Netflix has been repeatedly criticized for its choice of films by the refined film buffs, who claim that it relies too much on the mainstream, leaving little to no space for world cinema or imaginative works that dare think outside the box.

While it is arguably true that Netflix does give the most space to the most popular of the titles, which is a logical thing to do if you’re running a business you want to consistently make profit, there’s also enough room for the appreciators of the hidden gems.

A fine selection of pictures is present across pretty much all genres, but the thrillers are a matter of our exceptional interest today. Some of them are recent flicks that still didn’t get enough time to kick off in the heat of the recent dramatic events on the global scale, but there’s also a few oldies that the the time seems to have forgotten.

From Orson Welles and Brian de Palma to Bollywood and Spain, here is a diverse bunch of great films that you should check out if you intend to get petrified, confused and, quite a few times, completely mind blown:

10. The Occupant (2020)

Exclusively an online feature, The Occupant saw the light of day on the 25th of March this year. Due to the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus, it wouldn’t really stand a chance at a theatrical distribution, to be honest, which is why the internet proved to be a good friend of this interesting Spanish flick.

Coming from Alex and David Pastor, two immensely talented Spanish writers/directors who traditionally work together (despite havintg a small number of solo features), starring the brilliant Javier Gutierrez Alvarez as a struggling businessman, and legends of local cinema such as David Selvas, Mario Casas and Ruth Diaz in supporting role, it starts on a seemingly tedious, everyday note, and slowly but surely grows into a solid thriller, and not a watered-down family drama as one might suppose at first.

Though not becoming an instant hit, it was warmly welcomed by a limited number of people who have seen it so far, casual viewers and professional film critics alike. Often compared to the more popular recent features, most notably Bong Joon-ho’s award-winning The Parasite, it was nonetheless widely acclaimed as a perfectly solid stand-alone achievement. The chief reason it didn’t get the clout it could have gotten was probably the aforementioned pandemic, but The Occupant still got away with a better outcome than what could have happened in the case of a theatrical release.

9. Thambi (2019)

A prime example of delicious fun mixed with occasionally unsuccesfull bits of sobriety, Thambi is one of the best thrillers we got from the Indian subcontinent in the last decade or so.

Directed and co-written by Jeethu Joseph, a man behind some of the finest motion pictures and TV shows of Bollywood in the 21st century, and with Jotyika, Sathyaraj and Karthi as the three mains, it is a finely acted and endlessly entertaining picture, on a constant brink between action and thriller.

8. 13 Sins (2014)

While 13 Sins has been dubbed a questionable piece of artistic expression by many, almost everybody can agree that it’s viciously funny and entertaining, even if it doesn’t meet the expectations of profoundness and subtext.

Directly inspired by 2006 Thai film by the name of 13 Beloved (that is a bit lighter in nature than this one), it is filled with visible allusions to the original, but also manages to create its own unique style as the plot thickens and the characters develop.

Our main character, an average family man by the name of Elliot Brindle, will have his life turned upside down one day after he loses his middle class job that provided for him and his completely dependent family.

To make an extra buck or two in the time of crisis, he agrees to participate in a challenge, where 13, at first seemingly harmless tasks will be given to him and he’ll walk out with a satisfactory amount of cash.

Things quickly spiral out of control and Elliot quickly learns that there is a catch to every deal. His acknowledgement comes a tad too late and he is left with no choice but to mourn at his unfortunate destiny.

7. The Stranger (1946)

It would not be an understatement to say that Orson Welles’ entire opus is overshadowed by the sweeping success of Citizen Kane. The only film that got even a tad close to Citizen Kane’s status in film circles is maybe The Trial, but even that one is a long distance away from the aforementioned.

With Welles taking the role of Franz Kindler, a vicious Nazi who was an architect of the Holocaust, and is now hiding in the United States under the alias of Charles Rankin, a high school teacher, and the splendid Loretta Young embodying Kindler’s love interest, Mary Longstreet, it doesn’t take an awful lot of words to explain why you should see this masterful work of art and a brilliant film noir that can very well compare to the most well-known works of the genre.

It opened to positive reviews and quite solid financial gains. It is, to this day, considered the only film of Orson Welles that truly managed to make a profit. Contemporary critics hold it in high regard as well, but the same cannot be said about the contemporary audiences who don’t seem to find The Stranger all that appealing.

6. The Platform (2019)

Also known as El Hoyo (meaning The Hole) in Spanish, this splendid achievement is one of the strongest films of its kind that the cinema of the Latin world gave us. Considering the numerous competition, that is quite an achievement.

Directed by Galder Gaztelu Urrutia, a newcomer to the feature length form, it proved to be one of the most amazing debut efforts of this century. With Ivan Massague cast as the main character, a charming bloke by the name of Goreng, who trades half a year of his life in exchange for a diploma, and a handful of delightful actors at the dawn of their careers playing the supporting roles (Zorion Eguileor as Trimagasi and Antonia San Juan as Imoguiri to name a few), it is a showcase of outstanding actings, despite most of the crew having little to no experience on the silver screen prior to this film.

The plot revolves around a mysterious form of enclosement (the titular platform), a prison of sort where inmates are trapped in a vertical object and forced to cooperate with each other in the life and death matters such as the distribution of food unless they wish to get collectively annihilated. The film is expertly paced, remarkably entertaining and manages to make a political allegory in a fairly not on-the-nose way.

A good film cannot happen without a good hero. That much is clear to everyone. The fact that one cannot happen without a good villain as well seems to have been forgotten by many filmmakers throughout the decades and we have been left with a bunch of cardboard cutouts instead of real bad guys of flesh and blood, that we can actively recognize as real people.

Fortunately, however, the unsung heroes of cinema constantly went against the norms in order to create motion pictures that could be properly enjoyed, with actual human beings with their motives, needs and wishes on both sides of the story. We got baddies with a soft side, psychopaths with moral codes, serial killers with loving families.

We also got our fair share of criminal masterminds, villains that you can’t help but admire for their intellect, if not actively root for them. Here is a list of mostly human antagonists of motion pictures that rank among the smartest characters in cinema. Some half-human and alien admissions are also present:

10. Pinhead – Hellraiser (1987)

It should be noted, before we move on, that this charming villain portrayed by Doug Bradley, now almost universally known by the name of Pinhead, was simply dubbed the lead Cenobite in the first installment of the Hellraiser franchise. We shall still refer to him by the more well known name.

What once was a man of flesh and blood, now is a paranormal being dubbed the Cenobite, under the command of this weird looking fellow. He doesn’t speak a lot, like some villains do, detailing his plans and actions, but the wordless torture he brings upon the souls unfortunate enough to cross his path speaks enough of both his capabilities as a villain and a man of intelligence.

Some would perhaps claim that his large success rate has more to do with a bunch of other wordly abilites he has, but it is pretty evident from the earliest moments that there is also quite a bit of thinking involved in the little sadistic hell of Pinhead’s.

9. Norman Bates – Psycho (1960)

It would be downright absurd to try and explain influence of Alfred Hithcock’s wondrous mind on the way we view cinema today. Famously dubbed master of suspense, he reformed the genres of thriller and horror, paving the way for many talented filmmakers that would come in the future.

He truly had a knack for a good villain, from the earliest days of his career back in Britain, through his golden years in Hollywood, all the way to the inglorious finish of his career in the seventies.

Psycho remains his best known work to date. Rightfully so, many would claim, but a good portion would also disagree, citing North by Northwest and Vertigo as superior works of the master.

Whatever you hold to be his true masterpiece, it is undeniable that Psycho brought us one of the greatest villains on the silver screen: Norman Bates. Portrayed by the great Anthony Perkins in what proved to be the role of his career, this young man with mommy issues and a plethora of other, related and unrelated mental problems, remains wonderfully cunning throughout the film despite the fact that he is also emotion driven a lot of the time.

8. John Doe – Se7en (1995)

With a stellar cast consisting of Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey, and an intriguing plot building on the themes of religion and justice, Se7en was an instant success, and is still widely considered one of the greatest achievements in the not so long, albeit marvellous opus of David Fincher.

Similarly to one villain that we’ll focus on more later on in this article, the bad guy Spacey portrayed occupies only a fraction of the film’s screen time, and is still unidentified by the investigators by the time the end credits roll, yet he leaves the strongest impression on the audience due to his calm demeanor, cruel mischiefs and the plan that he is so commited to carrying out.

The secret of his success lies in both the fantastic writing and the flawless acting. Unlike some of the other entries here, the greatness of John Doe is almost equally made up of these two parts and even a slight mishap in casting or writing would result in a villain not as great and not as smart.

7. Patrick Bateman – American Psycho (2000)

Brett Easton Elis’s novel shocked the hell out of the American public when it was released in 1991, but was also widely praised. Nine years later, the movie adaptation, though quite liberal in its use of source material and shocking in a completely different right than the novel it builds upon, did the same: once again, the moralists stood in horror as Patrick Bateman slashed hookers and killed kittens while critics focused on the subtext and analyzed the hidden meanings of a seemingly larger message film was trying to get across.

While undeniably unlikable to a significant degree, and oftentimes emotion driven, one cannot deny that Bateman is an intelligent fellow, if sometimes in matters not directly concerning the ordeal of events in the picture.

6. Dr. Heiter – Human Centipede (2009)

Human Centipede hit the world of horror like a shockwave when it appeared, about a decade ago. Just when we gave up on the idea that something truly shocking would ever again appear in cinema, Tom Six gave us his directorial debut.

Truth be told, it wasn’t a film of exceptional artistic merit: it is often cliched, mostly unrealistic, sometimes naive, but always horrifiyingly disgusting. The mere concept of three human beings being sewn together in a centipede like conjuction is enough to evoke disgust in some people, so it’s suffice to say how deeply the depiction of the aforementioned process affects the viewer.

One of the brighter parts of the film, besides the shock and gore factor, was the late Dieter Laser’s stunning performance as a lunatic surgeon fullfilling his demented fantasies.

Cold and emotionless, yet stunningly smart, one can’t help but admire him for his capabilities, if not revere him for his goals. In all honesty, he would probably turn out to be a fairly unremarkable character was it not for stellar Mr. Laser.

The non-American and, especially, non-Hollywood cinema, is neglected on a global scale by film goers who are used to seeing the same old tropes recycled to absurdity. Almost every year since the dawn of cinema, a handful of great flicks came out around the world that no one paid attention to that much. Some enjoyed their five minutes of fame and fortune in the Western film circles, but were swiftly discarded afterwards, and some didn’t even make it that far.

Here is a list of a few chiefly world cinema features, of European, Asian and African cinema, that can rightfully be dubbed masterpieces:

10. Red Sorghum (1988) – dir. Yimou Zhang

Yimou Zhang is one of the most acclaimed Chinese filmmakers of the Fifth Generation. This great film, based on a Mo Yan novel of almost the same name, marked his debut on the silver screen in the role of the director. He previously dabbled in cinema as a cinematographer in multiple lesser-known motion pictures. Despite his relative inexperience in the role he took, Red Sorghum proved to be a great success, garnering quite a bit of attention worldwide, besides the more or less expected success of the picture in the homeland.

Told from the perspective of the protagonist’s grandchild, something that would become a trademark of sort for Zhang in the future, the film encites a mood in the viewer that no other movie to date has managed to replicate, in a style that resembles a fever dream more than anything else.

9. Monsieur Ibrahim (2003) – dir. Francois Dupeyron

In what proved to be one of the greatest farewell roles of all time, Omar Sharif took the role of Ibrahim Deneji, a grocery store owner of Turkish origin. While it wasn’t his last acting gig of all time, it is most likely the last noteworthy one. His co star, a young Jewish boy by the name of Moses Schmit, was played Pierre Boulanger and while the young man’s performance doesn’t quite match up to the Egyptian master, it was still quite a satisfying experience.

What one might rightfully fear before seeing this motion picture is that it might be too focused on the minority characters that occupy most of the film, giving space only to the ethnic parts of their personalities and neglecting everything else which is oftentimes the case when an unexperienced, non-minority director tries to make a picture about the lives of the down trodden.

That is not the case here. While the religious and ethnic identities of Monsieur Ibrahim and Momo are prominently featured throughout the film, there’s just enough space in there for pure, unfiltered love and compassion, as well as struggles that anyone, regardless of origin, can relate to.

8. Betty Blue (1986) – dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix

This film proved to be the most noteworthy aspect in the careers of pretty much everyone who took part in it, from Beatrice Dalle and Jean Hugues Anglade who played the leading roles, to Jean Jacques Beineix who directed and wrote the feature, and yet it still isn’t as acclaimed as it should be.

The titular character is a strange, yet surprisingly charming woman that embarks in a relationship with an older man named Zorg, who happens to be a writer. She holds his writing in very high regard, but her erratic behavior becomes more and more of a problem for him as the affair moves on.

Betty’s problematic decisions lead to an unexpected climax and a semi-happy ending, considering the circumstances and the personalities of the protagonists.

7. Xala (1975) – dir. Ousmane Sembene

African cinema is so unknown to the casual film goer of Europe and North America that most couldn’t name a single African motion picture even if their life depended on it. A few will recall the 1980s South African hit called The Gods Must Be Crazy, and a few of the better informed ones might mention a few Egyptian flicks here and there. But generally, almost any great film made on this continent can rightfully be considered a hidden gem.

Directed and written by Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese master who is often called the father of African film, Xala pokes fun at the corrupt politicians of his country, through a story of a crooked public official who is struggling with erectile dysfunction, without an apparent cause or an explanation.

It was widely praised, in the continent and abroad, during its release, and even made it to a few lists of the greatest African films, as well as the greatest world cinema achievements, but it also faced some criticism, for portraying its characters in an allegedly stereotypic fashion, without depth or development.

6. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) – dir. Victor Erice

Victor Erice only ever made two feature length films, both of which he also wrote. The Spirit of the Beehive was his first one and, according to most, the best one. Set at the beginning of the 1940s, the final stage of the bloody Spanish Civil War that resulted in Franco’s fascists gaining power, the film focuses on themes of child trauma, compassion, as well as the effects cinema can leave on the young mind. With its childhood protagonists and the civil war set up, it proved to be a major (and obvious) influence on some of the most famous works of the Mexican great Guillermo Del Toro, such as El espinazo del diablo and El laberinto del fauno.

The fact that this great picture managed to pass the censors in Francoist Spain is mind-boggling, considering its heavy and easily visible crticism of the then still ruling regime, but we are so glad that it did. What a shame it would be for a film of this caliber to get lost to authoritarian censorship.

The word masterpiece is thrown around mercilessly these days and a lot of pictures that don’t really amount to the actual standards of quality get labeled masterpieces by generous critics and unknowledgable audiences. Truth to be told, the definition of the word is not completely defined, nor is it universally agreed upon by film buffs of differing levels of proficiency in the seventh art.

Once upon a time, the word masterpiece was used to denote the best work in the career of an artist. Now, that is generally not the case: although some still use the word in that context, magnum opus is generally considered to be a better fit. Masterpiece, on the other hand, can be any work of art that is outstanding in all, or most, of its aspects. By that definition, a creator can make as many masterpieces as humanely possible over the course of his hopefully fruitful life.

Unlike classic, which must be held in high regard by the general public to achieve its status and is often erroneously used interchangeably with the word of our special interest today, masterpiece doesn’t have to be widely enjoyed and celebrated to achieve its status. That is why there are dozens of films that you probably never heard of that could rightfully be considered masterpieces of their respective genres and cinema in general.

Here a few carefully picked motion pictures of splendid quality that you should check out as soon as possible:

1. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) – dir. Philip Noyce

Rabbit Proof Fence was the film that marked the filmmaking career of Peter Noyce, proving to be his most successful work to date. That’s not to say that it is a particularly well known one. Despite being Noyce’s finest work by far, it still is far from the mainstream.

Vaguely based on an actual event and the book Follow the Rabbit Fence by Doris Pilkington, the film analyzes the position of native Australians, the Aboriginals, in a white society that considers them subhuman. In particular, it concerns the fate of three girls on three run, who escaped their Anglo tormentors and are trying to come back home to their families while being chased by a force much more powerful than they are and having to navigate through the Australian outback.

It opened to welcoming reviews, almost universally so abroad, while the domestic viewers and reviewers remained more polarized, with some considering an attack on Australian nationhood, in a fashion similar to another one of the films we will feature on this list.

But even those who had moral issues with this motion picture, couldn’t deny that it was masterfully made, with every aspect of it mastered to perfection, from the cinematography to the acting and the writing.

2. The 4th Man (1983) – dir. Paul Verhoeven

We mostly remember the Dutch director Paul Verhoeven for his involvement in RoboCop, but his career in the homeland has also been a fruitful one.

The 4th Man is a gripping tale of a man suspecting his partner of being a murderer. The realization comes to him both supernaturally, through multiple visions, but also through sheer common sense that he isn’t too keen on using early on in the film.

Marked by beautiful scenery and stellar performances, but also plenty of graphic violence and excessive, prolonged scenes of sexual intercourse, it was a great hit back in the day, winning the Dutch film lovers in a heartbeat, but it also proved to be a great hit for the Americans as well, having unforeseen commercial and critical success in the United States, especially for a European, non English, motion picture.

The same couldn’t be argued about The Fourth Man nowadays. While it is not exactly the most underrated flick of all time, it is still overshadowed by more famous works of Verhoeven, and could certainly benefit from a large rediscovery by the film buffs around the world.

3. Stand and Deliver (1988) – dir. Ramon Menendez

A beautiful rendition of everything we love about the eighties, Stand and Deliver is a wonderful ode to the decade, made in the manner of the classroom greats such as Dead Poets Society, through a fantastic lens of a Latino American filmmaker Ramon Menendez, who gave the entire film a special groove.

The motion picture was largely based on the true life story of Jaime Escalante, a maths teacher who reformed the lives of students at James A. Garfield High School to the core, making the band of mostly Latino students unusually successful in mathematics. The makers of the film mostly stuck with the real life happenings, with some minor, intentional and unintentional mistakes, that don’t take away much from the story unless you are exceptionally knowledgeable about the life and work of Jaime Escalante.

It opened to favorable critical reviews, with eminent critics particularly praising the film’s jolly tone and the performance of the lead actors, most notably Edward James Olmos as the hero of the picture.. The commercial success didn’t quite match up to its critical reputation, and although film can be considered a moderate box office success when considering its budget, it still wasn’t a major blockbuster of 1988.

4. Iron Monkey (1993) – dir. Woo-Ping Yuen

The style that Yuen Woo Ping so delicately made became widely copied and parodied in martial arts cinema. Making a fruitful career as a filmmaker, choreographer, and sometimes both, he left an unerasable mark on the way we view kung fu on the silver screen.

Iron Monkey is one of his lesser known features. Famously loved by Quentin Tarantino, who secured the film’s American release (we still suggest you find the original version, though), it is a fantastic blend of comedic exaggeration and choreographic brilliance.

5. Closely Watched Trains (1966) – dir. Jiri Menzel

A chilling tale of coming of age, Closely Watched Trains explores the themes of sexuality, as well as platonic love, resistance and utterly indifferent passivity. Set in a railroad station the Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, it is one of the brightest examples of country’s post war cinema.

The success the film garnered upon its release could make it be labeled popular at the time, especially by the standards of popularity in the Eastern Block. It, among other things, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Fifty five years have passed since, though, and now it is nothing more than an obscure little remnant of the times long past.

Horror has been depicted in cinema since the dawn of the seventh art: pioneers along the likes of Georges Melies and Ejiro Hatta dabbled with the macabre and the otherworldly in the Fin de siècle period already.

As time moved on, it proved to be one of the preffered ways of handling cinematic narratives, both with seasoned masters and newcomers hoping to evoke a strong reaction in their audiences.

The German-speaking was always a place to find great scares: starting with the chiefly horror Expressionism in the 1920s, then spreading across decades, ending with a handful of extremely unusual low-budget scares at the turn of the millennia, it never failed to entertain, if not petrify.

Here are some nice flicks made by the masters of the genre throughout the decades:

10. The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)

The aforementioned Expressionism paved the way for many of our favorite scary movies and changed the genre from the core, its influence spanning across continents for almost a century. It was the period of timeless classics such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu, but also of many solid films that never reached the legendary status that the codifiers of the movement hold among movie buffs.

Using Jewish mythology as a blueprint, this one features the story of a rabbi, plagued by doubts of incoming persecution of his people, who summons a creature made of clay (the titular Golem) to protect the Jews of Prague.

At first, the ordeal turns successful with a little help of rabbi’s demonic pals from the dark side, and the ruler of the country revokes the proclamation that banned Jews from the country soon after. Naturally, the story progresses to a less fortunate part of the events and the Golem turns out to be a great nuisance for the Jewish community as much as for their foes.

9. The Hands of Orlac (1924)

Coming from Robert Wiene, one of the key figures of German cinema of the 1920s, this film strays away from the established form and tries to set a more realistic approach to the genre that was still at its infancy at the time. That’s why it still holds up.

Its amazing freshness will leave you speechless, as it is very much capable of terrifying the viewer despite the year of its release and it is not to be observed as a mere landmark in the development of horror on silver screen.

It tells the tale of a pianist by the name of Orlac (embodied by the great Conrad Veidt), whose entire life revolves around his noble art. One unfortunate day, however, Orlac is a victim of a train wreck. He survives, but the doctor exclaims to his wife that his hands couldn’t have been saved. To that his wife reacts quite passionately, considering her husband’s entire life revolves around a skill that requires immense usage of one’s hands.

That’s when a strange idea crosses the mind of the physician, and he sews the hands of a criminal to Orlac. He finds out about what happened later on and, suffice to say, his life changes. For worse, most would say.

8. Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)

Fritz Haarman, also known by a handful of interesting nicknames, such as the Wolfman, The Vampire of Hannover and The Butcher of Hannover, killed about two dozen young men and women in the most gruesome fashion in and around the town of Hannover during the interwar period in Germany, and remains one of the most infamous serial killers of Europe to this day.

Produced by the legendary New Wave director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the movie features a lot of his frequent collaborators and a couple of his private interests: writer/actor Kurt Raab, director Ulli Lommel, actresses Margit Carstensen and Ingrid Caven, actor El Hedi Ben Salem, and, finally, Fassbinder himself.

Truth be told, it strays away from the real life story it adapts (Haarman was not an inspector, but a lowlife informant of the German police, and he didn’t have a prepubescent boy flesh loving club of cannibal friends), but the question of authencity shouldn’t rank high on the priority list for this one.

7. Schramm (1993)

The career of Jorg Buttereit is not a particularly prolific one, but it was consistently in the center of the attention of German and, to an extent, European public for the shocking provocateur content of almost all of his major works.

Nekromantik was his first solo, feature length effort and it truly shook the world with a before-unseen tale of sexual depravity. Soon followed The Death King, then the second Nekro, and, in 1993, Schramm.

Despite the initial widespread outrage that these films faced, they are now but footnotes on the lists of most gruesome movies of all time, without actually being seen by an awful lot of film fans. None was hit by the life of obscurity as much as our pick for this list.

Our hero goes by the name of Lothar Schramm. He is your average next-door hard-working guy, with a passion for rape and walking around with a bleeding crotch when he’s not driving his cab. While he’s laying on the floor of his apartment after a house-painting mishap, he starts recounting his life of crime (a filthy, ruthless one at that) while he’s slowly nearing death.

No happy end, no obvious moral, just a serial killer laying on the floor, gushing in his own blood.

6. Laurin (1989)

Made in West Germany by an ensemble of mostly Hungarian actors, Laurin is truly one of a kind. Revolving around the eponymous character, a little girl living without her parents in a God-forsaken village, troubled by horrifying vision of a children-stealing man. The vision doesn’t seem to be ungrounded in reality, though, and multiple dissapearences of her friends and aquitances start taking place soon after.

At times a subtle nod to the Italian masters with its rich visuals, and at times reminiscent of bleak silent masterpieces of the early 20th century, it is a must watch. The international coproduction took a slight toll on the sound and the dubs (especially the German dub) are subpar in many aspects.

The best solution is to try and find an English one, which, despite not being flawless, is perfectly bearable. The bulk of the performances don’t rely on the line delivery for their effectiveness anyway, but facial and body language.

When it comes to 1980s cinema, it wasn’t a period that lacked in motion pictures. Though it certainly is not up to par with the bustling 1960s or the groundbreaking 1990s, there were a number of fine pictures made in the period, encompassing almost all genres.

The bizarre works were never quite the cup of tea of the mainstream, so you’re not likely to cross upon a number of weird titles while searching the “best-of” lists of the 1980s. There were, however, a few films here and there that achieved what could be labeled a cult-classic status in their time and place, but faded into obscurity later on.

Here are a few of the forgotten ones, from the cold steppes of Siberia to the hot and humid streets of Hollywood:

10. A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) – dir. Peter Greenaway

Starring the Deacon brothers (Brian and Eric) as twins dealing with personal losses, A Zed & Two Noughts is a pretty twisted picture, even when taking into account Peter Greenaway’s other works.

It is marked, as is usually the case with Greenaway, by great cinematography that is nothing short of beautiful and a bizarre plot that touches upon numerous themes in a way that will leave you speechless.

The film opened in the fall of 1985 to generally favorable reviews and was considered the strongest feature film of Greenaway so far by a noteworthy number of prominent critics. It had its share of detractors, though, who called it, among other things, vile, humorless and boring.

9. City of Women (1980) – dir. Federico Felini

By the year of 1980, Federico Felini held an insanely high status among the lovers of cinema, in Italy and worldwide, and was almost an untouchable figure. That’s why the fact that his City of Women was met with relatively lukewarm reviews for a person of Felini’s importance comes as a surprise. It was described in a language that obviously implicated the fear of critizing a legend in domestic newspapers.

The reception was even harsher abroad. At the Cannes Film Festival, the film was ripped to shreds by French journalists (critics and non-critics alike), as well as by Felini’s fellow filmmakers to a degree previously not seen in his career. It was a bit better received in the United States, but it failed to generate the expected revenue.

The fate of this motion picture happened to be truly unfortunate, as it quickly cemented its status of a terrible mishap in the life work of a master, without ever getting a second chance.

Looking back now, this charming, borderline surreal entry, starring the legendary Marcello Mastroianni as Snaporaz on his way of self-discovery and coming to terms with the women in his life, is a solid effort at the end of the director’s period of fame and fortune.

Today, it is generally held in better regard than it was at the time it hit the theatres, but there is still a pretty long way to go before La citta delle donne gets the praise it deserves.

8. Street of Crocodiles (1986) – dir. Stephen & Timothy Quay

The name of the Quay Brothers is a widely celebrated one in the world of stop-motion animation: their body of work began in the 1970s, and lasts to this day. Though they made two feature films, most of their films are in the 10-20 minute ballpark. Such is the case with our pick for this list, Street of Crocodiles.

Based on an autobiographical short story by Bruno Schultz, one of the greatest Polish writers of the past century, the film takes its source material and builds up a completely new narrative of its own around it. A narrative that is as bold and twisted as the Quays usually are.

Considering it wasn’t a commercial picture in the first place, Street of Crocodiles didn’t have a theatrical opening per se, so it never got the chance to be enjoyed by the masses and to get reviewed by the mainstream film reviewers. Its release was mostly limited to niche film festivals and so it remained obscure to this day.

Obscurity among the commonfolk, however, doesn’t denote obscurity among the legends of cinema, and this one was cited as an influence by numerous filmmakers throughout the years, especially those who dabbled in surrealism, clay motion and stop motion animaton. Among others, Street of Crocodiles in particular and Quay brothers in general were highly praised by Jan Svankmajer, Christopher Nolan, Terry Gilliam…

7. Parents (1989) – dir. Bob Balaban

For a film about a boy seeking to expose his cannibalistic maniac parents, Parents is unbelievably funny. On his way to find out the truth, little Michael will encounter many hillarious obstacles, and come to a handful of clues that will make him doubt his original claims.

The casting was absolutely phenomenal: our pre-teen hero is perfectly embodied by Bryan Madorsky, in what unfortunately proved to be the only well-known role of his short career. Moving on to the adult members of the acting ensemble, we encounter some pretty well-known names: Randy Quaid as the patriarch of the Family, Nick Laemle, Mary Beth Hurt as his significant other, Lily, and Sandy Dennis as Michael’s school guidance counselor by the name of Millie Dew.

Set in the charming 1950s, this one proved to be quite an impressive film, especially when taking in mind the fact that it was Bob Balaban’s (who is generally more comfortable with being an actor) directing debut.

6. Liquid Sky (1982) – dir. Slava Tsukerman

Liquid Sky is, more or less, the only noteworthy achievement in the career of Vladislav “Slava” Tsukerman. This man lived an extraodinary life, starting out in the Soviet Union, migrating to Israel, and finally settling for New York where set out to make a hit.

It is now considered a cult sci-fi low budget experience, in a vein similar to the somewhat superior Kin-dza-dza (we’ll get to that one a bit later), yet still not the first thought that will cross your mind when someone mentions 1980s, science fiction, or low-budget.

While it also attempts to come across as a fancy social critique, that’s not what it succeeds most at. As a matter of fact, Liquid Sky’s preachiness is one of its less appealing aspects. The wonderful confusion the film induces in the viewer, as well as the beautiful pallete of colors, are what makes the viewer glued to the seat, wondering what the hell did they just watch.

Cannes Film Festival ranks at the very top in the eyes of cinema lovers when it comes to a consistent stream of quality pictures and artists. With a tradition dating back to 1930s, born out of spite and a wish to succeed, it never failed to give proper space to the established legends of the seventh art, as well the newcomers to the world of cinema.

However, it did have its fair share of misshaps every now and then. Sometimes spontaneously, and often intentionally in order to avoid the harsh political climates of the past times, the jury of the festival gave out accolades to motion pictures that were subpar to their competition in their respective years.

Here are a few that, due to a number of reasons, failed to take home the main prize at Cannes (some of them were accoladed other awards, such as Grand Prix, though):

10. No Country for Old Men (2007) – dir. Joel & Ethan Coen

Considered the magnum opus of Coen brothers, No Country for Old Men is the ultimate mash up of everything Ethan and Joel are so well known for: gritty, dark humor, excessive violence, silent villains without an obvious cause and a morally gray hero of the story are some of the Coenian elements present in this one.

It was an absolute hit in movie theatres around the world, garnering well over $ 150 million against a $ 25 million budget. It was a darling of the critics as well, receiving universal acclaim in the United States as well as abroad and many critics dubbed it one of the boldest works of the 21st century, and one of the best ones.

The film’s fate at the 80th Academy Awards ceremony was nothing short of phenomal, too: it took four Oscars from some of the most important categories, such as Best Picture and Best Directing.

Its reception at Cannes was not as fruitful. No Country for Old Men lost its only nomination to a fairly unremarkable Romanian film called 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

While this film’s reception in general is far from what one would consider polarizing (on the contrary, it was an almost instant classic), the fact that it didn’t win one of Europe’s biggest film prizes is quite unfortunate.

9. Drive (2011) – dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

The career of Nicolas Winding Refn has mostly been hit and miss. Even with that in mind, he is still one of the most revered Danish and Scandinavian directors of this century and this film is considered to be his best English language work to date by many.

Based on the eponymous novel by James Sallis, it was wonderfully brought to screen with combined efforts of the aforementioned director, as well as a handful of other creative workers, such as the Iranian screenwriter Hossein Amini who adapted Sallis’ story for the silver screen, and the great acting ensemble, with names such as Ryan Gosling and Bryan Cranston taking the lead roles in this one.

The film was met with widespread acclaim by the critics, though the audiences were a tad more divided with some labeling Refn and his body of work pretentious. It lost the Palme d’Or that year to Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, a powerful comeback of a great master that, despite its numerous qualities, doesn’t match up to Drive in our opinion.

8. Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) – dir. Agnes Varda

Agnes Varda just might be the greatest female director of all time. And one of the greatest in general. Her passing last year sent shockwaves through the film community. Starting her career during the period of French New Wave, a time of exceptional innovation, she never lacked what it takes to make a brave motion picture.

Cleo from 5 to 7 is generally considered her best effort, or at least her best one from the earlier stage of her career. Telling the tale of the titular heroine, a charming woman awaiting results after getting tested for cancer, it won the hearts of many worldwide with its relatable characters and subtly packed social commentary on the status of women in modern society.

It is now considered one of the genre defining works of feminist cinema, but back when it was released, the criticism of Cleo went as far as it being dubbed an anti-feminist film and a pro colonialist one that tries to portray women as simple minded and uncapable of caring for themselves.

The top prize at Cannes that year went to Anselmo Duarte’s The Given Word.

7. A Prophet (2009) – dir. Jacques Audiard

Malik El Djebena, a petty French criminal of Arab origin, is sent to prison. There he soon learns that life behind the bars is wildly different than anything he ever imagined. In a tale of betrayal and paranoia, Malik will walk out a completely different person.

Made by the great Jacques Audiard, A Prophet is a downright perfect, brutally honest portrayal of everything wrong in French prison system in particular and the country’s society in general.

It lost to another great, Michael Haneke and his The White Ribbon. While we hold that one in unusually high regard, we still believe Un Prophete was the film that deserved the Palme d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, though the difference in quality between two motion pictures isn’t that huge.

6. Kwaidan (1965) – dir. Masaki Kobayashi

Masaki Kobayashi, a legend of Japanese cinema, is the epitome of slow burn filmmaking. His works are certainly not for everyone but if you give them a chance, they certainly won’t dissapoint. Some of the more famous ones are the Human Condition trilogy, Harakiri, and this one.

Richard Lester’s The Knack… and How to Get It took the prize in 1965, although it was one of the weaker titles in selection that year. Kwaidan, a deeply disturbing and extremely visually appealing nod to Japanese tradition didn’t fare as good among the Europeans as among the native audiences.

The people featured on this list have all made a lasting influence on cinema as a way of artistic expression. Time in which they created their finest works differs, their beliefs differ, their styles and methods differ, yet every one of them touched our minds and souls in a way that made us feel.

Fortunately, most of them pumped out quite a number of good films. Some became instant classics, winning the hearts of the audiences the moment they hit theaters. Some spent some time in the shadows before getting recognized and are now celebrated as the very best of their respected genres, cinematic landmarks and turning points in the history of art.

Some, however, never got the chance. Whether because they collided with the morals of the society of their time, or because their makers still didn’t make a name enough for themselves, or because something else got in their way to the theaters and homes of movie lovers, these flicks were sentenced to a life of obscurity.

They still lurk in the thick shadows of the luckier creations of their masters, desperately waiting to be seen and appreciated. This is a list about them.

1. Dementia 13 (1963) – Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola made quite a breakthrough in the industry in 1972 with The Godfather, then went on a masterpiece spree with the 1974 sequel and Apocalypse Now before slowly fading away to a less succesful period, with occasional semi-hits such as the final part of the trilogy or Rainmaker.

His pre-72 career is a thing of mystery for everyone except for the hardcore fans of his, who, frankly, are not all too numerous. It is riddled with a handful of attempts at the extreme, from borderline porn to a few cute little cheesy scares such as this one.

After the troublesome production in England, the film opened to not-so-great reviews and commercial gains, and it didn’t have the lucky fate of many hidden gems of the greats that wind up rediscovered many years after their painful failures, so it is still not often brought up when discussing Coppola’s career. Unfairly, though: a masterpiece it absolutely is not. A short little picture with a running time of less than 90 minutes and a handful of scares and laughs it most definitely is.

2. Dark Habits (1983) – Pedro Almodovar

As is often the case with unusually prolific filmmakers, Almodovar’s body of work ended up huge, at moments watered down, and too large to get properly grasped by the general public. The start of his cinematic ventures began with camp, unraveling to a more mature, albeit less successful phase.

His early days are marked by films of great silliness and oftentimes questionable moral values, serving as a lashout of a man of unbridled perverty, long supressed by the Franco regime. Even with that in mind, this one takes it a step farther than most of his flicks.

The story is centered on a woman who joins a group of nuns hoping to find inner peace after some unusual troubles in her private life, but it doesn’t end up the way she or you might have expected: the nuns are a bunch as filthy and morally corrupt as everyone else, and they endulge in every single vice one could think of, from premarital sex to hard drugs.

While Almodovar was never a stranger to censorship, Dark Habits was kept from the public eye and rejected by every major film festival and organization of its time in a weirdly meticulous way. The chief reason was the content of the film, which, besides the scenes that were shocking in their visuals and content, also critiqued organized religion (the Catholic Church in particular) as a hypocritical concept in a way that wasn’t exactly subtle or tasteful.

3. The Goddess (1960) – Satyajit Ray

Hindi cinema is undeservedly neglected by even some of the more open minded film connosieurs. Mister Ray is sadly more known as a persona, a godfather of Bengali film of sort, while his actual works are not seen and analyzed even by those well aware of his significance.

The Apu trilogy remains his best known set of works by far. The rest of his opus is mostly unknown as a whole, so to group any of the remaining ones in the „lesser-known“ category wouldn’t be that much of a mistake.

Devi made the cut for this list, however. Despite what we previously said about almost the entirety of Ray opus qualifying for this list, this film wasn’t chosen at random.

Combined with slight comedic overtones, it is a powerful story of a wealthy Indian aristocrat whose life is coming to an end. He has a vision of his teenaged daughter-in-law being a human incarnation of a goddess, and clings on to her as his last hope. She soon begins to be venerated by Hindu believers from the surrounding towns and villages, especially the downthroden ones, who believe that she posseses special powers required to turn the course of their wretched lives in a different directon.

Perhaps this comment is coming from a subjective point, but none of Ray’s work, and he sure worked a lot, came close to dissecting the Indian society’s views of human interaction, religion and social hierarchy as much as this one.

4. The Hunters (1977) – Theo Angelopoulos

Coming shortly after the fall of Greek iron-fist military dictatorship, this film makes a political commentary mixed with nightmarish sequences, sometimes apparently unrelated, reaching the climax and cooling off in a fever dream-like way, unusual even for generally experimental Angelopoulos.

Six wealthy snobs, that rose from the ashes in the aftermath of the bloody civil war of the 1940s stumble upon a frosted corpse of a communist partisan, their former opponent, looking fresher than it should after rotting away for three decades.

That is roughly the plot, but this isn’t a neccessarilly a plot-oriented experience and, although it tries its hand at critiquing right-wing politics, it also explores many other themes throughout the roughly three hours of its running time, and isn’t trying to send it message in an on-the-nose way, so you should forget all your worries about this film’s potential overt political undertones if you are not particularly inclined to agree with its leanings.

5. Chimes at Midnight (1965) – Orson Welles

Beginning his life as a Hollywood boy-wonder, climaxing with the head-spinning fame and acclaim of Citizen Kane, Welles’ life slowly spiraled down to an impoverished bohemian on the streets of Europe doing gigs of questionable quality for a buck or two, and was filled with interesting titles, spanning across all phases of his work.

That made this choice incredibly hard, but there is something about Chimes at Midnight that makes it stand out in the Welles catalogue moreso than the avant-garde F for Fake or the classically charming Macbeth and Othelo. Unlike the two fine but straightforward adaptions, this picture draws upon the Shakespeare character of Falstaff (the film was marketed with the name of the main character in the majority of European countries at the time of the release), while also building a completely new narrative that is Wellesian as much as Shakespearean.

Many would dare say that the 1990s rank pretty high when it comes to the most fruitful decades for the art of cinema. This period gave us wonderful classic dramas of Hollywood, such as “Forrest Gump” and “Shawshank Redemption”, a few grittier mainstream titles of early Quentin Tarantino, and a rebirth for world cinema in many parts of our bustling planet.

It also wasn’t the worst of time for the quirkier souls of the film world, and some very fine and highly appreciated offbeat features hit the theatres: “Desperado”, “The Usual Suspects”, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, etc.

There was also a decent number of those who were panned by the elite critics and the everyday audiences alike as soon as they hit the theaters, never getting the chance to recover, as well as ones that were lauded as masterpieces at the time of their release, yet got lost as time moved on.

Here are a few:

10. Perdita Durango/Dance with the Devil (1997) – dir. Alex de la Iglesia

The opus of Alex de la Iglesia is a rich and exotic one, filled with unusual entries, even for his preffered genre (horror). Among his well-known ones is Day of the Beast, made two years prior to this one. It’s status is far from that of a widely known picture, but it’s not as obscure today as this one.

With Rosie Perez bringing the titular character (as per the original title) to life, and Javier Bardem, in one of his earlier roles, taking the part of her demented companion by the name of Romeo, it is a wonderful thrill ride that might leave an unexperienced viewer with his mouth agape, but you wouldn’t be stopping by here if you haven’t already seen a thing or two.

To call it flawless would be a lie, but it is, no doubt, a powerful movie that will leave you shaken. It is, despite its numerous shortcomings that are to be expected from any piece of art and especially one made in the conditions Perdita Durango was made, a solid flick that stood the test of time quite well and will certainly make for a fine viewing on a Saturday night.

9. White Palace (1990) – dir. Luis Mandoki

Starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader, and written by Ted Tally, who would later achieve tremendous success with the adaption of The Silence of the Lambs, all under the watchful eye of Luis Mandoki, White Palace is one of the most surprising hits from the beginning of the decade.

Building on the erotic themes mixed with thriller undertones that marked Spader’s career (well, before Blacklist), it is far from an ordinary entry in the filmography of any of the participants of this unusual production:

Riddled with lust and mourning, it explores the human nature in such a way that appears all too natural yet all too strange, from the beginning to the end. While it sometimes tries to unneccessary incorporate elements of the on-the-nose surrealism that don’t quite fit its theme or plot, it very well holds up to this day with its lovable characters and a pulsing love story.

Unfortunately, the fate of not being a critical darling coupled with a rather unimpressive box office performance sealed its existence as one of general obscurity, and it continues to provide its charms only to a handful of film afficionados.

8. Dust Devil (1992) – dir. Richard Stanley

Plagued with numerous problems during the gathering of the funds, the filming and the marketing, Dust Devil could have easily been written off as one of the many failures in the troublesome career of Richard Stanley. However, we’d like to make a case for this one as it, if you dig just a bit deeper, showcases all the wonderful peculiarities of Stanley’s cinematic vision, going farther than any of his following and previous works.

Wonderfully shot, milking its sandy surroundings to the maximum, and using well-known horror/thriller tropes such as the menacing hitchhiker, and sex being a pathaway to death, as well as some fresh bits of local African culture, it is a powerful blend that won’t leave you flat most of the time, though it has its moments of moderate tedium.

It was, unfortunately, ruthlessly butchered by the producers against the directors wishes, leaving out more than half an hour of footage from the final cut. Considering it wasn’t made to be a commercial wonder in the first place, the relatively modest financial success isn’t all that weird, but the lukewarm critical reception certainly was an unexpected blow to the film’s success.

7. Cure (1997) – dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cited as a major influence by some of the most influential filmmakers of this generation such as Bong Joon Ho, this interesting thriller from the early period in the career of the great Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a straight-up horrifying experience.

With Koji Yakusho (“13 Assassins”, “Memoirs of a Geisha”) in the lead role as detective Kenichi Takabe, and a handful of legends of Japanese horror cast in the supporting roles, it is an elegant critique of the people and customs of Japan neatly packed in a seemingly usual mystery story of people having no recollection of the crimes they have commited.

Truth be told, it was warmly welcomed, home and abroad, at the time of its release and lauded as a bona-fide exercise in terror, on a steady and certain way to become a classic. It sadly doesn’t retain the same status today, possibly because of the shadow of other Japanese horrors of the period (“Ringu”, “The Audition”), and other works of Kurosawa, a lot of which got more attention than Cure.

6. Affliction (1997) – dir. Paul Schrader

Paul Schrader made a name for hjimself primarily in the screenwriting business, often collaborating with Martin Scorsese, writing gems such as “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”. But he also had quite a successful career as a standalone director, generally bringing his own screenplays to the silver screen with a few mostly unworthy exceptions every now and then. Affliction is one of the better known ones, yet still largely forgotten when listing the great achievements of the 1990s.

Starring Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek, supported by Willem Dafoe, it is set in the desolated wilderness of New England, a cold and bitter setting that contributes a great deal to the overall feel that Affliction gives the viewer.

The plot follows the life of a policeman plagued by doubts of all sorts, and starts out on an ambigous note before tying it all together to pack a final punch that will leave you hanging on the edge of your seat.