It’s nearing the end of May, and school is either out or about to be done, and some lucky folks are considering what they’ll do for summer vacation. You could travel to another state or country, play some video games (I hear Lorelai and the Laser Eyes is pretty good), or even do some yard work. Here at Digital Trends, we’re celebrating the onset of the summer season the only way we know how: by watching lots of movies.
If you’re looking to stay home and fire up your Amazon Prime Video streaming queue, we’ve prepared a handy list of three underrated movies you should check out this weekend. One is a classic thriller, one is a tense crime drama that you’ve probably never watched, and the other is a chilling film about the teenage years of one of America’s notorious serial killers.
Internal Affairs (1990)
Richard Gere just doesn’t get the critical love he deserves. Call it the curse of being too good-looking; the suave leading man of Pretty Woman and Chicago has long been considered a pretty face, and not much more than that. But underneath that handsome façade is a pretty good actor, and his best performance ever was in Mike Figgis’ Internal Affairs, a now-forgotten L.A. noir that’s a terrific thriller, one ripe for rediscovery.
Gere stars as Dennis Peck, an LAPD officer suspected of corruption and is under investigation by Raymond Avilla (Andy Garcia) of the Internal Affairs department. It’s no surprise that Peck turns out to be as bad as suspected, with shady side deals with criminals and even a part-time gig as a hitman that is gradually uncovered by Avilla. The two men engage in a tense cat-and-mouse game, one that involves both men’s wives and threatens to completely destroy their professional and personal worlds. Gere is magnetic here, and he imbues Peck with an irresistible charisma that contrasts greatly with the many despicable things he does throughout the film.
Internal Affairs is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
My Friend Dahmer (2017)
We all had that creepy classmate in school who never got along with anyone, who always seemed a little off, a little … strange. For many of us, these unusual classmates were never heard from again. For writer John Backderf, however, he has to live with the knowledge that he went to school with, and briefly befriended, one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history: Jeffrey Dahmer. Yikes.
My Friend Dahmer isn’t your usual serial killer movie; there are no dead bodies save for some discarded animal carcasses, and you don’t see anyone get hurt (well, physically, anyway). But in telling the teenage years of Dahmer, the film puts you right in the shoes of a disturbed individual who is on the precipice of becoming a cold-blooded killer. Former Disney star Ross Lynch plays teenage Dahmer, and the genius of his performance is that he never lets his portrayal devolve into a cliche. His Dahmer is an all-too-human monster, one that, in the movie’s shattering conclusion, willingly chooses to destroy his soul to satiate his hunger for death.
My Friend Dahmer is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Rope (1948)
Who else but Alfred Hitchcock would open a movie with a close-up of two men strangling another man to death inside a swanky apartment? Right away, Rope reels you in with this gruesome act, and it never really lets up. That’s impressive in a regular film, but Rope is special. You see, Hitchcock challenged himself by doing as little editing as possible, instead opting to film the 80-minute movie in a series of six- to 10-minute-long extended takes.
The result is a tense, claustrophobic thriller that, while confined to one elaborate set, never feels stagey. That’s because of Hitchcock’s excellent staging, which always emphasizes the threat (or thrill?) of the murderers getting caught by their invited party guests. But credit also to the three lead actors — James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger — who all inhabit their characters with a zeal, and creeping sense of desperation, that keeps you glued to the screen.
Rope is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
