Quentin Tarantino Movies, Ranked From Best to Worst
Ten movies, one of the most argued-about filmographies in modern cinema. Tarantino fans fight about this stuff in comment sections the way other people argue about sports, and honestly, that's as it should be for a director this obsessive about every line of dialogue and needle drop.
This ranking leans on what fans and critics actually agree on, the stuff that comes up again and again in reviews and forum threads, with our own call where the consensus splits down the middle. Disagree with the order? Good. That's the whole point. Make your own list.
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SS Tier: The untouchables
Pulp Fiction
The one that rewired what a movie could sound and feel like. Nonlinear structure, a soundtrack that sells itself, and Samuel L. Jackson quoting scripture before a hit. Still gets cited as a blueprint for a whole generation of crime films, and nothing in Tarantino's catalog has matched its cultural footprint.
About Pulp Fiction
A crime anthology that weaves together hitmen, a boxer, and a mob boss's wife into one of the most quoted scripts in American film. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
- Released
- 1994
- Awards
- Palme d'Or, Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Reservoir Dogs
A single warehouse, a heist we never see, and some of the tensest dialogue scenes ever put on film. This is the debut that made people pay attention, and the ear scene still gets brought up in arguments about screen violence thirty-plus years later. Lean, mean, and it never wastes a scene.
About Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino's 1992 debut feature, a heist-gone-wrong thriller told almost entirely after the job falls apart. It introduced his love of nonlinear storytelling and sharp, profane dialogue.
- Released
- 1992
- Director
- Quentin Tarantino
Inglourious Basterds
Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa is the best villain Tarantino ever wrote, full stop. The opening farmhouse interrogation is as good as cinema gets at pure, sustained dread, and rewriting WWII history in a burning movie theater is the kind of audacious swing only this director attempts.
About Inglourious Basterds
An alternate-history WWII film following a group of Jewish-American soldiers and a young theater owner, both plotting against the Nazi leadership. Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his role as Hans Landa.
- Released
- 2009
- Awards
- Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz)
AA Tier: Genuinely great, no asterisks
Kill Bill: Volume 1
The House of Blue Leaves fight alone justifies its spot here, blood spraying across black and white and color like a live-action manga. Uma Thurman's Bride is iconic (sorry, had to use it once), and the anime detour for O-Ren's backstory shows Tarantino refusing to stay in one genre lane.
About Kill Bill: Volume 1
The first half of a revenge saga following the Bride as she hunts down her former assassin colleagues. Known for its stylized violence and genre-blending action.
- Released
- 2003
- Star
- Uma Thurman
Django Unchained
Christoph Waltz again, this time as the morally cleaner Dr. Schultz, and Leonardo DiCaprio clearly having a blast as Calvin Candie. It's angrier and bloodier than Basterds, and some think it runs long in the back half, but the Candyland dinner scene is one of the most uncomfortable, electric sequences he's ever shot.
About Django Unchained
A revenge western set in the antebellum South, following a freed slave turned bounty hunter searching for his wife. Won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
- Released
- 2012
- Awards
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Slower and talkier than Volume 1, which is exactly why some fans actually prefer it. The buried-alive sequence and the final conversation with Bill give the whole saga an emotional landing that the first half doesn't even attempt.
About Kill Bill: Volume 2
The concluding half of the Bride's revenge story, slower paced and more dialogue-driven than Volume 1. Features the final confrontation with Bill.
- Released
- 2004
- Star
- Uma Thurman
Jackie Brown
The most mature, patient film he's made, built on Elmore Leonard's novel and Pam Grier's career-best performance. No flashy structure gimmicks here, just a con worked out in real time, and it's the one old-school fans point to when they want to argue he's more than a genre showman.
About Jackie Brown
An adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel 'Rum Punch', starring Pam Grier as a flight attendant caught between the law and a gun runner. Widely seen as his most grounded, character-driven film.
- Released
- 1997
- Based on
- Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
BB Tier: Divisive but worth defending
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A hangout movie dressed up as a historical drama, and that's either a feature or a problem depending who you ask. Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth is effortlessly cool and the Spahn Ranch sequence is genuinely unsettling, but the pacing is a sticking point for plenty of viewers expecting more plot.
About Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A love letter to late-1960s Los Angeles following a fading TV actor and his stunt double against the backdrop of the Manson murders. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
- Released
- 2019
- Awards
- Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt)
The Hateful Eight
Claustrophobic, nasty, and talky even by his standards, locked mostly in one cabin during a blizzard. Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh are both excellent, but the film's slow burn and brutal final stretch split audiences more than almost anything else he's made.
About The Hateful Eight
A snowbound mystery-thriller set largely in a single cabin, following a group of bounty hunters and outlaws trapped together during a blizzard. Shot in 70mm for its roadshow release.
- Released
- 2015
- Format
- Shot in Ultra Panavision 70
CC Tier: The experiment that didn't fully land
Death Proof
Born out of the Grindhouse double feature with Robert Rodriguez, and it plays like exactly that: a deliberate B-movie experiment, not a fully realized Tarantino film. Kurt Russell is clearly enjoying himself as Stuntman Mike, and the final car chase delivers, but the long stretches of hangout dialogue beforehand test even patient fans.
About Death Proof
A slasher-meets-car-chase film originally released as part of the Grindhouse double feature with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. Stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who uses his car as a murder weapon.
- Released
- 2007
- Paired with
- Planet Terror (Grindhouse)
How we ranked them
We looked at how each film is talked about across reviews, retrospectives and fan debates, then weighed that against craft: script, performances, rewatchability, and how well each one holds up decades later. Cult favorites get credit for their devoted fanbases, but broad critical and audience agreement carries more weight than a loud minority. Where the discourse genuinely splits, we say so and explain which way we leaned.
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Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is Quentin Tarantino's best movie?
Pulp Fiction is the most commonly cited answer, though Reservoir Dogs and Inglourious Basterds both have strong cases and plenty of fans who'd argue for them first.
What is Tarantino's worst movie?
Death Proof usually ranks lowest in fan and critic consensus, mostly because it was built as half of a grindhouse double feature rather than a standalone film.
Are Kill Bill Volume 1 and Volume 2 ranked separately?
Yes, since they were released as two distinct films, though many fans watch them as one continuous story.
Is The Hateful Eight based on a play?
It wasn't written as one, but its single-location setup and heavy dialogue give it a stage-play feel that a lot of viewers pick up on.
What order should I watch Tarantino movies in?
Release order is the most common recommendation, since you can watch his style and confidence grow from Reservoir Dogs onward.
More rankings
Image credits
- Pulp FictionCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Reservoir DogsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Inglourious BasterdsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Kill Bill: Volume 1Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Django UnchainedCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Kill Bill: Volume 2Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Jackie BrownCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Once Upon a Time in HollywoodCover: Wikipedia · Source
- The Hateful EightCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Death ProofCover: Wikipedia · Source