Pi (1998)

“When your mind becomes obsessed with anything, you will filter everything else out and find that thing everywhere.” These words spoken by Mark Margolis’ Sol echo through Pi, the feature debut of Darren Aronofsky. It is the story of Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), a mathematical genius who becomes obsessed with finding the numerical pattern that can explain everything. Unemployed and socially isolated, Max suffers through his daily life as he fights through terrible headaches and screams at his computer as he searches for that pattern in the stock market. Unfortunately for him, he might actually be getting close to finding the number at the center of everything, feeding his obsession and bringing a world of trouble.

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Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Manhunter (1986)

In the August of 1975, a patrolman arrested an unusual man who had been cruising around the suburbs late at night. The man had removed the front seat of his car and he had a bunch of conspicuous items, like a ski mask and handcuffs. But the man had an explanation for everything. Thankfully, Detective Jerry Thompson remembered a similar suspect and vehicle were described in a different case, and even though the man was released, Thompson began working with police in five different states to put everything together. Eventually they had enough hard evidence to put together a case and arrest the man, convicting him of dozens of murders and other heinous crimes. That man would escape prison and kill again, and eventually he was sentenced to death. His name was Ted Bundy.

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Day of the Dead (1985)

I saw the first Night of the Living Dead in the Nineties, when I was just a kid, too young to understand any of the movie’s themes. I watched it with my family and mostly remember being excited about the second tape that came with the movie, the parody Night of the Living Bread. I didn’t see its sequel (and the remake of that) until I was in college. I watched a downloaded copy of Dawn of the Dead in my dorm room by myself and absolutely was all about its criticisms of consumer culture and message of hope beyond all reason. Now, all these years later, thanks to the advent of (arguably too many) streaming services, I have finally completed watching the three Living Dead movies that matter.

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