I love a good movie. And thanks to my personal experiences as a young padawan living in the Australian Outback avoiding all sorts of adversity both natural and domestic, I have been privy to quite a number of back-in-the-day gems that found their way onto the ol' video cassette via either Beta or VHS. As some of you whom frequent my articles may have come to realize, I did not have the happiest of childhoods and as such used this new-fangled technology to find a way to escape whatever psychological trauma that came about on any given day. Now I suffer from something they call "PTSD," or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And a common side effect to this condition usually reserved for returning war veterans is a photographic memory of such events from the time in your life that was most traumatic. Now, although this can be severely detrimental when it comes to living the everyday life, for me at least it seems to have also had an effect that I can only class as a positive. Namely, I have retained insane amounts of knowledge from the period of my life others know as the 80s and memories of things that not only should never have been forgotten in the first place, but comes in handy whenever I am playing something like Trivial Pursuit. And as films played a major part in my development as a child I pretty much remember everything I have ever watched on this now defunct technology. Sometimes, this even blows my mind as I seemingly have seen or heard of films that 98% of you (including many so-called movie buffs) have not only never heard of but never got the opportunity to experience for themselves as some of these were not even given a DVD release to my knowledge. So here are 8 examples that either have been completely forgotten by the masses or not even seen by them in the first place. All of which are warranted at least one viewing by anyone who defines their status in life as "cinephile" or "film connoisseur." Although these are in no defining order, I left two Australian-made films at the end as although they may not have been heard of outside of our great southern land, they were essential viewing in this country. For us kids, anyway.
Honorable Mention: Blood Moon (1990)
Doesn't make the list simply because this little known Australian slasher flick is quite possibly one of the worst films in history and I am trying to stick to movies some of you may actually find enjoyable. I saw this at the tender age of 12 in the cinemas when it was released in this country. It came with a marketing ploy that allowed audiences a chance via an intermission to "walk the yellow line" to the exit if the events that were transpiring were too frightening for them to experience in full. They even had an actual yellow line on the carpet leading back to the ticket booth with a giant chicken laughing from within his chicken coup prop. Although I utilized this option, it certainly wasn't because I had any fear of this film, but rather to get my money back as I could not fathom spending another minute of my life wasting it on this abomination. And I was 12.