Hidden Gems? You Decide

The Amazon Prime content catalog is loaded with low-budget, independent, direct-to-streaming (or nearly direct) movies that are rubbish, as they might say in the U.K. But there are exceptions, if you can find them.

Speaking of the U.K…

Repeat (U.K., 2021): A college professor heartbroken over a young daughter who has gone missing invents a device to communicate with the beyond — or does he?

Without giving away too much about the 1-1/2 hour production in which some of the acting and production values seem amateurish, an IMDB user aptly wrote that “this indie film has heart, intrigue, mystery, and a slightly Dr. Who feel to it (in a good way). Suspend disbelief for a while and enjoy the ride.”

Silent Hours (U.K., 2015): The official summary on Prime explains that “Private detective John Duval, an ex-lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy and Naval Intelligence, finds himself the prime suspect in the police hunt for a serial killer when three women are brutally murdered.” Silent Hours also streams on Tubi.

Serial killer movies are best avoided. More in the mainstream lane, this yarn nonetheless presents a creative triple twist at the end that makes getting through 2-1/2 run time worthwhile. Of course, you’re mileage may vary. You’d have to carefully watch and listen to the while thing for a second time, however, to determine if any plot holes devalued the unique surprise ending. Also (SPOILER), it was ingenious that a subplot turned out to be an incremental fast forward.

Complaining about the ancient technology (which includes hard-copy maps, cassette and VHS tapes, standalone cameras, etc.), some IMDB user reviewers apparently overlooked that the storyline takes place in 2002. They are correct, however, that the chain-smoking main character is hardly believable as a lothario who gets graphically busy with several attractive women. Silent Hours was reedited as a three-part TV show for a 2020 release.

The Last Movie (Canada, 2012): This is a low-budget movie about a low-budget remake of a Russian film noir. Billed as a psychological suspense thriller, it’s not quite that; in fact, it’s really challenging to categorize. It’s sort of an unconventional movie within a movie within a movie. Bruce Pittman, who apparently portrays the writer and director of The Last Movie, is the actual writer and director who shot the film in his own home and makes interesting observations about the entertainment industry along the way. He doesn’t list himself in the cast credits.

Wintergast (Switzerland, 2015, with subtitles): An angst-ridden, down-on-his luck filmmaker named Stefan (co-writer and director Andy Herzog) gets a side gig traveling around the country reviewing youth hostels, which includes the all-important white-glove test for cleanliness. The mundanely mesmerizing film is shot in black and while, perhaps in keeping with the bleak theme about the self-absorbed protagonist, and mostly with a shaky cam.

It’s a quiet, almost documentary-like picture that follows the socially isolated protagonist (who is inexplicably hired to do the job around Christmas time) on his journey. Some of the often-awkward dialogue, when it occurs, seems improvised.

For anyone who is a wordsmith or would-be one, the scenes where a procrastinating Stefan struggles with writer’s block while trying to meet a film-treatment deadline might seem familiar. And his interaction with a woman he meets at a hostel as well as a brief telephone conversation with his girlfriend back home provide emotional impact.

Perhaps in a form of life imitating art or vice versa, though, Winter[Guest] has only two user reviews on IMDB and zero on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of them wrote “The main character and his ‘woes’ are not in the least bit interesting. There is no payoff at all from watching this drab and dull movie.” The other user wrote, in part, that “This beautifully shot film follows the artistically blocked main character on his odyssey through modern Switzerland as seen through train or bus windows and the interiors of basic budget hotels and hostels.”

One of five reviews on Amazon in English maintained that “An aspiring writer who fantasized a great success finally accepting that his talent is just that, a fantasy. A long drawn out examination of delusion and the damage caused to the character and those he misleads.”

Despite the drawbacks of all four, and you’ve been warned, each gets a — especially if you’re a fan of obscure and quirky, unconventional content. Whether they qualify as hidden gems is, in the end, up to the viewer to decide.

Added: For total escapism, The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre (2021). Think of it as the independent pro wrestling circuit meets The Walking Dead, but without the dour characters that populated the TWD world.

The entertaining, fun film is as low budget as indy wrestling, but with comedy (including one of the tag-team bros perpetual malapropisms), and with a lot of wrestling jargon sprinkled into the script amidst the mayhem.