Looking for something to put on as summer winds to a close? You may be subscribed to Amazon, and if you are, you probably haven’t had a chance to sift through everything that’s available on Amazon Prime Video. It’s a great streaming service filled with interesting titles, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be hard to find something good.
That’s where we come in. We’ve selected three underrated movies that are the perfect way to spend the weekend, whether you’re looking for an underrated superhero film or something about a serial killer, we’ve got you covered.
Manhunter (1986)
It may not be quite as good as The Silence of the Lambs, which came out five years later, but Michael Mann’s fantastic movie Manhunter has plenty of merit on its own terms. The movie follows Will Graham, a detective who is called out of an early retirement to assist with the case of the Tooth Fairy, a serial killer terrorizing Baltimore.
Will is forced to consult Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played here by Brian Cox, who is the reason he retired in the first place. Mann delivers plenty of style, and gives the entire movie a slightly surreal quality that pairs well with its more procedural elements. Cox’s Lecter is also remarkably good, even if he would be shown up by Anthony Hopkins shortly thereafter.
You can watch Manhunter on Prime Video.
Passengers (2016)
A movie that was largely panned upon its release but is far better than those reviews suggest, Passengers tells the story of a man (Chris Pratt) who wakes up a century early from hyperbaric sleep on a voyage in outer space, and eventually realizes that he’s going to die alone if he doesn’t wake up another passenger (Jennifer Lawrence). If he does wake them up, though, he’ll condemn them to death.
He makes that call, and the result is a movie that probably shouldn’t be a romance, but nonetheless features some pretty riveting action, a massive budget, and one of the best performances of Lawrence’s career. It’s not perfect, but Passengers gets more hate than it deserves.
You can watch Passengers on Prime Video.
Darkman (1990)
A decade before Sam Raimi reinvented the superhero movie with Spider-Man, he made Darkman, a much darker superhero story that came just a year after Tim Burton’s Batman. The movie tells the story of a scientist who seeks revenge on the men who attacked and deformed him by assuming the persona of Darkman, a man who can change his face to sow terror in the hearts of criminals.
Darkman is a little bit silly and doesn’t have a tremendous budget, but it’s also a lot of fun, and Liam Neeson proves that he could have played Batman in a different timeline. You’re always in good hands with Raimi, and Darkman is no exception.
You can watch Darkman on Prime Video.
