Thursday, August 16, 2012

5 Underrated Horror Movies to Watch One More Time

One of the things that I can’t stand about horror movie reviewers, and I do it to, is we trash the genre so bad that no one watches the movies. I know there are some bad movies that should never be seen for pleasure, such as Ax’Em, but there are a lot of movies that are actually better than what people say. These bad movies might not sit well the first time, but after watching closer, and seeing the story unfold again, you start to like certain aspects, nuances, and images from the movies. You start to realize that despite the cash grab at times, there is substance to the movie that is worth checking out one more time. That’s why I decided to write this post, 5 underrated movies to watch one more time, just in case you start to like it, after another viewing. This is a hard list to write, but it’s a necessary one.

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Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 – The second helping from Rob Zombie was met with a lot of sighs from the horror community. Even I thought it wasn’t that great when I finally sat to watch it. However, it is actually harder and faster than the original films. Looking at this one more time, I realized that there is some prowess to the directing, and while the plot seems laughable and there are moments that I didn’t really care for, the movie still has impact as far as a scary movie is concerned. It punches you in the psyche hard, and it really does play on your emotions, for better or worse. It’s a hard movie to watch, and not because it sucks, because brutality is turned up to 11, making it a far more underrated movie than people are willing to admit.

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House of Wax – People want to focus on the fact that Paris Hilton was in this movie, but you know what? The director and writers let her in there and didn’t let her mess things up. She actually gets trashed bad, and the joke was totally on her, and the audience cheered for it. When the long end of a stick impales her face and a green-lit camera makes the gore seriously sick, you start to realize that this is not just another horror film. The twin aspect isn’t played up right away, but we realize that there are 3 people involved, and this movie starts to get seriously scary towards the end. The thing that made me think twice about the movie was the way the main heroine is treated, she’s not unscathed, she gets pummeled and even a finger cut off for her troubles. This movie is harder hitting than you might realize, and while it’s not the greatest, it is far better than critics said it was.

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Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows – The soundtrack made this one better than the first, and the story really turned into a ghost movie rather than a pure Blair Witch movie. This sequel was a cash grab, we all know that’s the main reason why they made this, but you know what? It doesn’t suck as bad as you might think. The movie is a strong ghost story with a killer soundtrack, and while there are some cheesy moments, there are some hard lined ghost points that I find scarier than any of the Paranormal Activity movies.

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Black Xmas (Christmas) 2006 – This movie did not get a lot of good reviews at all. It’s a sad thing to see such good remakes get swept under the rug with some of the other bad movies that are in fact terrible. That’s not the case in with this one; this movie showcases what good can happen when horror remakes are treated with care. This film is brutal, this film is gorey, it’s everything you want in a themed, rated R, horror movie. It’s not particularly scary, but it’s got some great twisted moments. You’ll be surprised how good it holds up, and how much better it is than the original film with the same name.

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation – I’m tired of reading and hearing people say this movie sucked. No, my friends, no critics, you SUCK. This movie is one of the hardest hitting editions of the series. The movie features some moments where you swear the actors have crossed that line between acting and reality, and that’s what you get here. RenĂ©e Zellweger gets her ass kicked, and Matthew McConaughey pushes the boundaries of acting and looks as though he’s legitimately choking someone out. Go back and watch this one, and you’ll be surprised how hard this movie was, and how great it is, even if there is some cheese involved.

There are always going to be movies that get trashed by us critics, but taking a second look, and watching closely again will reveal a great thing after the fact. It’s a matter of taking the time to pay attention to things you might have missed the first time. Remember, the links in "red" will get you to where you can purchase the movies, help me by checking them out there.

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1 comment:

  1. jervaise brooke hamsterAugust 16, 2012 at 5:14 PM

    I actually dont think theres such a thing as a bad horror movie (except British ones of course) simply because the horror genre itself is so great.

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