overlooked/underrated gems

[Dolph Lundgren]

Victor Salva's The Nature of the Beast would be a great candidate for this thread, as I think it's both underrated and overlooked.

The movie revolves around Jack (Lance Henriksen), a middle-class executive traveling on business, who stumbles on a murder scene.  The policemen at the scene advise him to be careful, as there is a serial killer in the area hitch-hiking in search of his next victim.  After being warned by the police, Jack meets Adrian (Eric Roberts) at a nearby diner, and from then on, continues to follow Jack wherever he goes.  Coincidentally (or not?) the murders continue everywhere the two go.

It sounds pretty straightforward, but Salva does a nice job in setting a bleak, dreary landscape surrounding the characters, adding a bit of creepiness to the movie.  Henriksen does a great job as always and Roberts is decent as well.  That and the movie contains a nice little plot twist at the end to keep things interesting.

Runaway Train is another one.  More overlooked than underrated, I'd say.  This is, without a doubt, the best legitimate movie that's ever come out of the Cannon Group.  The movie focuses on two escaped convicts (Jon Voight and Eric Roberts - again) who bust their way out of a prison in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.  The two end up catching a ride on a train, expecting to ride their way to freedom.  One slight problem: the engineer dies of a heart attack, leaving the duo, and a female railway worker, to try to stop the train, which is speeding out of control toward a dead end.  Check this one out if you can.

[Fearless Freep]

Hard to say, I lke a lof of bad stuff most people never hear of; are those overlooked/underated gems or just my bad taste?

[LilCerberus]

Fearless Freep Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hard to say, I lke a lof of bad stuff most people
> never hear of; are those overlooked/underated gems
> or just my bad taste?
>
> =======================
> Going places unmapped, to do things unplanned, to
> people unsuspecting


Since discovering the internet back in October 2000, and particularly since joining this board last summer, I'm often pleasantly suprised to discover just how many people tend to share my enthusiasm for particular films.

Case in point, for about fifteen years of my life, I never met anyone who liked Mad Max. Every time I mentioned it, people would just roll their eyes at me, some even going so far as to tell me how dumb it was & how dumb I was for liking it. Then I would counter by pointing out that scene where Mudguts (or rather his stunt double) takes a spill & gets whacked across the head by the back wheel of his own motorbike, and they would roll their eyes and grudgingly agree with me on that one scene.

So, no Fearless, it's not a matter of bad taste, just people's aprehension of the unknown.

As for me, I would've gone with Mad Max or Galaxy of Terror, but I've discovered over the past few years that too many people like those to fall under the overlooked/underrated category, so I'm going to have to go with Huntress: Spirit of the Night. Even though the plot (if you can call it a plot) is completely cheesey & unoriginal, I found it to be well directed by Mark Manos, with an excellent soundtrack by Fuzbee Morse, and of coarse, actress Jenna Bodnar has a nice rack.

[Neon Noodle]

Another one I really liked was "The Mechanic".

Since we have a lot of folks in here who liked "Equilibrium", this one will keep you happy, as Christian Bale was in it as well.

The script called for a 'walking skeleton' for the part, and that's EXACTLY what Bale looked like. He barely ate for a few months to look like he did.

Check out the trailer, give it a watch. It's really good.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/the_machinist.html

[Rombles]

Does Hudson Hawk count?

[Fearless Freep]

Does Hudson Hawk count?

As underrated or just overlooked :)

[akiratubo]

I love Hudson Hawk.

[onionhead]

AUUAUAUUUUUGHHH!!!!!!   HUDSON HAWK DOES NOT COUNT!!! IT SHOULD BE BURNED AT THE STAKE!!!!
Overblown, overbudgeted Bruce Willis ego trip.  Sandra Bernhard--blech!!
Anyway, Runaway Train, certainly overlooked.  Based on a script by Akira Kurosawa.  Terrific.