Best Stuff No One is Watching

[Greg Hanson]

What are your "undiscovered gems?" Films that are drastically misunderstood, or perhaps just woefully under-watched, that you'd show your other delinquent friends?

Recently, I bought a ratty VHS copy of a film called Evil Town, a hilariously-inept fusion of mad scientist mumbo jumbo, killer old people, slasher sleaze, and horrible dialogue. Never even sort of released on DVD, this one had us in stitches from minute one where a sign coming into the titular "evil town" reads "Small Town, Pop. 666" in all seriousness.

[John Battles]

That's a good question....I don't know about movies NO ONE is watching , but , there was always "Skidoo" , before it finally became commercially available , recently.

Other  movies I like to share would be "Neighbors" , not Horror or Sci - Fi , but , Psychotronic as Hell. Any movie that name - drops Sky Saxon and gives the antagonist (Dan Akyroyd before the mandatory ban on classic SNL alumni from being funny or even relevant , barring Bill Murray.) a Clutch Cargo Hairdo , and a soundtrack that cross - references The Twilite Zone theme , The Doors and The DEAD kENNEDYS (AS BURNED OUT AS I AM ON THE LATTER TWO), would have been a blockbuster smash in a world where Pee Wee Herman has a hit Saturday Morning SERIES , and Tim Burton has a seemingly endless run of box office blockbusters......Oh  , yeah , that all happened , too , just not soon enough.

The funniest  forgotten comedy of the 80's , and one of the funniest forgotten comedies , ever , is The Hollywood Knights (1980). The best pranks , EVER. It's LIKE "Porky's" , but , it's FUNNIER....Robert Wuhl (Who I predicted would become a big star , but , instead joined Dan Akyroyd , prematurely , at The Old Unfunny Folks' Home.) , and a pre - fame Fran Drescher create side - splittingly funny  sexual tension , while Tony Danza (Already famous. I think. I read that he died , two different times. What is the deal?) and a pre - fame Michelle Pfeiffer just talk about marriage and "The Future". Yawn.

[dave]

Wow, Evil Town sounds great, someone should make some vanity copies and spread 'em around!

I'd like to nominate THE LOVED ONE, a black comedy from 1965? It's based on a Terry Southern screenplay of an Evelyn Waugh book. I think it's blacker than Dr. Strangelove. It's got an army of genius cameos from Roddy McDowell as a studio hack, to James Coburn as a Customs nazi, to John Gielgud as a relic of the studios past. Brilliant! Johnathan Winters plays 2 roles, Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy, it's almost like a John Waters film.

[Greg Hanson]

Those all sound awesome! I need to check those out!

Another gem we recently happened upon was direct-to-video madness of Ultra Warrior - an excruciatingly 80s post-apocalyptic number where Dack Rambo has to go into the uninhabitable desert to see if there's a way to extract the resources. The problem is that no one has ever returned from there. They get followed and captured and there's a lot of convoluted weirdness but he turns out to be the savior of these misunderstood mutants. 

There's a ton of footage culled from 80s Corman flicks with hilarious voiceover to try to connect it to the plot (of which there isn't much). There's a mutant with four boobs, lots of unnecessary gang action, makeshift coliseum, and lots of other really really stupid stuff. It's pretty awesome to get drunk to this one.

[Howie Pyro]

An absolute classic obsession is Shanty Tramp, and another ultra hysterical stupid piece of amazement is Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters, which takes Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily concept & shits out in a McDonalds bag & throws it out the school bus window...at all of us! haha

[B.B. Fultz]

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things -- low budget zombie film from 1971. One of the weirdest (and coolest) movies ever made. The first time I saw it, or part of it, I was around 9 or 10. I remember it made the teenage babysitter scream and cover her eyes, so it immediately made a positive first impression on me. When I was older I saw it in its entirety and fell in love with it. A twisted, funny, creepy morality play, about why it's not wise to mock what you don't understand. Directed by Bob Clark, the same guy who did Porky's AND the perennial classic A Christmas Story (talk about diverse). The fact that the cast boasts, in small print, the names of about a hundred extras will give you an idea of where it's headed. One of the most awesomely tasteless (and awesomely awesome) movies I've ever seen, and it's practically unheard of today. Seriously, I really can't describe this movie. It's nothing like anything else. You have to see it to get it, there's just something ... quintessential about it.

[Greg Hanson]

Shanty Tramp and CSPwDT are both amazing! I love Alan Ormsby - if you dug Children, have you seen Deranged? Really fun and directed by Ormsby.

Another killer one that I caught recently was The Godfather Squad, one of the many Brucesploitation epics that came about in the wake of Bruce Lee's untimely demise. The Godfather Squad, though, may be one of the most amazingly silly chop socky numbers I have ever seen because it is pretty ruthless. It keeps the silly action going and constantly one-ups itself on the silly factor because it introduces international espionage/assassination stuff, so there's a lot of ridiculous ways to try to kill the main character. Within the first ten minutes there is an exploding dog. 'Nuff said.

[dave]

What about the UK cartoon Monkey Dust? It's pretty smart-ass.

Monkey Dust is a British satirical cartoon, notorious for its dark humour and handling of taboo topics such as bestiality, murder, suicide and paedophilia. Wiki

This may not be for everyone, but how bout a Japanese show called Hard Gay (sample episode.

Just throwing out suggestions, sorry if I'm off the mark.

[B.B. Fultz]

Thanks, I heard of Deranged somewhere but didn't see it yet. If it's Ormsby it should be pretty interesting.

Here are two more less-than-popular, low-budget horror movies I have to mention ...

Blood Diner -- an 80s "tribute" to Herschell G. Lewis's splatter classic Blood Feast, directed by Jackie Kong and with "Shetar" instead of Ishtar. Except Blood Diner knows it's trashy and offensive, and deliberately plays it for all it's worth. It's really a comedy pretending to be a horror movie. And it seriously might be the funniest movie I've ever seen. Not in a "so bad it's funny" way, but in a self-consciously tongue-in-cheek way that borders on genius. It's the only low budget horror movie I'd actually list in my top 10 favorite films of all time (unless you also count Phantasm as low budget, as that's up there too). Blood Diner's a must-see. Tacky, ridiculous, hilarious, and brilliant.

Clownhouse -- one of the creepiest low-budget horror films ever. If you're not scared of clowns, you probably will be after watching this. Three escaped lunatics kill some circus clowns (ironically because they're pissed off they were denied "circus priveledges") and disguise themselves as the dead clowns, then go after three teenagers in this big house. It's got all the earmarks of a really cheap, really bad horror movie, except somehow it ends up being scary as fuck. It's as if they took the Boris Karloff quote "The most terrifying image is a clown in the night" and made it into a full length film. Lots of clown faces coming out of the shadows. A total creepshow.

 

Not sure if this thread is meant for TRULY bad low budget horror, or just obscure and unpopular stuff. Both of those movies are actually pretty cool IMO, but they're both practically unknown by anyone, which is kind of a shame.  

[Andy Climax]

Something old, something new. Check these great movies out.

[dave]

There's this Japanese film,The Eel, which is weird. It starts out w/ angst and a murder, then turns into a comedy with some slapstick at the end. Fantastic, but I've never heard of another movie doing this.

Oh, shit! You can watch the whole thing w/ English sub-titles!

[Greg Hanson]

It's meant for whatever it means to anyone. I personally gravitate towards the absurdly hilarious, unknown budget genre flicks but there are just a lot of totally crazy movies no one is watching (as well as movies that it's totally crazy that no one is watching). 

I love Blood Diner. It recently came out on DVD for the first time in the US on one of these eight movie horror packs. Awesome. 

I haven't seen Clownhouse but I hear it's crazy and terrifying, considering the director's penchant for molesting little boys (and it stars a little boy). 

B.B. Fultz said:

Thanks, I heard of Deranged somewhere but didn't see it yet. If it's Ormsby it should be pretty interesting.

Here are two more less-than-popular, low-budget horror movies I have to mention ...

Blood Diner -- an 80s "tribute" to Herschell G. Lewis's splatter classic Blood Feast, directed by Jackie Kong and with "Shetar" instead of Ishtar. Except Blood Diner knows it's trashy and offensive, and deliberately plays it for all it's worth. It's really a comedy pretending to be a horror movie. And it seriously might be the funniest movie I've ever seen. Not in a "so bad it's funny" way, but in a self-consciously tongue-in-cheek way that borders on genius. It's the only low budget horror movie I'd actually list in my top 10 favorite films of all time (unless you also count Phantasm as low budget, as that's up there too). Blood Diner's a must-see. Tacky, ridiculous, hilarious, and brilliant.

Clownhouse -- one of the creepiest low-budget horror films ever. If you're not scared of clowns, you probably will be after watching this. Three escaped lunatics kill some circus clowns (ironically because they're pissed off they were denied "circus priveledges") and disguise themselves as the dead clowns, then go after three teenagers in this big house. It's got all the earmarks of a really cheap, really bad horror movie, except somehow it ends up being scary as fuck. It's as if they took the Boris Karloff quote "The most terrifying image is a clown in the night" and made it into a full length film. Lots of clown faces coming out of the shadows. A total creepshow.

 

Not sure if this thread is meant for TRULY bad low budget horror, or just obscure and unpopular stuff. Both of those movies are actually pretty cool IMO, but they're both practically unknown by anyone, which is kind of a shame.  

[Andy Climax]

 Maybe not far out enough but Alex Winters 'Freaked' is an amazing piece of Schlock Horror nonsense