Hidden Gems: The best films you (probably) haven’t seen on Netflix UK
Matthew Turner | On 17, Nov 2019
Reading time: 17 minsStuck with that tricky “What should I watch next on Netflix?” decision? With the streaming service adding new titles all the time, it’s increasingly difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. Fortunately, help is at hand, as there’s nothing we love more at VODzilla.co than throwing some great film recommendations your way. Here then, are Netflix UK’s best hidden gems.
This list will be updated regularly to reflect new releases and removals.
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
“There’s no sense in nonsense, not when the heat’s hot!” So says Darius (Aubrey Plaza), a grumpy magazine intern who finds her world view softening when she’s sent to interview a man (Mark Duplass) who has placed a classified ad looking for a companion for time travel. Brilliantly written and superbly directed, this is a genuinely hilarious and unexpectedly moving comedy with a star-making turn from Plaza and a terrific supporting turn from New Girl’s Jake Johnson.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Based on the novel by Isaac Marion, this zombie romantic comedy (or rom-zom-com) stars Nicholas Hoult as R, a sentient zombie with feelings and an interior monologue who falls in love with human Julie (Teresa Palmer) after he saves her from a zombie attack. However, there are a couple of problems: firstly, he’s just eaten her boyfriend (Dave Franco) and secondly, her militaristic father (John Malkovich) is intent on wiping out the remaining zombie population. Hoult and Palmer have great chemistry, especially considering he’s a zombie, and writer-director Jonathan Levine’s inventive and funny script has a lot of fun putting a zombie-themed spin on the usual rom-com staples.
Clown (2014)
Be warned: this disturbing and creepy horror flick is decidedly not for the coulrophobic. Directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming), it stars Andy Powers as a loving husband and father who dons a clown suit for his son’s birthday party, only to find that it’s cursed and won’t come off. Watts’ control of the tone is assured and the consistently surprising script goes to some extremely dark places, delivering a subtle metaphor about abuse and dark desires in the process. Also with: Peter Stormare, as the clown suit’s original owner, delivering a perfectly pitched performance that allows him to get away with lines like, “Jack, we’re going to have to kill your daddy…”
Marshall (2017)
Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman stars as NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall in this satisfyingly old-fashioned period courtroom drama that’s based on a true story but set 12 years before Marshall’s landmark victory in the Brown vs Board of Education case. When he takes on a client (Sterling K. Brown) accused of rape and murder, the judge (James Cromwell) disallows Marshall from speaking in court, so he’s forced to rely on his Jewish co-counsel (Josh Gad) to argue on his behalf. Boseman’s off-the-scale charisma is palpable throughout and he generates engaging chemistry with Gad, while the script (co-written by veteran civil rights lawyer Michael Koskoff) delivers all the traditional pleasures associated with the courtroom drama, alongside some resonant points about bigotry and female sexuality.
Saved! (2004)
The very definition of a Hidden Gem, this overlooked teen comedy is up there with the likes of Mean Girls, which came out the same year. Jena Malone stars as a popular student at a Christian high school, who gets pregnant and finds herself alienated by her former best friends, including domineering singing group member Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore). The performances are terrific across the board (the cast includes Macaulay Culkin, Heather Matarazzo and Eva Amurri) and the characters actually seem like real people rather than high school movie clichés, while the intelligent, well-written script crackles with laugh-out-loud funny dialogue. More importantly, though the film might initially seem like a straightforward satire of Christian fundamentalism, it’s actually a lot smarter than that, in that it pulls off the difficult balancing act of delivering a genuine, heartfelt message of tolerance and acceptance whilst also hitting all the bases required for a teen comedy. Also, extra praise is due to whoever cast Mary Louise Parker as Jena Malone’s mother, because they genuinely look like they’re related.
A Royal Affair (2012)
Mads Mikkelsen delivers a magnificent performance in this superbly directed Danish period drama that’s by turns gripping, thought-provoking and powerfully moving. He plays German doctor Johann Friedrich Struensee, a close advisor to King Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard), who begins an affair with the English-born young Queen Caroline (Alicia Vikander, superb). Together they manipulate the ineffectual King into implementing a series of far-reaching liberal reforms, until the repressive aristocracy work out what they’re up to, putting both their lives in great danger.
Colossal (2016)
Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo (best known for twisty, low-budget time-travel flick Timecrimes), this blackly comic oddity plays like a cross between a small-town indie romance and a Godzilla-style creature feature. Anne Hathaway plays a troubled young woman who seems to have something to do with a gigantic monster that’s stomping all over South Korea. Hathaway and co-star Jason Sudeikis both deliver complex, multi-layered performances and the clever script uses its bonkers central idea to explore intriguing compelling themes of addiction, empathy, toxic male attitudes and the collateral damage of destructive behaviour.
Shimmer Lake (2017)
Written and directed by Oren Uziel, this clever crime thriller unfolds in reverse order over the course of a week, as a small town Sheriff (Benjamin Walker) tries to get to the bottom of a bank heist that’s gone horribly wrong. The strong cast includes reliable character actors such as Rainn Wilson (as the Sheriff’s ne’er-do-well brother), Ron Livingston, Rob Corddry and John Michael Higgins, while Narcos’ Stephanie Sigman impresses as a key figure in the mystery. Uziel clearly knows his way around a tricksy thriller and he ensures that his reverse-time gimmick has a satisfying pay-off that rewards close attention.
The Domestics (2018)
Sound-designer-turned writer-director Mike P. Nelson makes an auspicious debut with this gripping and inventive post-apocalyptic thriller. With half the population of the US decimated by a poison gas attack, society has fractured into various cult-like gangs, with the non-affiliated known as Domestics. Tyler Hoechlin and Kate Bosworth star as two such Domestics, an on-the-outs couple who undertake a terrifying drive across the country in order to reunite with family, dodging several murderous encounters along the way. Nelson maintains a breathtaking pace and strikes the perfect balance of thrilling action and nail-biting suspense sequences. Basically, it’s The Warriors meets The Road, seasoned with a dash of Mad Max.
The Boxtrolls (2014)
This charming stop-motion children’s adventure from animation studio Laika (Coraline, ParaNorman) is a delightfully imaginative and beautifully designed tale about a boy who is kidnapped as a baby and grows up thinking he’s a boxtroll (literally, a race of trolls who wear boxes and have names like Fish, Knickers, Shoe, Wheels and Bucket). Stuffed full of wonderful details that will reward endless rewatches, the film also boasts some top-notch voice work, particularly from Ben Kingsley as hissable villain Archibald Snatcher. Whatever you do, don’t switch off before the fabulous mid-credits sting.
Ballerina (2016)
Co-directed by Éric Summer and Éric Warin, this French-Canadian animation (known as Leap! on its US release) is surprisingly charming, despite its slightly rocky start. Set in the 1880s, it centres on Felicie (voiced by Elle Fanning), an orphan girl who flees rural Brittany for Paris, where she passes herself off as her bullying rival and gains a place as a student at the Paris Opera Ballet. The story hits all the expected notes, but it’s enhanced considerably by some gorgeously detailed production design (making strong visual use of an under-construction Paris), likeable characters and lively animation that pays close attention to authentic ballet moves.
The Cured
Written and directed by David Freyne, this powerful and provocative thriller imagines what would happen if a cure was found for those affected with a zombie virus. Set in post-zombie apocalypse Ireland, it stars Sam Keely as Senan, a former zombie who’s released from undead rehab and goes to live with his American sister-in-law (Ellen Page, who also came on board as co-producer). Meanwhile, Senan’s fellow former zombie Conor (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, from Avengers: Infinity War) foments a violent underground resistance movement, in protest at the way the cured are treated in society. Bracingly original, superbly acted and rich in thematic resonance, this is a genuinely chilling zombie movie that delivers both high tension and strong emotion. Read our full review
The Intervention
This sharply written indie comedy from actor-turned-director Clea DuVall is pretty much the perfect Sundance film, finding eight great roles for eight great actors who are all too often relegated to frustratingly small support roles. The plot centres on a weekend getaway for four couples that takes a sharp turn for the worse when one couple realise the entire weekend is a pretence for a staged intervention on their marriage. DuVall co-stars alongside the likes of Melanie Lynskey, Natasha Lyonne, Cobie Smulders, Alia Shawkat and Jason Ritter and her generous direction allows everyone a chance to shine. Read our full review
Notes on Blindness
Co-directed by James Spinney and Pete Middleton, this extraordinary British documentary is based on the work of theologian John Hull, who began keeping an audio diary after losing his sight in 1983, recording his thoughts, feelings, experiences and observations. Using actors Dan Renton Skinner and Simone Kirby to lip-synch along to Hull’s original recordings (which include conversations with his wife and young children, as well as recorded letters to his parents in Australia), the film is both insightful and profoundly moving. It’s worth seeing for its stand-out scene alone, an extraordinary sequence that illustrates Hull discussing how rainfall affects his immediate environment, combining visuals of rain in Hull’s garden with phenomenal sound design work. Read our full review
Eight Men Out
“Say it ain’t so, Joe!” Written and directed by John Sayles, this gripping sports drama depicts Major League Baseball’s Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. The note-perfect cast includes the likes of David Strathairn, John Mahoney, Christopher Lloyd and D.B. Sweeney (as illiterate outfielder ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson), as well as early roles for the very youthful trio of John Cusack, Charlie Sheen and Michael Rooker. The performances are superb across the board and Sayles tells a complex story in riveting fashion, regardless of whether or not you’re a baseball fan.
Catfight
Written and directed by Onur Turkel, this acerbic, jet-black satire is unlike anything you’ve seen before. Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) and Anne Heche star as a pair of former college friends who get into a vicious, life-changing fistfight after running into each other at a party. From there, the film gets progressively darker and stranger – suffice it to say there are more fights to come, as the cleverly structured story goes to some extremely dark places, with both actors delivering fully committed performances. The fights themselves are superbly choreographed and given an extra wallop by some punchy sound design and some inspired soundtrack choices. Outrageous, shocking and weirdly moving, this is a cult movie waiting to happen. (Read our full review)
What Keeps You Alive
Cruelly denied a theatrical release, this gripping thriller is one of the best genre films of the year. Written and directed by Colin Minihan, it stars Brittany Allen and Hannah Emily Anderson as a lesbian couple whose first anniversary weekend at a remote lakeside cottage becomes a deadly game of cat-and-mouse after a shocking moment of violence. The two leads have terrific chemistry together and Minihan’s taut direction keeps the tension at nail-biting levels throughout, thanks to a delightfully twisty script that’s full of jaw-dropping rug-pulls, left turns and sudden shocks. Great fun.
The Young Offenders
Smartly constructed and packed full of great gags, this sweet-natured Irish comedy lead to an equally hilarious sitcom that’s currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer (read our review of the BBC Three series here). Written and directed by Peter Foote, the film centres on Jock Murphy (Alex Murphy) and Connor MacSweeney (Chris Walley), a pair of idiot teenagers who hit upon a fool-hardy get-rich-quick scheme after hearing that a bale of cocaine has washed up on the shore of West Cork. The two leads have an irresistible comic dynamic and Foote maintains a consistently high gag rate, ensuring decent laughs in every scene. He also has a strong sense of structure, planting throwaway details that pay off beautifully and building to a farce-like climax that will leave you grinning from ear-to-ear. (Read our full review)
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
This smart teen comedy from director Jon Poll stands as a worthy tribute to actor Anton Yelchin, whose accidental death earlier this year robbed Hollywood of one of its brightest young talents. Yelchin delivers one of his best performances as a bullied rich kid who becomes a self-appointed psychiatrist-slash-pharmaceutical drug dispenser to the students at his new school. Gustin Nash’s witty script is packed with great dialogue and weirdly offbeat scenes and there’s terrific work from a supporting cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davies and Kat Dennings.
Princess Cyd (2017)
This gorgeous female coming-of-age drama is an utter joy from beginning to end. Written and directed by Stephen Cone, it centres on 16 year old Cyd (Jessie Pinnick), who comes to live with her aunt, Miranda (Rebecca Spence) in suburban Chicago for the summer, following an unspecified falling out with her widowed father. The details of their slowly forged relationship are exquisitely observed, with both women delivering performances that are complex, charming and consistently surprising. If you liked Lady Bird, you’ll fall madly in love with Princess Cyd. Seriously, don’t miss it – it’s quite possibly the best film you’ll see all year. (Read our full review)
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Imaginatively directed by Marc Foster, this delightful Truman Show-esque comedy stars Will Ferrell as a tax agent who suddenly hears a voice narrating his life. After discovering that he’s a character in a novel and, worse, that the author (Emma Thompson) is planning to kill him off, he seeks help from a literary theorist (Dustin Hoffman), who suggests turning his tragic story into a comedy by romancing his attractive, tax-hating client (Maggie Gyllenhaal). First-timer Zach Helm’s brilliant script is richly detailed and packed with quotable lines, while Ferrell delivers a career-best performance. Intelligent, thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, this is a stunningly original piece of work that’s brimming with ideas. It also features the most romantic scene ever set on a bendy-bus.
The Endless
The third feature from writer-director duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson (following Resolution and Spring), The Endless centres on Aaron (Moorhead) and Justin (Benson), two adult brothers who decide to return to the UFO death cult they escaped years earlier, after they’ve been unable to move on with their lives. To give away anything further would be to spoil the pleasures of the film, but suffice it to say that things get increasingly weird, with Moorhead and Benson generating a compellingly creepy and mysterious atmosphere throughout. Reminiscent of Shane Carruth’s Primer, this is a masterclass in micro-budget filmmaking, proving that all you need to make great science-fiction is a talented cast, an intelligent script and a well-chosen location (in this case, a remote forest). Bump it to the top of your Netflix queue. (Read our full review – and read our interview with the directors here.
Carrie Pilby (2016)
Based on the novel by Caren Lissner and directed by Susan Johnson, this utterly charming comedy-drama stars Bel Powley as Carrie Pilby, a socially awkward, highly intelligent 19 year-old who begrudgingly takes the advice of her therapist (an excellent Nathan Lane) and attempts to tick a few simple goals off a list, such as going on a date, making a friend and doing something that made her happy as a child. Powley’s performance here is every bit as assured as her turn in The Diary of a Teenage Girl, consistently unearthing unexpected and touching layers in what could have been just the standard quirky girl performance. (She also nails the rather specific accent, perfectly capturing a Londoner who’s been raised in New York). In addition, the dialogue is often very funny and there’s strong comic support from Vanessa Bayer (as an over-sharing co-worker) and Jason Ritter as Carrie’s blind date.
Weiner (2016)
Co-directed by Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman, this gripping, fly-on-the-wall documentary follows disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner as he embarks on a bid to become Mayor of New York, two years after a sexting scandal forced his resignation. At first, he appears to be winning over voters, but then a new wave of sexting revelations emerges, dealing his campaign a powerful blow. Weiner emerges as a fascinating and complex figure, at once a gifted and passionate politician, yet continually undone by his own seemingly compulsive indiscretions. Offering a refreshingly non-judgemental stance, the film is utterly riveting, operating simultaneously as an intimate character study, a thrilling behind-the-scenes look at a troubled political campaign and a scathing indictment of the state of political journalism in the USA. Read our interview with the film’s directors, our our full review here.
Creep (2014)
The textbook definition of an under-the-radar gem, this unsettling found footage horror stars co-writer-director Patrick Brice as a videographer who answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job. When he arrives at his remote mountain town destination he finds that the creepy client, Josef (co-writer Mark Duplass), has a series of increasingly unusual requests, and he begins to suspect that all is not what it seems. Effectively a two-hander, the film is heightened by an appropriately tense chemistry between Brice and Duplass, while the clever script finds some interesting ways to pay off the found footage conceit. Read our full review.
Little Sister (2016)
Written and directed by Zach Clark, this sweetly cynical indie stars Addison Timlin as a former Goth-turned-soon-to-be nun visiting her estranged family, including her strung-out mother (Ally Sheedy, effectively playing a grown-up version of her Breakfast Club character) and her recently-returned soldier brother (Keith Poulson) who’s been left severely disfigured after an IED explosion. Clark has a knack for caustic dialogue and occasionally close-to-the-bone humour, but he’s also adept at portraying fraught, but loving relationships and the cumulative effect is both darkly funny and quietly moving. There’s also a great synth score, if you like that sort of thing.
The Invitation (2015)
This powerfully intense psychological thriller serves as a masterclass in building suspense. When Will (Logan Marshall-Green) takes his new girlfriend (Emayatzy Corinealdi) to an LA dinner party at the house of his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard), he becomes increasingly paranoid about the real reasons for his invitation, especially after Eden and her new partner (Michiel Huisman) reveal they are members of a happiness cult. The performances are superb and the cleverly structured script does a terrific job of creating and sustaining tension, gradually moving from the excruciating uncomfortableness of an awkward dinner party to something much more sinister. Read our full review
Divines (2016)
Debut director Houda Benyamina won the Camera d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for this superb crime drama-slash-coming-of-ager that plays like a cross between La Haine and Girlhood. Newcomers Oulaya Amamra and Déborah Lukumuena star as a pair of 15 year-old best friends who decide that the fastest way out of their run-down, outskirts-of-Paris neighbourhood lies in going to work for their local drug dealer. Benyamina draws terrific performances from her two young leads, while her stylish direction (which extends to some exceptional sound design work) marks her out as an exciting new talent to watch. Read our full review
Calibre (2018)
Written and directed by Matt Palmer, this cracking thriller won the Michael Powell Award for best new British feature at the 2018 Edinburgh Film Festival and promptly went straight to Netflix. It stars Jack Lowden (Dunkirk) and Martin McCann (The Survivalist) as two best friends who head to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands for a hunting trip. After a tragic accident, the pair decide to cover it up, rather than reporting it to the authorities, leading to a tense situation with the increasingly suspicious villagers. Palmer’s impressive direction ensures the film grips like a vice, as the unbearable suspense gradually descends into sickening horror. A must-see for genre fans. (Read our full review – or click here to read our interview with director Matt Palmer.)
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