The February edition of the KGB Fantastic Fiction reading series featured readings by Laird Barron, a relative newcomer, and James Morrow, one of the field’s most-revered fantasists. First, Laird—whose dark fantasy collection The Imago Sequence & Other Stories just came out in trade paperback—graced us with a real-live work in progress, a story called “At the Hatch,” which is being raffled off as we speak in the fundraising lottery for the Shirley Jackson Awards. After the break, Jim fought through waves of uproarious laughter to read the first chapters of his two newest publications: the trade paperback release of The Philosopher’s Apprentice and the standalone historical novella, Shambling Towards Hiroshima.
Elsewhere in space, some of us are gearing up for Academy Award festivities on Sunday, while others are stewing about the Academy’s continuing lack of love for genre films (no, the animation ghetto doesn’t count). Consequently, for this month’s Ridiculous Survey, I decided to give KGBgoers the chance to talk up one of their favorite speculative fiction films that never got enough love, be it from the Academy, mainstream audiences, or even from genre watchers. Or, more succinctly:
What’s your favorite underappreciated genre film?
Check below the cut to see what everyone chose, vociferously agree (or disagree) with their choices, and add your own.
- Alaya Dawn Johnson: Serenity
- David G.: the 1993 Super Mario Brothers movie
- Devin J. Poore: Serenity
- Douglas Cohen: Pitch Black
- Dustin Kurtz: From Beyond
- Ellen Datlow: The Fifth Element. Ellen cites its “gorgeous colors,” which made it one of the first films to counter the visual effect of Blade Runner
- Eugene Myers: Dark City
- Genevive Valentine: Whale Rider
- Gordon Van Gelder: The Quiet Earth
- James Morrow: Man Made Monster, the 1940s Lon Cheney film
- Jim Freund: The Last Days of Man on Earth
- John Joseph Adams: Pi
- Jordan Hamessley: The Tingler
- Josh Jasper: Outland
- Josh Starr: Pitch Black
- Justin Howe: The Man Who Would Be King
- Laird Barron: The Audition the J-Horror film by Takashi Miike
- Livia Llewellyn: Solaris (the original)
- Liz Gorinsky: Gormenghast
- Mary Robinette Kowal: Strings
- Matt Kressel: the pilot of Red Dwarf
- Megan Messinger: Young Sherlock Holmes
- Mercurio D. Rivera: Dark City
- Navah Wolfe: Ladyhawke
- Nick Kaufman: Near Dark
- Nina Lourie: The Return to the Forbidden Planet (though it’s a musical, not a film)
- Nora Jemisin: Dark City
- Rick Bowes: Colussus: The Forbin Project
- Rob Bland: Back to the Future
- Rose Fox: eXistenZ
If I mistranscribed your answer—or if you’d rather I linked to a different webpage or didn’t use your full name—please let me know via my shoutbox. And if I missed you this time, please come find me at the next event!
[Image by Flickr user Anosmia, CC licensed for commercial use.]
ZOMG Audition still gives me shivers if I think about it too long. That creepy-ass sound….
@pablo
“Kiri-kiri-kiri-kiri.” I personally love the amputee drinking from the dog bowl.
Some great movie picks here. I love Pitch Black and Near Dark. And my love of all Aussie/Kiwi movies makes The Quiet Earth a great choice, too.
Is Children of Men underappreciated? It’s one of the best genre movies I’ve seen in years. Loved Michael Caine in that so much.
Glad to see Dark City and eXistenZ listed here.
I was originally going to write Mars Attacks! as my choice, but I’m not really sure it’s an underappreciated film, so instead, I’ll go for Matinee.
While not a genre film per se, it is a film about a love of genre. I sometimes see it as the PG version of Gods and Monsters, in the sense that both pay wonderful tribute to genre cinema.
And while I’m on a Joe Dante kick, I just want to say that Looney Tunes: Back in Action is another of his films I feel is underappreciated.
Oh hey! I’m really surprised to see multiple others who appreciate Pitch Black. I definitely thought everyone else on the planet either didn’t particularly like or was uninterested in that movie (unjustly!)
So I’ll just also mention my original thought, which I discounted based on the fact that it’s a cult classic, and those who’ve seen it usually love it: Bubba Ho-Tep, a story of Elvis (maybe) and JFK (maybe) teaming up to defend their nursing home from a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in an inexplicable cowboy hat.
yay, extra appreciation for The Quiet Earth! Though it was never released on DVD, it’s good to see people actually have heard of it. Really good postapocalypse scenario.
Also, the original Solaris is a truly beautiful film. So very long, and yet somehow it never lets the audience’s attention be lost.
ok, it did come out on DVD – but only Zone 1…
I remember asking the local video store about it a couple of years ago, and them saying that the import license had not been obtained by any store, so it couldn’t be had to rent in NZ. Sigh.
Monkeybone
There, I said it. I admit to having wanted to see it, to having seen it, to having owned it for some years now. That movie was totally funny and I’m the only one who thinks so.
@selidor
It’s from New Zealand and you can’t rent it in New Zealand? That’s awful!
I have a region-free player, so I usually buy Kiwi and Aussie movies off of eBay and stuff and just hope for the best because so many are unavailable to rent here. An expensive habit, but it’s lead to great finds like The Boys (from Farscape director Rowan Woods!) and Razorback (one of China Mieville’s favorite horror movies) but also to some real duds, like the sequel to Once Were Warriors.
Yes I realize the good movies I mentioned were Aussie ones. My favorite Kiwi genre movie will always, always be Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive. But I’d hardly call that one underappreciated. I wouldn’t want to meet the person who doesn’t appreciate golden lines like “Your mother ate my dog!”
Brother from Another Planet and 2046. In the I-don’t-know-if-these-qualify-as-underappreciated category, I’ll add Delicatessen, Metropolis (the anime one–the original is very much appreciated), The Abyss, and Star Trek: First Contact.
Serenity is great, but is already suitably appreciated by Browncoats everywhere. Likewise, Galaxy Quest is appreciated by Trekkers and non-Trekkers alike. And Dark City may be the best sci-fi film hardly anybody includes in their best-of lists. But after careful consideration, and speaking strictly from my gut and not my head, the most unappreciated genre film is one I haven’t seen mentioned yet on this list.
StarGate, the original film that spawned an entire franchise of made-for-cable series and standalone straight-to-DVD films (not to mention careers, if you can call it that, for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin) doesn’t get near the lovin’ I think it deserves. You have the thrill of scientific revelation, some goodnatured ribbing of the military, a well-realized alien society, a chilling alien villain, and a masterful David Arnold soundtrack. StarGate is, pound-for-pound, my favorite unappreciated genre film. (I’m not saying it’s /good/, just favorite.)