10 Criminally Underrated Films Turning 10 Years Old In 2020
The best of 2010 that you've never seen...
For an article singing the praises of 2010's more avent garde underdogs it would make for better reading if the year was known for being a Bayhem-busting twelve months of brainless action movies and uninspired remakes but that's not the case.
Instead, we have a year that saw Toy Story 3 take the billion dollar box office-topping crown, Harry Potter screeching his last Wingardium Leviosa and Christopher Nolan putting studios into a spin by proving an original concept can rake in the plaudits and bucks alike with Inception. There was also the small matter of the MCU coming into fruition with Iron Man 2's Avengers-planting antics.
The year also had ten other disparate movies that were released all of which deserving just as much praise and box office to boot. But it didn't quite work out that way and, while some of the films in this list may well have topped a few critics' lists come the year's end, and others even snatched a couple of Oscar noms, they remain under the radar. Not talked about enough and, all in all, a bit unloved. But that is about to change with an article championing 2010's quiet classics.
So, in the year that Wikis starting leaking, Dennis Hopper took his last ride and vuvuzelas became a thing, these ten movies slunk into cinemas and a decade later deserve our adoration more than ever.
10. The Last Exorcism
The decade started with a guttural, terrified wail in this little-discussed found footage horror movie. As a genre flick this did exactly what is was supposed to do: scared audiences silly and took them on a twisty journey through the already creepy Louisiana backwaters.
The plot is better than you'll find in most found footage yarns - a fake exorcist is summoned into a real possession situation - but its director Daniel Stamm's ability to put together frenetic set pieces at one minute, then ultra tense reveals the next that make this a breathless experience.
From the sun-tinged opening all the way to what remains an unexpected finale, this devilish feature deserves to be ranked alongside Paranormal Activity 3 and The Conjuring as one of the scariest horrors of the 2010s.