3 Underrated Horror Films Currently on Netflix
If you’re like me, you spend a decent amount of time browsing through Netflix, trying to a find the perfect Friday night film that both you and your roommate will enjoy. This excruciating process involves hours of reading poorly written synopses, searching online reviews, and watching endless YouTube trailers. Eventually, you make a decision to either give up or take the leap and press select. Although this is a mundane routine, you may stumble across a new favorite film.
Of course, in the case of horror flicks, I tend to choose films that are more psychologically frightening than gruesome. That’s why this list is only concerned with horror films that incorporate creative narrative and interesting character development to tell the story, rather than ones that depend on shock scares and torture scenes to drive its plot.
Created by first time director, Steven Piet, Uncle John creatively cross-examines the lives of two men: Uncle John, who lives in a small, quiet Wisconsin town, and his nephew, Ben, who works in the city. Both characters are portrayed as kind, helpful, and well-liked individuals. The film begins with the dead body of a local community member — a murder we never witness — that Uncle John burns in a field. Although the film incorporates numerous small town stereotypes, including a clueless sheriff’s department, its likeable characters and realistic dialogue exchanges create an interesting portrayal of good and evil with good falling on the side of the suspected murderer, who uses fire to cleanse the town of evil.
POD centers on the lives of three siblings, all of who find themselves at their childhood lake house on a freezing winter’s night. While there, two of the siblings confront their brother — a returned war veteran — who claims he found a pod in the woods while hunting. The film transpires into a creepy tale where the viewer has difficulty deciphering which of the characters is telling the truth. Filled with conspiracy theories and a terrifying alien that the viewer actually gets to see more than once, this is a classic horror tale that offers unique character portrayals, where siblings have to put aside their differences to help each other survive the night.
Also set in winter, Dark was the Night cleverly shapes its terrifying narrative using visual aesthetics and small town ghost stories. Each shot is filmed in either a dark room or out in the cold, immense woods — which gives the narrative an eerie feeling that a dark storm is looming in the background. The film purposely withholds information from its viewers, revealing just enough clues about the town and its inhabitants to keep you interested and second guessing yourself about who or what is stalking this quiet community. Perhaps its most unique element is the film’s environmental argument at the end, which explains why the town is under attack in the first place.
