The Blues Brothers (1980)
Dazed And Confused (1993)
The Moment: “Hey, are you cool man?” is the enquiry. “Like how?” comes the response. Gnarly, dudes…
Coolest Element: If there’s a more condensed example of slacker cool, we’ve yet to see it!
Trainspotting (1996)
The Moment: Renton experiences the pure undiluted horror of heroin withdrawal in this nightmarish cold turkey scene in which his bedroom becomes a prison.
Coolest Element: The mounting sense of dread that builds as the baby makes its way across the ceiling.
Videodrome (1983)
The Moment: James Wood explores his body, plunging a gun into a gaping orifice that suddenly opens up in the middle of his stomach.
Coolest Element: Cronenberg loves a spot of body horror, and this is one of the most indelible images of his oeuvre.
Heathers (1989)
The Moment: “What’s your damage?” sneers Heather. “Brad says you’re being a real cooze.”
Coolest Element: And lo, an eternally withering put-down was introduced into the popular lexicon.
Labyrinth (1986)
The Moment: Jareth performs the supremely surreal Magic, backed by an army of singing monsters. Enjoyably bonkers.
Coolest Element: All of Jareth’s scenes are pretty cool, but he really lets loose here. Seminal Bowie weirdness.
Blade Runner (1982)
The Moment: The beautifully shot, rain-sodden finale, in which Roy Batty utters the immortal words, “All those moments will be lost like tears in the rain… time to die.”
Coolest Element: Incredibly, the scene was ad-libbed by Rutger Hauer. Marvellous stuff.
Tremors (1990)
The Moment: Our three heroes make a daring escape from a hungry graboid, using a handy pole to vault from rock to rock, without touching the floor…
Coolest Element: You could cut the tension with a knife. A highlight of the slow-burning opening of this superlative monster movie.
Easy Rider (1969)
The Moment: The opening scene, in which Henry Fonda and Dennis Hopper saddle up to the strains of Born To Be Wild .
Coolest Element: The whole damn sequence. Have a set of opening credits ever seemed cooler?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Moment: Andy Dufresne swims through a river of shit before finally escaping the walls of Shawshank Prison for good.
Coolest Element: Dufresne’s Christ-like pose in the falling rain is guaranteed to get even the most hard-hearted cynic punching the air with joy.
