[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

FILMS YOU WISH YOU COULD SEE FOR THE FIRST TIME… AGAIN

1. The Exorcist – undoubtedly the most powerful and meaningful cinema visit of my life, the midnight showing what I first saw this film was unlike anything which has gone before or has come since. I would love to go back to the cinema that night and go in completely prepared for what I was about to watch and then come out just over two hours later and look at the night sky knowing my life would never be the same again.
2. The Usual Suspects – this is the obvious one which came to mind purely because, like any film with a 'twist' ending, you can't watch it again and be caught by surprise by the ending, mentally rethinking everything you've seen over the past two hours.
3. Fight Club – I only read the book after watching the film and, like the reasoning above, it's now impossible to watch the film (or read the book) with such a sense of wonder and bewilderment about the interactions between Tyler Durden, the narrator, Marla Singer and the other characters. The superb ending will never have the same impact again.
4. Deep Red – I can watch this happily over and over again because of the interactions between David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi, the superlative score and audacious direction, but knowing the killer's identity takes away some of the traumatic tension, sense of agency, and danger.
5. Leon – this is a film I watched repeatedly when in hospital and after coming home, loving so many aspects, but I don't think I'll ever get back the 'wow' factor that the relationship between Leon and Mathilda, the final action sequences, and the emotional impact of the ending had on my first viewing.
6. Psycho – it was a really difficult decision whether to go with this or Les Diabolique as both are very similar films in the construction, the way the audience and characters are manipulated a master director at the peak of their powers and with a couple of astonishing shocks on the way, but this is one of my favourite horror films and probably my favourite from Hitchcock, so it got the nod.
7. Oldboy – once you've seen this and know exactly what's going on during the first act when Dae-su Oh is imprisoned without any particular reason and then strikes up a friendship, then sexual relationship, with a woman he meets in a sushi bar. There is no way to watch that in the same way when you know what is going on, and why. The ending will always have an incredibly powerful emotional impact, but nothing like on that first viewing. Also, the sheer bravura from Chan-wook Park to make this film and design such sequences as the subway hammer fight scene will never have that jawdropping quality that it did the first time.
8. Gladiator – perhaps a strange one, but there are several moments in this film – the opening battle scene, for one – where I was (figuratively) on the edge of my seat and watching in amazement at the sheer spectacle on the screen in front of me, something aided by the stirring score, both magnified because of the screen size and volume in the multiplex cinema. The impact of Maximus removing his helmet and showing his face to a bemused and stunned Commodus is lessened every time I watched this, as are the action sequences, so this is one I'd really like to watch for the first time again.
9. Suspiria – another film which can 'get by' as a horror masterpiece simply on spectacle, so the chance to go back in time and watch it when I was genuinely lost by the narrative and as bewildered as Susy would be something I would gladly seize.
10. The Matrix – I suppose this goes in the same category as Gladiator because there is no way I can watch the 'bullet time' sequences and the whole section in the lobby and then in the helicopter and have the same reaction is the first time it completely changed my view of what was possible in a film.

Nearly making it, but not quite, are:
Pan's Labyrinth – although this is a film I love to watch, it can never make me cry the way I did when I first saw it in the cinema, I can never see the 'pale man' or the faun with the same astonishment and even fear as when I saw it the first time, returning to the cinema the next day to watch it again.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – the latest pure horror film ever made is still a gruelling experience no matter how many times you've watched it (for me, it's probably nearly 30) but I don't think any remastered version or a new, bigger TV will be able to match the first time I saw it on VHS when it was unlike any film I had seen before and before I'd listened to any commentaries or seen any documentaries. Although they add to my understanding of the film, they somehow take away from the impact and magic.
The Wicker Man – much of what I said about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre applies to this gem from 1973, where most of the strangeness goes away with repeated viewings, and certainly the ending's impact is lessened with every viewing.