Happy Birthday to Me! - Under-Appreciated Movies in my Lifetime

Yay, I'm older!  To mark this occasion, I decided to follow Moviebob's lead and present to you a list thirty three underrated films, one for every complete journey around the sun I've made so far.  DISCLAIMER: I am not saying these are necessarily the best of the years they came out in, or that they are all the same level of quality or anything like that, they're just a bunch of films that I think need a bit of a better reputation then they already have.  Some might already have a good following but are not household names yet, some may be ones that are well thought of but are/were overshadowed by something else, others may be really obscure ones that need to find an audience.  How many of these have you seen?  Agree with my choices?  Comment below!


1986 Basil the Great Mouse Detective (Dir. Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, John Musker) (Animation, Family, Adventure)

I was amazed when I found out that Barrie Ingham, who voiced Basil, was in another of my favourites growing up, Dr. Who and the Daleks!

1987 White of the Eye (Dir. Donald Cammell) (Horror, Thriller)

This is perhaps one of the closest things we ever got to a true American Giallo, especially in terms of the style, the use of colour, and a whole lot of weirdness.

1988 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Dir. Terry Gilliam) (Action, Adventure, Fantasy)

I managed to find the very trailer from Channel 4 where I first found out about this! Boy, Channel 4 back in the day was great...

1989 3615 Code Pere Noel [AKA Dial Code Santa Claus, Game Over, Deadly Games] (Dir. René Manzor) (Adventure, Horror, Christmas)

A very new discovery for me, and one that all of a sudden film fans worldwide are finding out about too!  About time!

1990 Night of the Living Dead (Dir. Tom Savini) (Horror)

I got to see this in the company of star Patricia Tallman recently; that was a great Halloween!

1991 The People Under the Stairs (Dir. Wes Craven) (Horror)

If you're a Twin Peaks fan, this film is an even more wild experience, thanks to the casting of Everett McGill and Wendy Robie.

1992 Sneakers (Dir. Phil Alden Robinson)  (Thriller, Heist, Comedy)

Great fun, although Dan Aykroyd playing a weird conspiracy nut is a bit less funny if you know how he is in real life.

1993 Matinee (Dir. Joe Dante) (Comedy, Drama, Pastiche)

My favourite gag in this film oddly isn't one about the monster movies, rather it's a pitch perfect pastiche of what live action Disney flicks used to be like!

1994 The Hudsucker Proxy (Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen) (Comedy, Drama)

I first heard of this in Bruce Campbell's autobiography, If Chins Could Kill.  He only has a tiny part, but still, thanks Bruce for putting it on my radar!

1995 In the Bleak Midwinter/A Midwinter's Tale (Dir. Kenneth Branagh) (Comedy, Drama)

Yeah, he's a fun Poirot these days, but I'd love Branagh to make something of this ilk again. C'mon, Ken, once Artemis Fowl is done?  Please?

1996 The Long Kiss Goodnight (Dir. Renny Harlin) (Action)

I'll let Mikey Newman explain this one.

1997 Perfect Blue (Dir. Satoshi Kon) (Anime, Horror, Thriller)

Eyepatch Wolf, inform the people please.

1998 Dark City (Dir. Alex Proyas) (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Noir)

First film I ever watched on DVD, and the first Blu Ray I ever bought. Although I have to ask, Alex Proyas, what happened to you man?

1999 Ravenous (Dir. Antonia Bird) (Horror, Adventure)

I bet many Italian exploitation filmmakers back in the day wished they knew about the Wendigo legend...

2000 Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (Dir. Curt Geda) (Animation, Superhero)

Warner Bros, seriously, Batman Beyond live action with Keaton back as Bruce Wayne.  You know it makes sense!

2001 The Others (Dir. Alejandro Amenábar) (Horror, Drama)

It got overshadowed by The Sixth Sense, but it is at least that film's equal in my book.  Although as a more "classic" ghost story fan, the period setting may be biasing me somewhat...

2002 Cypher (Dir. Vincenzo Natali) (Sci-Fi, Thriller)

I could have put most of Vincenzo Natali's filmography on here TBH, but I do at least try to mix things up.

2003 Belleville Rendez-vous/The Triplets of Belleville (Dir. Sylvain Chomet) (Animation, Family)

A great one in its own right, and it also helped me discover the works of Jacques Tati!

2004 Dead Man's Shoes (Dir. Shane Meadows) (Thriller, Drama, Horror)

Seriously, why doesn't this turn up in more "best horror" film lists?

2005 Joyeux Noel (Dir. Christian Carion) (Drama, War, Christmas)

I admit, I'm a sucker for anything involving this event, like Capaldi's last episode. Well, maybe not that Sainsbury's advert so much...

2006 Severance (Dir. Christopher Smith) (Horror, Comedy)

How many slashers do you know that can pull off elaborate Dr. Strangelove references?

2007 Trick 'r Treat (Dir. Michael Dougherty) (Horror, Portmanteau, Hallow'een)

So looking forward to Dougherty's Godzilla film this year!

2008 Lake Mungo (Dir. Joel Anderson) (Horror, Mockumentary)

Another good example of how fake documentary can be a more effective form of found footage tale then just showing the footage in order.

2009 Bunny and the Bull (Dir. Paul King) (Comedy, Drama)

If you liked Paddington, check out the same director's first feature.  Seriously, judging from the box office numbers, it was me and three other people when it first came out!

2010 Rare Exports: A Christmas Story (Dir. Jalmari Helander) (Horror, Adventure, Christmas)

It was a toss up between this and Trollhunter for this year; an oddly good time for Nordic region based monster movies.

2011 Headhunters (Dir. Morten Tyldum) (Thriller, Crime, Scandidrama)

If this isn't the best film where a guy hides in a big pit of poo you'll see this decade, I don't want to know what you're streaming tonight.

2012 Sightseers (Dir. Ben Wheatley) (Comedy, Drama, Horror)

There's a visit to a pencil museum.  And an awful lot of murder.

2013 The Congress (Dir. Ari Folman)(Sci-Fi, Drama, Animation)

It's a bit amusing in hindsight as this has Robin Wright worried about her future just before she gets to kick all the arse in Wonder Woman.

2014 Moomins on the Riviera (Dir. Xavier Picard, Hanna Hemilä) (Animation, Family, Comedy)

Because Moomins.

2015 The Final Girls (Dir. Todd Strauss-Schulson) (Comedy, Horror, Drama)

This story has a lot more resonance when you know that one of the writers is the son of Jason Miller from The Exorcist.

2016 The Gatehouse (Dir. Martin Gooch) (Horror, Drama)

A Blood on Satan's Claw style folk horror.  For families.

2017 Top Knot Detective (Dir. Aaron McCann, Dominic Pearce) (Comedy, Mockumentary)

This is coming out on disc and streaming in March, definitely check it out.  DEDUCTIVE REASONING!!!

2018 Nightshooters (Dir. Marc Price) (Action, Comedy, Thriller)

Between this and Jailbreak, Jean-Paul Ly is rapidly becoming one of my favourite new action stars.

Well, that was fun to put together.  More Christmas stuff ended up in there than I expected, maybe I'm still on a bit of a holiday kick. (Did you know that technically it used to go on until February the 1st?).  I should mention that a lot of tough decisions went into this one, with 2009 for some reason being the hardest one to narrow down.  Still, I have enough left in the "honourable mentions folder that I may do another one next year...