For a war that affected nearly every country in the world, only a few nations seem to get mentioned when we talk about World War II. Germany, England, Russia, Japan, and the United States are sure to come up, but many more countries get left out. The other nations of the world were involved, though—and we forget that some of those places did a lot more than you might realize.

10 Australia Fired The First Allied Shot

On September 4, 1939, the morning after Great Britain declared war on Germany, a boat passed by a fort at Point Nepean. The fort’s personnel called for it identify itself, and when it refused, they became panicked that it might be a German ship, bringing the war to Australia. The fort launched a warning shot across the bow of the ship, sending what some consider to be the first Allied shot of World War II.

The shot itself isn’t that remarkable. The ship turned out to be Australian after all, so it wasn’t even against an enemy ship. The gun battery, however, is. By sheer coincidence, the very same battery also fired the first Allied shot of World War I.

The Australians would fire many more. By the end of the war, 27,000 Australian soldiers had given their lives.

9 Canada Built The Third-Largest Navy On Earth

At the beginning of World War II, Canada was not a major military force. Despite its large size, it had a population of only 11 million and was armed with a navy of only 15 ships and an air force of 235 pilots.

When Germany invaded Poland, though, the Canadians started getting ready. In ten days, Canada invested $20,000,000 into building up its armory—and they started building. They trained nearly 50,000 pilots and built 800,000 trucks, 471 naval ships, and 16,000 aircraft. And they sent 730,000 men off to fight.

They were the biggest contributors to the British air training plan and gained a worldwide reputation for their air force. Most amazingly of all, by the end of the war, Canada had the third-largest navy on the planet.

8 India Had the World’s Largest Volunteer Army

When India called on its people to fight, they signed up. An incredible 2.5 million Indian men volunteered to fight in World War II, forming the largest volunteer army in the world. Not every one of them ended up on the front lines. Some worked in factories or defended the country against air raids.

Those who did, though, made a massive difference. One group called The Fourteenth Army, a mixed force of British, Indian, and African soldiers, recaptured Burma. It was a turning point in the war, and by the end, 30 Indian soldiers had earned the Victoria Cross, the highest British medal of honor.

7 Malays Fought England’s Last Stand In Asia

In 1942, the Japanese advanced on Singapore, a major strategic point for the British army. England’s military base there was their access point to Asia, and without it, they would be at a major disadvantage. England’s last stand, though, wasn’t fought by British soldiers; it was fought by Malays. A man named Adnan Saidi and his unit held the ground at Opium Hill, determined to hold against the Japanese to the last man.

At one point, a troop with turbans on their heads dressed in British-Indian uniforms came toward them. At first, they seemed to be a relief army from India, but Saidi noticed something was off. These men marched in lines of four, while the British usually marched in lines of three. They were Japanese soldiers in disguise. Saidi’s men opened fire, and the assault was stopped.

After that, the Japanese got frustrated and launched an all-out attack. Still, Saidi and his men stayed and fought, shooting until the last bullet was fired—and fighting with bayonets after that.

All but one man died. The Japanese overran the place, and Britain lost its key base in Asia. But the Malays, at least, gave them a fight.

6 Switzerland Wasn’t Entirely Neutral

The Swiss didn’t just sit there and let World War II happen. Officially, they were neutral, but they still played a role. They didn’t want the war coming across their borders, and they defended their airspace.

At one point, this meant shooting down 11 German planes that entered Swiss airspace en route to France. The Germans were furious. They demanded an apology and threatened to retaliate. The Swiss, though, threw the blame right back at them and demanded that they stop flying over their land.

When the Allies started fighting back, Switzerland wasn’t always left alone. Some of the bombings meant for Germany landed on them, including a US bombing that killed 100 people. The Americans insisted that it was an accident, although the Swiss weren’t so sure.

By the end, the Americans had blasted Switzerland with enough of an onslaught that they had to pay more than $14 million in damages.

5 Kenya Fought Against Both Italy And Japan

Nearly 100,000 Kenyans signed up to fight in the King’s African Rifles. They were, by far, the biggest part of Britain’s African army, making up one-third of its soldiers, and they played a big role in the war in Africa. The Kenyans defended their land against an Italian invasion and helped the King’s African Rifles fight—and stop—the Italian invasion across East Africa. After that, they went on to Madagascar and Burma.

The Kenyans struggled with racism throughout the war. African soldiers were paid less than white ones and could never be promoted to a commanding rank. Still, they found some ways to take advantage of the stereotypes against them. One soldier told a writer that, to terrify Japanese soldiers, the Kenyans would pretend they were cannibals getting ready for a taste of Japanese.

4 Poland Broke Enigma First

Alan Turing gets all the credit, but he was actually the second person to crack Germany’s enigma code. The first was Marian Rejewski, a Polish cryptographer.

As early as 1932, Poland had started work to crack German’s complex enigma code. Working with documents stolen by French spies, a Polish team struggled to duplicate the enigma machine—and it worked. Rejewski managed to solve the cypher and made the first duplicates of the enigma machine.

Unfortunately, the Germans realized that their code had been cracked and increased the complexity tenfold. The Poles were stuck, and in 1939, realizing that an invasion was imminent, they sent all their work to England for the British to carry it on and braced for the worst.

That work made it to Alan Turing, who built on it to crack the more complex code, but he never would have done it without the work of Marian Rejewski.

3 Finland Held Off An Invasion Of One Million Russians

In 1939, Finland entered World War II. The Soviet Union had been trying to barter a trade, wanting control of several Finnish islands, but when Finland refused, they moved their troops in.

The Soviet army was massive. There were one million troops marching on Finland, leaving them outnumbered three to one. Finland called for help from Britain and France, but none came, so they had to fight the Soviets themselves.

Finland lost—but they dealt a major blow to the USSR in the process, killing 320,000 Soviet soldiers. Finland only suffered 70,000 casualties. The Finnish had to give up some of their land, but they shot a major hole in the Soviet army.

2 Almost Every Soldier From One Armenian Town Earned A Medal

In Armenia, a small mountain village called Chardakhlu played an incredible role in World War II. Of the 1,250 villagers who were enlisted to fight in the Soviet army, 853 were awarded medals, 12 went on to be generals, and seven became heroes of the Soviet Union.

Two men from the little town made it to the highest echelons of the Soviet army. Hamazasp Babadzhanian became the chief marshal of the armored troops of the Soviet, while Ivan Bagramyan became the marshal of the Soviet Union.

By the end of the war, the little town had some of the most decorated fighters in the country. Nearly every man came home with medals on his chest—or didn’t come home at all.

1 Russia Killed Eight Out Of Ten German Soldiers

Admittedly, Russia isn’t exactly an overlooked country in World War II. It’s well-known that Russia played a major role in the war, but most people don’t realize how massive that role was.

We’ve heard a lot of boasts about the United States turning the tides of the war, but the credit really should go to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was responsible for 80 percent of all German casualties. And the USSR came into the war late. If we start counting from 1941, the Soviets are responsible for 95 percent of all German casualties.

A lot of this happened during the Battle of Stalingrad, where Russian soldiers wiped out 20,000 German men each day. Russia’s army was more than big; it had its fair share of talent, too. Nine out of ten of World War II’s deadliest snipers were from the USSR.

The Soviet Union didn’t just play a role in the battle against the Germans—they completely devastated them.

31 October might seem like the perfect time to watch Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street. Perhaps a slasher film like Haunt or Prom Night will suffice to make the evening a little spookier, especially if it happens to be dark and stormy outside. However, if you want a Halloween night with a difference, you should consider lining up one or more of the movies on this list. Not only are they underrated, they are chockful of thrills, chills and scares, just the way the scariest night of the year should be.
(Potential spoilers ahead)

The Compendium Of 113 Halloween Horrors

10 Session 9

There is something inherently creepy about a mental hospital. And even more so when it is an abandoned one. Session 9 ramps up the terror as tension rises between the employees of an asbestos cleaning crew after they were hired to clear out an abandoned asylum with a terrifying past.

The hospital scenes were filmed at the real-life Danvers State Mental Hospital in Massachusetts, which housed up to 4,000 patients and where doctors engaged in techniques such as lobotomization and repressed memory therapy. The building was soon overcrowded enough for some patients to be moved to the subterranean tunnels.^[1]

There is a scene of extreme nyctophobia (fear of the dark), that is incredibly unsettling as well as creepy recordings of a patient suffering from multiple personality disorder. All in all, Session 9 is a great option for a Halloween movie fest.

9 Goodnight Mommy

There are gory, over-the-top horrors and then there are psychological horrors that creep under your skin and stay with you for a good long time after you’ve watched it. Before Hereditary and The Babadook spooked the pants off people came the not-often mentioned Austrian horror film, Goodnight Mommy.

Imagine coming home to your twin boys and they don’t recognize you. And imagine this happening after you had reconstructive surgery and your face is wrapped in bandages. Additionally you’re not as loving, caring, and interested in your boys’ beetle catching activities as you used to be, and they soon suspect that you’re not their mother at all.

This is the core of Goodnight Mommy with the story ticking over at a steady pace while an uneasy tension builds after twin boys tie up their mother when they become convinced that she’s an imposter with a bandaged face. While she is tied up, they start torturing her for answers…^[2]

Throw in a killer twist and there you go, another great movie to watch on the creepiest night of the year.

8 Grave Encounters

Who hasn’t dreamed of being part of a ghost hunting team that descents on creepy buildings in the dead of night in search of beings from the other side, and finally getting indisputable proof of the paranormal? After watching Grave Encounters, I suspect most would let go of this fantasy in a heartbeat.

In this Canadian found footage horror, the crew of a paranormal reality TV show work up the courage to lock themselves in a rumored-to-be haunted psychiatric hospital in order to film the next episode. Little do they know what awaits them in the dark and that that specific episode would end up being their last.

Sure, the characters subtly mock their real-life counterparts, but there are sufficient scares to keep you hooked. Do you dare enter the abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital this Halloween?^[3]

7 Dark Skies

Dimension Films has produced some gems over the years, one of which is the underappreciated Dark Skies featuring Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton. Fans of The Fourth Kind will delight in this low-key sci-fi horror that had viewers taking to Twitter to let people know how terrified they were while watching it.^[4]

There are weird missing food incidents, bird incidents and worst of all a young boy who starts dreaming about a terrifying being. The rest of the boy’s family start experiencing seizures, unexplained bruises and periods of stupor, causing the rest of the neighborhood to start looking at them askance. The ending also makes for one of the most riveting horror movie twists in recent history.

If you’re a sci-fi horror fan, this one might be right up your alley.

6 Pet

Pet is a slow burn horror about a loner who falls in love and eventually becomes obsessed with a beautiful waitress. Seth spends his days as an employee in an animal shelter and as his obsession with the waitress, Holly, grows. It seems almost inevitable that he would take out his frustration at failing to win her over on the defenceless animals. However, he remains relatively kind to them while putting a devious plan into motion.

After her kidnaps her and locks her in a cage below the animal shelter, Seth and Holly begin a power struggle that is not only memorable but leads to a most unpredictable twist. Just as you think you know what’s coming, the film takes a different direction.

As with most horror films, this particular one is not for everyone, but if you’re looking for a horror with a difference, this might just be the movie for you.^[5]

Top 10 Brutal Unsolved Halloween Murders

5 The Loved Ones

Her name was Lola but she was definitely not a showgirl. She was, however, insane. In The Loved Ones, Robin McLeavy makes a terrifying impression as a loner, Lola, who is turned down by her crush when she asks him to accompany her to prom. From here onwards, the movie is dominated by fear and sheer terror as her crush, Brent, is drugged and kidnapped, waking up tied to a chair at Lola’s dinner table. Lola and her father are waiting at the table and the house is decorated as though a prom would be starting any minute.

The best part of the film is McLeavy’s performance. She puts the meaning of menace into each of her scenes and the overall horror roller coaster ride that the film forces you on is enough to make even the hardiest horror fan a little queasy.^[6] If ever there was an anti-prom movie, this would be it.

4 Hush

Slasher films are either good, or terrible (here’s looking at you, Scream 4). And then once in a while a movie comes along that stays with you for a long time because of the excellent storytelling, acting and overall portrayal of true terror. Hush is a prime example of this. It follows the story of a deaf woman being stalked by a killer in her own home.

It is 82 minutes of simmering tension and terror without any unnecessary jump scares or loud music cues to alert you that something scary is about to happen. There is a clever nod to Stephen King and the ensuing cat-and-mouse game that follows (more cat than mouse for a while there) is a fascinating way of telling a home invasion story that never falls flat. There are quite a few surprises in this film that make it a worthwhile inclusion for any Halloween movie marathon.^[7]

3 It Comes At Night

A forest becomes a refuge for a family who is trying to outrun a contagious disease that has spread across the world. This is the core story of the post-apocalyptic horror It Comes At Night, taken from writer-director Trey Edward Shults’ real life experience with his dad’s death after a life of addiction.

The movie has both a shocking intro and ending, but the middle part fluctuates between family drama, violence, coming-of-age and the all-encompassing knowledge that sometimes humans are the biggest monsters out there. There are no ghosts, zombies or werewolves lurking in the dark, but there are humans who are just ‘slightly off’ and add to the terror of the biggest pandemic the world has ever seen.

Seeing as how the Covid-19 pandemic still has a strangle hold on the world, this movie won’t serve to take your mind off things per se, but it definitely is one of the best and most underrated horror movies of recent times.^[8]

2 One Hour Photo

Robin Williams was well-known and well-loved for his comedic roles in movies such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, and Fathers’ Day. When the 2002 film, One Hour Photo was released, fans saw a whole new side of Williams as he portrayed the role of Sy Parrish, a lonely technician, who becomes obsessed with a family.

In the movie, Williams is the opposite of his usual kooky self. His character is compelling and intense as he stalks the family and tries to become a part of their lives. When his illusion of what he deems to be the perfect family is shattered after an affair is revealed, his character becomes even more deranged.

This movie, too, is not going to be to everyone’s taste and is fairly disturbing in its subject matter, especially so for those who are used to seeing Williams in a light-hearted role.^[9]

1 A Dark Song

A mother’s grief can be an all-consuming fire, leading her to do the unexpected and even macabre. This is the message from A Dark Song, the movie that portrays a mother who wants to engage in a gruelling rite that lasts for months to be able to summon her guardian angel. Upon doing so, she wants to use the wish the angel grants her to be able to speak to her deceased 7-year-old son.

The rite comprises of ‘exercises’ in which the mother, Sophia, must face off against angels and demons. The irritable occultist helping her eventually accuses her of not being honest about her true motives for conjuring up her guardian angel, after which he tries to ‘re-birth’ her.
This Irish-British independent movie is dark, true to its title, and makes heavy use of occultic themes throughout. A true contender for one of the best horror movies of the 2010s and a great choice for Halloween night.^[10]

10 Non-Horror Movies That Will Scare You Silly This Halloween

Television has reached a level of quality that often exceeds major Hollywood films. And with so many shows reaching a level of recognition and acclaim that transcends pop culture itself, it is easy to stop paying attention to the underdog. Some of the best TV series out there are hidden gems that mainstream audiences probably don’t know about, due to a wide variety of reasons. Not every show can be as famous as “Game Of Thrones” or “Breaking Bad”, so let’s shine a light on 10 criminally underrated shows that anyone can go and binge right now:

Top 10 TV Shows Cancelled Too Soon

10 MISFITS (2009)

This British dark comedy tells the story of a group of five delinquent teenagers in community service, who find their lives completely changed when a mysterious thunderstorm strikes them, giving them supernatural abilities that reflect elements of their personalities. As they try to navigate their new reality, everything takes an even darker turn when the consequences of the storm lead to an accidental murder they now need to cover up.

The beauty of “MISFITS” stands in its ability to take a cliché premise and flip it on its head in order to tell a truly unusual story. The show has some of the best writing we have seen in this type of plot, with incredibly charismatic characters, clever humour, and a twisted style of storytelling that manages to leave you at the edge of your seat more than once. “MISFITS” is unapologetically weird and fun, and while the last couple of seasons are not as perfect as the first three, the show is still an absolute blast from start to finish.

9 The OA (2016)

When a young blind girl named Prairie Johnson suddenly goes missing from her little town, her family is broken. However, seven years later, she reappears under mysterious circumstances, and everyone seems really happy to get her back. Her return is considered to be a true miracle, but something is strange: not only does Prairie refuse to tell anyone where she has been for the last seven years or what happened to her, the town is also stunned to discover that she is no longer blind.

This Netflix original, created by Brit Marling (who also stars as Prairie), is as weird and innovative as it gets when it comes to storytelling in American shows. The ideas it presents are unlike anything we have seen before, which is refreshing in a world of comic book adaptations and franchise reboots. It is a highly artistic, intelligent and original show with world class performances from a fantastic cast. Unfortunately, “The OA” fell victim to the infamous Netflix Cancelling Curse, and it was axed after only 2 seasons, leaving both fans and the show’s cast heartbroken.

8 Penny Dreadful (2014)

In 1891 England, a mysterious woman named Vanessa Ives seeks the help of an American gunslinger to track down and stop a vicious killer that has been terrorizing the streets London at night. As they investigate further with the assistance of a hunter carrying his own motivations, they come to the shocking realization that what they are up against is not exactly human.

Good horror television is quite hard to come by these days, but “Penny Dreadful” definitely justifies the need for the search to keep going. With a dark, twisted, and at times disturbing story, the show uses its gothic 19th century setting to perfection, and develops a very specific atmosphere that quickly becomes somewhat of an artistic signature. With classic horror characters like Count Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing and Victor Frankenstein being reinvented in this creepy world, “Penny Dreadful” is a high energy descent into madness that will leave you begging for more.

The show came to an end in 2016, after three critically acclaimed seasons, and a spin-off series titled “Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels” (starring Game Of Throne’s Natalie Dormer) premiered in 2018. However, despite favorable reviews from critics, the spin-off ended up being cancelled after only one season due to poor ratings.

7 The Good Place (2016)

When Eleanor dies in a freak accident and wakes up in The Good Place (AKA Heaven), she is introduced to Michael, an angel who reveals to her that she has been granted an eternity in his perfect utopia, as her reward for living a righteous life as a good-hearted lawyer. However, Eleanor knows she was sent to heaven by mistake — she is not at all an ethical person (or a lawyer), and she has spent her entire life being a rude and manipulative crook, to her great pleasure. But, in a final show of selfishness, Eleanor decides to play along and stay, tricking everyone into believing she is a kind and loving individual with a big heart.

“The Good Place” was created by legendary producer Michael Schur, the man behind masterpieces of comedy like “Brooklyn Nine Nine”, “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation”. It’s an intelligent and surprisingly inventive show with a very specific sense of humour that never fails to crack up. With Kristen Bell, Jameela Jamil and Ted Danson leading the cast, “The Good Place” gets better every single episode, up until its fourth and final season, which wraps their highly engaging story with a perfect little bow.

6 Skins (2007)

“Skins” is a poignant and intense anthology series that tells the story of various groups of British teenagers who are trying to navigate their messy lives in Bristol, South West England. From the darkest and most challenging parts of their lives (dealing with drugs, sex, mental health issues, family and bullying), they try to find some level of comfort into one another, but often end up affecting each other in tragic ways.

Praised for its extremely realistic and sinister representation of teenagers (something American TV seem to struggle with), “Skins” is a wild ride for start to finish. Its commitment to writing pragmatic and flawed characters makes you feel like you are watching real people interacting, which is only made better by the incredible talent that is showcased in the series. It is the show that revealed actors like Dev Patel, Kaya Scodelario, Nicolas Hoult and Hannah Murray to the world.

“Skins” introduces the concept of “generations”, meaning that the cast changes every two seasons to tell a new story, with some characters being somewhat connected to previous ones. It is an incredibly atypical show that many tried to replicate and failed — MTV notably tried to make an American version of “Skins”, but only delivered a weak copycat that lacked all of the guts that made the original so dark and realistic. It was cancelled after one season.

Top 10 Ways Binge-Watching Is Ruining Your Health

5 Ergo Proxy (2006)

In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is forced to live in gigantic domed cities in the sky, Re-L Mayer, an extremely talented detective, has to investigate the emergence of a mysterious virus that causes androids to become self-aware and develop emotions. As her investigation leads her to darker corners of the city, Re-L realizes something is seriously wrong with this affair when she is suddenly attacked in her home by a Proxy, a rare and enigmatic species of humanoid beings that people venerate as gods.

Japanese animation is no stranger to deep philosophical exploration (just take a look at classics like “Ghost In The Shell”), but “Ergo Proxy” definitely puts a spin on it that makes it as fascinating as ever. It is a grim, infinitely weird and ambitious story that is only made better by its inventive cyberpunk visuals and experimental narrative structure. While some might find it too complex for its own good, the show still does an incredible job at rounding out a unique concept in a way that remains consistent throughout its 23 episodes.

4 You’re The Worst (2014)

This brilliant comedy tells the story of Jimmy, a pretentious and selfish writer from England, who meets Gretchen, a dishonest and manipulative publicist, at his ex-girlfriend’s wedding. After a very random one night stand, they begin to develop feelings for one another, and despite their utter disgust of love, we watch as this extremely toxic and self-destructive couple decides to attempt having a romantic relationship.

“You’re The Worst” is probably one of the best written comedies ever made. It has the ability to make you root for characters who are awful (and enjoy it) against all odds, and it succeeds at making their relationship incredibly real and engaging, despite its highly dysfunctional nature. The show was also praised for its painfully realistic depiction of mental health, being handled in a way where the natural humour of the show never feels like it is making fun of the dark themes it tackles. And with award-winning performances from Chris Geere and Aya Cash, “You’re The Worst” deserves way more recognition than it already has.

3 The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017)

“The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” tells the story of Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a Jewish-American housewife who finds her life flipped completely upside down when her husband Joel suddenly leaves her for his secretary. Having to face the hard reality of her situation, Midge goes on a journey of self-discovery when a drunken incident leads her to reinvent herself as a standup comedian, while dealing with her status of single mother in 1950’s New York.

This Emmy Award winning series is one of the biggest surprises television has seen in a very, very long time. “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” is a drop-dead gorgeous masterpiece with fantastic writing and unbelievably vivid dialogue. It also has one of the most talented casts in modern television, and the storytelling is on a whole other level of originality. Many believe that the show will eventually go down in history as one of the greatest of all time, and it’s not hard to see why.

2 Banshee (2013)

Coming out of prison after a 15-year sentence for stealing $15 million worth of diamonds for a Russian mob boss, a nameless and enigmatic ex-con makes his way to the small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania, where he assumes the identity of a murdered sheriff to attend some unfinished business unbothered.

“Banshee” is the show that put actor Antony Starr on the map, who most people now know as the terrifying Homelander in Amazon’s “The Boys”. Created by the original maker of HBO’s “True Blood”, the show is an amazingly fun ride that is 100% carried by its outstanding cast of characters. “Banshee” ran for 4 exceptional seasons, ending its run in 2016, but due to being a Cinemax original, it never quite got the audience and recognition it deserved.

1 DARK (2017)

The small town of Winden in Germany is completely shaken when a young boy suddenly goes missing in the woods. Police, family and neighbours alike all work together to search for him relentlessly, but, when a series of similar incidents are revealed to have been occurring every 33 years, they make a horrifying discovery that raises more questions than it answers: the boy might still be in Winden…but in a different time.

“DARK” is a masterpiece. The German Netflix original is considered by many to be the greatest time travel story ever told, with an attention to details that has never been equaled. The show is virtually perfect, with grandiose storytelling, incredible performances and a sinister sense of mystery that will make you crave answers in the most intense of ways. The story is treated like a trilogy, ending after its three seasons in an absolutely mind-bending finale that still has people talking. On all accounts, “DARK” is not only one of the most underrated shows ever made, it also deserves a place in the conversation for the being one the greatest TV shows of all time.

Top 10 Ways Hollywood Ruined Your Favorite TV Shows

While a lot of bad movies somehow make a lot of money at the box office, Hollywood has often proven the opposite to be perfectly true as well. There is a number of movies out there that are far less appreciated than others, despite being superior in every way. No matter the genre, we all have seen an underrated movie that deserves so much more recognition, but remains in the shadows of bigger projects that, good or bad, took the world by storm. So, here are 10 criminally under-appreciated movies released in the last 20 years:

10 Movies You Had No Idea Were Filmed In The Wrong Locations

10 The Gift (2015)

When a happily married couple relocates from Chicago to Los Angeles for a new job, the future seems bright. But things take a turn when an old high school acquaintance of the husband’s walks back into their lives, and slowly becomes an overbearing presence with very specific intentions, making the couple realize that their reunion may not have been a happy coincidence.

Starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton (who also directed the movie), “The Gift” was a film that came with low expectations from critics and audiences, but turned out to be a face-slapping surprise to anyone who laid eyes on it. It is a shockingly smart thriller with intense performances and an ever-changing plot that consistently manages to keep you on edge. Due to a subpar marketing campaign, “The Gift” was skipped by many people upon released in 2015, but has since built a bit of a cult following once people realized that it is one of the most unique thrillers of the past few years.

9 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012)

Charlie, a 15 year-old high school student who suffers from clinical depression, learns to move forward with his life after the sudden suicide of his best friend. While the road ahead looks dark and hopeless, Charlie begins to regain his taste for life when he meets Patrick and Samantha, two eccentric seniors who decide to take him under their wing and bring him along on their weird adventures.

“The Perks Of Being A Wallflower” is the adaptation of a novel by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote and directed the movie himself. It stars Logan Lerman, Emma Watson (in her first main role following the end of the Harry Potter series) and Ezra Miller in his breakout role. Every single performance in this movie is fantastic, with Lerman shining as the main character Charlie. It is probably one of the most emotional and well-crafted teen dramas of the last decade or so, and it deserved to be way more popular upon release than it ended up being.

8 Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

One of the few Japanese Christmas films, this mature and heartfelt animated film tells the story of three homeless people, who find themselves facing an incredibly daunting challenge when they find a newborn baby abandoned in a dumpster. Their relationships and life choices are all put back into perspective as they navigate the streets of Tokyo at night, in a desperate attempt to find the baby’s parents.

Coming from director Satoshi Kon, who went on to be behind the legendary “Paprika” a few years later, “Tokyo Godfathers” is beautiful, emotional and powerful tale of identity and family, with a cast of characters that are incredibly attaching and feel like real people, thanks to the amazing writing. It is easily one of the most underrated Japanese animations ever made, and it showcases a part of Japanese culture that most people do not get to see.

7 The Intouchables (2011)

“The Intouchables” tells the heartfelt story of Driss, a street smart immigrant with who was caught on the wrong side of the law one too many times, who meets Philippe, a rich and powerful aristocrat who hires him to become his caregiver after a paragliding accident leaves him quadriplegic. While everything seems to be at odds between the two, we follow as they begin to develop a friendship that transcends the widely different world that opposes them.

Based on a true story, this beautiful French film stars Omar Sy and legendary French actor François Cluzet as the two main characters. A story full of emotions, yet with a surprising deal of humour, “The Intouchables” is a movie with a lot to say, and it goes to great lengths to make its messages engaging with fantastic storytelling and incredible characters. An American remake of the movie titled “The Upside” (starring Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman) was released in 2019, after spending a few years on the shelf, but it terribly flopped and was widely criticized by critics and audiences, with most people affirming that it cannot hold a candle to the original film.

6 Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

In 2049 Los Angeles, Agent K, a replicant (or artificial human beings) made with the unique goal of hunting down and killing his own kind, finds himself at the centre of a strange investigation when he learns during one of his busts that a replicant gave birth to a biological child. Considered to be a threat to humanity, the child becomes a target of several entities, and K seeks out to find it first.

Taking place 30 years after the events of the first “Blade Runner”, released in 1982, “Blade Runner 2049” was widely overlooked upon release, mainly due to a misguided marketing campaign that failed to give audiences any indication on what the story of the movie was going to be, and sold a psychological thriller with deep philosophical themes as an action extravaganza with explosions and guns. As a result, the movie did not do very well at the box office, despite being an incredibly well made movie with mesmerizing visual effects, fantastic acting, and a beautiful story at its centre.

Top 10 Banned Movies

5 The Wailing (2016)

This brilliant South Korean horror movie tells the story Jong-Goo, a police officer from a small village who investigates a series of brutal murders and illness cases that may or may not be linked to the arrival of a mysterious Japanese traveler. When his daughter becomes sick as well, Jong-Goo begins a frenetic race against the clock, as he tries to figure out what is going on in the village in order to save her.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Hong-jin Na, “The Wailing” (also known as “Gokseong”, its original title) is an insanely weird and creative film that, unlike other Korean creations like “Parasite”, is not well known by Western audiences. The atypical storytelling and mystery is extremely engaging and will leave you at the edge of your seat. The acting is great, the writing is fantastic, and the dark and gloomy noir atmosphere will send chills down your spine when you realize what this movie is really about.

4 Good Time (2017)

A lonely and down on his luck lowlife named Connie Nikas finds himself in a terrible situation when his mentally troubled little brother is arrested as a result of one of his robberies going incredibly wrong. Desperate to get him out of jail as soon as possible, Connie goes through a dark and violent hell of a night in New York City, as he miserably attempts to obtain $10,000 to pay his bail.

“Good Time” is the movie that finally took Robert Pattinson out of the grim shadow of the “Twilight” franchise. The A24 flick became a true revelation for his detractors, and they realized that he is actually a brilliant actor with a lot of merit. Others even consider this movie to be the reason why Pattinson eventually got the role of Batman. “Good Time” is a surprisingly dark and realistic movie, headlined by a main character with questionable morals that isn’t bogged down by a cliché Hollywood redemption arc. It is a movie about survival, and how some people will do anything to help the ones they care for, no matter how bad.

3 Drive (2011)

A quiet and mysterious stuntman, who doubles as a getaway driver for criminals at night, finds himself in a difficult situation when he begins to develop a relationship with his neighbour Irene and her young son. Irene is the wife of a convicted criminal she has felt trapped with for years, and when he inevitably comes out of prison, becoming the target of a local mob boss, things take a turn that lead to violence and danger

Based on a 2005 novel of the same name by American author James Sallis, “Drive” is a modern masterpiece that, upon release in 2011, fell victim to a terribly misguiding marketing campaign that even led to a highly publicized false advertisement lawsuit. This deep, character-driven and incredibly tense movie was sold as a brainless action flick reminiscing of the “Fast & Furious” franchise, which ended up confusing many when they sat in theatres to watch it.

“Drive” has built a massive cult following over the years, and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest films of the 21st Century. With a world class cast including Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaacs, Christina Hendricks and Ron Perlman, it is an expertly crafted movie (both in front and behind the camera), featuring incredible characters and a deeply intimate story that carries a great deal of emotion.

2 Equilibrium (2002)

In a futuristic totalitarian state founded after World War III, society has been reinvented — emotions have been deemed illegal and are suppressed through a daily injection of a drug. John Preston, a top officer of the state, accidentally misses one of his daily doses, triggering the gradual return of his emotions. The incident causes him to question his morals and the government’s true intentions, and he begins to experience the crushing guilt of letting his wife be executed after she was arrested for having emotions.

“Equilibrium” is a film that, an all accounts, was way ahead of its time. Full of clever social commentary, great acting (mainly from Christian Bale in the role of John Preston) and fantastic action sequences that involve a spectacular fictional martial art created just for the movie, it is without the shadow of a doubt the most overlooked science-fiction thriller in recent history. “Equilibrium” is a brilliant flick with amazing world building that more people need to know about.

1 The Nice Guys (2016)

In 1977 Los Angeles, a down on his luck private investigator, who tries (and mostly fails) to be a decent father to his daughter, is forced to team up with another, more brutal private investigator, in an attempt to find a missing young woman who’s strange disappearance may or may not be connected to the sudden death of a beloved porn star.

A passion project by “Iron Man 3” director Shane Black, “The Nice Guys” is an action comedy that feels like a direct throwback to 70’s and 80’s buddy-cop films. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling absolutely kill it as the star duo, and the supporting cast (featuring the likes of Matt Bomer and Margaret Qualley) definitely leaves a mark as well. The movie was widely overlooked by audiences, and the possibility of a sequel has become foggy, even though Black, Gosling and Crowe have all expressed great interest in coming back.

Top 10 Amazing Actors Who Are Always In Awful Movies

Showbiz is an industry that is notorious for chewing people up and spitting them out or forgetting them altogether. But it also has a tendency to put women through the wringer far more than it does men. So here are ten of the women rock history left out who you really should listen to. They all deserve their due.

Related: 10 Groupies That Majorly Impacted The History Of Rock ‘N’ Roll

10 Poly Styrene

Some artists make an impression the moment they hit the scene and cast a long shadow over pop culture despite having very short careers or small bodies of work. If you listen to Live at the Roxy WC2, the legendary documentary of England’s punk scene in its early days, you’ll hear what was X-Ray Spex’s second live performance ever. The band was fronted by Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, also known as Poly Styrene, and the show was electrifying. X-Ray Spex were proud underachievers who only made one album during punk’s heyday (and another comeback album in the ’90s), but bi-racial Poly, who dressed in day-glo with braces on her teeth, had a voice that could drill through sheet metal. She was unforgettable in the nihilistic, male-dominated punk scene.

On the surface, Poly’s story sounds tragic and mysterious—even a little disturbing. In one of the most repeated anecdotes about her, she shaved her head after the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious threatened her with a scythe. About the incident, she’d only say that “I’d read that girls in concentration camps did that after being raped by the Nazis… You do it to be cleansed,” refusing to expand.

She did tell NME in 1978 that “You know, I said that I wasn’t a sex symbol and that if anybody tried to make me one, I’d shave my head…” After retreating from punk, she joined the Hare Krishna movement. However, she fled due to reports of pedophilia in the sect and “attempts to marry her off.” But Poly was not the hermit you’d expect, being active in the arts until her death from breast cancer in 2011. In life, Poly refused to be defined by tragedy.^[1]

9 Meg White

Given that they were a two-person band, it would be tempting to think of The White Stripes’ singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jack White as the creative force behind the band and think of drummer Meg White simply as “the other one.” But let’s be real, despite Jack’s polymathy, Meg was The White Stripes. She casts a shadow that Jack, in his solo career, just can’t escape; he’s asked about her in every interview he gives.

Moments before taking the stage at a show in Southaven, Mississippi, in 2007, Meg unexpectedly told the band’s archivist that this would be The White Stripes’ last ever concert. It was. The rest of the tour was canceled; the reason given: Meg’s acute anxiety.

We’ve come a long way in our understanding of mental health, but society’s attitude to mental health is still problematic. Ongoing struggles are too bleak to countenance; we want a recovery narrative. When a celebrity retreats from the spotlight due to mental health issues, our support and sympathy are contingent on a quick comeback with an album or a tell-all memoir about their triumphant recovery. Meg White has not made a public appearance since 2010 and is not on social media. Despite intense public curiosity, one-half of the noughties’ most influential rock bands has disappeared completely, presumably to somewhere happier, and I can’t think of anything braver.^[2]

8 Sister Rosetta Tharpe

The Rock’ n’ Roll Hall of Fame is a very strange and problematic institution, but say this for them, they made Sister Rosetta Tharpe a household name when they inducted her in the early influencers category in 2018, over 100 years after she was born. Rosetta Tharpe died in 1973 and did not even have a headstone on her grave until 2009. This was despite being the first gospel singer to cross over into the R&B charts (this was so long ago, the Billboard R&B chart was referred to as the “race records”) and being cited as an influence by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Bob Dylan.

So many different figures are called the “inventor” of rock ‘n’ roll that the term is meaningless, but I would argue that Rosetta Tharpe deserves the title. It’s easy to think of rock ‘n’ roll as having sprung forth fully formed from the Sun Records studio somewhere around 1952. As much as we all know intellectually that rock ‘n’ roll evolved from earlier R&B and gospel, it’s sometimes hard to hear the link. Trust me when I say that Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the missing link—the true first rock star! Her 1938 hit “This Train” is one of the first recordings to feature heavy distortion on the electric guitar; her guitar playing was startlingly ahead of its time and sounded like nothing that should have come from the 1930s.^[3]

7 Karen Dalton

Speaking of those who influenced Bob Dylan, Dylan’s memoir Chronicles Volume 1 may well be the first time many people ever heard of Karen Dalton. A passing but glowing mention. “My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. She was a tall, white blues singer and guitar player—funky, lanky, and sultry. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday’s and played guitar like Jimmy Reed, and went all the way with it.” But anyone inspired by this Dylan connection to look her up would find a disturbing parallel between the two folk troubadours.

Listening to Dalton, one thing strikes you: her voice. The comparison to Billie Holiday is accurate, but unlike Holiday, Dalton’s voice is worn and cracked, a quality that imbues every syllable with portent and emotion. That’s sometimes hard to listen to, just like Bob Dylan’s famous “voice like sand and glue.” But what Karen Dalton had to offer never caught on. Another supposed reason for her lack of success was her inability to compromise or play the part of an entertainer. At one point, she was in talks to form a group with John Phillips, but her need for control, as well as her purist view of folk, led him to seek other singers, with whom he’d form The Mamas and the Papas. In other words, a raspy confrontational voice and an uncompromising artistic outlook were an asset to one ’60s Greenwich Village folk singer and the ruination of another.

Karen Dalton passed away in 1993 from AIDS while living in a mobile home, poetically in Woodstock, New York. Her daughter believes she contracted AIDS from sharing needles. A fire then destroyed hundreds of tapes of demos and rehearsals, leaving us with just two breathtaking albums.^[4]

6 Nico

The name Nico appears on the cover of one of the most influential albums in rock history, yet the woman herself is a mystery. We all know her face from publicity shots of the Velvet Underground circa 1967, her white suit standing out coolly against the rest of the group’s uniform black. Yet, even though she’s an indelible part of the band’s image, the band’s history barely mentions her, as she only sang four of the songs on their first album. Her partnership with The Velvet Underground was a marriage of convenience. Andy Warhol was obsessed with The Velvet Underground but found Lou Reed lacking as a frontman, while the band wanted Warhol’s stamp of approval. Thus, a role was there to be filled by a pretty face.

Christa Päffgen began modeling in 1953 at the age of 15 and was dubbed Nico by a photographer at around the same time. Biographer Jennifer Otter Bickerdike recalls that she asked “over 100 people” if they’d ever heard her say “call me Christa,” and apparently, no one had. In 1988 when she passed away, the German daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported it with a headline referencing her affair with French heartthrob Alain Delon. Nico was a role that consumed Christa Päffgen, reducing her to said role, an assumed identity defined by others.

In contrast, Nico’s solo music career, while never successful, has the air of authentic expression. Someone playing a role defined by others would never have produced anything as unceasingly gloomy and dark as Nico’s solo records. And given the anecdotes about her violent (and racist) tendencies, we know that the darkness of those records came from deep within.^[5]

5 Jackie Fox

Reading about the first fateful meeting between Jackie Fox (then Fuchs) of The Runaways and the band’s manager, Kim Fowley, in her 2015 interview with Huffington Post, one’s stomach churns. At the point where a fifteen-year-old Fuchs is brought to Fowley’s disheveled pill-strewn apartment to hear his stream-of-consciousness rant about an all-teenage girl hard rock band, you know there’s no way any of this could end wellLink10. It’s perversely surprising that we’re only talking about one incident here. Though in light of the allegations that Jackie Fuchs made against Fowley, many others came forward with similar allegations.

Troublingly, they also came forward with corroboration of Fuch’s account. In 2015, after Kim Fowley’s death, Fuchs alleged that Fowley had raped her at a New Years Eve party in 1975 in front of bystanders and witnesses, including bandmates Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, and Kari Krome. Krome and Currie have differing accounts of what happened (Krome claims she saw Jett and Currie watching and snickering, while Currie claims she spoke up, then stormed out). However, both confirm that a teenager was raped, in front of witnesses, by a man who remained free until his death forty years later. Crucially, Joan Jett denies witnessing the incident.

Jackie Fuchs is now an attorney. In 2013 she appeared on game shows The Chase and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And in 2018, she was on Jeopardy, winning four nights and $87,089.^[6]

4 Kate Schellenbach

In listicles of songs that fans miss the point of, the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” is typically number one with a bullet. Frequently taken as a big dumb song about drinking and partying, the song was actually intended as a parody of big dumb songs about partying and drinking. But looking at the Beastie Boys’ early career, one must question if claiming it was a parody was just a cover—an excuse to release a big dumb song about partying and drinking while still appearing to be above doing so. The Beastie Boys’ early days were torn between notions of punk authenticity and an emerging frat bro image. In 1981, the Beastie Boys were a hardcore punk band with a female drummer. However, as the group gravitated toward hip-hop and a macho bravado aesthetic, there was no room for drummer Kate Schellenbach. As Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock) said:

“Sloppy drunk dudes trying to creep on young women was repugnant to punks in ’81. Unfortunately, when you’re a straight guy in your late teens/early twenties, you can easily fall into the stereotype’s own trappings. And we fell in. Like, from the high diving board. We got so caught up with making fun of that rock-star persona that we became that persona. Became what we hated. It got so bad we kicked Kate out of the band because she didn’t fit into our new tough-rapper-guy identity. How f**ked up is that!?!”

Kate Schellenbach founded the band Luscious Jackson and is a successful TV producer.^[7]

3 D’arcy Wretzky

When D’arcy Wretzky left The Smashing Pumpkins in 1999, it pretty much initiated the beginning of the band’s end. Soon after, the band entered a period in which Billy Corgan was the only original member, and most fans stopped paying attention. So, Billy Corgan clearly had a vested interest in making the 2018 reunion of the original line-up a success, or at least in absolving himself of the blame for its failure.

When the reunion was first announced, original bass-player Wretzky was left out, with the simple explanation from Corgan that she had refused to take part. Except Wretzky then produced text messages showing that Corgan had asked her to be a part of the reunion, then rescinded the offer. That was only the beginning of the ugliness. Wretzky then gave an interview in which she discussed his narcissistic controlling ways. Corgan’s final missive in the war of words takes the cake, though.

Corgan’s longtime friend, the unbelievably named DJ Mancow, leaked a picture of Wretzky taken by the police after she’d been assaulted, implying that her horrific state shown in the photo was due to drug use. D’arcy Wretzky has been very open about her addiction issues, and Mancow took advantage to allow Billy Corgan to control the narrative. Suddenly the video for “Try, Try, Try” makes a lot more sense.^[8]

2 Clare Torrey

Clare Torry’s voice is the centerpiece of one of classic rock’s most famous documents. “The Great Gig in the Sky” closes side one of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. On an album that itself is a singular achievement, “The Great Gig in the Sky” sounds like nothing else in the rock canon. It’s a song comprised of non-lexical vocables. In other words, vocal sounds that aren’t words but eerie, evocative, and unforgettable sounds that say far more than any lyrics could. Clare Torry’s performance on the track makes Dark Side of the Moon more than just a collection of songs.

The vocal performance was improvised, meaning she was more than a singer for hire. She’s basically responsible for the song. However, she was paid £30 for a night’s work (and only that much because it was double time on a Sunday) and was left with the impression that her performance would not make it onto the final album. Meanwhile, Dark Side of the Moon went on to be one of the best-selling albums of all time and remained on Billboard’s Top 200 chart for a record-breaking 26 years. It wasn’t until 2005 after she had retired, that Torry pursued fairer recompense in a court case that Pink Floyd, to their credit, did not contest. Details of the case were sealed, but copies of Dark Side of the Moon printed after 2005 list Torry as a co-writer, as they should’ve always done.

In 2018, Alice Glass of the Indie Band Crystal Castles came forward with abuse allegations against bandmate Ethan Katz. Katz had claimed that her improvised vocals on their 2006 hit “Alice Practice” was merely a mic test he’d recorded (hence the title), a claim intended to diminish her contributionslink19. What these cases have in common is the theory that a woman’s improvisation does not constitute songwriting.^[9]

1 Natasha Shneider

In 1976, 20-year-old Natasha Shneider defected from the USSR to the West and arrived in New York City with no money or connections. Her son was born just two months later. In 1978, she met Berry Gordy and was signed to Motown records as part of an R&B group called Black Russian. In 1984, she starred in 2010: The Year We Make Contact, a little-remembered but beloved (by me, no one else) sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1999, she co-produced and co-wrote songs for Euphoria Morning, the solo debut from Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. And in 2006, she was a member of the hard rock outfit Queens of the Stone Age.

Even a dry accounting of a handful of Natasha Shneider’s achievements is ridiculously compelling. The throughline to her Zelig-like career was Eleven, a band that she formed in 1987 with Jack Irons of Pearl Jam and her husband Alain Johannes. which made a few small dents in the Billboard charts during the 1990s and 2000s. Sadly she passed away from breast cancer in 2008. After her passing, Chris Cornell took to performing his song “When I’m Down,” accompanied only by a vinyl record of Shneider on piano, the analog technology eerily conjuring her presence.^[10]