12 Surprisingly Awesome Straight-To-Video Movies

1. Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

Universal Soldier Day Of Reckoning Jean Claude Van Damme Dolph Lundgren
A24

Why It Should've Sucked: Despite premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, this horror-comedy from first-time director Eli Craig struggled to secure a proper theatrical release, and so was dumped on VOD over 18 months after its first screening, which doesn't exactly invite stellar expectations, does it?

Why It's Awesome: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is the perfect example of a movie you avoided upon release, but once it arrived on Netflix, you decided to watch it on a lazy Sunday afternoon and discovered that, lo and behold, it was actually pretty damn good.

With outrageous gore and a clever premise that giddily mocks horror tropes, this is a startlingly original film with a terrific two-hander between lead actors Tyler Labine and the loveable Alan Tudyk. It knows exactly what it is, delivers accordingly, and the film was so successful on home video that there's even talk of a sequel on the way.

Which straight-to-video movies most surprised you with their impressive quality? Shout them out in the comments!

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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.