Low-Publicity Movies Worth Watching

[Adept Mechanicus]

Kontroll. It's a slightly surreal 2003 Hungarian thriller about the life of a group of Budapest Metro ticket inspectors. Plot-wise, it wasn't very good, but it's worth seeing multiple times because you will never see anything like it. The cinematography and lighting are great and the soundtrack introduced a whole new genre of music to me. Be warned, as the plot goes bananas about 2/3rds of the way through and turns into a surreal European...thing.

After circulating around a bunch of film festivals someone big noticed it and hired the director, Nimròd Antal to make Predators.

 

[Me55enger]

Avalon.

Think Matrix-esque, only in Polish, sepia and with an illegal FPS simulation.

Admittedly, the ending is 100% professional grade A shite, and the narrative is as obvious as my sex life, but damn, I was impressed at what it managed.

Go. Now.

EDIT: At what the film managed, not my sex life.

 

[Marter]

Since nobody besides me and the people I've recommended have seen it (and at this point it would be out of character not to recommend it), I have to say The Scorpion King 3. There. Obligatory mention is out of the way.

Now, I'm only going to go with films with under 10,000 ratings on IMDb, since I figure that's a fairly accurate way to guess popularity.

Snow Angels is what I'll mention first, since it's just such a personal film to me. It makes me cry each time I watch it.

The Tracey Fragments was a very odd, experimental film, and I absolutely adored it. Something to watch for some unique filmmaking.

Vivre sa vie is a wonderful French film from the New Wave period.

The Dead Girl is an emotional film telling a bunch of small stories.

That should be enough for now.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I don't know if Kill List was big in the UK or not but I know that hardly any people know about it in North America. This movie is pretty fantastic. There is so much tension throughout the movie and you always have this feeling that some terrible is going to happen. At first, it feels just like a suspense thriller for about the first two thirds, then it very much goes straight into horror. This is the first movie I've seen in a long time that I was genuinely scared during.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Another one

Hard Candy recommendation

Count me as a third recommendation of Hard Candy. Page is excellent in it, in my view.

I'd also like to recommend Hobo With A Shotgun. I'll use a description taken from Rotten Tomatoes for the film, "It certainly isn't subtle ? or even terribly smart ? but as a gleefully gory homage to low-budget exploitation thrillers, Hobo with a Shotgun packs plenty of firepower", I love that film.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I'm not sure how much advertising there was for a black comedy called, 'Bernie' staring Jack Black, but it seems to be one of my favorite movies that most people I know haven't really heard of.

Spoiler

"In the tiny, rural town of Carthage, TX, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede was one of the town's most beloved residents. He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Everyone loved and appreciated Bernie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent, an affluent widow who was as well known for her sour attitude as her fortune. Bernie frequently traveled with Marjorie and even managed her banking affairs. Marjorie quickly became fully dependent on Bernie and his generosity and Bernie struggled to meet her increasing demands. Bernie continued to handle her affairs, and the townspeople went months without seeing Marjorie. The people of Carthage were shocked when it was reported that Marjorie Nugent had been dead for some time, and Bernie Tiede was being charged with the murder."

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

Not a low budget movie but one that really didn't get the publicity it deserved, The Message (1976).

 

[LordFish]

The Moon!

and

Hanna

 

[ElectroJosh]

Primer

I'll second this one. Fantastic film.

I'm looking forward to Upstream Color (by the same writer/director as Primer) which comes out next year.

 

[mrblakemiller]

Splinter was OK. The monster design was cool but as far as characters go, I knew who would come out alive after 5-10 minutes.

Triangle was good.

*SNIP*


That should be enough for now.

I wasn't really surprised at who lived, I guess I was just grateful the film let me keep both the characters I wanted. There was no needless, "Let's make it a substantially less happy ending" to it.

Thanks for the suggestions.I'll be checking those out in a week when I don't have to study for a stupid Hebrew final.

 

[mrblakemiller]

There are lots that i've seen but i'm probably not going to be able to come up with many.

Dark city (really weird, totally underrated)

YES to Dark City. I saw the trailer for that when it came out (I was around 13) and never truly forgot about it, then I watched the film a few years ago and loved it. Of course, I watched it with the super-explanatory opening monologue, which probably killed part of its appeal, but I still thought it was great. I wish it had come out a year earlier so it didn't have to compete thematically with The MAtrix and could have found its own voice. Oh well.

 

[axlryder]

Primer - movie about time travel. A good movie about time travel. It's fucking brilliant - you have to take notes (really, do scribble them down) and then watch the movie again for it to make sense. I love it.

That's the only film I've ever watched that I legitimately had to view twice to fully understand. That said, I did find it a wee bit boring. The deadpan-20-somethings-who-are-too-smart-for-their-own-good shtick wore on me after a while.

OT: well waking life has been taken.

I guess I'll cheat an say some anime films that I feel transcend the anime demo and stand apart as great films.

The Place Promised in our Early Days.

The Girl Who Lept Through Time.

5 Centimeters Per Second.

Wings of Honneamise.

Robot Carnival (actually 7 short films made by different directors. All very good)

Memories (also a compilation piece, but this time 3 slightly longer short films)

Pretty much anything by Satoshi Kon.

Voices of a distant star (only like 20 minutes, but damn if it doesn't make you wanna bawl)

Haibane renmei (technically a 13 episode show, but definitely worth watching)

Mushi-Shi (also a show, also awesome)

A lot of Mayazaki stuff that's less popular is also very good like Grave of the Fireflies or Whisper of the Heart.

Admittedly some pretty melancholic films to varying degrees, but serious anime tends to be like that.

For non-anime, check out Six String Samurai. Crazy low-budget camp but fun.

 

[eimatshya]

I'd recommend D.E.B.S. It's a silly movie, but I somehow find it to be extremely endearing. It always leaves me with a smile on my face.

I'd also recommend the Mexican movies Temporada de Patos (Duck Season in the U.S.) and Matando Cabos (Killing Cabos in the U.S.). The first is sort of an indie dramedy and the second is more of a Guy Ritchie/Quentin Tarrantino style action comedy. In the case of both films, everyone I've shown them to has liked them a lot, so they seem like solid recommendations.

 

[Kakistos153]

Oh! Thought of more. Probably highly overrated in geek communities like this actually but...
Machete http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694/
Some of the most amazing one liners ever put to screen. "Machete don't text". Was made in response to how excited everyone got about a spoof trailer in the grindhouse movie...
Planet terror http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077258/
which really is probably my favourite zombie movie. The other movie that came with planet terror was pretty cool too. it was called...
Death Proof http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028528/
which is in its own spoofy kind of way quite an exciting thriller movie too.

I'm sure this is probably one place where grindhouse movies don't need to be recommended. But i certainly got on that train much later than i would have liked and would hate for someone to miss out on such great movies just because everyone assumed they'd seen them. cos, ya know, elitism.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Simon Pegg: A Fantastic Fear of Everything. Low budget comedy starring Simon Pegg, i assume it was in theatres in the UK or at least promoted there, but it sure as hell wasn't here