The Top 100 Underappreciated Films: Part One
By Darren Williams
30th July 2009

It's the nature of any artform that far too many deserving works seem to slip between the cracks and cinema is no different. No one person can ever see all the films that deserve attention, but in an attempt to cast some light into overlooked dark corners, here's a list of ten films that deserve more appreciation. In completely random order, with the acknowledgement that any review could contain minor spoilers, here's the first ten entries.

1. The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971; Stan Brakhage)

Brakhage's most notorious work is not for the faint of heart. A documentary short set in a Pittsburgh morgue, Brakhage literally stares death in the face for a filmed autopsy. Unlike some of the Faces of Death style death-for-exploitation films, Brakhage manages to find some beauty among the horror. He films a body like it's an alien landscape and we find ourselves becoming distanced from the corpses to find humanity again. A work that is both harrowing and breathtaking.

2. Apaches (1977; John Mackenzie)

The British government used to have a habit of trying to induce trauma in school children under the guise of protecting them. The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water is one of the most nightmarish figures of many a childhood. Apaches didn't reach as many kids as it seems to have been shown only in rural areas, but even if you see the film as an adult, it's a brutally brilliant piece of film-making. Apaches is the cinematic equivalent of Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies. It aims to warn children about the hidden dangers of farm life, where you can be run over by a tractor, drink some poison or drown in a slurry pit.

3. The Bell of Hell (1973; Claudio Guerin Hill)

John, an unbalanced young man is released from an asylum. He travels to see the aunt who had him committed and her beautiful daughters. He takes over their house, seducing his cousins and generally causing mayhem through a series of macabre practical jokes. It's virtually plotless and we can never really be sure if John was insane or if his aunt merely sought to have him committed so she could take control of his estate. An incredibly ambiguous film, it owes plenty to the surrealism of Bunuel and to the writings of horror masters like Poe, but it manages to carve out its own unique place in cinema.

4. Blue Sunshine (1976; Jeff Lieberman)

Films like Squirm and Just Before Dawn deserve to see Lieberman recognised as one of the masters of offbeat 70s/80s horror cinema, but Blue Sunshine is his greatest work. One of the weirdest films you could ever hope to see, Blue Sunshine follows a group of people who took an experimental form of acid in the 60s only to find their bad trip coming a decade too late. They go bald, go insane and start killing people in violent rages. Despite its odd premise, the low budget nature of the film, combined with Lieberman's unsung talent, makes Blue Sunshine into a deeply unnerving experience.

5. Fright (1971; Peter Collinson)

Peter Collinson was one of the most interesting directors of his generation, Fright sees him taking on the babysitter stalked by a maniac sub-genre of the slasher film. Although he did it seven years earlier than Halloween and, as much as I love Carpenter's work, Collinson gives us a far more memorable villain. Susan George is babysitting for the young child of Honor Blackman and George Cole. She's unaware that Blackman's ex-husband is psychotic and being held in a nearby asylum, and everyone is unaware that he's escaped and he's heading home. So far so cliched, but as the psychotic ex is played by the brilliant Ian Bannen the film leaps to a whole new level.

6. The House is Black (1963; Forugh Farrokhzad)

A heart-stopping, poetic short documentary from Iran a bout a leper colony. Directed by one of the most controversial poets ever to come out of that troubled company, the people in the colony are treated with dignity and grace as Farrokhzad refuses to allow the film to become a freak show. Her camera stares at the lepers without flinching and she takes us beyond the illness and shows us the people as they really are.

7. Ladybug Ladybug (1963; Frank Perry)

A rural American school is warned of a possible nuclear attack. Unaware if the alert is real or not, we follow the staff and the young students in a documentary style film as they make their way home. Flawless acting, especially from the children who get most of the screen time, and a chilling atmosphere make this an interesting and underrated entry in the nuclear war sub-genre. Like many of the best films in this sub-genre, it takes the global and makes it intimate and it shows that even in the middle of possible disaster, petty actions and bullying will still rule the day.

8. Rhinoceros (1974; Tom O'Horgan)

Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel's other film together was filmed as part of the American Film Theatre project. Based on a play from one of the leading voices in The Theatre of the Absurd, Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros presents us with a world where humans start turning into rhinos. A metaphor for the rise of fascism, Rhinoceros is a daring venture. The nature of the plot always sees the film running the risk of tipping over into outright laughability, but sensitive performances from the cast makes sure that it retains the blackly comic but thoughtful nature of the play.

9. School For Scoundrels (1960; Robert Hamer)

The subject of a crude American remake a few years ago, Hamer's original remains one of the most delightful British comedies of its period. Ian Carmichael is a lifelong loser. He can't get the girl of his dreams and he's bested at every turn by archetypal cad Terry-Thomas. In sheer desperation, he enrols at The College of Lifemanship, where old rogue Alastair Sim teaches him valuable lessons like 'One-upmanship'. The cast shine in their roles (how could they not?) and the dry witty banter makes it one of those films you could watch with your eyes closed and still adore.

10. What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972; Bill Bain)

Paul Nicholas lives with his elderly grandmother. He's a bit of a slacker who daydreams Nazi fantasies and is desperate to get his hands on grannie's money. Along with his callous girlfriend he comes up with a plan to scare his housebound grannie to death. He tells her that there's been a youth revolution and that the old are being taken into the streets and executed. An unappreciated examination of the generation gap, along with a malicious little black comedy, What Became of Jack and Jill should be must-see viewing for any fans of offbeat cinema.
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