10 Overlooked Movies of 1993

We can't exactly blame a 1993 movie for being overlooked when it came out in the same year that Steven Spielberg dropped the one-two punch of Jurassic Park and Schindler's List . Titles like The Nightmare Before Christmas , Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day , and The Fugitive also stomped all over that year. However, it's high time to give a proper look to these 10 underrated 1993 movies that are still well worth your attention. 10. The Good Son While The Good Son is probably the most well-known title on this list, it was met with a lukewarm reception both critically and commercially. Maybe the world wasn't ready to see beloved Home Alone child star Macaulay Culkin as a gender-swapped version of The Bad Seed. Whatever the reason, the world largely missed out on this scintillating thriller starring Elijah Wood as a young man who goes to live with his aunt and uncle during winter break, only to find himself embroiled in an increasingly terrifying game of cat and mouse with his sociopathic cousin. 9. Body Melt This cult Australian horror movie follows suburbanites who are unknowingly being used as test subjects for a drug that causes… well, just look at the title. It presents a cavalcade of gross-out effects that pushed the envelope something fierce, even though it followed hot on the heels of a decade that produced some of body horror's most notable titles, like The Fly , Hellraiser, and From Beyond. 8. Just One of the Girls This forgotten Corey Haim comedy is a gender-swapped remake of Just One of the Boys, starring Haim as a high school student who dresses in drag to hide from his bullies, only to get caught up in a web of lies that brings him closer than he could have ever anticipated to his crush… who is the sister of his biggest bully. A bully who is himself developing a crush on Haim's female alter ego. It's a proto- She's the Man setup that doesn't always avoid the gender-based pitfalls that make it difficult for these movies to age well, but is brought to life by a talented cast that includes Charles in Charge's Nicole Eggert and Beverly Hills, 90210's Cameron Bancroft. 7. Freaked This movie, which was originally pitched as 'Beach Blanket Bingo meets The Evil Dead,' was co-directed by Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure star Alex Winter and his frequent collaborator Tom Stern. The bizarre genre mash-up, which follows a former child star finding himself and his friends caught in the web of a mad scientist who wants to transform them into hideous mutants, boasts a shockingly stacked cast that includes Randy Quaid, William Sadler, Mr. T, Brooke Shields, Bobcat Goldthwait, John Hawkes, Morgan Fairchild, Keanu Reeves, and even future Wicked director Jon M. Chu. 6. Ruby in Paradise This (very) loose adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey stars Ashley Judd as a woman who moves to Florida after the death of her mother and juggles multiple potential love interests while trying to put the pieces of her life back together. The movie landed on Roger Ebert 's list of the Top 10 movies of 1993 alongside classics like Menace II Society, The Joy Luck Club, The Piano, and Schindler's List. Enough said. 5. Kika Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is better known for his films from the 1980s (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Law of Desire) and the turn of the millennium (Talk to Her, All About My Mother), he still churned out unique, interesting melodramas throughout the early 1990s. This includes Kika, which follows a cosmetologist who falls for a dead man who unexpectedly recovers when she's preparing him for burial. This movie is colorful, outrageous, and pushes the envelope in almost every possible way. 4. Dark Waters This pan-European movie (it's a co-production between Italy, Ukraine, Russia, and the United Kingdom) is a late example of 'nunsploitation,' following a woman traveling to an isolated island convent to investigate the history of her father. You shouldn't go in expecting crackerjack plotting, but the movie delivers on pure atmosphere and creeping, Lovecraftian horror. 3. When a Stranger Calls Back When a Stranger Calls Back is an early example of what would come to be called the 'legacy sequel.' It helped set the standard for what movies like 2018's Halloween, 2022's Scream, 2021's Candyman, and 2024's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice were going to do many years in the future. Specifically, the belated sequel (which is a follow-up to the 1979 proto-slasher When a Stranger Calls ) brings back key characters from the original movie (Carol Kane's besieged babysitter Jill Johnson and Charles Durning's hard-boiled private eye John Clifford) alongside a new young protagonist (played by scream queen Jill Schoelen, of The Stepfather and Cutting Class). Unlike the four aforementioned movies, When a Stranger Calls Back had the gumption to be even better than the original, combining creepy atmospheric thrills with a more action-packed narrative. 2. Calendar Girl This 1960s-set coming-of-age road trip comedy follows three young men (Jason Priestley, Jerry O'Connell, and Gabriel Olds) on a quest to meet and sleep with Marilyn Monroe. As problematic as that storyline might seem, just like 1999's American Pie (for which it is a major progenitor), it is actually about the main characters learning how to behave more like humans when it comes to their pursuit of the opposite sex. It is a surprisingly tender, often downright hilarious movie. Unfortunately, it flopped hard when it came out. We're talking a week 2 dip so severe that it is still one of the 50 biggest sophomore drops of all time at the domestic box office. 1. Love and Human Remains This Canadian indie movie (which is the second movie on the list to star Cameron Bancroft) was written by Brad Fraser based on his own play, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love. Even among films in the new queer cinema movement, it remains unfortunately unknown, in spite of the fact that it tells a compelling story about a lovelorn gay man (future Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson) and his straight roommate (Ruth Marshall) who is experimenting with her sexuality as they navigate love, friendship, work, and ennui against the backdrop of a serial killer terrorizing their neighborhood in Edmonton, Alberta. So what titles do you consider to be the most overlooked movies of 1993, and did any of them make the list? Sound off in the comments below!