The Official Movie Poster For "Fire And Ice" (1983 Film Directed By Ralph Bakshi) By Fantasy Artist Frank

Everyone knows about the Salem Witch Trials, but have you ever heard of the European werewolf trials?

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, individuals across Europe, including countries like Switzerland, Germany and France were accused of lycanthropy, wolf-riding and wolf-charming (wolf-charming meaning they used magic to summon a pack of wolves to attack someone).

The most famous case of someone being charged with lycanthropy took place in 1598. German farmer Peter Stumpp was accused of using witchcraft to turn himself into a wolf and go on a killing spree that led to the deaths of two pregnant women and 14 children. The worst part is they said he ate his victims while in his wolf form. After being stretched out on the rack, Peter admitted to all of the accusations, said he'd been practicing magic since he was 12 years old and that he used a magical belt the devil gave him to take his wolf shape. After his admission, Peter was executed on the wheel where he was skinned alive, had his limbs broken, his head chopped off and his body burned.

Dark City (1998) by Alex Proyas.

A beautiful, sleek, lucid nightmare.

Filled with unforgettable, overwhelming images.

Highly influential.

"A movie that happens everywhere matters nowhere." - Alfred Hitchcock ("Blackmail" (1929); "Murder!" (1930))

Momo the Monster, also known as the Missouri Monster (Momo).

Strange and other-worldly creatures have been spotted all over the United States... but were these sightings real? Or the imagination run wild?

In 1972, residents of Louisiana, Missouri claimed to have seen a creature they described as being 7 ft, having a large pumpkin shaped head, thick black fur covering most of its body that emitted a putrid odor, and the only facial feature noticeable were its large glowing orange eyes. At one point, a 20-person posse got together to hunt down the monster, but never found it. Later on, though, tracks were discovered and submitted to Lawrence Curtis, director of the Oklahoma City Zoo who deemed the tracks to be that of an unknown primate species.

So what could it have been? A monster or an ape?

Time Bandits by Terry Gilliam.

This just might be one of the very best "children's story" films ever produced. Outstanding imagination and poignant humanism.

It's a Roald Dahl–esque landmark to all fantasy films.

Favorite non-DC/Marvel, comic book adaptations:

The Mask

The Crow

The Rocketeer (released internationally as The Adventures of the Rocketeer)

Ghost World

A History of Violence

The Lone Wolf and Cub films

Ichi the Killer (殺し屋１)

The Amazing Screw-On Head

The Rabbi's Cat (Le chat du rabbin)

Danger: Diabolik

Urusei Yatsura: Only You/Beautiful Dreamer

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Snowpiercer

Persepolis

Blue is the Warmest Color

Tales from the Crypt (1972)

The Death of Stalin

Wrinkles (Arrugas)

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Akira (アキラ)

Gantz (2010)

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Road to Perdition

American Splendor

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Oldboy (올드보이)

Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ) by Satoshi Kon.

A masterwork by the late storytelling master, Satoshi Kon.

For those who don't know, Satoshi Kon is the same director who worked on films like Paprika, Perfect Blue, and the mystery/psychological thriller/supernatural anime masterpiece Paranoia Agent. Unfortunately, on August 24, 2010, we lost this creative mind to terminal pancreatic cancer. If you ask me, we're probably never gonna get anything close to the creepy works this guy managed to craft ever again.

Tokyo Godfathers is a really good example of a tragicomedy, and it is one of the most disturbing Christmas films you'll ever encounter (without relying on pure shock value) solely because of the subject matter. While animated, it really focuses on making the setting as realistic and as gritty as a wacky story like this can be, leading to this unsettling, off tone in a familiar, yet urban setting that really made me feel uncomfortable. What makes this movie disturbing is how realistically the developed characters and setting are. These are just average, everyday people - the kind you may have encountered or known in real life - dealing with a stressful/unfortunate situation, while also dealing with the preconceived notions about who they are from the people around them and each other. There are fantastical elements to this movie, to be sure. But I'd say that the grounded nature and focus on mental health and identity are just downright heartbreaking and genuinely hard for me to watch.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what background you come from, what horrible thing has happened in the past or what society says about who you are. The things that make us truly human is the empathy we can have for one another. This isn't your traditional Christmas film, but it's most certainly one of the best I've ever seen. It's not only disturbing, heartwarming and more than earned the right to be labelled as a modern classic, I think it's one of Satoshi Kon's greatest projects that he's ever worked on. To me, this film exemplifies his filmography the best and shows how an artist really can create something that is stunning, beautiful and eerie all at the same time. He has a perfect filmography. Let us never forget.

The biggest mistake is that anime, in general, is often misunderstood. It has created timeless adult masterpieces.

Anyone who hasn’t seen Scott Pilgrim is missing out.

Lluvia en los Ojos (Rain in the Eyes).

I love this shot.

When you look at sci-fi stories like Star Wars, especially, there's so much more to it than just the technology. It comes back to this idea of "the Force" which I think is based on a lot of Eastern philosophy and religious ideas of "you can either be on the dark side or the light side". It's kind of that Yin and Yang sort of look at energy as a whole. Star Wars has a second meaning to it.

I mean, George Lucas himself even admitted that Star Wars was an allegory for the Vietnam War, especially around Nixon trying to get reelected. He even mentions that democracies aren’t taken, they're given away. Though I also know that he also borrowed significantly from the legends of King Arthur.

I think there's a lot of meaning in sci-fi in general. It's a way to comment on our reality and our current situation through another lens. I think that's the beauty of sci-fi in general. It's also why I think the most recent Star Wars movies got negative reviews, because they were trying to tell Star Wars stories and not real-life stories.

It's a great reflection tool. If Star Wars is about Vietnam, then Dune is about the Middle East. Because Arrakis the planet = Iraq. Spice is the resource, oil is the resource. At the core of it, I think that's the whole point.