Cinema Obscura

As you know, I love movies. Well, today I am going to introduce you to some of my favorite obscure movies. The up side to having no life is that I have plenty of time to experiment with movies I may have not seen otherwise. Remember, just because you haven't heard of it or because it was unsuccessful at the theater and/or there are no "big stars" in it, doesn't mean it's not a good movie. There are plenty of dusty cinematic gems in your local video store if you only take the time to look AND know what to look for. I hope you'll check one of these out and perhaps discover a new favorite of your own in the process.

• Fire With Fire. 1986
Synopsis: A young woman (Virginia Madsen) from a Catholic school and a young man (Craig Sheffer) from a nearby prison camp fall in love and must runaway together to escape the law, the church and their parents.
Comments: This is one of my favorite 80's movies. It's like Footloose meets Heaven Help Us meets Romeo & Juliet. This is the movie that turned me on to the beautiful Virginia Madsen.

• Dangerously Close. 1986
Synopsis: A group of vigilante honor students that call themselves "The Sentinels" take their self-appointed enforcement policies too far when they become involved in a series of deaths among lower-income students at Vista Verde high school.
Comments: You MUST rent this movie. Especially if you are a lover of 80's teen movies. I missed it when it came out in the 80's, but when I saw it back in the early 90's for the first time, it was like a little time machine surprise package. John Stockwell looks hot (as he did in all his 80's movies), as did the underrated Carey Lowell (she's married to Richard Gere... lucky bitch).

• Heart of Midnight. 1989
Synopsis: Carol (Jennifer Jason Leigh) inherits a night club from her weird uncle. She moves into the place, only to find out just how weird her uncle really was.
Comments: I remember renting this back in the late 80's and thinking how beautiful it was. It was so surreal, creepy and just downright different. I'd describe it as an S&M Salvador Dali film on acid. Check it out.

• The Reflecting Skin. 1990
Synopsis: A young boy tries to cope with rural life circa 1950's and his fantasies become a way to interpret events. After his father tells him stories of vampires, he becomes convinced that the widow up the road is a vampire, and tries to find ways of discouraging his brother (Viggo Mortensen) from seeing her.
Comments: WEIRD but visually rich film. Rent it for the toad on the road scene, if for no other reason. Viggo looks HOT.

• The Linguini incident. 1991
Synopsis: Lucy (Rosanna Arquette) is waiting tables at Dali's, a restaurant for the terminally trendy, while she tries to get her act together as an escape artist. Monte (David Bowie) is a suave bartender and pathological liar. For some mysterious reason, Monte is desperate to marry someone by Friday. And Cecil and Dante are the preposterously flamboyant owners who seem to have a stake in Monte's past and Lucy's future.
Comments: There are so many things I love about this movie, I just can't say enough good things. It cracked me up and I instantly fell in love with the characters.

• Blood & Concrete. 1991
Synopsis: The sole supplier of the wonder drug Libido is murdered in his Hollywood Hills home, and L.A.'s rich and ruthless embark on a frenzied search for their new love drug connection (Jennifer Beals, Billy Zane, Darren McGavin, James LeGros).
Comments: Billy Zane looks fuckin' H-O-T in this movie. If you're a fan of unconventional, quirky movies, you'll love this one. Think neo noir. Great soundtrack, too.

• If Lucy Fell. 1996
Synopsis: Joe (Eric Schaeffer) and Lucy (Sarah Jessica Parker) are roommates and best friends. Lucy, whose love life is embarrassingly dull, convinces Joe, who is infatuated with a neighbor he's never met, that if they don't have stable romances within a month, they must jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.
Comments: This is one of my favorite movies. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. I just loved everything about it. It was also the first time I'd ever seen/heard of Eric Schaeffer who played one of the main characters as well as directed the film. You may look at him and think to yourself "Huh? I don't get it." I can't explain it. I find his personality and face very appealing. A really fun movie about the pitfalls of dating and life after 30.

[Other Favorites]• 'Night Mother. 1986
• Slam Dance. 1987
• Spirit of the Beehive. 1973
• The Locusts. 1997
• Fall. 1997