Five Movies We Love Introducing to People

We're always running across movies we wish more of our friends have seen. (Hell, we're always running into movies we can't believe our friends haven't told us to see already!) Sometimes these movies fly under the radar because of studios lack of marketing skills, sometimes the wrong critics reviewed them, sometimes the films were marketed to the wrong audiences. But whatever the reason, we're always championing something, so here are five movies we're always suggesting people watch.


Housebound

This is one of those movies that starts in one genre and ends in another (see also Botched and Bone Tomahawk), and that makes it hard to recommend without giving stuff away. But over all, this is a comedy that ventures into coming of age, haunting, and horror. If you like movies like Shaun of the Dead, The Frighteners give this one a shot, likely you won’t be disappointed.




Attack the Block

We were lucky enough to catch a sneak preview for this one and we waited very excitedly for it to be released so we could take all our friends to see it! Unfortunately, it was only in one theater here for one week. So we waited way too long for it to come out for home viewing. It’s MADDENING that this flick didn’t get the audience it truly deserved. It's so much fun! It's reminiscent of the Goonies, but it's kids in a south London neighborhood saving their high-rise from an alien invasion. The casting is sublime considering the main stars are so young, plus it’s also John Boyega’s first feature flick!


The Guest

This is Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard’s latest film and it's sort of a modern take on The Hand That Rocks the Cradle mixed with the classic stalker/slasher films. Tension is drawn out over a pretty atmosphere and great character development making the action payoffs all the more intense. Or as another friend so succinctly put it, “it's fucking sexy”.

Detention

This was a film we almost turned off because we were hating it so much. But about half way through it clicked and we wanted to watch it all over again! As much meta mockery as it is embracing the things it's being cheeky about, it's another one of those “weird with heart” movies we keep loving. You'll catch nods to just about every teen movie under the sun in this horror/coming of age/high school love/time travel/body swapping movie, but they manage to keep a plot going through all the chaos and slick visuals.

Dredd

We showed this to a room full of people who had been burned by the Judge Dredd movie from the 90s, but it didn't take long into watching this one for those wounds to heal! Somehow this movie is intensely pretty and very gritty at once. Dredd is also similarly as all-action as the Raid, even taking place in a high-rise, though neither were aware of the other until their releases. And unlike other double-idea releases (Deep Impact and Armageddon for instance) these two hold their own as unique films likely because they just happened to have similar ideas at the same time, rather than having heard there was something in production and trying to rip it off.