Happy Birthday to Me - 34 More Underrated Films from my Lifetime

Well, I enjoyed doing it last year, I thought I'd try it again this one too.  As a little birthday treat for myself, here are 34 films that deserve a bit of a better reputation than they currently do.  They're not necessarily the best of that year, or true classics, and some do have a better reputation than others, they just all deserve to be a bit better known.  Some are well known to film geeks, but they really should be household names.  Others are a lot more obscure, and just an audience to find them.  How many of these have you seen?


1986 Gothic Dir. Ken Russell (Horror, Cult)

With the tale of the night Frankenstein was conceived, Ken Russell showing his usual level of restraint and subtlety.  I.E. None.

1987 Eastern Condors Dir. Sammo Hung (Martial Arts, Action, War)

It's the Dirty Dozen with more kung fu.  I've sold you on this, haven't I?

1988 Cohen and Tate Dir. Eric Red (Thriller, Crime)

Content warning; contains Adam Baldwin, but don't worry, you're not asked to like him.

1989 The 'burbs Dir. Joe Dante (Dark Comedy, Horror)

Tom Hanks at his Tom Hanksiest, and Joe Dante at his Joe Danteist.  Excellent!

1990 Darkman Dir. Sam Raimi (Superhero, Action)

In the post Batman wave of crimefighter movies in the early 90s, this one's probably the most interesting, certainly has aged well.

1991 Cast a Deadly Spell Dir. Martin Campbell (Fantasy, Noir, Horror)

This movie gets bonus points from me for throwing in a little tribute to Casting the Runes halfway through.

1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Dir. David Lynch (Drama, Horror, Crime)

This is a little edit made in 2021; the director of the film that was originally in this slot was revealed to be an awful, awful person, so I've decided to go back and replace this film.  Have instead what I consider to be a strong contender for the best horror film of the 1990s.

1993 Iron Monkey Dir. Woo-Ping Yuen (Martial Arts, Action, Wuxia)

More people need to know what the word "Wuxia" means.

1994 In the Mouth of Madness Dir. John Carpenter (Cosmic Horror, Meta)

Shout out to my birthday buddy John Carpenter!  BTW, I know what the trailer says, IMDb says it first got shown in 1994, so that's the year I'm going with.  So there.  Nerr.

1995 The City of Lost Children Dir. Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Adventure)

Not going to be able to sum this one up in a glib sentence, just go see it.

1996 Mary Reilly Dir. Stephen Frears (Horror, Period Drama)

Critics at the time savaged this just for Julia Roberts' accent, but this is a damn fine take on the tale of Jekyll and Hyde, and weirdly, for a "revisionist" version, probably the film most true to the original book.

1997 Stephen King's The Night Flier Dir. Mark Pavia (Horror)

Nice for Miguel Ferrer to get a lead role, and one that plays to his strengths.

1998 The Last Broadcast Dir. Stefan Avalos, Lance Weiler (Horror, Mockumentary)

It's debatable how much influence this had on The Blair Witch Project, but beyond that it's a fascinating little bit of faux-documentary horror.

1999 Gamera: Revenge of Iris Dir. Shûsuke Kaneko (Kaiju, Fantasy, Sci-Fi)

The whole 90s Gamera Trilogy is well worth watching, and with Arrow Video working on a new boxset version, this summer might be the time to do so.

2000 The Specials Dir. Craig Mazin (Comedy, Superheroes)

James Gunn's entry into the world of superheroes, way before even Super.

2001 The Majestic Dir. (Period Drama, Romance)

It's schmaltzy, but a good schmaltzy.  Plus there's a Bruce Campbell cameo.

2002 Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary Dir. Guy Maddin (Ballet, Horror)

Yes, a ballet Dracula, really.  This might be the only Dracula adaptation I know of to include a really obscure note from the novel, where at one point he appears to bleed coins.

2003 Save the Green Planet! Dir. Joon-Hwan Jang (Horror, Comedy, Sci-Fi)

One of the few titles from the whole "torture" subgenre I still have a lot of time for, because there's so damn much else going on in here.

2004 Incident at Loch Ness Dir. Zak Penn (Mockumentary)

Fans of The Mandalorian, watch this to start to understand why Werner Herzog, who played The Client is kind of a legend.

2005 Mirrormask Dir. Dave McKean (Fantasy, Adventure)

It's Neil Gaiman writing a spiritual successor to Labyrinth.  Why the hell isn't this better known?

2006 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Dir. Tom Tykwer (Period Drama, Horror, Fantasy)

I wonder if at one point they were thinking about one of those "smell-o-vision" gimmicks for this one.

2007 Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth Dir. Richard Schenkman(Sci-Fi, Drama, Lo-Fi)

If you're wondering, Jerome Bixby was a writer who did, amongst other things, the Star Trek episode Mirror Mirror, and the Twilight Zone's It's a Good Life, and this film was based on his final script.

2008 Pontypool Dir. Bruce McDonald (Zombie Horror)

This one's plot is not sample to sum up, but sample to say that the virus works by the sample in the sample sample sample sample SAMPLE...

2009 Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel Dir. Gareth Carrivick (Comedy, Sci-Fi)

The writer of this one, Jamie Mathieson, has since done some great Doctor Who episodes too, including the wonderfully named Mummy on the Orient Express.

2010 The Illusionist Dir. Sylvain Chomet (Animation, Drama, Comedy)

Definitely not to be confused with that one with Edward Norton in.  This one will make you cry, in the best way possible.

2011 The Innkeepers Dir. Ti West (Drama, Ghost Story)

As a friend of mine put it, "you know this is a real horror film, because for the first hour, nothing happens..."

2012 Resolution Dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead (Drama, Cosmic Horror)

I could have put any of Benson and Moorhead's films (Spring, The Endless, Synchronic) on this list to be honest.  Try and find a copy of The Endless special edition blu ray, as it includes this one too.

2013 A Field in England Dir. Ben Wheatley (Folk Horror, Comedy, Wibble)

I saw this twice on the day it first released, once in the cinema, and once with the Film 4 TV showing; with a comic con in between the two, that was one hell of a day!

2014 Predestination Dir. The Spierig Brothers (Sci-Fi, Time Paradoxes)

The mother (and father, and whole family tree) of time paradoxes...

2015 Cop Car Dir. Jon Watts (Thriller)

This film got Jon Watts the gig of directing the MCU Spider-Man movies.

2016 The Girl with All the Gifts Dir. Colm McCarthy (Zombie Horror, Sci-Fi)

Everytime you think the zombie genre has gotten worn down to a bloody stump, something like this comes along to give things a shot in the arm.

2017 Professor Marston & the Wonder Women Dir. Angela Robinson (Docudrama, Kink)

It's like Shakespeare in Love, with more bondage.  A lot more bondage.

2018 Upgrade Dir. Leigh Whannell (Cyberpunk, Action)

This just got a great special edition blu ray from Second Sight Films, definitely pick it up, this is likely to be a video night favourite for years to come.

2019 Extra Ordinary Dir. Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman (Comedy, Ghost Story)

Seriously, make this top priority for Halloween this year, it's an absolute hoot.

Ah, that was fun and fine therapy!  Next year I'm thinking of doing something a bit different of doing films leading up to my birth year rather than counting from it.  Be interesting to see how that pans out.