Top 10 Underrated Movies on Shudder
Shudder has tons of amazing content and they are constantly releasing more and more each month. With so much content coming in it may feel frustrating to find something interesting or at least something good. To help you out with this, I’ve put together this list of Best Underrated Movies on Shudder. I’ve tried to include in this list more than just obscure films from days past but also newer films which don’t get the credit they deserve. In doing so I think I accidentally put together a list of the most insane and psychotic movies on Shudder. Each of these movies is just downright crazy, a crazy premise, a crazy cast, a crazy plot twist and overall crazy to think they are underrated. So, without further ado…
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
The 12th installment of a franchise is usually a whimper. The final nail in the coffin of a once great film series. This is not the case with Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. The series really comes back to life with this entry which does a great job casually dismissing and at the same time casually acknowledging the previous 11 movies in a graceful way. Starring Thomas Lennon of Reno 911 fame, this absolute bloodbath of a movie will be a new found favorite for splatter fans. It’s classy, in the way that most Puppet Master films tend to be but also over the top and ridiculous enough to make this movie part horror comedy. The movie includes a scene where a guy gets decapitated while taking a piss, his decapitated head falling into the toilet and he pisses on his own head. A Barbara Crampton cameo which is always welcome and some of the best deaths in the past decade is what makes this movie a must see.
Demons
Never mind Shudder, this is probably the most underrated movie of the 1980’s. An Italian, gore heavy, horror classic that hits all the right spots. A simple premise of a bunch of strangers stuck in a movie theater watching a movie about demon possession and then suddenly life starts imitating art and the theater goers start getting possessed by demons. Although, “demon” spreads just like the zombie plague, by a bite or a scratch which is confusing. This movie is basically the model for late 1990’s horror. A little horror, a little action and an amazing heavy metal soundtrack. Including an amazing scene where one of the characters rides around the theater on a dirt bike, armed with a samurai sword chopping off demon heads set to Accept’s “Fast as a Shark”. This movie is on Shudder with 2 versions, one with and one without Joe Bob Briggs commentary. Watch them both.
Still/Born
Fans of The Conjuring universe will absolutely love this one. It’s one of those movies that doesn’t rely on any gimmicks for its scares. Just old-style horror with creepy atmosphere and a few jumps. Still/Born is an interesting story of a woman pregnant with twins, one who dies at birth and the other, well the other the devil wants to feast upon. Or is it just her post-partum depression? This movie really causes a sense of dread inside you as you watch it, on the edge of your seat, concerned for the well being of the little baby. Overlooked and underrated, check out Still/Born next chance you get.
The Stuff
One taste is never enough. The Stuff is the age-old tale of an industrial saboteur hired by the ice cream industry to find out the secrets of the latest snack food craze, The Stuff. Working side by side with karate master and junk food mogul, Chocolate Chip Charlie they find that the white dessert known simply as The Stuff is actually a parasitic, extraterrestrial organism that takes over the brains and body of those who eat it. Are you eating it? Or is it eating You? The Stuff is one of those over the top 80’s classics that just does not get enough love. Maybe it’s the insane premise? Maybe its par for the course for Larry Cohen directed movies.
Contamination
From one absurd alien invasion movie to another. When you think of alien invasion horror movies you think Lifeforce or Invasion of the Body Snatchers, not Contamination, but you should. This is a weird one about these little green goop balls that people who are mind controlled by an alien cyclops place all over the globe. These little goop balls explode if you touch them, which is a weird way to take over the world if you ask me. The ridiculous chest exploding gore is what led to this movie getting banned in the UK as part of the Video Nasties phenomenon (check out our top ten banned horror flicks HERE). If you’re a fan of Sci-Fi horror, Contamination is a must watch with a rocking soundtrack is by Goblin who also did the soundtrack for Suspiria.
The Host (2006)
I was conflicted adding this one to the list because it’s a widely acclaimed movie. The reason I am including it is because Asian Horror is often neglected by the main stream horror audience but this one is far from a standard Asian Horror flick, this is much closer to 1950’s atomic age American horror flick. It lines up much closer to THEM! or Tarantula! than it does to Audition or Thirst. Simple premise, fast paced, action packed and a story that keeps you emotionally invested in the characters. This is a great fun movie to watch, especially if you don’t mind reading subtitles.
Phenomena
Usually Dario Argento and underrated are not used in the same sentence, but it’s the case with Phenomena. I’ve always said, if you want to know what kind of movies a legit crazy person would make look no further than Dario Argento flicks and it does not ring any truer than with this movie. Phenomena is a story about a girl who is sent to a boarding school in Switzerland where a murderer is lurking around the campus grounds. She is constantly sleep walking and one night she encounters a chimpanzee who leads her back to the offices of a wheelchair bound bug scientist, played by Donald Pleasance, who tells the girl that all insects have telepathy, and she has powers to control them with her ESP. She then uses her insect ESP to track down the killer with the help of the chimpanzee, who is now armed with a straight razor. I wish I was making this up. Go check it out.
The Mimic
So, a few weeks back I turned on Shudder TV in preparation for Joe Bob Briggs and caught the tail end of this flick. Wow. Talk about freaky imagery and tense atmosphere. It’s a tight thriller about a family who loses their son but takes in a young girl that they find by a mountain which is rumored to house a monster that mimics human voices to draw their prey closer. Yeah, freaky. Even though the dialog is in Korean its just as haunting as anything in your native tongue. “OH-MA, OH-MA” the child/shapeshifter calls to her mother constantly throughout the film is truly a thing of nightmares. It’s a unique flick as the subtitles do not distract away from the overall emotional drama of the film.
Prevenge
A pregnant woman, and I mean a VERY pregnant woman stalks and viciously murders a bunch of people because the voice of her fetus tells her to. There are no words, I have no idea what else needs to be said. The writer/director, Alice Lowe, is also the main actress in this film and was 8 months pregnant during the filming of this movie, she really nails this bizarre premise. With a perfect mix of comedy, slasher aesthetic and psychological horror mystery Prevenge is the most unique horror premise in recent memory. Prevenge is not only underrated for Shudder, its also very underrated in general. I for one am very excited to see what comes next from this writer/director in the years to come as this is her first film.
The Visitor
Not only is this my #1 for most underrated movie on Shudder it’s probably the most insane movie you will ever watch in your life. You will walk away with from it with at least 50 questions. I’ve watched this movie multiple times and I can tell you it only multiplies exponentially each time you watch it. The basic premise is there is this old guy, that is friends with a cult leader who looks like Jesus and has a bunch of bald disciples. The old dude has a weird vision about an off-world entity who is explained to be Zatteen, an inter-dimensional cosmic force of evil who is in a never-ending struggle with the all-powerful god of the universe Yahweh. Zatteen left earth and was killed but his spirit lives on in the minds of mankind and in the numerous children he produced with human women. This is just the first 5 minutes. The movie then follows the story of the Old Guy as he comes to America, from space? To build some sort of portal on the roof of a building in Atlanta? And track down a girl named Katy Collins whose father owns the local basketball team and is part of a Satanist cabal whose goal is to bring back Zatteen in human form. The little girl has telepathic powers and uses them to play Atari games? And control birds? Or something? There are tons of big-name actors in this movie like Glen Ford, Franco Nero, Shelley Winters and Lance Henriksen, which means this must have had some sort of budget. There is also a cameo by Kareem Abdul-Jabar and the best death by multiple birds since The Birds. The trailer for this film hits the nail on the head “The Mount Everest of insane ‘70s Italian Movies.” This movie really needs to be seen to be believed.
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