No one makes movies quite like Abel Ferrara, though his brazenness and unwillingness to conform to much by way of mainstream style can make him comparable to attitudes held by other prolific directors with careers spanning decades, like David Lynch and Paul Verhoeven. Ferrara provokes, asks difficult moral questions, and probably doesn’t care what most people think of the films he makes, and has been doing so since the late 1970s.
Running through some of his best films can be tricky, because there’s no guarantee all – or even most – will find enjoyment or reach some level of appreciation for some of these. Still, the following ranking is going to attempt such a rundown anyway. Of Abel Ferrara’s daring, strange, and oftentimes uncomfortable movies, these stand as the best, ranked below, starting with the solid and ending with the “easiest” to recommend.
10 'The Driller Killer' (1979)
Starring: Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day
Image via Rochelle Films
You get what you'd expect out of a movie called The Driller Killer, here. It is a grimy, unpleasant, and low-budget horror film, and is pretty light on actual narrative, too. Audiences get to follow around one unstable man (played by Ferrara himself) as he has a breakdown in New York City and moves from location to location with a power drill, in turn killing a bunch of people with it.
If you want to count a genuine adult film Abel Ferrara made in 1976 (called 9 Lives of a Wet Pussycat… yes, really), then The Driller Killer wouldn’t be his feature debut, but it’s easy to label it his first proper film, so to speak. And, while it’s not particularly great, the rough around the edges feel is clearly intentional, and it’s one hell of a mission statement for an up-and-coming uncompromising director to make so early on in their career.
Release Date June 15, 1979
Director Abel Ferrara
Cast Abel Ferrara , Carolyn Marz , Baybi Day , Harry Schultz , Alan Wynroth , Maria Helhoski , James O'Hara , Richard Howorth
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli, Riccardo Scamarcio
Image via Capricci Films
Like Abel Ferrara, Pier Paolo Pasolini was a controversial filmmaker who continually challenged certain norms and conventions through his work, all the while pushing the limits of what one could show on screen. Ferrara was, therefore, an appropriate filmmaker to tackle a biographical film about Pasolini, simply called Pasolini, and starring Willem Dafoe in the title role.
Pasolini looks at the filmmaker’s life and attitude towards it as it neared its end, with the film also detailing the shocking – and likely politically motivated – death of the director. It is, expectedly, not your typical biopic, but even those disappointed by such a lack of conventions will be able to appreciate the respect Ferrara has here for Pasolini. Also, it feels further like a personal movie owing to the casting of Ninetto Davoli, who appeared in numerous Pasolini films and also had a relationship with the director during the latter’s final years.
Starring: Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Asia Argento
Image via Avalanche Releasing
New Rose Hotel is a purposefully hazy film, all fractured, strange, and borderline incoherent at times. A plot summary can only take one so far, but here goes nothing: there are two people who want to enact some sort of scheme involving getting a scientist to step away from a company he works at, and the pair get the help of a call-girl to do such persuading.
Then, New Rose Hotel kind of breaks down completely, building to nothing in particular and having a final act that infamously recaps much of what happened before, but all out of order. It is purportedly a work of science fiction, albeit a very strange one that has no desire to depict spectacle or anything wondrous. Is it a good movie? Is it a bad one? Does it matter? New Rose Hotel might be for no one, but it exists and nothing else out there is like it, even among the other titles in Ferrara’s filmography. That kind of cinematic bafflement doesn’t come along very often, so why not celebrate it a little?
Your changes have been saved
New Rose Hotel
CastChristopher Walken , Willem Dafoe , Asia Argento , Annabella Sciorra , John Lurie , Kimmy Suzuki , Miou , Yoshitaka Amano , Gretchen Mol , Phil Neilson , Ken Kelsch , Andrew Fiscella , Rachel Glass , Roberta Orlandi , Erin Jermaine Serrano , Nicole Taggart , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Victor Argo , Anna Marie Winds , Harper Simon , George Smurra , Frankie Cee , John 'Cha Cha' Ciarcia , Echo Danon , Kyrie Tinch
Starring: Matthew Modine, Claudia Schiffer, Dennis Hopper
Image via Destination Films
The often bombastic Dennis Hopper appears in The Blackout, and unsurprisingly shows that he’s a good match for Abel Ferrara’s sensibilities as a filmmaker. Hopper plays a friend (Mickey) of the film’s main character, Matty (played by Matthew Modine), with most of the movie revolving around Matty’s attempts to recall a wild bender of a night he’d had some time ago with Mickey.
Given Matty is a director, The Blackout does find ways to comment upon certain aspects of the film industry, and explores the topic of addiction (and recovery) as it exists there. It’s fairly compelling stuff as far as the drama side of things go, with Modine and Hopper both turning in solid performances. And, owing to the flashback structure and haziness of the big night, there’s a little mystery and intrigue to The Blackout, and that keeps it pretty involving, too.
Your changes have been saved
The Blackout
Release Date June 11, 1997
Director Abel Ferrara
Cast Claudia Schiffer , Matthew Modine , Dennis Hopper , Béatrice Dalle , Sarah Lassez , Steven Bauer , Nancy Ferrara , Andrew Fiscella , Vincent Lamberti , Victoria Duffy , Nicholas De Cegli , Daphnée Duplaix Samuel , Mercy Lopez , Lori Eastside , Shareef Malnik , Peter Cannold , Laura Bailey , Edge , Manouschka Guerrier
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins, Matthew Modine
Image via De Negris Productions
There are a good many familiar faces that show up in Go Go Tales, or there will be if you're familiar with other Abel Ferrara films. Like in The Blackout, Matthew Modine is here, and New Rose Hotel’s Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento are here, too. They're joined by Bob Hoskins, who isn't as well known for his work with Ferrara, but he is – perhaps a little like Dennis Hopper – well-liked for the intensity he brings to the roles he plays.
With a loose plot, Go Go Tales mostly concerns itself with the behind-the-scenes environment at a go-go club that’s currently plagued with certain issues of a financial nature. It’s far from just a steamy movie, exploring sex and titillation to some extent, sure, but also the transactional nature of those things and the way they're commodified – like so many things – in the modern world.
Your changes have been saved
Go Go Tales
Release Date May 23, 2007
CastBob Hoskins , Willem Dafoe , Matthew Modine , Asia Argento , Riccardo Scamarcio , Sylvia Miles , Roy Dotrice , Joe Cortese , Burt Young , Stefania Rocca , Bianca Balti , Shanyn Leigh , Lou Doillon , Frankie Cee , Pras Michel , Sammy Pasha , Johnny Skreli , Nicholas De Cegli , Anita Pallenberg , Alberto Mangiante , Romina Power , Anton Rodgers , Justine Mattera , Manuela Zero , Sabina Began
Starring: Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra
Image via October Films
There’s a well-utilized flashback structure to The Funeral, which revolves around – shock horror – a funeral, flashbacks there being used to give some context as to what led to the central death being mourned. The Funeral also, to some extent, deals with revenge, following its main characters – who belong to a crime family – trying to seek their own brand of justice for the ways they feel they’ve been wronged.
By the standards of Abel Ferrara’s body of work, The Funeral actually had a pretty beefy budget that it failed to make back. Financial success is not always equivalent to critical success, though, because this film works very well as a dark and deconstructive sort of gangster film, dealing with difficult emotions and having an admirably high level of grit and intensity throughout much of its duration.
Your changes have been saved
The Funeral
Release Date January 26, 1996
Director Abel Ferrara
Cast Chris Penn , Christopher Walken , Annabella Sciorra , Isabella Rossellini , Vincent Gallo , Benicio Del Toro , Gretchen Mol , John Ventimiglia , Robert Miano , Paul Hipp , Victor Argo , David Patrick Kelly , Gian DiDonna , Edie Falco , Frank John Hughes , Dmitri Prachenko , Paul Perri , Gregory Perrelli , Joey Hannon , Amber Smith , Patrick McGaw , Lance Guecia , Robert W. Castle , Andrew Fiscella , Anthony Alessandro
Starring: Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Annabella Sciorra
Image via October Films
While The Blackout dealt with addiction of a more straightforward/real-world nature, 1995’s The Addiction explores the topic with a supernatural spin. It’s a film that sees Abel Ferrara putting a distinctive spin on certain vampire tropes, treating a desire for blood held by the film’s central character as a stand-in for addiction to other substances that are addictive in real life.
Alongside that, you also get a good deal of philosophical ponderings and some stylish visuals, owing to The Addiction being shot in black and white. Also, quite a few actors who later became well-known for starring on The Sopranos are featured throughout The Addiction (namely, Annabella Sciorra, Edie Falco, and Michael Imperioli), with that show, as luck would have it, also being one that often explored the struggles that come with certain kinds of addiction.
Release Date October 4, 1995
Director Abel Ferrara
CastLili Taylor , Christopher Walken , Annabella Sciorra , Edie Falco , Paul Calderon , Fredro Starr , Kathryn Erbe , Michael Imperioli , Jamal Simmons , Robert W. Castle , Michael A. Fella , Louis Katz , Leroy Johnson , Fred Williams
Runtime 82 Minutes
3 'Ms .45' (1981)
Starring: Zoë Lund, Albert Sinkys, Darlene Stuto
Image via Drafthouse Films
Debatably standing as Abel Ferrara’s punchiest and most in-your-face film, Ms .45 is just as uncompromising as The Driller Killer from two years earlier, but it sees a step up in terms of ambition and filmmaking craft. It’s still potentially definable as a B-grade movie, but it’s one of those “B-movies” that has a good deal to say, all the while delivering reliable (and sometimes uncomfortable) genre cinema thrills.
It's an unusual story of revenge, all particularly nihilistic, following a repeatedly mistreated young woman who snaps and lashes out against society, especially those who continue trying to wrong her. Ms .45 is hard to shake, once watched, and it works because it’s as immediate and compelling as it is oddly haunting and bleak. It’s not fun in the traditional sense, maybe, but it’s hard not to get sucked into the grimy, violent, and down-and-dirty world it builds.
It’s a whirlwind kind of film, exceedingly dark and uncomfortably introspective, too. Like many Ferrara flicks, Bad Lieutenant is not for the faint of heart, but anyone after a challenging crime/drama film that stands out from the rest might want to check it out. It also had an interesting sequel of sorts, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, with Werner Herzog as director instead of Ferrara, and Nicolas Cage in the lead role instead of Harvey Keitel. That one has more of a sense of humor, and proves weird/compelling in its own ways, too.
Your changes have been saved
Bad Lieutenant
Release Date November 20, 1992
Director Abel Ferrara
Runtime 96 minuutes
1 'King of New York' (1990)
Starring: Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne
Things come together really nicely in King of New York, which is a fairly bleak crime movie, sure, but also stands as perhaps the most approachable movie Abel Ferrara has directed to date. Christopher Walken also gets to shine here in a rare leading role, showing that for as fun as it is when he rocks up for a scene or two to steal a movie, he’s actually more than capable of carrying one on his back, should he be cast in the right part.
He plays a compelling antihero of sorts in King of New York; a former drug lord who is seeking redemption, and wants to distribute his profits to New York City’s downtrodden while wiping out his former competition. There’s more of a straightforward narrative here, compared to Ferrara’s other films, building to a memorable finish while also having tons of visual flair and atmosphere throughout. It’s an intoxicating and difficult-to-forget watch, and perhaps the best starting point for anyone interested in beginning a cautious journey throughout Abel Ferrara’s body of work.
Image by Federico Napoli
Image via Rochelle Films 
Image via Capricci Films 
Image via Avalanche Releasing 
Image via Destination Films 
Image via De Negris Productions 
Image via October Films 
Image via October Films 
Image via Drafthouse Films 
Image via Aries Films 
English (US) ·