Paul Fairclough

What is war good for? Absolutely nothing, of course. That said, war has produced some pretty good movies, and none more than World War II. It has fascinated filmmakers more than any other conflict, which is understandable, given the atrocities it involved and its impact on human history. So many movies have been made about it that it stands apart from other war movies as a genre unto itself.  It’s rather daunting, then, to choose the best World War II movies ever made. But we know someone who has thoughts on the subject: director Quentin Tarantino, a man who knows quite a bit about making a great WW2 film himself. He and a grizzled squad of Time Out writers helped craft this definitive list of the greatest movies centred around that global battle, and it includes screen-filling epics, intimate dramas, devastating documentaries, and even a comedy or two.  Written by Tom Huddleston, Adam Lee Davies, Paul Fairclough, Anna Smith, David Jenkins, Dan Jolin, Phil de Semlyen, Alim Kheraj & Matthew Singer Recommended: ⚔️ The 50 best war movies of all-time🎖️ The best World War I movies, ranked by historical accuracy🇺🇸 The 20 best Memorial Day movies

Movie monsters come in many shapes, sizes and species, from parasitic slugs to reanimated dinosaurs to creeping mounds of space gelatin. Some are meant to symbolise social ills or reflect the deepest, darkest human fears, while others are clearly reflective of the issues their designers have been working on in therapy. In other cases, some monsters are just unholy beasts that are often nauseating to look at but impossible to turn away from, driven only by pure instinct. All that said, a great movie monster doesn’t necessarily make for a great monster movie. In the case of these movies, the monster might drive the action, but there’s more going on than just awesome effects and righteous kills. To help sort the beastly from the bogus, we put a few parameters in place. First off, no zombies or vampires – those guys warrant lists of their own. Secondly, no humans. Apologies to Freddy, Jason, Michael and Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, but you are not the kind of monsters we’re looking for. Rather, we loaded up on killer rabbits, killer plants, killer fish, killer clowns, killer aliens and killer giant sandworms – and even then, it was hard to choose the bloodthirstiest of the bunch. But we did the best we could.  Written by Tom Huddleston, Adam Lee Davies, Andy Kryza, Paul Fairclough, David Jenkins & Matthew Singer Recommended: 👹 The 66 greatest movie monsters💀 The 100 best horror movies of all-time👽 The 100 best sci-fi movies of all-time🦄 The 50 best fantasy m

Check out our definitive list of films guaranteed to kill even the cosiest evening stone cold dead. If you've got a bad-date-movie experience of your own you'd like to share, or think there's a woefully unromantic movie we've missed out, let us know in the comments below.  

If you’re stuck with a date you don’t really want – or just keen to make your cosy night in that little bit more 'experimental' – check out our definitive list of films guaranteed to kill even the cosiest evening stone cold dead. If you've got a bad-date-movie experience of your own you'd like to share, or think there's a woefully unromantic movie we've missed out, let us know in the comments below. RECOMMENDED: The 100 best romantic movies