In order to begin brewing, use 3 glass blocks in a crafting table to make 3 glass bottles!

Take your freshly made glass bottles, go up to a water source and right click. You’ve now created a water bottle.

This is the most tedious part of brewing. In order to begin the actual brewing process, you’ll need to collect blaze powder to fuel a brewing stand. You can craft a blaze powder from blaze rods, which are dropped by (you guessed it) blazes!

Simply put the blaze rod anywhere on the crafting table to create 2 blaze powders.

Basic potions require a potion modifier. In this case, we need to gather nether wart. So while you’re looking for blazes, be sure to also grab some soul sand and nether wart from the nether fortress!

The base potion for every standard potion is an awkward potion. Place 3 water bottles, blaze powder, and nether wart into the brewing stand’s GUI as shown above.

You can learn how to make this potion step-by-step in this guide!

After brewing is complete, you’ve created a standard potion of night vision. Now you can move on to creating a potion of invisibility.

This potion requires an easy to gather effect ingredient: fermented spider eye! Follow the crafting recipe shown below. Leaving everything how it was from the last step, simply place the fermented spider eye in the top empty space.

After brewing is complete, you’ve created a standard potion of invisibility. This potion renders the player invisible, though equipped items are still visible.

Keep reading to learn how to extend the potion!

You can also extend a potion of invisibility by placing a redstone dust in the base ingredient slot. Extending a potion means that the effect will last longer.

The potion will now last for 8 minutes!

In order to begin brewing, use 3 glass blocks in a crafting table to make 3 glass bottles!

Take your freshly made glass bottles, go up to a water source and right click. You’ve now created a water bottle.

This is the most tedious part of brewing. In order to begin the actual brewing process, you’ll need to collect blaze powder to fuel a brewing stand. You can craft a blaze powder from blaze rods, which are dropped by (you guessed it) blazes!

Simply put the blaze rod anywhere on the crafting table to create 2 blaze powders.

Basic potions require a potion modifier. In this case, we need to gather nether wart. So while you’re looking for blazes, be sure to also grab some soul sand and nether wart from the nether fortress!

The base potion for every standard potion is an awkward potion. Place 3 water bottles, blaze powder, and nether wart into the brewing stand’s GUI as shown above.

This potion requires an easy to gather effect ingredient: magma cream! These are dropped by magma cubes or crafted with a slimeball and blaze powder. Leaving everything how it was from the last step, simply place the magma cream in the top empty space.

After brewing is complete, you’ve created a standard potion of fire resistance. This potion gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, magma blocks, campfires, and blazes’ ranged attacks for 3 minutes.

Keep reading to learn how to extend the potion!

You can also extend a potion of fire resistance by placing a redstone dust in the base ingredient slot. Extending a potion means that the effect will last longer. The potion will now last for 8 minutes!

You are an Outer, a new breed of human being that appeared in the aftermath of the Moonfall calamity. As a mercenary for the Orbital organization, you are on the front line of a desperate war for humanity’s survival against the Immortals—corrupted AIs that have rebelled against their human creators. Piloting a fully customizable mech known as an Arsenal, you must team up with mercenaries like yourself and complete missions to defeat the Immortals once and for all. But be careful—in a war fought by mercenaries, today’s allies can become tomorrow’s enemies.

From the visionary minds of Kenichiro Tsukuda and trailblazing mech designer Shoji Kawamori comes a new generation of high-speed mech action combat.

This game is a hidden gem in the world of action games, offering a mech-shooter that’s easy for newbie players to get the hang of, yet beautiful and fun enough to entrance longtime fans of the genre.

The game’s a couple of years old now, and even at release it could play well on a mid-range PC at the highest settings, offering seriously impressive frame rates as well as a lovely graphic rendering of the world.

The action can get a little repetitive if you play it for long enough, and the first few missions introduce a lot of plot threads to explore, but that’s okay: what counts is how well-rendered the giant-mech action is (and in that department this game is the tops).

You’ll face off against massive primeval deities, corrupted sentient AI, and a host of robot minions — all from within a mech designed by the legendary Shoji Kawamori who’s been working in the industry since the 1980s.

Daemon X Machina was already worth a few bucks, but grabbing it for free is an Epic Games steal.

Marvelous First Studio has a host of anime-flavor games to its repertoire, offering a little something for everyone, whether you want giant mechs beating the crap out of one another, witch girls in skimpy uniforms, or Pokémon arcade games.

Their 2019 God Eater 3 is probably one of their other best-selling games. It won’t make you fall in love with the story, but the action-centered gameplay can get pretty addicting.

The Epic Games Store has been around for a while, the lesser-known alternative to Steam, the nearly-ubiquitous platform for game purchases since it launched in 2003. But, where Steam originally existed and launched to promote Valve games, Epic Games Store launched in 2018 and quickly rose to success on the Fortnight franchise. At the time of Epic’s launch, Steam took a dramatic 30% cut from the sales of video games through their platform! This hurt both game designers and users, just wasn’t very nice. But the folks behind Epic realized something excellent: they could take a much lower cut and still have a profitable business. This led them to fast domination of the indie market, as small publishers flocked to the far better terms offered by Epic.

Mega Discounts

Epic Games Store offers some seriously incredible discounts on a regular basis, in addition to all the normal discounts one would expect on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the usual holidays. But the most exciting is their weekly free game or add-on, which simply harpoons all competitors.

When I first heard about this free game, I thought that can’t be real. They must only offer tiny indie games. Not at all, dear reader. Not. At. All. Epic frequently lists unbelievable A-lister games on their weekly deal, as well as sometimes offer two free games instead of one. In addition, just because a studio is smaller doesn’t mean the games it makes aren’t impressive. I’ve picked up some of my favorite new games, for free, from this platform, and most of them have been made by smaller studios (or as side-projects for teams from big studios).

Tutorial by Kelpie The Fox
Biome: Forest

A delightful build which looks amazing with Mizuno’s 16 resource pack! For anyone looking for a simple but detailed cottage in the woods, look no further than this tutorial. If you’d like to use vanilla textures, then this build still looks great (just change up the indoor flooring).

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by ByPixelbot
Biome: Forest

While this cottage is perfectly tiny, with just enough room for starting tools, it can also be translated to a bigger scale if wanted! The structure is a simplistic design and made of materials easy to get in early game!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Kelpie The Fox
Biome: Plains, Forest, Savanna

A perfect fall inspired house! Not only does it have easy-to-obtain blocks, but it’s a great build for anyone new to Minecraft to try. The outside decor is made of a simple palette, but still manages to fill up the space so that the house doesn’t feel foreign to the area. This build was done with Mizuno’s 16 resource pack.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by TinyCraft
Biome: Flower Forest, Forest

This specific design is one I’ve used in multiple servers and Minecraft gameplay. It’s such an easy build for those in early game or for those who want a home that blends in with the landscape. Our list of Traditional Starter Houses features a similar build if you’re looking for an alternative block palette!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Jolee
Biome: Any

This build is meant for those looking for an early game challenge. Or just want a nice greenhouse to store their crops. This might be the starter house that takes the longest to build on this list, but it’s so worth it! This cottage is meant to last you some time, as there’s room for anything you could want!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Another CF
Biome: Forest, Plains

An alternative to TinyCraft’s design is this lovely home! It’s cozy, it’s cute, it’s just so cottagecore! Using Mizuno’s 16 resource pack, this home has space for all the flowers you could want. It’s a quick and easy build that fits just about any biome!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Ayvocado
Biome: Forest

Similar to a traditional style home, it’s really a quaint starter house for any type of player. We love the farm area off to the side, and this building allows for a secret water source so that you can surround your house with farmland if you wanted!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by SheraNorm
Biome: Any

Our favorite thing about this tutorial is that SheraNorm showcases how to build the base structure, and then offers up ways to alter it with different blocks and decorations! This build design is perfect for fitting all your needs compactly, even including a mine entrance!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Platinum Thief
Biome: Forest

We’ll preface this by saying the interior design should be altered to fit your needs. While this design has a small interior, it’s perfect for those looking to get shelter early in the game. What we love about this house is that all blocks can be altered to fit your preferred color scheme or aesthetic!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by A1MOSTADDICTED MINECRAFT
Biome: Any

This build is absolutely beautiful and one of our favorites. We did deter the palette in our version, however. Rather than quartz, we switched to white concrete for an early-game friendly version. We also found that using Mizuno’s 16 resource pack made the build look even cozier!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BigTonyMC
Biome: Forest

Are you a witch, wizard, or wix looking for a quaint home to build in the forest? This fantasy cottage is made just for you! Using [JermsyBoy’s Vanilla Edits](https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/texture-packs/jermsyboys-vanilla-edits], this overgrown roof is the perfect addition to any home wanting a more fantasy vibe. The tutorial is easy to follow, even offering up variations and ideas on what to do within and around the cottage.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BlueNerd Minecraft
Biome: Savanna, Desert

Don’t go thinking that savanna biomes can’t also be cottagecore! This build is all about using sandstone and other warm biome blocks in a cottagecore design. Featuring a combination of sandstone, bricks, and spruce, this build fits right into the landscape that usually doesn’t feel so cozy.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Chimichi
Biome: Forest, Plains

In terms of cottagecore starter houses, this build is as simple and basic as they come. Each block is easy to get early on in the game. It’s even easy to switch out the wood or colors to whatever you want! This build is actually perfect for those who prefer modern architecture, but want to dip their toes into cottagecore in Minecraft.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LubovLC
Biome: Forest

Those looking for a challenge starter base should give this a try. Not only is it a treehouse with room for crafting and sleeping, but there’s an entire base underneath the lake and tree! There’s plenty of room to enchant, sleep, smelt, and even go to the Nether! Just make sure to put a gate by the Nether portal, since too many zombified piglins were coming through while building.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Jupitess
Biome: Any

This video is packed with leaves and cottagecore! Not only will you learn how to build a large, homey cottage, but you’ll also learn how to make an entrance gate right out of a fairytale! This build is one of my favorites. Not just because of how many leaves I could place down, but because of how versatile the block palette can be. Don’t like birch? You can just replace it with some white terracotta, and it’ll still look like an overgrown cottage.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Tootsie
Biome: Dark or Spruce Forest

When you see “cottagecore” you immediately imagine a cottage looking much like this one! The vines and details are what turn this home into the perfect cozy cottage tucked away in the forest. It’s a decently sized home that’s easy to put together, no matter the skill.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Balzy
Biome: Snowy

Whether you’re risking the treacherous snowy peaks or just want a small cabin to retreat to, this winter cabin is simplistically cozy. With plenty of windows to view the landscape and a small chimney, this home is meant to be loved forever. Be careful of the front sweet berries, however, and make sure to stay safe while skating on the frozen pond.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LubovLC
Biome: Forest

I’d consider this to be a fairy-lite house. It’s enough of a fantastical design that you can still build more traditional style buildings around it. It’s very simple to build and perfectly sized for fairy activities!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Zaypixel
Biome: Any with a hill

What’s more cottagecore than a hobbit hole?! Perhaps nothing at all. Bringing classic Lord of the Rings architecture into Minecraft, this tutorial helps you create your hole-in-the-hill dreams come true. Who knew how simple making a hobbit home could be! It’s also a build that can grow with you as you gain more blocks, expand your enchantments, and more!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BigTonyMC
Biome: Flower Forest

What better way to blend into the flower forest landscape than with a pop of color? This build takes you step-by-step into building a colorful and cozy cottage surrounded by a picturesque landscape.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Diplex Mantis Gaming
Biome: Plains, Forest

This house showcases the classic cottagecore style of mixing bright blocks with vines and leaves. At first, the combination of so many blocks may seem like a bad design choice, but all together it forms a beautiful picture. We built this house right next to a village to show those villagers what true architecture genius looks like.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LennyRandom
Biome: Dark Forest

Dark forests may be hard to survive in (with all the mobs spawning), but this home will make it a little more liveable! While the tutorial itself only guides through building the exterior, the creator does go through a tour of the house and its surrounding area.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Lex The Builder
Biome: Any

Live out your fairy dreams in this fantasy inspired home! Whether tucked away in a forest or alongside a farm in the plains, this home is made of blocks easily attainable early on. So there’s no need to worry about sacrificing your magical needs by gathering later game materials.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by sillyblocks
Biome: Any

Any good fairycore or fantasy build can only be improved with a grass roof. This build combines many design elements of other builds on this list. The rounded doorway, natural roof, and wooden frame, all mix together to create a perfect fantasy home for any early game player.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LennyRandom
Biome: Any

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to build a mushroom in Minecraft! This tiny home is perfect as a starter house, but it can also serve as a home for other mobs in Minecraft as well! Imagine a whole mushroom town filled with villagers to trade with!

Featured Blocks

All houses were built in a 1.18.1 world using BSL Shaders, Motschen’s Better Leaves, and Terralith 2.0.

Tutorial by Kelpie The Fox
Biome: Forest

A delightful build which looks amazing with Mizuno’s 16 resource pack! For anyone looking for a simple but detailed cottage in the woods, look no further than this tutorial. If you’d like to use vanilla textures, then this build still looks great (just change up the indoor flooring).

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by ByPixelbot
Biome: Forest

While this cottage is perfectly tiny, with just enough room for starting tools, it can also be translated to a bigger scale if wanted! The structure is a simplistic design and made of materials easy to get in early game!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Kelpie The Fox
Biome: Plains, Forest, Savanna

A perfect fall inspired house! Not only does it have easy-to-obtain blocks, but it’s a great build for anyone new to Minecraft to try. The outside decor is made of a simple palette, but still manages to fill up the space so that the house doesn’t feel foreign to the area. This build was done with Mizuno’s 16 resource pack.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by TinyCraft
Biome: Flower Forest, Forest

This specific design is one I’ve used in multiple servers and Minecraft gameplay. It’s such an easy build for those in early game or for those who want a home that blends in with the landscape. Our list of Traditional Starter Houses features a similar build if you’re looking for an alternative block palette!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Jolee
Biome: Any

This build is meant for those looking for an early game challenge. Or just want a nice greenhouse to store their crops. This might be the starter house that takes the longest to build on this list, but it’s so worth it! This cottage is meant to last you some time, as there’s room for anything you could want!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Another CF
Biome: Forest, Plains

An alternative to TinyCraft’s design is this lovely home! It’s cozy, it’s cute, it’s just so cottagecore! Using Mizuno’s 16 resource pack, this home has space for all the flowers you could want. It’s a quick and easy build that fits just about any biome!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Ayvocado
Biome: Forest

Similar to a traditional style home, it’s really a quaint starter house for any type of player. We love the farm area off to the side, and this building allows for a secret water source so that you can surround your house with farmland if you wanted!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by SheraNorm
Biome: Any

Our favorite thing about this tutorial is that SheraNorm showcases how to build the base structure, and then offers up ways to alter it with different blocks and decorations! This build design is perfect for fitting all your needs compactly, even including a mine entrance!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Platinum Thief
Biome: Forest

We’ll preface this by saying the interior design should be altered to fit your needs. While this design has a small interior, it’s perfect for those looking to get shelter early in the game. What we love about this house is that all blocks can be altered to fit your preferred color scheme or aesthetic!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by A1MOSTADDICTED MINECRAFT
Biome: Any

This build is absolutely beautiful and one of our favorites. We did deter the palette in our version, however. Rather than quartz, we switched to white concrete for an early-game friendly version. We also found that using Mizuno’s 16 resource pack made the build look even cozier!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BigTonyMC
Biome: Forest

Are you a witch, wizard, or wix looking for a quaint home to build in the forest? This fantasy cottage is made just for you! Using [JermsyBoy’s Vanilla Edits](https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/texture-packs/jermsyboys-vanilla-edits], this overgrown roof is the perfect addition to any home wanting a more fantasy vibe. The tutorial is easy to follow, even offering up variations and ideas on what to do within and around the cottage.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BlueNerd Minecraft
Biome: Savanna, Desert

Don’t go thinking that savanna biomes can’t also be cottagecore! This build is all about using sandstone and other warm biome blocks in a cottagecore design. Featuring a combination of sandstone, bricks, and spruce, this build fits right into the landscape that usually doesn’t feel so cozy.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Chimichi
Biome: Forest, Plains

In terms of cottagecore starter houses, this build is as simple and basic as they come. Each block is easy to get early on in the game. It’s even easy to switch out the wood or colors to whatever you want! This build is actually perfect for those who prefer modern architecture, but want to dip their toes into cottagecore in Minecraft.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LubovLC
Biome: Forest

Those looking for a challenge starter base should give this a try. Not only is it a treehouse with room for crafting and sleeping, but there’s an entire base underneath the lake and tree! There’s plenty of room to enchant, sleep, smelt, and even go to the Nether! Just make sure to put a gate by the Nether portal, since too many zombified piglins were coming through while building.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Jupitess
Biome: Any

This video is packed with leaves and cottagecore! Not only will you learn how to build a large, homey cottage, but you’ll also learn how to make an entrance gate right out of a fairytale! This build is one of my favorites. Not just because of how many leaves I could place down, but because of how versatile the block palette can be. Don’t like birch? You can just replace it with some white terracotta, and it’ll still look like an overgrown cottage.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Tootsie
Biome: Dark or Spruce Forest

When you see “cottagecore” you immediately imagine a cottage looking much like this one! The vines and details are what turn this home into the perfect cozy cottage tucked away in the forest. It’s a decently sized home that’s easy to put together, no matter the skill.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Balzy
Biome: Snowy

Whether you’re risking the treacherous snowy peaks or just want a small cabin to retreat to, this winter cabin is simplistically cozy. With plenty of windows to view the landscape and a small chimney, this home is meant to be loved forever. Be careful of the front sweet berries, however, and make sure to stay safe while skating on the frozen pond.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LubovLC
Biome: Forest

I’d consider this to be a fairy-lite house. It’s enough of a fantastical design that you can still build more traditional style buildings around it. It’s very simple to build and perfectly sized for fairy activities!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Zaypixel
Biome: Any with a hill

What’s more cottagecore than a hobbit hole?! Perhaps nothing at all. Bringing classic Lord of the Rings architecture into Minecraft, this tutorial helps you create your hole-in-the-hill dreams come true. Who knew how simple making a hobbit home could be! It’s also a build that can grow with you as you gain more blocks, expand your enchantments, and more!

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by BigTonyMC
Biome: Flower Forest

What better way to blend into the flower forest landscape than with a pop of color? This build takes you step-by-step into building a colorful and cozy cottage surrounded by a picturesque landscape.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Diplex Mantis Gaming
Biome: Plains, Forest

This house showcases the classic cottagecore style of mixing bright blocks with vines and leaves. At first, the combination of so many blocks may seem like a bad design choice, but all together it forms a beautiful picture. We built this house right next to a village to show those villagers what true architecture genius looks like.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LennyRandom
Biome: Dark Forest

Dark forests may be hard to survive in (with all the mobs spawning), but this home will make it a little more liveable! While the tutorial itself only guides through building the exterior, the creator does go through a tour of the house and its surrounding area.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by Lex The Builder
Biome: Any

Live out your fairy dreams in this fantasy inspired home! Whether tucked away in a forest or alongside a farm in the plains, this home is made of blocks easily attainable early on. So there’s no need to worry about sacrificing your magical needs by gathering later game materials.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by sillyblocks
Biome: Any

Any good fairycore or fantasy build can only be improved with a grass roof. This build combines many design elements of other builds on this list. The rounded doorway, natural roof, and wooden frame, all mix together to create a perfect fantasy home for any early game player.

Featured Blocks

Tutorial by LennyRandom
Biome: Any

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to build a mushroom in Minecraft! This tiny home is perfect as a starter house, but it can also serve as a home for other mobs in Minecraft as well! Imagine a whole mushroom town filled with villagers to trade with!

Featured Blocks

All houses were built in a 1.18.1 world using BSL Shaders, Motschen’s Better Leaves, and Terralith 2.0.

Treyarch Corporation

Known mostly for the Call of Duty series and games in the Spider-Man universe.

Raven Software Corporation

Helped develop Call of Duty games, known for Wolfenstein, Singularity, and the Heretic/Hexen series.

High Moon Studios

Developed the Deadpool game, as well as a Transformers series and Destiny and Destiny 2.

Infinity Ward

Original developer of the Call of Duty franchise before being bought up by Activision.

Toys for Bob

Known for bringing back some classic 90s franchises like Spyro and _Crash Bandicoot)!

Beenox

Known for bringing popular franchises into video game form, like Shrek, Bee Movie, Spider-Man, and X-Men.

Sledgehammer Games

Developed and co-developed multiple Call of Duty games. It’s founders were responsible for the creation of Dead Space.

King.com (aka King)

Known for their Candy Crush saga mobile games.

Blizzard Entertainment

A heavy hitter for Activision. Main franchises include Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch.

When a small town is terrorized by a mysterious killer, it’s up to one wheelchair-bound boy to save them from a terror they can’t imagine.

Below the surface

Silver Bullet (1985) is based on a (1983) Stephen King novella (Cycle of the Werewolf), this little gem often gets forgotten in the mix of all the other film adaptations of his work. Since the screenplay is actually written by King, though, you know you’re in for something good.

A teenage girl finds herself the center of attention, but of the two boys in her life, one just might be a killer.

Below the surface

Far From Home (1989) was a massive hit not only because 13-year-old Barrymore is incredible in the spotlight, but because the whole film is snappy, dark, and clever.

When a teenage prank leads to the death of a young boy, the boy’s father sets out on a path of vengeance, summoning a dark creature from the very pits of Hell.

Below the surface

Pumpkinhead (1988) is one film that probably a few more mainstream viewers have encountered, but it’s still one that too-frequently flies beneath the radar, considering just how darn cheesy and scary it is.

Something is wrong in a small New Zealand town… something alien. But four men with big guns are there to set things right.

Below the surface

Bad Taste (1987) begins one of the strangest and wildest directorial careers in history. From this low budget cult-comedy gore-flick, to one of the largest and most expensive film franchises ever made, Peter Jackson’s career is unexplainable and wonderful.

A dark creature stalks the Australian outback, terrorizing and devouring all who encounter it.

Below the surface

Razorback (1984) was based on a 1981 novel by Peter Brennan and carries a massive host of monstrous moments, not all to do with the supernatural creature at the story’s heart. After all, human monsters are the worst of all.

A necrophiliac killer is murdering the prostitutes at Madame Lan’s brothel.

Below the surface

Corpse Mania (1981) is an example of some seriously bleak and wickedly gory horror that arose out of the Hong Kong film industry. There’s a certain extremely darkly comic note at play here, but overall, it’s just-plain-messed-up. The atmosphere that this one creates is unforgettable, however.

Beverly Hills is built on the back of the poor, but the class divide might be even sharper than anyone knows. For young Billy, one thing is certain: these people aren’t who he thought they were… either that, or he’s losing his mind.

Below the surface

Society (1989) is prime horror-satire, which is my preferred form of horror by far. Horror tackles real-world subjects incredibly well, and this little gem came at a time of great fracture in the world, when Regan and Thatcher policies were destroying the remaining social safety nets and things were looking bleak under threat of the Cold War. A little like now, actually. Anyway, horror took the angst of that era and distilled it, and in Society the distillation is superb.

A TV show host asks her viewers to send in home videos, but one of them sends her a snuff film, apparently shot in a nearby abandoned factory. Her film crew in tow, she sets out to investigate, but the scoop she finds may be more than she bargained for.

Below the surface

Evil Dead Trap (1988) (Shiryō no wana in Japan), takes the Giallo genre, slaps it together with bloody slasher surrealism, and packages it all up to go amid an eerie landscape of half-hidden shots and a leering, hidden danger.

A mysterious train comes to town on the back of an autumnal wind; a mirror-maze whispers to all who enter it of their deepest desires, and two young boys find themselves up against forces beyond their comprehension.

Below the surface

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) is based on Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name and, honestly, … go read the novel first. It’s one of his best, and you’ll get so much more of the original intensity and vibe from that than from this film. That said, if you’ve already read the book, you’ll likely find this early Disney foray into the dark and strange something fascinating.

A young woman and a mysterious man meet at a cabin in the woods. Neither is what they seem, both know the other is lying, but what they want from one another is the greatest unknown.

Below the surface

The Caller (1987) is delightfully twisted and clever, doing more with two primary actors and a couple of simple locations than most do with blockbuster budgets. Of course, Malcolm McDowell brings his unique shade of unsettling to this piece, but Osborne’s no slouch either, and they play off one another beautifully.

A high school senior and her friends are having a slumber party, but someone’s planning on party crashing and giving the girls the last time of their life.

Below the surface

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)​ could have been one of the great early satirical horror films, if not for the lousy infestation of the studio producers who got in the way. They forced the satirical script to be shot like a standard slasher, cutting out the heart of what made the writing so great. Written by Rita Mae Brown, and directed by Amy Jones, this female-led production was a break in the patriarchal norm of that era’s horror films, and even though the producers messed things up, the wittiness of the original script shines through.

An ancient evil is released from a magical lamp, and the malevolent creature stalks a group of teenagers through the dark halls of a museum of natural history.

Below the surface

The Outing (1987) was originally released as The Lamp in the United Kingdom, but received a new name and two minutes of weird cuts for the U.S. version. The film is basically 100% cheese, with enough titillation and ridiculous horror to satisfy anyone who needs a laugh and a few chills. It’s not the greatest film of all time, but it’s a perfect Grade-C horror film.

When a woman moves from her rural home to the big city, she purchases a new car, but quickly finds that her new ride harbors a dark secret.

Below the surface

Mr. Wrong (1984) is whimsical, atmospheric, and honestly superb. It’s one of those little gems that doesn’t require a big budget to do something superb.

A woman is attacked by a man and fears for her life, but an even more alarming discovery awaits right around the corner.

Below the surface

Windows (1980) is an admittedly bad film, so “underrated” hardly fits in the broadest sense. The fact that this film is basically a collection of outmoded and icky lesbian stereotypes, thrown together by a lackluster plot, means that its critics are spot-on. However, Gordon Willis was the director, and his eye is everywhere in the cinematography of this film. Added to that are some solid performances by the lead actors. This one might be underrated more in the sense of if you’re a film student, it’s worth watching, but that still bears repeating.

During World War II, in German-occupied Romania, Nazi soldiers have been sent to garrison a mysterious fortress. But something incomprehensible lurks at the heart of the Keep, and soon the soldiers realize that it was not built to keep something in, but to stop something from getting out.

Below the surface

The Keep (1983) is based on the 1981 F. Paul Wilson novel of the same name and is easily one of the most underrated horror films of all time. Partly, that’s due to the massive productions problems that arose during filming, and the horrible decision by the studio executives to make unnecessary and damaging cuts to the final release. Despite the film originally being 3.5 hours long, the Paramount version was cut to 96 minutes. Sadly, we’ll probably never get a fully remastered version of the original material, but what we do have remains one of the most atmospheric and twisted dark WWII fairy tales to ever exist.

An American family move to a house in Japan, a house haunted by an affair and dark deeds done beneath the sway of lust and vengeance. Now, those demons are coming back to haunt the living.

Below the surface

The House Where Evil Dwells (1982) offers a wild mix of blood, terror, and eroticism — all hallmarks of the horror genre — and weaves them into a clever ghost fable that never got the love it deserved.

Twenty years ago, mine supervisors abandoned their posts and let five miners die. Since then, no Valentine’s Day party has been held… until now. A group of teens sets out to enjoy the spark of a Valentine’s Day dance, only to find a wrathful figure stalking their every move.

Below the surface

My Bloody Valentine (1981) is Quentin Tarantino’s favorite slasher film, which I’m not sure is a recommendation for or against. There is definitely something a little different about it, though; it’s more restrained in some ways, more violent in others, and it offers exactly what you paid for whilst still managing to offer you the bleakest slasher experience around.

Once upon a time, Netflix’s DVD library hosted well over 100,000 titles and sent out roughly 12 million DVDs per week. Now, with the advent of easy-to-use streaming services, the amount of content viewers have available has shrunk to the low thousands. Look up any list of “films to watch” and you’ll find a tiny selection of movies, usually curated by people all reading the same lists and commenting on the exact same hot new show or film.

But, is that all there is? With over a hundred years of incredible filmmaking on the planet, isn’t there something missed when we only pay attention to the latest and greatest? This series is dedicated to answering that question and to exploring a small handful of the unsung films from decades past. I’ll examine each decade in turn, all the way back to the earliest days of film, and I’ll be exploring every genre of film there is! From science fiction, to drama, to romance, to comedy—I’m going to cover the entirety of film history for you, bringing out the golden nuggets for you to enjoy.

As always, with these articles, I love hearing your feedback in the comments section, or on Twitter @indubitablyodin. Let me know what your favorite films of the decade were, which ones you think I should have included, and which you hope I’ll mention in one of my next decades!