Killer Party (1986)
The Film: Ostensibly the story of a sorority pledge party gone wrong, Killer Party transcends its high-concept via a punk-rock attitude.
Why It's Amazing: One of the earliest examples of post-modern horror, Killer Party opens in one direction, before pulling the plug out of the jukebox and going in a completely different direction.
It's this near-constant 'anything can happen' vibe, combined with one of the best final sequences we've seen that makes this one really special.
Why You've Never Seen It: It's currently got a ridiculous 3.6 score on imdb. But delve into the user reviews, and you'll see the pure love people have for this picture.
Come And See (1985)
The Film: Bleak war drama / psychological thriller film about a young boy who joins the Soviet army during Nazi occupation.
Why It's Amazing: Almost impossibly harrowing, this is the closest cinema gets to recreating the journey from confusion to terror to eventual emotional numbness of living through war.
Why You've Never Seen It: It's an incredibly difficult watch, so there's only a small group of people who have put themselves through it. So, word of mouth is relatively low. But everyone who sees it is forever changed by the experience. A monumental film.
Mr Freedom (1969)
The Film: Bonkers '60s comic-book satire, featuring a cameo from Serge Gainsbourg as a piano-playing superhero named Mr Drugstore.
Why It's Amazing: It's basically Captain America if it was scripted by Hunter S Thompson. Fiercely anti-establishment, and constantly hilarious.
Why You've Never Seen It: Only available in the William Klein Criterion Colllection box set, it's not exactly easy to get hold of.
That, combined with the fact that it's a superhero movie not based on an actual superhero means it's never had the attention its deserved.
Gwendoline (1984)
The Film: A young girl and her best friend ship themselves to China in a box to search for her missing butterfly-collecting father.
Once there, they encounter the Chinese mafia and have to be rescued by an Indiana Jones rip-off. They hire Indiana, sorry, Willard to find her father. Oh, and a rare butterfly. That's shortly before they discover an underground army of leather-clad Amazonian warriors.
Why It's Amazing: It's trash of the highest order. It's essentially Temple Of Doom with way too much nudity and some of the weirdest plotting on this list. It's also loads and loads of fun.
Why You've Never Seen It: The cover, combined with the fact it stars an actress named Tawny Kitaen probably makes most people think it's pornography.
The Oily Maniac (1976)
The Film: A young man gains the ability to transform himself into a puddle of oil via a magical tattoo given to him by his uncle, who is on death row after being framed by gangsters.
Why It's Amazing: An ancestor of The Toxic Avenger, The Oily Maniac is a monster movie with terrible effects, cheap action and a score that sounds almost exactly like it was found in John Williams garbage pail. Obviously it's brilliant.
Why You've Never Seen It: It's probably last on your list of Shaw Brothers movies to watch (for one thing, it doesn't feature any kung fu) but monster movie fans who enjoy laughing will love it.
Aachi & Ssipak (2006)
The Film: South Korean animation set in a world in which human excrement has become the ultimate fuel source.
To reward people for donating their poo, the government delivers addictive Juicybars directly.
Because the bars are so addictive, there's a thriving black market--which is where our hoodlum heroes come in. When they meet a porn star who can defecate on command, their lives are changed forever.
This film includes a gang of evil Smurfs. Seriously.
Why It's Amazing: Aachi & Ssipak is one of the most original and beautiful animations we've seen, Highly stylised and violent, Akira fans with a penchant for toilet humor will love it.
Why You've Never Seen It: We imagine it's considered a bit too Niche for Western audiences, so it's never had a wide release. You can import it on DVD - though it'll set you back a cool 90 bucks on Amazon.com.
Four Of The Apocalypse (1975)
The Film: A gang of criminals wander through the desert, pursued by a Charles Manson-esque bandit.
Why It's Amazing: Bleak, brutal and beautiful--Four Of The Apocalypse is a philosophical treatise on the nature of evil. With guns and stuff.
Why You've Never Seen It: Most Fulci fans are so distracted by his horror work, they completely ignore his amazing westerns. This is a great starting point.
Horrors Of Malformed Men (1969)
The Film: A post-nuclear nightmare made flesh, Malformed Men follows our hero Hitomi as he investigates a Dr Moreau style mad scientist who is performing dark experiments on a remote island.
Why It's Amazing: With more tonal shifts than Audition, a more iconic villain than Ringu (and with a significant influence on both), you could argue that modern J-horror was first genetically spliced when Malformed Men spattered into cinemas.
Constantly surprising and shocking--Malformed Men is a mesmerising treat. And you'll never look at crab soup the same way again.
Why You've Never Seen It: Almost instantly banned in Japan, it's only had a R1 DVD release relatively recently. C'mon Arrow, pick this one up!
The Psychopath (1966)
The Film: A detective investigates a series of murders in which the killer leaves a replica doll with the bodies of their victims.
Why It's Amazing: Directed by Freddie Francis (one of the greatest British filmmakers--he trained as a camera operator before directing British shockers like Torture Garden, and Tales From The Crypt, before returning to cinematography, working with David Lynch on The Elephant Man, and Martin Scorsese on Cape Fear amongst others) and written by Psycho man Robert Bloch. Now that's pedigree.
Also, it contains one of the most unforgettable final shots in cinema history.
Why You've Never Seen It: Outside of cult film fans, double Oscar-winner Francis doesn't have anywhere near the household-name recognition he deserves.
If Hitchcock had directed The Psychopath instead of Psycho you can bet it would be in every film collection in Britain.
Modern slasher fans will find a lot to love here.
King Kong Escapes (1967)
The Film: King Kong goes Kaiju in this Japanese / American co-production.
Evil scientist Dr Hu (pronounced Doctor Who) creates a metallic Kong clone to mine for radioactive materials, but when the robot fails, he decides to kidnap the real Kong to complete his mission.
Why It's Amazing: The film builds to a 'bot on ape scrap for the ages. And if that concept doesn't make you collapse in giddy glee, then we're not sure we even know you anymore.
Why You've Never Seen It: The Kong sequels have a bad rap, but with Pacific Rim in cinemas, let's hope that this one is reappraised as glorious fun.
