Underrated/Overlooked/Hidden/Under-appreciated Films

[jellydonut25]

Specifically, I'm looking for horror films here.

Halloween is right around the corner and I always binge on horror films throughout the month of October. The "Favorite Movie" thread got me thinking of this.

Now, these don't have to be SCARY movies...some of my all-time favorite Halloween-time films include Monster Squad, The Lost Boys, and Army of Darkness...not exactly "don't watch with the lights off" types of movies.


What are some horror/horror-comedy/sci-fi films that you think are overlooked, under-appreciated, and underrated?

[Barnzilla]

The Manitou.

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[Henry88]

[MouthForWar]

[william newell]

[KaijuZoo]

From 1959, Caltiki, the Immortal Monster - Although it does have a cult status partly due to direction by Mario Bava, I think it is largely overlooked. In terms of horror, it will scare the daylights out of a 10 year old, well at least it did in my personal experience!!

[Joseph Goodman]

I second Caltiki.

I'd like to recommend Ravenous (1999), of which more people probably remember the trailer ("HE WAS LICKING MEEEE!") than the actual film, which is a superb horror/extremely dark comedy.

[king_ghidorah]

Return of the Living Dead ?


It's pretty popular now but I think it's not recognized enough honestly. Belongs at the top of every horror/ comedy list up there with Evil Dead 2

[william newell]

2 others I would highly recommend, "The Abomnible Dr. Phibes" and it's sequel "Dr. Phibes Rises Again". 2 of Vincent Price's best, imo.

[MekaGojira3k]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[RaymondBurr]

If you have watched all of the classic Universal films and are still craving more along those lines, I would recommend Return of the Vampire. Great atmosphere (plenty of fog and graveyards), set during *both* World Wars, and of course we get Bela Lugosi as a vampire. His werewolf servant Andreas is a bit goofy, but for me, it's just more fun!

Awesome sets and atmosphere!


Awful werewolf? ...Aw, I still like'em!

[MekaGojira3k]

Hrmm, I like it being set during both world wars. I may track this down.

[Benjamin Haines]

The Fountain

[RapZiLLa54]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dagarah72]

I would recommend Sole Survivor, an early 80's flick about a woman who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. It's very similar to Carnival Of Souls. Also there Deathdream, a 70's flick about a woman who prays for her son to come back home alive from vietnam. The family receive word that he died, but the mother refuses to believe it and keeps praying, and low and behold the son shows up at home one night. This film is a variation of the classic story The Monkey's Paw and it's pretty creepy. The Dark is an 80's flick about an alien monster that's terrorizing people in LA. The Driller Killer is a character study about a guy who slowly goes mad and ends up on a killing spree. Long Weekend is an Australian story about a couple who go on a vacation in the wilderness to improve their relationship after the wife lost her baby. The Pit is a humorous Canadian film about a young boy who discovers a pit filled with monsters. He eventually starts luring the annoying people in his life to the pit so he can feed the monsters. The Nameless is a Spanish film about a woman who suddenly receives a phone call from her daughter that supposedly was killed years ago.

And I agree with the Caltiki recommendation. Good film!


Ricky

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[MouthForWar]

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this thread. I recommend tons of stuff to tons of people on here, but here are some films that I don't recall talking about too much on this forum, that I find to be underseen/underappreciated/underrated.

All througout the week of October, I'll be recommending some overlooked horror films on my weekly podcast, If It Bleeds We Can Kill It, that I do for culturewedge.com, so check those out as well (see Fandom Activities forum for the thread- the first episode of the month goes up this week). But in danger of perhaps rehashing a few of those, here are some that come to mind:

-Tucker and Dale vs. Evil- A new flick that I just saw and perfect to watch this time of year. HILARIOUS, the best horror-comedy in years (perhaps since the Edgar Wright stuff). Basically, its about these college kids who go to the woods where two rednecks are fixing up their cabins. The college kids think these rednecks are evil because of their appearance, when they are really the nicest guys ever. They keep seeing them at random points thinking they are doing something wrong (they save their friend from drowning and they think they are kidnapping her for example). And the teenagers keep getting themselves killed in ways that make it look as if Tucker and Dale killed them. There's a great scene where one of the guys is trying to cut some wood with a chainsaw and he gets stung by bees and it makes him run around with the chainsaw like Leatherface and the kids think he's trying to kill them. Its currently in select theaters and certain on demand services (Vudu, Comcast, I think, etc) I started a thread here but nobody cared: http://www.clubtokyo.org/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=17999

-The Body Snatcher, Cat People, and any of the Val Lewton movies- I love minimalist horror films and Val Lewton perfected it with the movies he produced in the 40s. The Body Snatcher has what could be Boris Karloff's best performance outside of the Frankenstein monster.

-Black Death- Another new one. This is about a group of knights during the black plague. They visit a small town looking for a cure and don't get so lucky when they find an Anti-Christian cult. Basically, if you like medieval "folk-horror" movies of the 60s and 70s like the Wicker Man, Witchfinder General, Mark of the Devil, etc. this is a must see. Its nasty and bleak as all good horror is. From director Christopher Smith, who also made Triangle (a crazy mindf*ck nightmare on a boat), Severance (a hilarious horror comedy about backwoods killers) and Creep (a standard, yet fun slasher set in a subway). I recommend all of these films.

-Targets- Another Boris Karloff film. Peter Bogdonovich's first film and produced by Roger Corman. Boris Karloff plays an aging horror actor who is no longer "cool" because real life horrors and more realistic horror films are taking the place of the creature features he made popular (all very accurate to the state of the genre at the time). Karloff is basically playing himself in a very self reflexive role (and the last great role of his career). At the same time as this character announces his retirement, a young man goes on a killing spree with a sniper rifle (this was inspired by the real life sniper in Texas). Not a horror movie exactly, but it directly addresses the state of the genre in the genre, as well as the social paranoia of the times. It has no score and the sniper scenes are downright chilling. The final confrontation between Karloff and the sniper in a drive-in theater is a real "stand up and cheer" moment. It is very similar to the early Michael Mann films. Can't recommend this one enough.

-Exorcist III- A movie that gets overlooked, probably because its a part 3 (to a classic, no less) and it follows an awful second film (which this entry ignores). This is a direct sequel to the original, with George C. Scott taking over the role of the detective (bumped to the main character here). This was written and directed by William Peter Blatty himself (writer of the original Exorcist novel and screenplay on the original film), based on his book Legion. Now this is actually a supernatural serial killer movie and not much of a demon/possession film at all. In fact, the one scene involving an exorcist/exorcism was crowbared in by the studio because you couldn't do a movie relating to the Exorcist without it. And it is definitely rough around the edges. The original Director's Cut is something horror fans have wanted for years, but unfortunately the footage seems to be lost now. But even with all its faults, its a more than satisfactory sequel and has some really effective moments, including one of the best jump scares of all time (this coming from someone who hates jump scares).

-Return of the Living Dead 3- Another great and overlooked part 3! Again following a sub-par sequel and a fantastic first film. The horror/comedy is still here, but this time there is romance! It is basically a love story between the protagonist and his girlfriend, who comes back from the dead as a zombie (hottest zombie ever) after he re-animates her with the Trioxin gas. She slowly degenerates into a zombie and the two have to figure out how/if they can delay the transformation and how they deal with it.

-Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter- An old Hammer film about a vampire hunter looking for a vampire who sucks out youth rather than blood. Unlike other vampire hunters in movies at the time, Captain Kronos is young and good looking and the ladies love him (like a vampire slaying James Bond). A moody, old school vampire movie that is one of the best of Hammer's latter era. Unjustly overlooked, perhaps because its a non-Dracula vampire movie from them.

-Horror Express- Another old school British horror, this time from Amicuss Pictures. But starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Basically its about a monster loose on a train... simple, but loads of fun.

-The Abominable Dr. Phibes- Vincent Price at his hammy best as a deformed doctor getting revenge on the people responsible for his wife's death. One of Price's best roles, and the traps that Dr. Phibes sets HAD to have been an inspiration on Saw. This also predates the "maked killer" movies by quite a few years. One of the most fun horror flicks you could ever wanna watch. Followed by a worthy sequel. Also check out Theater of Blood, also with Price, which takes the same concept, only the killer being a washed up theater actor getting revenge using kills from old Shakespeare plays.

-Witchfinder General- Another Vincent Price movie, only this one isn't played for camp like the Phibes films. I mentioned this earlier in this post as an example of a great medieval folk-horror. This has Vincent Price playing a subdued and chilling role as the leader of a group of witch hunters and this is one the cruelest bast*ards in horror history. Awesome stuff.

May- A really good indie horror from earlier in the last decade. Angela Bettis gives such a great performance as this pathetic girl, who is the right mix of creepy, monstrous, sympathetic, and even cute at times. The final scene and that final shot is one of the most heartbreaking things in the history of the genre.

I'm sure I'll pop in and out of this thread more, but there are a few that I highly recommend.

[heroforhirerob]

[william newell]

[william newell]

[william newell]