While Peacock has a large number of horror films lined up for its Halloween Horror programming, the underrated movies on Peacock in October tend to skew more toward sci-fi than scares. But there is at least one horror comedy in the mix that was barely seen in theaters. And that means audiences didn’t get to see it spoof all of the horror conventions that are normally in play.
As for the two sci-fi films, the first one is a comedy that reunites Shaun of the Dead co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, while the other is a would-be franchise that had Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in its cast. These are the three underrated movies on Peacock that you need to watch in October.
Paul (2011)
Considering that The Undeclared War‘s Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made their mark in Hollywood with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End, it’s surprising that their other collaboration, Paul, has largely fallen under the radar. Pegg and Frost co-wrote the film and co-star as Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings, respectively. While on a post-Comic-Con road trip, Graeme and Clive encounter Paul (Seth Rogen), a friendly alien who has recently escaped from government custody.
After Graeme and Clive agree to help Paul reach his destination, they befriend, Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), a half-blind woman whose life is profoundly changed by meeting Paul. However, the government’s top alien hunter, The Big Guy (Sigourney Weaver), wants Paul dead, and she’s dispatched Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman) to eliminate him.
Watch Paul on Peacock.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Cowboys & Aliens was made to be a movie. That’s not an exaggeration, as the original comic book was aggressively pitched to studios as a potential film. It ended up happening with a script by the creative team behind the Star Trek (2009) revival and it was director Jon Favreau’s first movie after Iron Man 2. With that kind of pedigree, it was easy to assume that the film would be a blockbuster hit. Spoiler: It was not.
Regardless of its failure to launch a franchise, Cowboys & Aliens is an underrated flick that has an out-of-this-world cast, including Daniel Craig as Jake Lonergan, Harrison Ford (in not one of his best movies) as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, Olivia Wilde as Ella Swenson, Sam Rockwell as Doc, Paul Dano as Percy Dolarhyde, and the great Clancy Brown as Preacher Meacham. Although he doesn’t initially realize it, Lonergan holds the key to fighting the alien invasion in the Old West. But it’s up to Ella to convince rivals and hated enemies to join forces against the invaders.
Watch Cowboys & Aliens on Peacock.
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)
The primary premise of Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is that the title characters don’t realize that they’re in a horror movie or that a bunch of horny college students have assumed that they are psychotic hillbilly killers. The only thing that Tucker McGee (Alan Tudyk) wants to do is go fishing with his best friend, Dale Dobson (Tyler Labine). But when Dale attempts to introduce himself to Allison (Katrina Bowden), he accidentally freaks her out and has Chad (Jesse Moss) and the rest of her friends convinced that Tucker and Dale are straight out of Deliverance.
Although Allison soon learns that Tucker and Dale have good intentions, she just can’t seem to convince her friends to accept that. Through a series of darkly comedic misunderstandings, Chad’s group meets fatal accidents as they attempt to attack Tucker and Dale in the misguided belief that they’ve kidnapped Allison.
Watch Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on Peacock.
