Best of 2007 (40 to 31)

40. STUCK
Stephen Rea is the homeless tramp who crashes through Mina Suvari's windscreen and gets stuck there for most of the film. She panics and leaves him there. Then they try to kill each other. Blackly hilarious horror mayhem (based on a true story!) from director Stuart Gordon.

39. TEETH
A young girl has teeth where she shouldn't in this gruesome but hilarious comedy horror which is destined to be a cult classic.

38. RESCUE DAWN
An actor of Bale's calibre teaming up with Werner Herzog - how can that not be gold? Herzog revisits the story of a pilot's escape from Laos (the subject of his documentary LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY) but as a drama. Moving and spectacular (apart from some poor special effects), but sadly little seen.

37. 28 WEEKS LATER
If there's one thing that sums this one up, it's surprise. Hollywood making a big budget sequel to a low-budget Brit horror hit? Without the original writer-director team? It had "dross" written all over it so it was to everyone's surprise when it turned out to be a highly entertaining horror thriller. Having Danny Boyle come back as overseer if not a director may have helped.

36. POITIN
Bob Quinn's tale of dodgy characters carrying out their nasty deeds in Connemara was actually a film from the 1970s, however the version I saw at Cork in 2007 was the new director's cut, so I'm chucking it into my top forty of 2007 on a technicality!

POITIN

35. ZOO
A surprisingly touching film is not what I expected from a documentary about a secret gang of people who were a little, er, "enthusiastic" about animals, but that's what we got in this controversial but beautifully made investigative film.

34. SON OF MAN
A retelling of the Christ story relocated to modern day Africa which is another fine example of how wonderfully vibrant African cinema currently is.

33. ZODIAC
This meticulous recreation of the world of the 1970s' unsolved serial killings somehow overcomes the fact that we already know that nobody has ever been caught. Bravura direction from Fincher and superb performances from actors like Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo certainly help.

32. SEACHD: THE INACCESSIBLE PINNACLE
The first theatrically-released film in Scottish Gaelic was more than just a script translated into the language. It was unashamedly a Scottish film with so many national traditions and stories woven throughout. A celebration of the whole of Gaelic culture which was unfortunately denied the widespread release it deserved.

31. NO REGRETS IN THE WEST & WITHOUT WORDS
Yep, I know I've banged on about these before and that you're probably sick of me going on about Irish short films and all that, but these two were special and really deserve a mention. So I'm going to break the rules and stick them in here together despite them being two entirely separate films.