Top 10:Underrated Gems #2
Sep. 21, 2007
Source: AITH
by: Matt Withers
Ask the average genre fan what their favorite horror movies are and you're going to get an answer from a pretty set cannon most times - HALLOWEEN, PSYCHO, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE EXORCIST, etc. All these films and their esteemed brethren have become so ingrained in genre consciousness that you find about as many surprises as on the reading list for an English Lit course. That's to say not many.
But there are other genre films to see and treasure out there. Some because they are truly great, some because they simply do a familiar thing greatly, but all worth remembering when someone comes to you for your expert opinion.
And don't be shy, Spit Bullets on your fav's below!
Pissed off trucker tracks down hapless smartasses. Just doesn't really make ya wanna run out and see it does it? Maybe down some beers and throw Cheetos at the screen in your basement with friends, but definitely not theater worthy. Except that the flick was awesome! Scary, tense, and while I find faceless drivers to be about as scary as an 8 year-old girl in a frilly pink dress, the mostly unseen villain voiced by Ted Levine is one for the bloody books!
How this flick doesn't pop up on everyone's Top 10 horror lists escapes me. Terry O'Quinn's turn as the homicidal stepfather is scary enough to sidestep the need for masks or even super spooky locales. We get a family we care about and relate to, a surface of normalcy that makes the dark undercurrents all the creepier, and top it off with a villain that we kinda sympathize with...kinda. Aces in my estimation.
Sure the people who saw Frailty loved it, but then it seemed to fade into relative obscurity with the speed that papa brings down that axe on evildoers. I think part of the reason is that with its heavy religious overtones it doesn't play as "Fun" on the level that most genre classics do. This is a film that asks serious questions about what you believe in, and it doesn't shy away from hard answers. But it's only right that it's not always fun to watch somebody getting split like a melon. For those days when you want to feel it, try a little FRAILTY.
I have never seen a voodoo/hoodoo/supernatural horror film that freaked me out as much as THE BELIEVERS. All the way until the stupidly silly ending, this sunuvabitch takes you on a ride that will f^ck up your head (or if you're Jimmy Smits - your stomach). Hell, it's so damn good at what it does that I know teenaged southern girls who wouldn't touch up their makeup while on a date because they were too scared of their compacts. If it weren't for the unforgivable ending, this would be my favorite genre movie of all time.
Carpenter is a hit or miss director. He either gives us Halloween or Village Of The Damned, Escape From New York or Escape From L.A. But no matter how many times I see people discuss his best work, it seems like this fantastic film never makes the grade. I don't know if it's the speculative ending, the constant mind trips, or the sheer scope of the horror in this film that turns people off, but IMHO this is the greatest horror film that hardly ever gets listed as a favorite. It's not only my favorite genre film, it's one of my favorite films period.
3:34PM on 09/23/2007