10 Recent Films That Really Deserve More Love

Let’s sidestep the discussion about whether Wonder Woman is the best thing since butter met toast and not get caught up in the debate about whether The Last Knight will derail the Transformers franchise (fingers crossed). Instead, we’re going to focus on the smaller movies whose budgets would’ve paid for the catering on a summer blockbuster.

Anton Ego, the restaurant critic in the movie Ratatouille, said it best. The world is often unkind to new talent and new creations, which is why the new needs friends. For instance, A Cure For Wellness is one of the most atmospheric and sophisticated horror films of 2017, but it opened in the same month as Rings and you can probably guess which made the most money.

With a running time of nearly two and a half hours, A Cure For Wellness might’ve benefitted from being shown on Netflix as a 3-part miniseries. There was a time when TV was on the brain level of TJ Hooker and the movies were where you went to discover fresh and interesting stories from new filmmakers, but it’s hard to picture that in the summer of Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 and Transformers 5.

There are still some interesting and underappreciated films out there, though. Here are 10 of them.

Maybe it’s the lack of production polish, but Cameron “Son Of George” Romero’s film feels more like a grindhouse movie than Grindhouse did, and despite an obviously low budget it’s a more credible period horror film than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot.

Set in 1969, Staunton Hill could be TCM redux as a group of stranded teens arrive at an isolated farmhouse where they encounter the murderous Staunton clan, who run a different kind of slaughterhouse. Because it’s a small world, the head of the family is played by Kathy Lamkin, who had a very similar role in Chainsaw.

Staunton Hill isn’t for everyone: it’s a grim, downbeat movie without heroes, where the lack of budget contributes to the claustrophobic sense of impending dread. Originality may not be its strongest suit, but it makes up for it by not pandering to the lowest common denominator.