Author Mark Clark rejoins me in this episode to put an interesting idea before us all. He claims that the all-time best year for science fiction, horror and fantasy movies is 1968. Best ever? He argues that there were more high quality genre films released in that year than in any other and he comes with an impressive list to make his case. I have to admit that I am compelled to disagree with him – well - I’m compelled to disagree with almost everyone eventually. BUT – he has a good point or five. So, we dig into the movies from that long ago year, making claims of greatness and arguing their finer points. I mean, there is a lot to be said about 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, PLANET OF THE APES, ROSEMARY’S BABY and WITCHFINDER GENERAL don’t you think?
Of course, I also push back at Mark’s thesis with a different year that I’ve always considered one of the best for genre cinema and the conversation ranges across the merits of that year as well. We find much to agree on but there are some strange areas of contention. There might be a separate future discussion about the contemporary popularity of some of these movies and what that says about the perception of their quality level. If a movie was a financial failure on release but went on to be considered a classic, how do we evaluate it as an entry in that year? Food for geeky thought.
If you have another year that you think is more impressive than 1968 drop us a line. The email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com or we could get a thread going over on the show’s FaceBook page. Thanks for listening!
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