Underrated Horror Film Recommendation [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

turkishproverb

2010-01-24, 10:45 PM

Hey. I was looking to find some quality lesser known horror films to watch. Does anyone have any recommendations?

By lesser known, I mean:

1. No relatively recent major release films (Ala Saw 1-whatever, Pandorum)
2. No obvious classics (Day/Dawn/Night/Return of the Dead/Living Dead) I've seen most of them already.

I tend to prefer psychologically horrifying films to Buckets 'O Blood films, but both have their place. I have no problem with foreign films, but would prefer films with current editions available.

Starscream

2010-01-24, 11:09 PM

Re-Animator is a classic. Don't know if that's obscure enough for you. If you are alright with older stuff, I recommend Freaks, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and Mad Love.

Tyrant

2010-01-24, 11:53 PM

Are you looking for a specific sub genre (I assume that's the proper term here). Vampires? Zombies? Slashers? Etc.

I can think of a few.

Near Dark (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093605/) It's a vampire movie that had the misfortune of opening against The Lost Boys. It is about vampires in the southern US (don't remember exactly where). They are not glamorous. They are, for the most part, cold blooded killers. They go from town to town killing people night after night like a pack of evil drifters (though with some drifters that may be an improvement). The sun is their only real weakness. They are immortal. There is no huge backstory. One last fun fact, they never have visible fangs. It features Lance Henrikson, Bill Paxton, and Jenette Goldstein (all three also starred in Aliens) and Adrian Pasdar. I'm not sure if this one qualifies as a classic in the vein of the ones you metioned.

I'll second Reanimator.

Here's some that you might have already watched. I'm not clear on what qualifies as classics.
Phantasm-at least the first one, they tend to get even more bizarre as the series progresses.
Motel Hell-To folks who run a hotel also sell assorted meat products. You can probably see where this is going. If not, just remember, "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters."
Screamers-Peter Weller fighting robots over a barren wasteland in space, in the future.
Maximum Overdrive -All the machines on Earth start killing people. The cars and trucks seem to have the most fun. Emilo Estivez is the star of this adaptation of a Steven King story directed by Steven King with AC/DC doing the soundtrack.
Suspiria-Legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento created this. It's about an American who goes to Europe and is troubled by witches who apparently live purely to kill people and hoard money. There are some very unique scenes in this movie and the music is similar to the original Dawn of the Dead (it's the same people, I believe). There are two sequels to this as well. Inferno and Mother of Tears (which features Dario's daughter, Asia Argento). They weren't bad, but this one is the best.

Zeta Kai

2010-01-25, 12:11 AM

The Descent is surprisingly good. I liked the first Final Destination a lot (the rest were sub-garbage). 1408 is absolutely excellent (John Cusack, Samuel L., & Staphen King at their best). Fallen is utterly brilliant, although it's only kinda horror. Silent Hill is a sublime adaptation distillation. I could go on...

Almost anything on this list (http://horror.about.com/od/horrortoppicklists/tp/twistendings.htm) is rather good, actually. Warning: the link is all about twist endings, so if you haven't seen them, just read the title & move on.

celticbushido

2010-01-25, 01:11 AM

I'll second Reanimator.

Suspiria-Legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento created this. It's about an American who goes to Europe and is troubled by witches who apparently live purely to kill people and hoard money. There are some very unique scenes in this movie and the music is similar to the original Dawn of the Dead (it's the same people, I believe). There are two sequels to this as well. Inferno and Mother of Tears (which features Dario's daughter, Asia Argento). They weren't bad, but this one is the best.

Yes, and Yes.

Audition is a fantastically intense movie. Most of the horror is understated, it's really a family movie about a man trying to move on after the loss of his wife, and picking the very wrong girl. Creepy, in a hundred different ways, I still have to work up the nerve to watch it. It's Thai I believe, so it's subtitled, but I'm pretty sure there's a dubbed version available as well. You'll never look at dating the same way again.

Rosemary's Baby with Mia Farrow is also pretty good. It's basically the story of a woman who believes she may have been impregnated without her knowledge, classically creepy very little if any gore.

The Ninth Gate, with Johnny Depp is one of my favorite subtle horror movies. A rare book dealer attempts to track down copies of a book alleged to have been ghostwritten by Lucifer himself.

Ravenous, Native American legend says he who eats the flesh of man shall gain his strength, they become Wendigo. This movie is just plain awesome, I can't recommend it enough. Alternately suspenseful, comedic, and painful to watch, it resists the easy route of gory cannibalism scenes in favor of a more gentlemanly approach. Set just after the Spanish American war gives it a great period flavor and there's a perfect chase through the woods scene set to penny whistle music. One of my all time favorite movies.

I Spit On Your Grave, is well, out there. Only watch this is you're fully prepared to deal with very graphic and disturbing violence. It's been compared to a snuff film, but it does what I believe horror should do, completely turn your stomach, and be thankful that you don't have to go through these types of things. Not so much what I believe you're looking for, but should be seen at least once by anyone that considers themselves horror buffs, or I think so anyway.

That's my two cents, I tried to stick to more think peace horror rather than buckets of blood. Otherwise the list could go on and on and well you get the idea.

Serpentine

2010-01-25, 01:56 AM

What do you think of comedy-horror? There's an Australian horror called Undead about zombies, and a New Zealand one called Black Sheep about zombie-weresheep. There's a bunch of Australian ones, actually, most of which I haven't seen... I've heard good things about Wolf Creek, which is roughly based on a true story. There's also The Cars That Ate Paris, but it's pretty slow to start with and I never finished watching it. I think Picnic at Hanging Rock (also supposedly based on maybe-real events) is vaguely horrorish, or at least mysterious... I know one of the actresses in Howling III, about werethylacines, and there's Razorback about a giant boar. Also, apparently Saw, and the short film that pitched the Saw idea, were Australian... But anyways, like I said, I haven't seen most of these.
Other than that, I like J-horror (and K-, V- and C-horror). Ringo is a no-brainer, but Hansel and Gretel is probably more obscure, and very good.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom

2010-01-25, 02:53 AM

Mothman Prophecies and Silence of the Lambs might both be right up your alley.

Serpentine

2010-01-25, 02:56 AM

Not exactly "lesser known", though...

Soterion

2010-01-25, 02:56 AM

Marble Hornets. Full stop. Start here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmhfn3mgWUI&feature=player_embedded) and work your way through all the videos. Especially #19.

Sleep well tonight.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom

2010-01-25, 03:02 AM

Not exactly "lesser known", though...

True, they're not obscure like some of the mentions (although Mothman is a little more out there than you might think). But based on the age is some of the people in the forum (seeing as anyone 18 would have been roughly a year old when Silence of the Lambs was opened in theaters), some of the younger people here may not be as familiar with the film as some of us who are a bit older.

Bhu

2010-01-25, 08:05 AM

I cant believe no ones mentioned let the Right One In, Dead Snow, or Deadgirl.

Satyr

2010-01-25, 08:48 AM

El Orphanado is great, even though it is one of the most bitter movies I have ever seen.
[Rec] is equally great. A bit like Blair Witch or Cloverfield, but with a little less nausea-iducing camera.
Lars von Trier's Riget / The Kingdom is my personal favorite, though. It is a short series (and the second season is pretty bad), but the first season is often funny and most of the times quite eery.
Let the Right One it is another pearl, as is Event Horizon (if you can live with the SciFi elements) and Death Watch.

truemane

2010-01-25, 09:26 AM

I'll second (third?) Suspiria and Nosferatu and the Cabinet of Dr Caligari and [REC]. All of quality, quality films.

I'm not sure what counts as obscure with you crazy kids these days, so forgive me if some of these are obvious 'classics.'

Go through John Carpenter's canon. He's gone creatively bankrupt these last few years (decades), and a lot of his films haven't aged as well as they might, but he was once a masterful craftsman and they're all still very effective technical acheivments.

The Fog, Halloween, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, They Live, Escape from New York (not a horror film, but horrifying, if you get me).

Also check out the After Dark Horrorfest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Dark_Horrorfest). They produce a line of reasonably priced DVD's called Films to Die For. My wife loves them and she owns all of them.

Like any set of very indie productions, you get an variety of scholck and shock. I've seen a few good ones and some bad ones but I haven't seen a boring one yet.

Kaiyanwang

2010-01-25, 09:31 AM

If you are interested in Dario Argento, try out Deep Red and Phenomena too. the first one is a thriller, but the second is definitively a strange, creepy horron with truly disturbing characters.

Maybe in the USA Phenomena is called Creepers. I have doubt on the cut.

I definitively second Rosemary's Baby. It scared me to death.

Satyr

2010-01-25, 09:33 AM

oh yes, Nosferatu. Both are good (the 1920s version and the 1970s remake, but the reamke suffers a bit from casting Kinski as the bif bad, while everybody knows that he was scarrier in real life anyway.

WalkingTarget

2010-01-25, 09:38 AM

Go through John Carpenter's canon. He's gone creatively bankrupt these last few years (decades), and a lot of his films haven't aged as well as they might, but he was once a masterful craftsman and they're all still very effective technical acheivments.

The Fog, Halloween, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, They Live, Escape from New York (not a horror film, but horrifying, if you get me).

And then there's the one that you didn't mention: In the Mouth of Madness.

I'm not a horror movie guy in general, but this is the most Lovecraftian film I've seen (despite not being based on any particular Lovecraft story).

Kislath

2010-01-25, 10:26 AM

Well, rats; I see that others have already beaten me to Prince of Darkness. No matter; I'll recommend it anyway. Not many horror movies have ever been successful at truly scaring the audience, but this one will give you the creeps. It's cheezy and painful to watch with it's low production values and bad acting, but it more than makes up for those with it's true horror factor. It also has some of the coolest things you ever saw in a movie.

Serpentine

2010-01-25, 11:00 AM

Oh! Trick r Treat is great, and as I understand it was totally rooted by their distributer or whoever.

Zen Monkey

2010-01-25, 11:02 AM

I have to second the nomination of The Descent.

Optimystik

2010-01-25, 11:05 AM

Seconding 1408 - it's hard to do horror with only one protagonist for most of the movie, but they pulled it off brilliantly with that one.

I'm also a big fan of Ghost Ship.

The Ring might be more mainstream than you'd like, but the first one had a dynamite twist.

Cyrion

2010-01-25, 11:06 AM

Yes, and Yes.

The Ninth Gate, with Johnny Depp is one of my favorite subtle horror movies. A rare book dealer attempts to track down copies of a book alleged to have been ghostwritten by Lucifer himself.

I've read the book this came from (Club Dumas), but the book being tracked down is a handwritten copy of The Three Musketeers. It starts as a straight-forward mystery/thriller and then turns weird and demonic at the end.

Check out Ghost Story. It tells the tale of The Chowder Society- a group of old men who get together and tell ghost stories. Then a ghost starts picking them off one by one... I thought it was well done and relies on suspense rather than things suddenly jumping out at you.

If you want something kind of campy, look to Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter. One of the later (I think) Hammer horror films. Kronos is a cavalry-type guy travelling the countryside with his hunchback friend and who kills vampires with his sword.

thompur

2010-01-25, 11:16 AM

Cyrion

2010-01-25, 11:32 AM

Psycho-The original Hitchcock.

Yes! Especially if you can see it on a big screen. In many ways it's dated and tame by today's standards, but Hitchcock was a master of manipulating his audience through timing, images, and soundtrack together.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom

2010-01-25, 11:45 AM

Check out Ghost Story. It tells the tale of The Chowder Society- a group of old men who get together and tell ghost stories. Then a ghost starts picking them off one by one... I thought it was well done and relies on suspense rather than things suddenly jumping out at you.

Anything that come from the mind of Peter Straub is pure suspense/thriller gold (personally I think he's a far better story teller than Stephen King). It's too bad Ghost Story is really the only movie based on one of his books.

Oh, and along the Hitchcock line, North by Northwest is definitely worth a watch.

truemane

2010-01-25, 12:07 PM

I'll second Ghost Story. I forgot about that one. It's fantastic. I'll also add in a chime for the original Psycho. Although, it's hard to capture how truly terrifying it was back in the day now that it's so well known. Most of its effect came from no one knowing what was coming.

Also, while I'm here: the Changeling. A little-known Canadian film starring George C. Scott. Creepy creepy creepy. It's one of my heavy-duty movies when I'm trying to impress people with how much I know about movies.

Totally Guy

2010-01-25, 12:15 PM

There was a fairly low budget film called The Cube that was pretty good.

People were trapped in a maze of cubic rooms. There were traps.

Although the sequel wasn't good.

Zen Monkey

2010-01-25, 12:26 PM

For sci-fi, Event Horizon isn't bad.
For Lovecraftian, you could try Dagon.
If you like the Silent Hill style, then Session 9 might be fun for you.

Jacob's Ladder has some horror elements, but I'm not sure how you'd classify the film overall. The scare is more in going insane and seeing things that may or may not be real.

nyarlathotep

2010-01-25, 12:56 PM

I have to second both Cube and Event Horizon

I'm not sure if the Thing is an obvious classic but it is amazing, the John Carpenter version at least.

Arcane_Secrets

2010-01-25, 01:59 PM

And then there's the one that you didn't mention: In the Mouth of Madness.

I'm not a horror movie guy in general, but this is the most Lovecraftian film I've seen (despite not being based on any particular Lovecraft story).

Have you seen Dagon, set in Spain? I'd recommend it to the list as well, having seen it a couple of years ago and thinking that it was pretty decent.

FoE

2010-01-25, 02:04 PM

What do you think of comedy-horror? There's an Australian horror called Undead about zombies, and a New Zealand one called Black Sheep about zombie-weresheep.

I've seen those. Both very amusing.

Many other good films have been suggested: Event Horizon, Dagon, Cube, etc. So Iwill suggest a movie no one else has recommended: May (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303361/). It's a very sweet, very sad story about a very strange girl without any friends, so she decides to "make" her own. It's fairly low on horror until the very end but well worth a watch.

LurkerInPlayground

2010-01-25, 02:08 PM

Silent Hill is a sublime adaptation distillation. I could go on...
No. Just no. Besides, that doesn't really count as obscure or underrated (arguably because it's rated badly and ought to be).

The movie threw out a vague main plot about a ghost-revenge story, involved an unnecessary subplot with the Dad, threw out referential puzzle game nonsense and kind of missed the whole point of psychological horror (or cosmic horror for that matter). Not to mention that Pyramid Head was basically used as a generic baddie. CGI was also crapped out in places where it was not needed and actually diminished any tension you might have built up.

All while doing nothing new at all in a slavish desire to be like the games. I'm really beginning to loathe Silent Hill's fandom's obsession to being "true" to the franchise. Because the movie sure didn't know what kind of story it wanted to tell.

Zen Monkey

2010-01-25, 02:34 PM

I have to agree with Lurker that Silent Hill is probably overrated by it's fans. I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill universe, but I've always had a sneaking suspicion that some sentimental carryover from the games is the only reason I like the movie and that's it really is worse than I think.

Think of your favorite band, and now think back to their albums that you haven't liked very much. Yeah, you listen because it's your favorite band, but the albums are probably worse for everyone else if even a big fan like you is kind of 'iffy' on them.

WalkingTarget

2010-01-25, 02:59 PM

Have you seen Dagon, set in Spain? I'd recommend it to the list as well, having seen it a couple of years ago and thinking that it was pretty decent.

I've seen parts of it. I know about it and the Re-Animator series, but from what I've seen/read they took the basic stories and then made whatever manner of film they wanted. Atmosphere is everything in Lovecraft and it's hard to translate well to the screen.

In the Mouth of Madness is the only film I've seen that kept the proper Lovecraft mood. This may be helped by the fact that it's not trying to really tie into the existing Mythos and, therefore, doesn't have to try to transfer an existing story to a new medium.

Dr.Epic

2010-01-25, 03:03 PM

Trick 'r Treat

Jimp

2010-01-25, 08:50 PM

While not a real horror film, I recommend Sunshine for it's mix of tension, human moral dilemmas and spooky bits.

pita

2010-01-26, 02:34 AM

I have to second both Cube and Event Horizon
I hate Cube. hate it, hate it, hate it. I hate it even more because my father hates The Prestige and considers Cube to be one of the best horror movies he's seen. It's bad.
Jennifer's Body is very well written cliche'd horror. I really liked it, because I really appreciate good writing, but it's not for everyone. It's got its disturbing images, like Megan Fox eating someone.
Sunshine is great, but not as a horror movie. It's one of my favorite sci-fi movies, although #1 will always be either District 9 or Serenity. I haven't decided which yet.
As far as Hitchcock goes, I wasn't too scared by Rear Window, but it's still my absolute favorite of his. The first version, please, not the one with Superman.
Coraline is supposed to be very disturbing for a kid's movie.
Red Dragon, the prequel to Silence of the Lambs, is generally hated, but I liked it. It's got Ed Norton hunting down Ralph Fiennes, with some Hannibal Lecter on the side.
I'm finding it hard to think of others, but I'm convinced they exist.

WalkingTarget

2010-01-26, 08:12 AM

As far as Hitchcock goes, I wasn't too scared by Rear Mirror, but it's still my absolute favorite of his. The first version, please, not the one with Superman.

I think you mean Rear Window. Hitchcock isn't generally supposed to be scary anyway, at least not in a horror movie kind of way. He was the master of suspense, a genre (along with thrillers) that I think are woefully underrepresented these days.

Red Dragon, the prequel to Silence of the Lambs, is generally hated, but I liked it. It's got Ed Norton hunting down Ralph Fiennes, with some Hannibal Lecter on the side.

Have you seen Manhunter, the first movie based on the novel Red Dragon? It's got William Peterson as the character later played by Ed Norton and Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter. It's underrated in my opinion, it just got overshadowed by Silence of the Lambs (understandably).

Serpentine

2010-01-26, 09:58 AM

I was really disapointed by Suspiria. I remember seeing commercials for it as a kid, and they scared the...fecal matter...out of me, but I never got to see it in the theatres. Fastforward thirty years and it's on HBO or Encore or cinemax...whichever...and I record it and watch it. Booooorrriiinnggg! It's not the least bit scary, and I'm not a blood and guts type of horror fan.My boyfriend eventually convinced me to watch this. He talked it up a lot, and I was pretty worried, cuz I'm somewhat of a coward, but... Well, I really liked the look of it. It's gorgeous and flamboyant and brilliant. It just didn't scare me, at all pretty much... Yet my Boy still finds it intense and scary. I wonder what the difference is?
Boy (film nerd) recommends:
Deep Red
Brain Dead
Repulsion
"Any of the Japanese guineapig movies". Specifically Flowers of Flesh and Blood. I don't know what he means by that.
The Strange Cabinet of Dr. Calgary
Night of the Hunter
Dementia 13
Original Cape Fear

And he's reminding me of the J-horrors: Spiral, Hansel and Gretel (mentioned that already), A Tale of Two Sisters (much better than the US remake, I reckons), Dark Water, the Ring films, The Audition, Death Bell.

I was disappointed by 1408, just cuz there was so much cool weird goings-on from the story that I was really looking forward to seeing on the big screen, but were left out for no apparent reason. It gaved me a sad :smallfrown:

pita

2010-01-26, 02:25 PM

I think you mean Rear Window. Hitchcock isn't generally supposed to be scary anyway, at least not in a horror movie kind of way. He was the master of suspense, a genre (along with thrillers) that I think are woefully underrepresented these days.
I meant Rear Window, you are right, I am wrong in ways I have never been wrong before.
To atone, I must watch the movie again. I hope I can handle the sheer awesome that radiates from the TV.

FuegoAzul

2010-01-26, 03:42 PM

The Giant Gila Monster? :smalltongue:

Nathander

2010-01-26, 09:01 PM

Seconding The Descent, and kinda seconding, but iffy, on Phantasm and Suspiria. I liked Phantasm, but didn't find it great, and I WANTED to like Suspiria, but it just didn't do anything for me the first time I watched it. I might have to go back and watch it again.

I would also suggest two films that can be fairly notorious, but debatable as to whether or not they're horror films. The first is David Lynch's classic Eraserhead. While I know it would be debatable, I think it can possibly be argued to be a horror film due to the mood, setting, and pacing. It's worth noting that the tone set in Eraserhead is the tone Kubrick attempted to mimic in The Shining.

Another lesser known is Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which is equal parts Cronenbergian body horror and Lynchian surrealism. It's an incredibly harsh movie to watch, so I'd avoid it if you're bothered by overt sexuality and violence, but I think it's a great movie. It's Japanese and, as far as I know, can only be found in subtitles, but that shouldn't really be a problem since there's so little dialogue in the movie to begin with.

Tiktakkat

2010-01-26, 10:27 PM

Ravenous, Native American legend says he who eats the flesh of man shall gain his strength, they become Wendigo. This movie is just plain awesome, I can't recommend it enough. Alternately suspenseful, comedic, and painful to watch, it resists the easy route of gory cannibalism scenes in favor of a more gentlemanly approach. Set just after the Spanish American war gives it a great period flavor and there's a perfect chase through the woods scene set to penny whistle music. One of my all time favorite movies.

I am going to second, third, fourth, and fifth through fiftieth absolutely everything said here.

I will also double what truemane said about John Carpenter, with one exception. While his recent efforts are less than his earlier classics, particularly The Thing, for me at least, even lousy John Carpenter is still better than awesome most other horror film makers, and even a few action film makers.

Cyrion mentioned Ghost Story. While the movie is pretty good, Peter Straub is simply best appreciated in print. His stories are just too involved for the time you have available in a film. (Well, barring some 100 hour, semi-real time, full transposition.)

Kaiyanwang

2010-01-27, 03:44 AM

Another lesser known is Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which is equal parts Cronenbergian body horror and Lynchian surrealism. It's an incredibly harsh movie to watch, so I'd avoid it if you're bothered by overt sexuality and violence, but I think it's a great movie. It's Japanese and, as far as I know, can only be found in subtitles, but that shouldn't really be a problem since there's so little dialogue in the movie to begin with.

I've seen it. It's.. weird... :smalleek:

Killer Angel

2010-01-27, 04:19 AM

I've seen it. It's.. weird... :smalleek:

Thanks to Ghezzi, I suppose... :smallwink:

Yes, that movie is really freaky.

Kaiyanwang

2010-01-27, 12:10 PM

Thanks to Ghezzi, I suppose... :smallwink:

Yes, that movie is really freaky.

Enrico Ghezzi is my hero.

Edit: KA, I was thinking that i was the only one seeing Ghezzi movies at "fuori orario" at that ungodly hour.

J.Gellert

2010-01-27, 02:23 PM

I am going to watch this one later today or tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvnIQIOJ4o8

khoregate

2010-01-27, 02:27 PM

i am amazed no one has mentioned the best werewolf film EVAR !!

Dog soldiers :) spoon is the greatest soldier in the history of the world

Killer Angel

2010-01-28, 03:03 AM

i am amazed no one has mentioned the best werewolf film EVAR !!

Dog soldiers :)

I thought we were talking about horror films... :smallwink:

spoon is the greatest soldier in the history of the world

Indeed. :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: speaking about werewolves... what about The Howling?

Edit: KA, I was thinking that i was the only one seeing Ghezzi movies at "fuori orario" at that ungodly hour.

well, we were certainly very few... :smallwink:
and it was a hard toll to pay, the morning after... :smalltongue:

Southern Cross

2010-01-28, 03:40 AM

I absolutely HATED EVENT HORIZON!!!!!:smallfurious::smallfurious::smallfuri ous::smallmad::smallmad::smallyuk::eek:
I'd also recommend many of the old Hammer movies,with the notable exception of Lust For A Vampire.(Jimmy Sangster was a talented writer in his prime,but a director he was not).
Non -Hammer British horror films I'd recommend are The Trollenburg Terror (U.S title was The Crawling Eye),The Creeping Flesh,Island of Terror (Peter Cushing fights bone-eating nigh-indestructible silicon monsters), and Fiend Without A Face.