The Serpent and the Rainbow (Directed by Wes Craven) Of course, the late-and-great genre director Craven is known primarily for "Elm Street", along with "Last House on the Left", "The Hills Have Eyes", and the "Scream" franchise. But this untypical offering from the filmmaker is often unfairly forgotten and is an extraordinarily strong entry in his filmography. It differs from most of his output in a number of intriguing ways; it's based on a non-fiction book, it takes place during genuine events in Haiti, and was the first film Craven managed to squeeze past the MPAA (US Censorship board) without having to make substantial cuts for violence. Even so, his original edit was said to be over 3
Bad Taste (Directed by Peter Jackson) There is NO WAY in Hell that somebody watching this for the first time in the 80s would say; “Hey! You know what this guy needs to do as a future project? A family-friendly large-budget studio-backed movie version of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ novels!”. That’s not to belittle this ridiculous low-budgeted sci-fi horror comedy, or what Jackson achieved during its long production. It’s just… Man! ... you can not get more polar opposite to a visually sumptuous box-office hit than this! The fact that Jackson went from this and is now just as highly regarded for his WWII cinematic restoration work (the frankly astounding “They Shall Not Grow Old”), is just as min
