mark one of the oldest trends in cinema, and yet the vast majority of the genre’s defining classics have been released in the past 50 years. The Godfather is a massive reason for this. The Francis Ford Coppola classic famously follows a difficult transition period in the management of the Corleone crime family, featuring breathtaking cinematography, exceptional performances, and authentic writing as assets to realize Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) reluctant succession of his father’s empire.
As an essential film of the New Hollywood movement, The Godfather helped revolutionize not just crime drama, but cinema at large with its confronting depiction of violence and its investment in the intrigue of organized crime. These attributes steered gangster movies away from the high-octane pandemonium of earlier films and towards the grueling realism that the genre is known for today. By taking a keen interest in character, immersing fans in the conniving callousness of the criminal world, and pushing the boundaries of violence and mature content in Hollywood, The Godfather completely recalibrated an entire genre while broadening the sensitivities of the industry and the movie-going public.