I’d tried to keep the list to 10 but there really were more this year that won me over, that thrilled me, that made with laugh, that made me think and discuss, that frightened me or made me look over my shoulder twice, that made me feel like a child again, that reminded me why I love movies: big Hollywood productions, small independent ventures, documentaries, foreign language films, and a couple of surprisingly good horror movies. Yes, 2015 was a fine year in the dark center aisle. So here they are, O’Rourke’s Class of 2015:

(1) THE HATEFUL EIGHT

What I wrote in December: “Quentin Tarantino’s eighth movie, THE HATEFUL EIGHT, is long-winded, poky, profane, ultraviolent, obnoxious, revolting and outrageous. In other words, it’s exactly what you’d expect from Tarantino. And it is also the most fun I’ve had at the movies in 2015!”

(2) BROOKLYN

What I wrote in November: “Old-fashioned, emotional and romantic in all the right ways, BROOKLYN is a vibrant story of finding one’s home in the world. The movie avoids the ridiculous claptrap of American ‘chick flick’ romances, opting for a more inspiring and compassionate bond with the audience.”

(3) EX MACHINA

What I wrote in May: “… a fascinating debate on the nature of humanity; a three-sided character study; and a tense, disquieting and often amusing mix of Hitchcock’s anxiety and Kubrick’s frosty intellect.”

(4) HITCHCOCK / TRUFFAUT

In 1962 French director François Truffaut interviewed Alfred Hitchcock for a week about the legendary filmmaker’s career and movies. The resulting book, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, was published in 1966 and became the bible of cinema for generations of movie makers to follow. This documentary about that interview and Hitchcock’s impact on the art of film is a love letter to fans of the Master of Suspense and anyone who digs movies.

(5) STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

What I wrote in December: “… thrill to the suspenseful chase scenes, the spectacular dogfights between the X-wing and TIE fighters, and the brutal lightsaber duels. When characters both new and old make their first escape in the beloved relic of the Millennium Falcon my heart and imagination soared …”

(6) MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Another tired 30-year-old movie franchise is brought roaring back to life with the kick-ass duo of Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy and a breathtaking and uninterrupted barrage of incredible stuntwork and physical effects. Spectacularly suspenseful and gloriously entertaining.

(7) IT FOLLOWS

This great horror movie pays homage to the scary movies of the late 1970s and early ’80s, but impresses and frightens on its own merits, thanks to new director David Robert Mitchell’s fully developed style and a game young cast. A new fright classic.

(8) TANGERINE

What a surprise! A low, low budget movie, shot completely on iPhones, about the Christmas Eve misadventures of two transgender prostitutes and several unvarnished acquaintances. Raunchy, riotous, hysterical and surprisingly poignant.

(9) WILD TALES

What does it take for the average person to reach the breaking point, to snap, to lash out either in carefully planned vengeance or in split-second thoughtless violence. WILD TALES is an anthology of six unconnected stories about revenge, and it is insanely funny. Each of the six stories are keepers, but my absolute favorite is “The Strongest,” in which a passing insult between two drivers on a desert roadway becomes an epic battle of road rage. Violent and so, so funny. This is a movie you will talk about when it’s over.

(10) SPOTLIGHT

What I wrote in November: “SPOTLIGHT … depict[s] the perseverance and passion of a team of professionals determined to get the story right. This is a classic movie about investigative journalism, the best since ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.”

(11) GOODNIGHT MOMMY

The second horror movie on my list, and boy oh boy!, is it a doozy! GOODNIGHT MOMMY is a slow burn: the paranoia and dread gradually build, from the sun-drenched but eerie first images to the ghastly but inevitable extremes of the climax. The story is simple. Two 9-year-old twin boys refuse to believe the woman who returns home, face bandaged from cosmetic surgery, is really their mother. I guarantee you will watch from between the fingers covering your eyes.

(12) SICARIO

“Edge of your seat” is a cliché I really don’t like to use, but a third of the way through SICARIO I realized I was sitting all the way forward — actually at the edge of my seat! — tense, apprehensive and completely engrossed in this brutal thriller about a US task force hunting down the leader of a Mexican drug cartel.

(13) WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

My favorite comedy of the year is this wonderful import from New Zealand, a mockumentary about four vampire roommates still trying, after hundreds of years, to come to terms with what it means to be undead in the world of the living. I laughed more during SHADOWS then in any other movie this year. “I’m going to stay in and do my dark bidding” is one of my favorite movie lines and visual puns of the year, and the scene of the vampires sneaking peeks at sunsets on Youtube makes me crack up just remembering the bit. This movie is a joy, a horror-comedy to stand alongside YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

(14) PHOENIX

What I wrote in August: “This movie is steeped in the dark shadows, inscrutable characters and dubious motivations of mid-century Hollywood film noir and the disturbing obsession with the past of Hitchcock’s VERTIGO. But PHOENIX is neither a thriller nor a mystery. It’s a well-written, beautifully acted, thoroughly engrossing study of betrayal, guilt, denial and the restorative powers of moving on.”

(Honorable Mention) WE ARE STILL HERE

Three really good horror movies in a year? A miracle! I caught this one on VOD late one night. Like IT FOLLOWS, WE ARE STILL HERE has a gnarly retro feel to it, with strong, creepy echoes of John Carpenter and Lucio Fulci. And the only movie with more blood-drenched sets than this one is THE HATEFUL EIGHT. Check this one out when you’re up late and alone one night. Just don’t call me to tuck you in when the movie’s over.