Underrated Horror Movies

These underrated horror movie lists are always popular so I figured what the hell, I’ll throw in my two cents.  Now I’m not saying the pictures below are the most underrated of all time or anything, just that these are some damn fine films that deserve a little more recognition.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

While the first Hellraiser became a classic and made Pinhead into a household name the sequels were brushed under the carpet.  Number III here (or the second sequel if you want to count that way) was a lot of fun though.  It’s pretty jam packed with little filler and the new inventive cenobite creations are great.  There’s a bartender one that hurls flaming cocktail bombs and a DJ one that flings deadly CDs at folks.  You can find my full review here. 

Martyrs

It’s always difficult to recommend something that you don’t really want to talk about.  Just saying “trust me” isn’t good enough for most people and I totally understand that.  But that essentially is what I’m saying.  Even though it gets kinda depressing it’s an effective movie.  I think it’s one of the best horror films of the past bunch of years.  In case you were wondering I don’t say much more here either. 

Blood Creek

Joel Schumacher’s zombie Nazi picture.  Since zombies are still all the rage these days this seemed like a good one to bring up.  Actually maybe this thing is more of a demon or possessed individual.  Whatever, it’s lean, mean and a good time all around.  You got Henry Cavill before he became Superman in Man of Steel and Michael Fassbender before he hit it real big with X-Men: First Class and Prometheus.  I dunno, does that make you want to see this?  Check out the badass poster then.  That should do it.

In the Mouth of Madness

This is what Sam Neill did after Jurassic Park and what John Carpenter tried to bounce back with after Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Neill was in that also).  A horror writer’s book (Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot)) talks about a town filled with strange and creepy shit.  Turns out the town actually exists…along with all of the other weird horror type stuff.  I really like the idea and I love how the film itself changes from a linear story into a bizarre psychological trip.  This is probably the most experimental picture Carpenter ever made and he did a bang up job.  Full review here.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

I don’t care what anyone else says I can’t get enough of this fucking movie.  Everything about it fascinates me, from the casting to the production design to the unbelievable effects work.  This is the most faithful adaptation of the book and the best.  Gary Oldman nails the title character and Hopkins brings just enough levity to keep things fun and not too dark.  The costumes are fucking nuts and they actually race back to Dracula’s castle at the end and ok, I need to stop myself.  It’s a masterpiece fellas.  If you can get past Keanu Reeves (and maybe also Wynona Ryder) then you’ll find one of the most interesting and unique examples of filmmaking.  Check out my monster (no pun intended) review of it here.

My Best Friend Is a Vampire

This is the family friendly entry.  It ain’t John Hughes but it’s in the same vein.  A high school teen gets turned into a vampire and has to cope with it.  At first he’s repulsed by the idea but once he gets a taste for pig’s blood he goes the whole nine yards and loves the lifestyle.  Strangely the story is not told from his best friend’s point of view so the title is more for the cutesy factor.  It’s a solid horror comedy picture that I don’t think anyone really knows about.  

Dog Soldiers

Best werewolf movie ever.  You know, it works as a good action movie too.  The werewolf costumes are pretty goddamn amazing and they were shot very well to boot.  This was Neil Marshall’s (The Descent, Doomsday) excellent first film.  If you’re a fan of action and/or werewolves you gotta check it out.  Full review here.

Death Becomes Her

Death Becomes Her is the black sheep in Robert Zemeckis’ ridiculous reign from Back to the Future through Forrest Gump.  Two middle aged women (Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep) take a magic potion that makes them live forever.  They also stop aging but the catch is that their bodies are susceptible to being damaged.  So when Hawn gets blasted through the mid-section with a shotgun it leaves a giant hole.  She’s totally fine otherwise, she just now has a hole in her stomach.  Bruce Willis turns in one his best performances too.  He’s pathetic and funny as the plastic surgeon/husband/ex-fiancé caught in the middle.  The special effects are remarkable and impressive for 1992 (remember computers were just seriously starting to get in the game around this time).  I can see why this didn’t appeal to a lot of people because it’s a pretty morbid dark comedy.  This isn’t the kind of thing most families are gonna go for and adults might think it’s too silly.  The message may be a little ham handed at the end but I think it’s fantastic nonetheless.     

Honorable mentions:

Event Horizon- Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Resident Evils) directs this movie about a haunted spaceship.  It’s also his best.  Full Review.

My Boyfriend’s Back- Offbeat zombie comedy from 1993.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II- Nastier than the original from what I can remember.  The first’s great though and you should probably see that before checking out the sequels.

The Hunger- Tony Scott’s first picture that also best exemplifies his crazy yet engrossing editing style.  Full Review.

Demons- Creatures attack folks trapped inside a movie theater.

The Addiction- Abel Ferrara’s (Bad Lieutenant (1992), King of New York) metaphor for drug addiction with vampires instead of drugs.  Full review.

Bereavement- A slightly different and refreshing take on a slasher picture, it’s also photographed beautifully.  Full Review.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween guys!  Enjoy yourself and keep an eye out for the Wolfman's nards.  They're out there somewhere.  Be safe and have a good one.

Halloween Mish Mash (Happy Birthday to Me, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Dracula: The Vampire and the Voivode, Frankenstein (1994), Rabid)

Here’s a bunch of other shit I saw this season:

Happy Birthday to Me

Eh, your standard slasher flick.  There’s a sorta nasty scene of brain surgery that must’ve been edgy for 1981 and a double twist ending that’s pretty stupid.  This was directed by J. Lee Thompson who did The Guns of Navarone and Cape Fear (1962).  So kind of a weird choice and Thompson doesn’t do a particularly good job here either.  Skip it.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

I’m glad I re-uped on this because it was better than I remembered.  The opening with Leatherface racing down the road side by side with this other car tearing into it with his saw is fucking great.  I love the creepy corpse costume he wears during that too.

Sure it’s a lot of rehash of the first Chainsaw but it still works.  It’s all good stuff.  The father character seems even crazier, the metal plate guy that looks like David Cross is entertaining, Leatherface is just as loveable as ever, the female lead is a strong independent woman and Dennis Hopper’s tilted performance where he’s fueled on revenge and Jesus is a welcome addition to the family.

The thing I appreciate the most is that this isn’t a formula slasher movie.  You won’t find any group of bland unlikable teenagers that cross paths with a maniac here.  Instead it’s about a guy looking to get some payback for what happened to his brother (Franklin) in the first installment and a disc jockey that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Just that setup alone feels refreshing.  Tobe, you did good.

If you put this one off because it looks dumb and bad and, perhaps mainly, because they spoofed The Breakfast Club with the cover I can totally understand that sentiment.  But I think you should check it out.  It ain’t no Chainsaw 1, but then again what is?  It’s a really fun sequel that has a nice blend of new and familiar shit.

Dracula: The Vampire and the Voivode

This was a very informative documentary.  They go through what may have inspired Bram Stoker, the places he visited and the research he did for Dracula.  It seemed like he took real life events and places and twisted them a bit to fit them into his book. 

There’s also a history of the guy that the novel was named after, Vlad Tepes.  Vlad and his family were members of the house of Dracula (the Dragon or the Devil)…or some name like that.  He had nothing really to do with the title character, except he was apparently one merciless sonuvabitch that did kill a lot of people in gruesome ways.  But Vlad totally wasn’t a vampire, not even a little.

You all know by now that I’m a big Dracula fan so I enjoyed this quite a bit.  For you casual fans this probably won’t float your boat.  If you don’t care about the movies or the character then you sure as hell aren’t going to care about the creation of that character.

Just one last thing I want to mention, some guy in the doc says that Dracula is the “biggest single selling novel ever written” and that’s not true, not even a little.

Frankenstein (1994)

Remember when I said Chainsaw 2 was a good re-up?  Well this one wasn’t. 

The biggest problem is everything is too rushed.  All of the scenes are executed at a rapid fire pace with no time for contemplation.  Victor chooses his horrible creation over his fiancé?  Don’t worry about it, we have to get this monster up and running.  Victor and his fiancé get back together?  Forget it, he has to hunt down the creature and destroy it.  Fiancé is dead?  Just reanimate her without thinking twice.  Bang, bang, bang.

The part where the fiancé creature sets herself on fire and the whole house goes up like it’s soaked in kerosene is pretty hilarious though.  And why does the monster have an American accent?  And how the fuck does he keep sneaking past the guards like a goddamn ninja?  He’s the most ungraceful thing that’s ever existed and somehow no one sees this guy breaking into houses.

So it’s kinda funny and kinda entertaining but that’s because it’s put together poorly.  Take that for what you will. 

Rabid

It’s a Cronenberg picture about a new type of rabies epidemic.  This strain takes effect almost immediately and turns humans into flesh craving, mouth foaming, beady eyed monsters.  The carrier is Rose (Marilyn Chambers (porn)) who craves blood.  She sticks her victims with this needle dick thing that shoots out of her armpit.  When she takes the blood this turns the person into a rabid mad dog and they eventually die.

What’s not totally explained is how Rose developed this unique ability.  You see, she was in a motorcycle crash which put her in a coma.  The doctors had to do some experimental skin grafting procedure and I think they want you to buy that that’s how this whole thing started.  It’s kinda weak but I suppose it doesn’t really matter.  You got a person spreading mega-rabies and all of Quebec (at least) is in a panic.  Deal with it.

Initially I thought of this as a vampire zombie mash up.  Rose is like a vampire because she needs to suck folks’ blood and that process creates a zombie byproduct.  The zombie then produces other zombies because it too needs to chomp on some human.  Seems like an interesting concept to me.  I was actually a little disappointed when they tell you it’s rabies because that’s too ordinary an explanation for a movie with a chick that drinks blood through an armpit barb.  Although the thing is called Rabid isn’t it?  I guess the title should’ve tipped me off.

This movie’s a lot of fun.  It’s a bit strange and fleshy but that’s just Cronenberg for ya.  All of his shit is like that.  I wouldn’t say I’m rabid for Rabid but everything about it is solid.
      

The Lords of Salem

From a technical standpoint Rob Zombie knows how to make a fuckin’ movie.  The Lords of Salem is executed very well.  The problem is the material that Zombie is shooting is not very good.

Witches, that’s what this one is about.  A coven of witches in Salem, Mass fuck with this radio DJ named Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie (Rob Zombie’s other films)).  She listens to a transcendental record and has visions of some weird stuff like a mutant baby and her giving head to a priest.  I guess the purpose of this is the witches want to ravage the town’s women and they see this as the best way to go about that.

All of the performances are very good here.  Sheri Moon does a bang up job as a person going through this hellish change and being tortured and confused and all that.  The picture hinges on her and she pulls it off no problem.  The supporting players are great too.  I liked Bruce Davison (X-Men) in particular.  He plays a lame witch expert but his character feels like a real person.  Everyone seems very natural in their roles and with the dialogue.  That’s so hard to achieve usually.

Zombie did an excellent job shooting this thing too.  I remember some folks saying it’s Kubrick-y and I can see that.  But at the same time it feels more influenced by Kubrick than, say, just copying him without understanding the technical and artistic knowhow behind it.  Zombie composes his shots in a manner where he looks like he knows what he’s doing.  I’m not sure if you can put together a film this skillfully by accident.  I mean his other movies are made with competency for sure but his chops grew quite a bit with The Lords of Salem.

The thing that’s really unfortunate is the script isn’t strong.  I’m not against abstract surreal films but it’s tricky to navigate that route.  If you’re not careful it could seem haphazard and turn into an apparent mess real quick.  Also, it’s a personal preference thing.  You see, 2001 worked for me because I love space and all of the imagery that comes with it but The Lords of Salem didn’t totally suck me in because I don’t care about witches.  They’re pretty weak horror material, or really just any kind of material, in my opinion.  Worshipping the devil and babbling about shit around a fire doesn’t interest me that much personally.  If you like that kind of stuff then you’ll probably get more of a kick out of this.  With presenting an abstract piece of art either you’re gonna dig the subject matter that the artist is turning on its head or not.  It’s not straight up so it’s going to be more difficult than it would normally to accept what’s being offered.  Again, if you’re into witches, devil worshipping, etc., you’ll probably like this. 

This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the film.  Some of the stuff that Zombie puts out there is cool.  I liked the creepy crumbly faced creatures that show up a couple of times and my favorite part was when Heidi walks into this extravagantly designed and decorated church/theater/museum place.  It looks amazing, the music is stunning (Mozart’s Requiem that he composed while on his deathbed) and that mutant baby thing is just great.

So overall I had a mixed experience.  On one hand I was happy to see that Rob Zombie has grown tremendously with his filmmaking skills.  And it looks like he’s trying to grow creatively as well by branching out beyond the slasher/crazy family horror type picture.  This is definitely the least straight forward movie he’s made to date.  Good for him for trying something different.  I appreciate what he’s done here.

On the other hand I don’t give a shit about witches and don’t buy the music can drive you crazy angle.  It’s a mood piece that slowly plods along.  I think this movie caught me on a good day because I could easily see myself becoming very frustrated and maybe not even finish it.  But that didn’t happen so it’s all good.

It’ll be interesting to see what Zombie does next.  So far he hasn’t been able to top The Devil’s Rejects.  The Lords of Salem is actually extremely encouraging though considering he’s coming off of the absolutely terrible and unnecessary Halloween reboot and its sequel.  So things are looking up for the ol’ Zombie.