For every horror movie that gets a mainstream audience, there are a dozen that fly under
the radar on their release.
So where can you find all the great horror movies you've never heard of?
One word: Netflix.
These underrated horror gems never got the attention they deserved, but now you can revel
in all the terror they have to offer from the comfort of your living room.
Holidays
Anthology horror has been making a comeback, and this dark riff on seasonal celebrations
is one of the lesser-known gems in the genre.
Eight different directors, including Kevin Smith and Gary Shore, contributed a creepy
pint-sized nightmare on a holiday theme.
Like most anthology films, not every one of these scary stories will hit home, but that's
also part of the charm.
The wildly inventive story lines and diverse approaches showcased in each of its short
films make Holidays the kind of movie that has something for everyone.
Hard Candy
Long before she was a well-known name in Hollywood, Ellen Page was the young star of this immensely
disturbing movie about a 14-year-old girl who's targeted by a middle-aged predator,
played by Patrick Wilson—only for the predator to realize he's the hunted, not the hunter.
Page carries the movie to a crazy conclusion that left no question about her star potential
at the time.
The controversial premise and minuscule budget made Hard Candy a tough sell when it came
to a traditional release.
But despite being awarded Overlooked Film of the Year at the 2006 Phoenix Film Critics
Society Awards, the movie has continued to be a hidden and little-seen gem.
Curve
In this horror flick about a road trip gone wrong, Julianne Hough stars as Mallory, a
bride-to-be whose car breaks down in the wild en route to her wedding rehearsal.
When a charming but sadistic hitchhiker enters the picture, Mallory's last hurrah as a single
girl turns into a fight for survival: she crashes her car and ends up trapped at the
bottom of a gulch, while the hitchhiker who survived the crash returns periodically to
taunt her.
Curve should've made a bigger splash than it did, but it got lost in early 2016 and
went straight to streaming.
However, the theater's loss was Netflix's gain, so catch it on the streaming service
before it disappears 'round the bend.
The Lazarus Effect
Released in 2015, this movie about a serum that can bring people back to life was almost
completely overlooked.
On sheer star power alone, The Lazarus Effect is virtually unmatched in an under-the-radar
horror movie, with Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Donald Glover, Sarah Bolger, and Evan Peters
all working their magic to elevate a less-than-inspired concept into legitimately scream-worthy territory.
And while it's true that the script could be tighter, don't believe the lack of hype
on this one: The Lazarus Effect is a far better movie than its low rating on Rotten Tomatoes
would suggest.
1922
Netflix definitely knew what it was doing when it snagged this little story for a screen
adaptation.
Based on a novella from Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars anthology, 1922 stars Thomas
Jane as Wilfred James, a farmer living in rural Nebraska during the period leading up
to the Great Depression.
Money troubles and marital conflict lead Wilfred to some very dark places—and it just goes
to show that sometimes, getting away with a crime is much worse than getting caught.
"I'd axed my wife to keep my home.
The only way I'd be leaving it now would be in chains."
Like many of Stephen King's best works, this is a character-driven horror, and strong performances
make it a standout—particularly from Jane, who immerses himself in the role so thoroughly
that it's hard to believe this same miserable, hay-chewing yokel is the same cosmopolitan
pretty boy from The Sweetest Thing.
"You're never gonna find anyone better than my brother here.
Here is the greatest and I am sure.
Just look at him, chicks freak on this guy."
Creep
In 2014, filmmaker Patrick Brice set out to answer the question "What's the worst thing
that could happen from meeting someone on Craigslist?"
Without spoiling anything, let's just say that the answer is something really bad.
That's what a videographer discovers when he goes to the home of Josef—played by Mark
Duplass, who also co-wrote and produced the movie—for what's supposed to be a documentary
project.
What starts out as the ordinary weirdness of internet strangers becomes something much
more disturbing.
"Oh that's Peach Fuzz.
That's just Peach Fuzz.
Say hello."
The result is a movie that more than lives up to its title.
Gerald's Game
With so many blockbusters the big screen in 2017, you might have missed some of the smaller
adaptations of Stephen King's works—including this one based on the 1992 novel of the same
name.
Gerald's Game centers on a woman named who ends up trapped, handcuffed to the bed at
her lake house after her husband has a heart attack.
As she struggles to find a way to escape, she's visited by a series of entities—some
real, some imagined, and some that seem to straddle the line between this world and the
next.
"Who are you?"
One of Netflix's original feature films, Gerald's Game was eagerly anticipated by hardcore King
fans but didn't get the kind of widespread attention merited by its creativity and star
power.
Despite the obvious challenges of holding down an entire two-hour film on her own, actress
Carla Gugino keeps it riveting, making this the finest horror movie set almost entirely
on a bed since, well, maybe ever.
Unless you count Bed of the Dead.
A Dark Song
This Irish independent horror movie flew under the radar when it released in 2017, but the
handful of film buffs who did see it were impressed—and with good reason.
A Dark Song centers on a grieving mother who hires an occultist to guide her through a
complex, months-long rite at a remote home in the Welsh countryside.
Despite a teensy budget and a very green director at its helm, A Dark Song boasts incredible
production values and phenomenal sound work that subverts the usual tried-and-true horror
film tropes.
Instead, the film revels in the slow burn and deliberately draws out the tension.
In the end, this entry is a deep, dark, and gorgeously acted meditation on loss that builds
into a harrowing and unexpected climax.
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