I rank this as up with the most underated films of all time, okay maybe not top five, but definitely on that list. Now it appears with the leap to stardom of Peter Jackson it’s finally getting the release it deserves, according to DVD Times who have some details on the Region 1 release in November.
Running 2hrs 3minutes the director’s cut will be presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.
I’m really looking forward to this, it’s a wonderful mix of a movie and really entertaining, check out my review. While we’re talking about underated films, what would you say are the movies that are most underated of all time? What movies, in your eyes, are absolutely amazing and have been given the brush off when it comes to a general release?
Me, I’m plumping The Frighteners as a starter. What’s yours?
I completely agree with all of you. For the year that it was done, “The Frighteners” was an outstanding and creepy work with that excellent touch that only Robert Zemeckis (sp?) can provide. It is SO weird that you just happen to be talking about this movie, and I saw it for the first time just a few days ago. I know this isn’t a discussion forum about Michael J Fox, but I really do admire the guy and hope that he is doing well. I’m so surprised how underrated this movie really is! My belief is that it was promoted as a “scary” movie, but it is really one of those “too scary for kids and too ‘Disney’ for horror fans” movies. Fortunately, I fall in-between! Have a good one!–Drew
I loved Equilibrium.
I whole-heartily agree…Frighteners is good. Other movies that I have watched time and time again and never grow tired of are: The Quickand the Dead, Sleepy Hollow, Lost in Space, Willow, and Blow Out.
I have long felt that the frighteners was way underappreciated…. good call. I would like to throw Raising Arizona into the fray. I LOVE that move. So…SO funny. The Coens finding their voice……. wonderful.
The Changeling. Definitely a corker and very underated, very spooky too.
Equilibrium I’m not so sure about, yes it had great fight scenes but glaring plot holes and some horrible acting moments.
Bound! Yes, another cracker. That is a superb little movie.
Anymore?
Yep I must agree that Frightners is an underated Gem. I personally thought that it was a fantastic film with a great performance by Michael J Fox.
The film which I consider to be the most underated film of all time has to be The Changeling. In my opinion this has got to be the most frightening film I have ever seen and the knocks the socks off the the likes of The Exorcist… It just seems that not enough people seem to have seen it!
I would agree with Boondock Saints and add Hudson Hawk. It’s kinda campy, but I still enjoyed it.
Yeah, ‘The Frighteners’ was great – lots of fun and scary. My vote for ‘underrated film’ goes to ‘The Cable Guy’ – in my opinion, both Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick’s best and funniest movie.
Don’t know why so many people HATE this movie. I was thrilled to finally get it on DVD a few years ago…I mean, even if you truly dont’ like this movie, how can you not love the Midevil Knights scene?
EQUILIBRIUM RULES!!!
i agree that Equilibrium was overlooked. it may not have been the best, but it did have some decent fight scenes.
but in my opinion, Black Hawk Down was horribly overlooked. sure, it got quite a bit of attention, but not as much as it deserved. to many people just thought “oh, another war film” and ignored it.
WATERWORLD
Overlooked but great: Bound, Go, Beautiful Girls, Quick and the Dead.
I never cared for THE FRIGHTENERS. I couldn’t tell you any specifics. For horror, I love SAW and JEEPERS CREEPERS.
I really enjoyed the Frighteners and thank you Richard for commenting on it. I was just thinking about it the other day. The song they play at the end, “Don’t fear the Reaper” I think, something like that always reminds me of the movie. I too liked how the first half of the movie seems light like Ghostbusters and then all of a sudden its scary. I had forgotten that Jackson directed. I remember Zemekis produced and had thought before that he also directed. I remember checking and seeing that some guy from New Zealand directed, I had no idea who he was at the time. I certainly know now. Also the old ghost in the Frighteners named Judge I think is John Astin, Seans father. So Jackson directed “Sam’s” dad before he directed “Sam”.
Yep, The Frighteners has been kicking around on the underrated list for a while.
I personally found Equilibrium to be crap.
Another one I did like though was The Ninth Gate.
I would vote for Corvette Summer. I don’t know if it ever got a theatrical release, I Don’t beleive so, but from a few articles I’ve caught in car magazines it was overlooked by a lot of people because of what they did to the Corvette.
The Firghteners is a movie I first saw on t.v. and have loved ever sense. I can’t wait to get it on dvd. . .
I agree about Frighteners. Although its not the best movie ever, it was still a fun movie with unexpected depth to it. Most enjoyable!
As for underated or unheard of finds, my vote would be for Equilibrium starring Christian Bale. Really cool flic. Also, Boondock Saints, although thats gotten quite a bit of attention as of late.
I personally think Frighteners is a damn good film, and yes, was horribly overlooked. It was Peter Jackson’s last film before he started his work on Lord of the Rings. You can definitely tell that it’s a Jackson film through his trademark angles and color usage.
Plus, I liked how it switched from comedy to horror so seamlessly, just like Dead Alive (or Braindead, for you non-Americans.)
I personally can’t wait for King Kong, which looks to be more of Jackson’s gold..
Check out “The Station Agent” and “American Splendor” – I absolutely love these movies (small, independent, but great movies)…I highly recommend you see these! Any opinions about these movies?
A waking Life was a really cool movie that no one knows about.
“Mystery Men” never got the attention it deserved. That’s a hysterical movie!
Thank you!!!
I hear so many people say that the movie sucked but I thought it was great! It’s not the best movie in the world, but it certainly did not suck. I think people were expecting a “horror flick” and didn’t expect something that was funny at the same time. As dark as the story was, it also had such a light-hearted side to it, as well.
As for another underrated film, the first one from the top of my head was “Kiss of the Dragon”. So it didn’t have too much of a story and the leading female character had some pretty bad lines… so what. It was an action movie that was a lot better than it had to be. I think people were disappointed because it does suck compared to some other Jet Li movies, but then again “The Master”, “The Defender” and “My Father the Hero” all had the same amount of cheese in them (The Master was the worst, but it had some darn good fight scenes). Yet somehow, there’s a lot of people who think those movies are better than the American ones.
This movie scared the crap out of me, between the colorful aray of ghost characters and the Grim reaper who was a homicidal maniac…wow…possibly the best movie ever. I haven’t seen this film in years, and its a shame since i’m such a big Michael J. Fox fan.