10 Awesome 90s Movies You've Probably Never Seen

New Rose Hotel was the last of director Abel Ferrera (Bad Lieutenant)'s prolific run of the 90s. The film stars Christopher Walken and Willem Defoe as two corporate headhunters in a dystopian future, attempting a sneaky power play by way of call girl Asia Argento. The narrative gets rather lost in the intense, tightly shot conversations, and the film tends to undermine most expectations it may have established (which is what makes it so amazing).

Ostensibly, it is a cyberpunk thriller, an adaptation of a story by Neuromancer author William Gibson. However, regarding sci fi tropes and trappings, the film subverts, and perhaps even disappoints. Aside from quasi-futuristic red lights and filters, as well as the curiosities of an obviously contemporary Tokyo, scenes primarily take place in nondescript, midrange hotel rooms.

Even the tense meetings with mega-corporate kingpins take place in the most average-looking boardrooms. And yet, the depiction is frighteningly plausible. Few films have achieved such a feat, perhaps World on a Wire, and to a lesser degree Farenheit 451.

This may well be the only film for which Walken and Arnold Schwarzenegger were considered for the same role. It also features Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano as the villain.