If there’s anything about films that take place over one night, they’re sure to take us on an unpredictable ride. From Scorsese to Todd Phillips to Jim Jarmusch, directors of all different genres have long experimented with the nighttime and the peculiar drives it brings out in us. Whether they’re about high school party fantasies or high-octane bank heists, nighttime adventure films seem to capture something special that we just don’t have room for at 3pm.
The newest addition to the night-adventure canon was Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, which sees a Gen Z “hurricane party” turn into a modern Agatha Christie whodunit, complete with glow sticks and TikTok. The film has elevated the “one crazy night” genre to exciting new heights - who knows what will come next? In honor of that film and the slew of others that came before it, here are some of our “one crazy night” films, ranked.
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7 Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
If you’ve got a few young ones on your hands, try not to do this. Chris Columbus’s Adventures in Babysitting follows a babysitter who brings her charges on a night rescue mission through Chicago. Of course, things do not go entirely smoothly; flat tires, car thieves, mobsters, and a host of other perils are encountered. Will the gang make it out alive - more importantly, will they make it home by midnight? Adventures in Babysitting, if only for the fact that it wasn’t directed by John Hughes, might not quite have teen classic marks, but it’s as close to a family movie and absurdly fun nighttime nightmare you can get.
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6 Die Hard (1988)
20th Century Fox
Although Die Hard has evolved into one of the most successful action franchises out there, it’s the first installment in the series that launched action films to unheard-of before heights. The film classically follows New York City cop John McClane after a very unlucky Christmas party - a group of terrorists takes over his wife’s business building, and it is up to McClane alone to save the hostages. Not only did Die Hard launch the careers of Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman to bold new places, but, over thirty years after its release, and it still serves as the quintessential American action movie. It proves that you don’t always need a complicated or philosophical premise for a nighttime joyride; sometimes all you need is Bruce Willis in a tank top that’s seen better days.
5 25th Hour (2002)
Buena Vista Pictures
What would you do with your last hours of freedom? 25th Hour is a masterful, offensively overlooked Spike Lee joint that has Edward Norton face-to-face with this question. As a convicted drug dealer about to begin a seven-year prison sentence, Monty must come to terms with both his troubled past and its effect on those closest to him. What transpires is a night full of partying as much as emotional confrontation, acrimony, and years of baggage being unpacked. Lee’s film also captures the omniscient tensity of a post-9/11 city with brutal authenticity.
4 Superbad (2007)
Sony Pictures Releasing
The iconic trio of Seth, Evan, and Fogell (aka McLovin), played by the even more iconic trio of Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, find themselves on a simple quest: acquire alcohol, impress girls, and party. While such odysseys have been endemic to teen films for what feels like centuries, Superbad puts a fresh new spin on the timeless conundrum. The film’s raunchy, brazen language couldn’t more accurately capture the brain mechanisms of modern adolescent boys. Surprisingly, what makes the stakes so high in Superbad is that, behind all the sex jokes, the movie has a huge heart. It’s only once that you get to send your best friend off to Dartmouth.
3 Dazed and Confused (1993)
Gramercy Pictures
A classic Linklater adventure in hanging out, Dazed and Confused is equal parts nostalgic stoner flick and meditation on how time passes us by. Unlike in the decade of spectacle that was the 80s, the teens in this movie face no great moral problems or great romantic preoccupations. Rather, their main goals revolve around seeing where the night takes them on their last day of school. Some might hesitate to call Dazed and Confused a night “adventure” movie, since there are no hostages involved, and presumably even parents don’t seem to exist, but if there’s anything a Linklater film does, it’s remind us how adventurous being young in itself felt. Even - especially - during all those unplanned moments.
2 American Graffiti (1973)
Universal Pictures
The early ’70s were a dark time for America. George Lucas’s American Graffiti provided a temporary escape from that national tumult, allowing audiences to become lost for a couple of hours in the vibrancy of youth. It’s hard to consider that coming-of-age films would have ever become so popular without this groundwork feature, which so many hold as a part of their own personal coming-of-age stories. Featuring stars like Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ron Howard in some of their earliest roles, American Graffiti captures the twilight of adolescence as it both was in 1962 and will be forever. Like Dazed and Confused, there isn’t much of a plot outside of cruising around the strip, but Lucas proved to Linklater that you might not need one.
1 After Hours (1985)
Warner Bros.
Topping the list is Martin Scorsese’s absurdly nightmarish tour-de-force After Hours. This outrageously funny, borderline terrifying film centers around word processor Paul, who simply cannot seem to get home after his $20 goes flying out of a taxi window. A series of increasingly outlandish situations proceed to both inhibit Paul’s journey uptown and threaten his life. After Hours might not be Scorsese’s most famous film, but anyone who’s seen it might agree that it’s one of his most memorable. Wild, unabashedly bleak, and surprisingly profound, Scorsese’s film captures all that nighttime adventure films should aspire towards: a perfect mix of hilarity and introspection.
