12 Surprisingly Awesome Straight-To-Video Movies

11. Unthinkable (2010)

Universal Soldier Day Of Reckoning Jean Claude Van Damme Dolph Lundgren
Sony

Why It Should've Sucked: It's hard to get too hyped about this movie from the wildly inconsistent Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly, The Informers), especially as it went STV during the period of Samuel L. Jackson's career where he starred in clunkers like Jumper and The Spirit. Plus, how many political thrillers that don't even get theatrical releases are actually any good?

Why It's Awesome: Though it has no pretensions to subtlety, Unthinkable is propelled forward by Samuel L. Jackson's savagely entertaining performance as an interrogator forced to go to desperate lengths to get the location of three dirty bombs out of a terrorist (Michael Sheen).

The movie is legitimately discomforting as it forces the viewer to consider whether torture can be permissible under certain circumstances, with Jackson, Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss making the best of a tight, pointed script, while Jordan milks the drama for maximum intensity.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.