The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968)
Film from Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale well ahead of its time in its prediction of a populace controlled by television
The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)
Dull live-action tv remake of the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated Christmas special
The Yesterday Machine (1963)
A complete obscurity that has only been brought to public attention during the YouTube era – not that it has been obscure without justifiable reason. Don’t be hooked by the intriguing premise of Nazis building time machines, this is painfully dull in every regard
The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity (2020)
Wu Xia film with exquisitely polished blend of CGI and visuals, this rather intriguingly operates as a blend of Wu Xia and murder mystery
The Young Poisoner’s Handbook (1995)
A true-crime film based on real-life British murderer Graham Young, this comes with a black humour tone and a great performance from Hugh O’Conor as Young
Y2K (2024)
Film that imagines what might have happened if the Y2K Bug had occurred and resulted in a machine revolution
Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)
Japan’s Takashi Miike gained a cult with a series of films that went to extremes or crossed way over taboo lines; his films from the mid-2000s have become more experiments that produce a head-scratching “huh?”. Case in point being this Yakuza vampire film that frequently feels like much of it was being made up on the spot
Yakuza Weapon (2011)
Another Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film about a Yakuza heir who is blown apart by rivals and then rebuilt with cyborg attachments
YatterMan (2009)
Takashi Miike conducts a live-action adaptation of a 1970s anime tv series with completely madcap results. The effect is like drowning in multi-coloured candyfloss flavoured with LSD
Year 10 (2024)
Film set in the aftermath of civilisation where people have lost the capacity for speech
Year One (2009)
Not very funny comedy from Harold Ramis and Judd Apatow where Jack Black and Michael Cera are cavemen who stumble through many incidents from the Old Testament
Year Without a Summer (2010)
Film with minor Magical Realist touches about life in rural Malaysia that appears to be made without a plot and in which nothing happens. Dull to the point of inertia
Years and Years (2019)
Exceptionally written UK mini-series from Doctor Who producer Russell T. Davies following a diverse family throughout the 2020s that become a projection of current trends turned nightmarish
Yellow Submarine (1968)
The third of The Beatles films, in this case an animated work that features likenesses of The Fab Four as they trip through some amazing nonsensical psychedelic visuals
YellowBrickRoad (2010)
Not much to do with The Wizard of Oz – more like The Crazies by way of The Blair Witch Project, this creates a genuinely unsettling otherworldly mystery before entering into decidedly disturbed headspace
Yesterday (2019)
Feelgood Danny Boyle film that most audiences missed was also an alternate history film set in a world where The Beatles never existed and one sideslipped singer is able to claim their songs as his own
Yeti: A Love Story (2006)
Troma film about a group of trampers attacked by a Yeti only for one of the group to discover gay love with the Yeti
Yog – The Monster from Outer Space (1970)
One of the more forgettable films from Godzilla creator Ishiro Honda about an alien entity taking the form of giant animals on a Pacific island
Yoga Hosers (2016)
Kevin Smith’s follow-up to Tusk slides off the cliff somewhere between Johnny Depp’s incredibly silly performance, a nemesis you can’t take seriously and what largely becomes a vanity exercise in nepotism – Smith and Depp creating a vehicle to highlight their daughters
Yogi Bear (2010)
Live-action adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series is a film construed entirely around slapstick sequences that never requires you to engage your brain in any way
Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)
South Korean copy of the Japanese Godzilla films and a painfully cheap effort on all counts
Yor, The Hunter from the Future (1983)
Italian cheapie that has become regarded as a bad movie classic. This starts out as a Conan the Barbarian ripoff before, in a twist lifted from Teenage Caveman, we learn we are in a post-apocalyptic future
You Are Not My Mother (2021)
An unsettlingly effective Irish Folk Horror film about a teen whose mother disappears and then returns ‘changed’
You Can Call Me Bill (2023)
Alexandre O. Philippe has made a host of documentaries about film and fandom. Here he sits down with a 91-year-old William Shatner who talks candidly as he reflects on his life
You Can’t Kill Stephen King (2012)
You have to admit the title gets your attention but this is otherwise a slasher film of sorts about a group in search of Stephen King’s home
You Can’t Run Forever (2024)
The 2020s have seen a surprise upsurge in films about people being pursued by attackers. This is another about a teen girl flees pursued by a J.K. Simmons as a business professor who suddenly goes psycho
You Might Be the Killer (2018)
There have been some clever and witty deconstructions and parodies of the slasher film in recent years. This starts in with an immediately captivating hook where the title phrase is turned around on the protagonist
You Only Live Twice (1967)
The fifth James Bond film takes the series to Japan. New director Lewis Gilbert is determined to outdo what has come before in terms of the spectacular, especially WITH the construction of the massive volcano set
You Should Have Left (2020)
David Koepp has an impressive resume as a screenwriter including
You Won’t Be Alone (2022)
An absolutely extraordinary work of Folk Horror about a young witch who learns the ability to inhabit the bodies of others
You’ll Find Out (1940)
Old Dark House comedy set around the antics of big band leader Kay Kyser. Starring several horror names of the day – Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre
You’ll Never Find Me (2023)
Australian film where a girl turns up at the trailer home of a recluse. A series of tense psychological games ensue where it becomes apparent neither of them are being truthful
You’re Next (2011)
Adam Wingard directs a home invasion thriller in a similar vein to The Strangers. This is a film that strips everything extraneous away and simply lets Wingard go for broke and give the audience a brutal and intense workout – at which you cannot deny he succeeds most satisfyingly
Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013)
Tsui Hark delivers a prequel to his 2010 Detective Dee film. This takes the character back far more to his original nature as a Chinese equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. That is if you can imagine Sherlock Holmes taking place as a flying swordsman film filled with sea monsters and wildly fantastic martial combat scenes (*)
Young Einstein (1988)
Bizarrely surreal comedy directed by and starring Yahoo Serious who plays Albert Einstein as an Australian who discovers surfing and rock
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Mel Brooks’ finest moment, a witty stylistic homage to and spoof of the Universal Frankenstein films. A great cast are on perfect form all around.
Young Ones (2014)
Not to be confused with the cult British comedy series, the anonymous title disguises an excellent film about a drought-ridden future. Less another Mad Max-inspired film than an SF version of There Will Be Blood that becomes a study in greed, ambition and the fight for resource control
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Steven Spielberg produced film about an adolescent Sherlock Holmes often feels like it is Holmes being pitched as an Indiana Jones adventure but comes with some beautifully made touches
Your Highness (2011)
The epic fantasy quest film is well due a parody, unfortunately this majorly unfunny effort written by its leading man Danny McBride only makes a beeline for the witless and vulgar
Your Name. (2016)
Makoto Shinkai is a rising name of acclaim in anime. This starts as a regular light and fluffy piece about a boy and a girl who keep waking up in each other’s bodies but then expands out into a wholly different story, gaining unexpected emotional depths as it does
Youth Without Youth (2007)
Francis Ford Coppola film that came out the same time as The Case of Benjamin Button where Tim Roth regains his youth after being hit by a lightning bolt
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie – Pyramid of Light (2004)
An animated film based on the hit playing card phenomenon, which proves largely incomprehensible to anybody not versed in the game
Yuki: Snow Fairy (1981)
A very rare anime film about a fairy who descends to Earth from the heavens and takes the side of downtrodden peasants in standing against a greedy landowner and a demon god
Yummy (2019)
Belgian film that starts out as a blackly funny work about a cut-price East European hospital before seguing into a zombie film