Underrated Horror Films

Skeleton Key is discussed on DL a few times EVERY YEAR. Are you the one who keeps bringing it up? It's pretty schlocky, but enjoyable, one time only.

The Faculty is one of my favorite films of all time.

R1 I don’t believe it’s been me though I might have mentioned it once in the 20 years I been here.

Do you have any underrated films to add?

R2 Piper Laurie and Bebe Neuwirth made that film for me.

Most of the good movies I could recommend are not underrated by the cognoscenti.

You see, it's your criterion "underrated" that makes the thread difficult for me. For example, your nomination is not underrated, in my opinion. It's a C list movie and rated as such. But enjoyable.

Perhaps you will accept contributions of "obscure" good horror films.

The 1988 remake of the Blob is good and scary. But it's rated 6,7 on IMDB so maybe it is slightly "underrated".

Children of the Corn, the original. The short story it was based on had a different type of scare factor, the movie which easily could've been completely camp, is quite good.

When I saw The Skeleton Key, it reminded me of the Mephisto Waltz.

Franz Liszt? The movie has good atmosphere. But it's deeply cheesy, too.

Top 5. One of the best comedies of the teens.

Asylum Blackout (2011) is very scary start to finish.

Oops OP did say horror. 😬

Thanks R10. I haven’t heard of that one so I’ll look into it.

I mentioned May (2002) last time for a lesser known horror that's really good. I also enjoy Cracks (2009) which is more of a thriller than horror but really good. I love Wolfen, I don't hear people talking about it.

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, from 1969, is IMO the best of the Hammer Frankenstein films, though many prefer the two from the late 50s.

Do people think the American remake of THE RING to be better than the Japanese original? I do.

A good old-fashioned haunted house film that really works: The Changeling (1980)

Not too under-rated, it pops up on a lot of best horror film lists, but not very well-known/mainstream either.

The Changeling is amazing, R15! I don’t know why it isn’t more popular.

Second The Changeling.

Sort of a mystery/horror with George C Scott.

Get Shudder, OP. They're always streaming great horror movies that tend to go unnoticed. There's a Spanish film called 'Terrified' that's really creepy and has a few great jump scares.

from 1972: Brian De Palma's Sisters, Paul Bartel's Private Parts, Tom Post's The Baby and Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs

R19 That's a great, albeit truly f'ed up film, but its a cult favorite, and it had a huge impact on the genre, atleast half dozen other film after it were similarly titled, minus the lethal BJ. You can't get much better than that. Not what I'd call underrated.

Hostel 1 and 2.

[Quote] FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED

You know, yeah, he actually does. Get rid of him. Wipe him the FUCK out.

Sashay away, Franque!

When Evil Lurks (2023). Spanish possession film- they do possession so well, like the 30 Coins series.

“Mame!”

Resolution

She Dies Tomorrow

V/H/S — particularly the first segment, Amateur Night

V/H/S/2 — particularly the next to last segment, Safe Haven

The Paragon — a recent NZ multiverse movie which I guess is a sort of horror comedy — very enjoyable

Loop Trail — another NZ comedy horror which I loved, by a gay NZ writer/actor/director

Green Room

Take Shelter

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Fare

Coherence — not for everyone but I fucking love it

The Signal

Splinter

Europa Report

These Final Hours

Sorry that should be Loop Track, not Loop Track ^^^

r26, you and I have similar tastes. I'll add V/H/S '94, "The Subject" directed by the same guy who did "Safe Haven". He was supposed to do the American remake of "Last Train to Busan", but it's languishing at New Line because WB doesn't want to take risks anymore.

More of a psychological thriller with horror elements, but "Devoured" from 2012 is really good. It's my kind of horror, it's got great acting by the lead and a really good story.

Criterion is currently streaming a Japanese horror collection, and they have the original version of Dark Water from 2002. I found it creepier than the remake with Jennifer Connelly, and lead actress Hiromi Kuroki gave an excellent performance.

A Stir of Echoes. I love this movie.

Larry Cohen's Gold Told Me To (1976) aka Demon

A New York detective investigates a series of murders committed by random New Yorkers who claim that "God told them to."

in the US it was known as Horror Hotel

On Shudder:

I liked Deadstream and #ChadGetsTheAxe. Also one that I saw recently was Oddity. Loved it so much I watched it twice.

In A Violent Nature and Late Night With The Devil are also really good ones.

The new installment of VHS Beyond is out now and it has some amazing shorts in it. Live And Let Dive was insane and I don't know how they shot it with such a low budget.

A film I saw years ago but no one has ever heard of. Mike Flanagan’s first work Absentia (2011). Evil demonic insects kidnapping people under a bridge to take them to another dimension. Great psychological thriller.

R36 I've seen it! Maybe it was you that recommended it here. Great.

Better than expected and not to be confused with the dreadful and tedious Night of Dark Shadows (1972)

I think I'm in the minority, but I like THE DARK HALF.

THE NINTH GATE and the 1988 BLOB remake.

Moving Violations

I’ve mention this on similar threads before— The People Under the Stairs. And it has subversive implications on gentrification. I wish Jordan Peele would remake it.

Session 9 and a Dark Song

I love that movie too r42 I don’t know what’s happening now but a year ago they were saying a. Remake was happening

Speaking of demonic creatures under the stairs…

Annabelle Comes Home is shockingly good. I thought it would be terrible, but it's so scary.

I love The Skeleton Key, OP! I saw it when it came out in theaters and rewatch any time I come across it on TV. To me it's a really great update of those 'hagsploitation' thrillers of the 60s and 70s. I could easily imagine Bette Davis and Patty Duke in the lead roles if it had been a TV movie in the 70s. Richard Thomas could play the Peter Sarsgaard part

TSK

The Ruins doesn't seem to get much love but it's really original and well made

Some other more contemporary, less than celebrated, quite good movies were:

The first Sinister, the CGI was perfect, didn't over-ride it, accentuated the traditional horror elements which was cool.

Oculus. Don't think a sequel happened, it could have, but it probably tanked.

The Conjuring, The Devil Made Me Do It. It has the creepiest woman (not the NuN), and I enjoyed that one the most. Their stories are thorough BS, Ed was a short tubby blowhard, I saw them give a lecture in back in the 90s, was brought by a friend who had a dad who loved hating them and their BS. They were obvious charlatans to an 11/12 yr old. There have been a few good movies out of ALL of the projects in each sub-franchise. The Conjuring 4 will be released soon too. Haven't read anything about it, but could be...interesting. While I enjoyed watching each, more than once (really loved Sinister if Im being candid, I am also a chronically stoned horror-movie-fan. Take these suggestions as you deem appropriate.

[Quote] The new installment of VHS Beyond is out now and it has some amazing shorts in it.

The later VHSs are mostly bad segments, but beyond actually freshens up the series a bit. They’re not all great but a few are pretty good.

The last one to me was the most chilling — it’s called Stowaway. It’s the sort of horror that’s in the minority these days — there’s no minter, serial killer or lunatic threatening the protagonist. She’s just in a situation that becomes unspeakably nightmarish.

R47 “Caroline! I do believe you broke my legs!”

[Quote] there’s no minter,

“There’s no monster”

Not a fan of sinister at all, find it to be off-the-shelf modern Hollywood horror. So much Hollywood cheese in that movie just for cheap scares.

There’s one scene that causes my partner and I to howl with laughter whenever we watch it. The family is sitting at the dinner table and they’re completely shrouded in darkness to create a creepy effect, and as we were watching it he turned to me and said, “my family usually has dinner in a pitch black room too,” and we just lost it.

It really has an “Insidious ripoff” feel to me.

Now insidious started off very very strong. It’s a shame Wan ruined it by committing the cardinal sin of horror — overexplaining.

Don't Go To Sleep

R54 I beg to differ, although, I do think it matters a tiny bit which you'd seen first, but the supernatural element in Insidious was OBVIOUS from the start, Insidious is an example of an unconventional, unhealthily obsessed with fame he'll never achieve (again) author and the older footage scenes, I love. The lighting director was using a stark contrast style to the benefit of the story. Just some of the things I really like about it. It has its clichés, but Insidious hits you over the head with it, then because of its success, has only backward to go, which I've enjoyed in one of its sequels, but it, too is filled with jump-scares, clichés and LOL moments, (although I love the bumbling sidekicks she adopts).

Also, loved the Skelton Key, could have had an extended cut of Justify, Cecile, and the Brother/Sister era, with less 'find Ben in the swamp'. Or, more of the tawdry behavior in the 20s. It appears to also have three installments, none of them have anything to do with the first. Shame.

Valentine (2001)-It's cheesy. But, I loved the revenge plot in it and taking out entitled adult brats.

^ SINISTER is an ex...blah, blah, etc.

I know with the reboot it’s like it doesn’t exist but Halloween H20 is very underrated.

I saw The Ruins several years ago on DVD and it was pretty creepy.

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS 1971

The New York Times

Subtle, stately, stunningly colored and exquisitely directed by Belgium's young Harry Kumel, the coscenarist, this is far and away the most artistic vampire shocker since the Franco-Italian Blood and Roses 10 years ago.

1972s Tales from the Crypt

R49 That is one of my favorite 90s horror movies.

Pretty Woman

r50, I've read the script for C4, and I don't think it's that good.

r51, it was directed by Mike Flanigan's wife, with Mike producing.

I'm quite partial to Brandon Cronenberg's projects: Possessor and Infinity Pool.

R20, Straw Dogs is anxiety inducing to the max. It still holds up today.

The Ruins and Session 9 (I know both were already mentioned but they deserve to be mentioned again)

The Taking of Deborah Logan

[Quote] It has its clichés, but Insidious hits you over the head with it, then because of its success, has only backward to go, which I've enjoyed in one of its sequels,

Oh you’re talking about the movies as franchises—I don’t really care about that. In fact I want movies to be coherent and with strongly told stories. I hate that marvel shit where the movie is just an installment or placeholder or link in a larger narrative.

Yes r65, Kate Siegel. Flanagan wrote it as well.

It’s actually better than most of the stuff he writes imo — I find his horror to be a bit pallid and weak tea overall. I guess this was because Kate told Flanagan what she wanted — body horror as told by Terrance Malik — and he sat down and banged it out in a half hour.

The little girl in the video, who we assume is supposed to be the MC’s daughter, is actually Kate and Mike’s daughter.

sci-fr horror: Event Horizon

I had a blast watching "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" in the theater, but I doubt it would hold up in 2-D home viewing.

Homebodies

Skittles

REC (Spanish version)

Descent

Have we mentioned Burnt Offerings with Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and BETTE DAVIS yet?

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch is a guilty pleasure. People hated it because it wasn't a continuation of the Michael Meyers storyline, but it's fun as a standalone movie.

R78 Season of the Witch would be a classic if it didn’t have Halloween: in front of the title.

I don't think that [rec] is underrated- it's universally loved by horror fans.

The scariest thing about Dark Water (2005) is how skeletal Connelly is. It's a bore!

L.A. Weekly Ella Taylor

The movie is prettily shot by Almodóvar collaborator Affonso Beato, but no amount of tastefully desaturated color or imaginary friends going whoo-whoo in the deserted apartment upstairs can save this lumbering echt-thriller from fatal tedium.

Cult classic

Unmissable with a great sequel

Skittles

I've been waiting for you, r77

R8 Ginger Snaps was a letdown for me and didn’t live up to the hype.

"Julie Christie carries the 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐝...

Fear for her."

[quote]R79: Season of the Witch would be a classic if it didn’t have Halloween: in front of the title.

If it didn't have 'Halloween' in front of the title, it would be mislabeled; The film is about Halloween and its greater meaning.

Plus, Michael Myers appears in it, in a horror movie marathon on a television set in Dr Challis' cell.

Roddy McDowall and Jill Haworth star in 𝐈𝐓! (1967):

Another vote for The Changeling. As mentioned above, it was well received and should be better known.

The Omen is not underrated. The score is so effective and frightening. I read that it is indeed a demonic chant, and the translation of the lyrics to English are very scary.

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985)

I'm not a big fan of the Italian gialli but I love 1973's TORSO. The last thirty minutes are absolutely brilliant and feature one of the first final girls ever.

I always thought Race With The Devil should be more of a cult classic.

The Baby is a 1973 American psychological horror film directed by Ted Post and written by Abe Polsky. The film stars Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill, Suzanne Zenor, and David Manzy. It tells the story of a social worker who investigates an eccentric family which includes "Baby", a 21-year-old man who acts like an infant. The film is considered a cult classic.

Not to mention Ruth Roman plays the sassy Loretta on Murder, She Wrote.

The original 1986 version of The Hitcher with adorable C. Thomas Howell and Rutger Hauer. I love it.

It Follows

Crawl (2019) and Asylum Blackout (2011). The scariest horror films are about things that could actually happen, imo.

Maybe because it took me completely off-guard as the second feature at the drive-in (There's still one open near me, and I love it) but boy did I love "Cabin in the Woods."

It's been mentioned on DL before, so I know it's not unknown, but Let's Scare Jessica To Death is very effective.

Wicked and Cynthia’s face

Takashi Miike’s entry into Showtime’s Masters of Horror anthology series was so controversial it was banned from broadcast and one only needs to view it to see why. It’s beyond lurid and horrifying, truly fucked up. Here it is for free.

Valentine (2001)

The Box (2009) Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella

The Thing (1982)

Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, Donald Wolft, Richard Masur, David Clennon, and Richard Dysart

The Innocents (1961) with Deborah Kerr and Sir Michael Redgrave

Les Diaboliques (1955)

The Uninvited (1944)

Ray Milland, Jane Russell, Ruth Hussey, Alan Napier, and Sir Donald Crisp

Carpenter's The Thing, The Innocents and Diabolique and the Uninvited are all famous and very highly rated by classic horror fans. The 1970s Tales from the Crypt is the best of the seven Amicus horror anthologies, but all are worth watching.

Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1966) with Catherine Deneuve

R109 Yes, but I have realized that they are not really "mainstream," and The Changeling with George C. Scott is well regarded, but people today haven't seen it

Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon (1992)

Hugh Grant, Kristen Scott Thomas, Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner, Victor Banerjee, and Stockard Channing

R105 I wouldn’t exactly say the Thing is underrated. It’s quite popular and critically acclaimed.

Equinox (1970) scared the crap out of me when my brother and I saw it at the drive-in.

As did Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)

Damage (1992)

Not necessarily a horror, but a slow burn thriller. A pretty good cast, too- Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Rupert Graves, Miranda Richardson, Ian Bannen, Peter Stomare, David Thewlis, Julian Fellowes, and Leslie Caron

The Changeling is very overrated here on DL. The best scene is the one with the medium, but the scene with the wheelchair chasing Trish van Devere is just silly.

R92, I really like Lifeforce. It sticks to its basic-as-can-be premise (vampires from outer space!) but gives it a glossy '80s production. Its perversely romantic final scene takes it to another level.

If you enjoy classic Japanese horrors like Ringu, Jun-on and Kairo, you might like this crazy little ghost story Teke Teke.

The Changeling.

I'll piggyback on r119's suggestions, and add Testuo: The Iron Man. It's nuts. Do not watch the sequels- they're dire.

1972's Private Parts is wild.

The Stepfather was excellent.

The slasher Grandmother’s House is well acted but it would be better if the runtime was cut down.

As I feel not enough USA folks have seen it, or will see it..

The original Speak No Evil (Danish film)

To me? A horror masterpiece.

I was preparing to HATE the US remake, but it was decent-

But the original needs to be seen FIRST. It is stunning.

The main complaint is that the couple is too submissive and polite-- But THAT is the point if the film. It does have something to say about human nature. And that last 15 minutes. Its terrifying.

Hausu

Host (2020) is pretty creepy.

Just Before Dawn is an excellent early '80s slasher that is criminally under-seen.