The 1990s were a fascinating decade for filmmaking that featured some extremely interesting movies that sadly flopped at the box office. While this was the era when beloved comedies like Home Alone, franchise starters such as Jurᴀssic Park, and horror hits like The Silence of the Lambs reigned supreme, it also boasted plenty of underrated movies that viewers should go back and revisit. For every blockbuster smash success of this decade, there was an equally compelling flop that deserves far more love.

Some of the best movies of the 1990s were not financially successful, and it’s only with the power of hindsight that film fans have come to appreciate just how much these movies had to offer. With releases from major directors like Peter Jackson, Ben Stiller, and even the Coen brothers, name recognition alone wasn’t always enough to get a hit at the box office. Although some of these movies have since gained cult followings, for the average viewer, they are still woefully underseen.

10

The Frighteners (1996)

Directed by Peter Jackson

Long before New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson revolutionized the fantasy film genre with The Lord of the Rings, he showcased his skill for conjuring vivid and imaginative worlds in The Frighteners. This hilarious blend of comedy and horror featured Michael J. Fox as a traumatized widower who makes a living as a fake spiritualist, even though he can genuinely see ghosts. His unusual talent lands him in the middle of a paranormal murder investigation as he tries to clear his name with the skeptical residents of his small town who believe he’s responsible for the chaos.

The Frighteners brought to mind the kind of frantic energy of works by the likes of Sam Raimi and was an enjoyable addition to the director’s gory and outrageous early films, such as Meet the Feebles and Brainᴅᴇᴀᴅ. Despite being one of Jackson’s most enjoyable pre-LOTR releases, The Frighteners was not a hit at the box office and grossed just $29 million against its $26 million budget.

9

The Rocketeer (1991)

Directed by Joe Johnston

There have been plenty of mᴀssively underrated movies focused on forgotten pulp heroes released over the years, with The Rocketeer being a prime example of a superhero film that was just released a little bit too early. As an homage to the heroes of yesteryear, The Rocketeer began life as an addition to the Starslayer comic book series before gaining its own feature film in 1991. As the story of a stunt pilot with a powerful hidden rocket pack, this unique hero was able to fly without the use of an aircraft.

The Rocketeer put a modern spin on classic comic character tropes as it brought together Howard Hughes, the FBI, and a Nazi operation with pulp adventure that never got its due. Released in an era before superhero movies were taken seriously by general viewers, The Rocketeer underperformed at the box office and grossed just over $46 million against its $35 million budget.

8

Man On The Moon (1999)

Directed by Miloš Forman

Few actors had a more impressive H๏τ streak in the 1990s than Jim Carrey, whose triple whammy of Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, one after the other in 1994, signaled him as one of the most exciting new stars of the decade. However, what goes up must come down, and Carrey was forced to confront the first major misstep in his career after the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon flopped at the box office. With a gross of just $47 million against an $82 million budget, there was nothing funny about such a catastrophic financial failure.

While viewers did not turn out for Man on the Moon, the truth was that Carrey gave one of the most interesting performances in his entire career. Through a method acting style, which can be seen firsthand in the behind-the-scenes Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Carrey literally became the late comedian in a transformative performance. Giving unique insight into one of the most influential and unusually American stand-ups of all time, Man on the Moon also offered audiences their first glimpse into Carrey’s underappreciated dramatic skills.

7

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Directed by Robert Longo

It’s interesting to note that Keanu Reeves starred in two cyberpunk movies during the 1990s, one of which was the cultural juggernaut The Matrix and the other the box office flop Johnny Mnemonic. Coming out four years before Reeves made cinema history with the Wachowskis, Johnny Mnemonic saw William Gibson adapting his short story of the same name for the big screen. This futuristic dystopian story saw Reeves play a data courier harboring a brain implant containing highly secret and sought-after information.

As an enthralling exploration of technological anxieties, perhaps Johnny Mnemonic was just a few years ahead of its time, as it grossed just $19 million against its $26 million budget. While it may not have been a financial success, this film was packed with thought-provoking ideas and has since built up a reputation as a quiet cult classic. Although it’s still extremely underrated, the re-release of Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White in 2021 helped remind viewers of the merits of this underappreciated cyberpunk film.

6

The Cable Guy (1996)

Directed by Ben Stiller

While Jim Carrey was box office gold for the majority of the 1990s, he also had a few releases that underperformed at the box office and were considered disappointments within the industry. A prime example of this was The Cable Guy, a satirical comedy that was far darker and more psychologically complex than what audiences can come to expect from Carrey. Starring Matthew Broderick as an unsuspecting customer, The Cable Guy saw his life turned upside down as Carrey’s Chip Douglas courted his friendship and took an obsessive, over-the-top interest in his life.

The Cable Guy was an unsettling glimpse into the darkest side of Carrey’s wacky persona and highlighted just how unnerving it would be if someone with the same eccentricities as Ace Ventura or The Mask actually tried to become your friend. A major reason The Cable Guy didn’t meet box office expectations was that, although it was marketed as a mainstream comedy, the actual film was much closer to an outright horror movie. While Chip Douglas remains an all-time great Carrey character, his dark demeanor was alienating for some viewers.

5

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Directed by the Coen brothers

The Coen brothers were at their creative peak during the 1990s, as this decade boasted the release of several of their most iconic films, including The Big Lebowski. While every movie the duo released during this decade was great, sandwiched between the release of Barton Fink and Fargo was the woefully underrated screwball comedy The Hudsucker Proxy. This unique comedy told the story of a naive business graduate (Tim Robbins) being installed as president of a stock company as part of a stock scam.

As a tongue-in-cheek satire that had all the makings of a comedy classic, The Hudsucker Proxy bombed at the box office and has not achieved any of the same kind of enduring cultural relevance as other Coen brothers films from the same time. This was a real shame, as its impressive style, smart visuals, and inspired production design meant The Hudsucker Proxy stood out as a forgotten hidden gem that’s just begging to be reappraised by modern viewers.

4

Cry-Baby (1990)

Directed by John Waters

While director John Waters managed to tap into 1950s nostalgia in his previous hit film Hairspray, his follow-up Cry-Baby did not connect with audiences in the same way. With Johnny Depp as the teen rebel Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker, this unique comedy poked fun at the cultural and social norms of rebellion, youth culture, and self-professed bad boys. As a director who always stood on the precipice of the mainstream and counterculture, Waters’ film was too idiosyncratic for general viewers and too broad for offbeat movie lovers.

While Cry-Baby failed at the box office, looking back, there was a lot to love about Waters’ ode to teen rebellion. Featuring an interesting performance from Johnny Depp just as he was on the brink of major moviestardom, it’s easy to see why the actor became such a defining figure of the 1990s as he consistently tackled interesting roles with auteur directors like Waters.

3

Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel

The live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was received with pure bafflement by audiences back in 1993, although looking back, it’s hard not to be won over by its unique charm. As a dark reimagining of the iconic Nintendo platformer, this odd video game adaptation starred Bob Hoskins as the тιтular plumber and Dennis Hopper as the ruthless President Koopa. By playing fast and loose with the mythology of the Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros. was a dinosaur-centric fantasy adventure that transported Mario and Luigi to a parallel universe.

Super Mario Bros. was a strange film that explored a dystopian world that separated from ours sixty-five million years ago, where dinosaurs never went extinct. Blending the original game’s aesthetic with themes and tropes from fairytales and contemporary American culture, this bizarre movie was a financial failure but developed a cult following over the years. Now that there has been a more faithful adaptation of the games through the animated reboot in 2023, we can look back on the Super Mario Bros. fondly and appreciate just how wild it actually was.

2

Ed Wood (1994)

Directed by Tim Burton

Throughout the 1990s, director Tim Burton built up a reputation for telling fantastical tales with a Gothic spin, such as Michael Keaton’s Batman movies and the all-time classic Edward Scissorhands. However, in 1994, Burton changed tack to pay tribute to a much maligned filmmaker with his astounding biopic Ed Wood. This fascinating account of a misunderstood filmmaker starred Johnny Depp as the тιтular director and cataloged his career making movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space as well as his relationship with the Dracula actor Bela Lugosi.

Ed Wood was an unusual movie that predictably failed at the box office. Telling the life story of a director that most people were unfamiliar with and sH๏τ entirely in black-and-white, Ed Wood was both a satire and tribute to Hollywood’s noble failures, and ironically, it flopping at the box office meant it became an example of exactly the kind of earnest creativity it endeavoured to comment on. While Ed Wood was one of Burton’s biggest financial failures, it was also among his most artistically compelling films and a majorly underrated release.

1

Last Action Hero (1993)

Directed by John McTiernan

While Last Action Hero’s $137 million box office earnings against its $85 million budget may not look like a total failure, at the time, it was a serious underperformance that failed to meet the studio’s expectations. Coming out one week after the most successful movie of 1993, Jurᴀssic Park, it’s not surprising that Last Action Hero struggled to reach the heights of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s greatest successes. However, the movie-within-a-movie concept of Last Action Hero, along with its satirical look at action movie clichés, has meant it’s stood the test of time.

Last Action Hero saw Schwarzenegger play the hero Detective Jack Slater, as well as a fictionalized version of himself in a story in which his movie’s character actually enters the real world. While the kind of self-referential meta-commentary seen in this story has become more commonplace in the years since, back when Last Action Hero was released, audiences were not as used to stories that blurred the lines between reality and fiction. Although this cult favorite has its supporters, it deserves far more recognition from general audiences.

Sources: All box office figures retrieved from Box Office Mojo