I kind of like these low budget or niche movies that come along. Here are some of my favorites:
Down and Derby
Employee of the Month
Here is a site listing the top 25. The only ones I know:
Frozen
I didn’t realize Free Enterprise was direct to DVD (It actually did have a theatrical release, I see, though it was extremely limited). In any case, it’s a pretty good movie, especially for the climactic scene, which had to work or the movie would fail completely. But William Shatner rapping Shakespeare is just plain wonderful
I think the only movie on that list that I saw was “Boondock Saints.” I didn’t love it, but it had its moments. I hadn’t realized that it was DTV.
Sherlock Holmes (Asylum version).
It’s freaking hilarious.
Detention of the Dead was good if you’re looking for a fun zombie movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not as good as Shaun of the Dead, but it’s well worth a watch.
It wasn’t exactly DTV. The linked article even says it had a brief theatrical run.
I agree. It felt like a truer Holmes movie to me than the Robert Downey Jr. version.
Not sure if The Pirates of Penzance counts - it was simultaneously released to theaters and to SelecTV (an early, over-the-air subscription TV service - think HBO without the cable). Theater owners boycotted it so it got only a very short, very limited release. Certainly wasn’t shown anywhere near where I was living at the time - I would have seen it since I loved the Broadway revival the movie was taken from.
I recently reviewed Cop Car here.
One of many such movies I’ve seen in recent years. Direct-to-video is kind of hard to define. Many films get a token showing in a couple theaters to satisfy contracts/unions. But I don’t think those should count as being theatrical releases.
Some get a modest theatrical showing while also simultaneously going to video. (Theater owners hate that. The studio has to four-wall the theaters, own the chain or some such.) That’s more borderline.
Hachi: A Dog’s Tale was not released to theaters in the US, only UK and Japan, but is a major tear inducing film for any pet lover.
Good to see* Dog Soldiers *on the list. Fun movie with some great lines (“Sausages!”).
*Tremors 2: Aftershocks * would be my nomination.
Yeah, my wife and I saw it in the theater. We had been waiting for it, and it got no ads in the paper at all, just a single line with showtimes for one place - the Watt’s Mill, a wretched little cracker-box of a theater. We loved it and waited for years for it to finally be released on DVD. We had the VHS, but it was one of the worst examples of pan’n’scan. I wish some big Gilbert & Sullivan fan would pay for a restoration of the movie, and (if they still exist) go back to the original soundtrack elements and record an orchestral version. Pirates of Penzance and The Princess Bride both suffer from cheesy synth soundtracks.
Lemme tackle that list first; I own quite a few of them:
Special is freaking awesome. Hilarious. I’ve watched it at least half a dozen times and find that it makes a great double feature with Spaceman (another DTV gem).
Splinter is excellent; well worth the $4.99 I invested. This one was in a lot of pre-feature trailers on other DVD/BRs I bought and I finally bought a copy.
Dog Soldiers was pretty good, but I’ve only watched it once.
Hobo With A Shotgun is fantastic; tons of fun.
Bronson is amazing. Watch this one back-to-back with Chopper if you can.
Timecrimes is better than it looks at first glance and is worth watching several times.
Okay, that’s the ones from that list that I own.
Boiler Room is great. If this movie had been made in 1976 it would have been a huge hit. Excellent depiction of complex people with complex relationships. Giovanni Ribisi is great, but it’s the terrific performance from Vin Diesel that will make most people say “holy shit; he can act”.
Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies - it’s an extremely low budget zombie movie with just a touch of camp. It’s actually pretty crappy It was a fun, good kind of crappy though. You’ll either enjoy it or question my sanity at being able to call it good.
I saw that one in the theater too, mostly because I knew Vin Diesel could act.
Not on the list, but The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, with everyone from Joe Mantegna to Edward James Olmos to Sid Caesar to Esai Morales, was pretty good.
Hobo with a Shotgun was a fun movie. Boondocks Saints was a very good movie, the sequel not so much. I don’t know if it was direct to video but I really liked Troll Hunter. After a slow start it gets going, it’ a well done parody that stands up in it’s own right.
From that list, I’ve seen Hobo With A Shotgun (in the theatre), Defendor and Black Dynamite. I liked them all.
I have seen Frozen (actually because someone on this board mentioned it recently). It was definitely entertaining.
Free Enterprise is indeed awesome and I would agree with the list maker that many of the the DC Animated movies are really good.
Just from the list:
Frozen was one of the stupidest “horror” films I have seen. The individual moments weren’t so bad, but it was a mix of idiotic characters and implausible scenarios.
Interstate 60 was a wonderfully quirky film that most people haven’t seen.
Black Dynamite is terrific, and now has a TV show based on it.
Boondock Saints was not direct to video, but whatever. Definitely a film that gained its cult status due to DVD and word of mouth, but then so did Fight Club and that was in theaters.
Troll 2 is uhh… Troll 2. Must-see, but no, it’s not good.