At the end of 2022, there are literally hundreds of new movie releases to look back on in every genre. Horror has had a particularly strong year with the success of Pearl, Barbarian, and Scream proving to be huge critical and box office hits. Blockbusters like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun: Maverick, and Elvis all also raked in ticket sales and applause.

With all these high-profile films released, including the end-of-year release of Avatar: The Way of the Water, many excellent films have slipped under the radar. From animated family adventures to Avant-garde science fiction, here are 5 of the most overlooked films of 2022.

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Strange World

Strange-World

The newest animated film from Disney seemingly came and went without any fanfare at all. Strange World follows a family of explorers looking for a way to keep an energy source alive on a strange planet filled with new and less-than-welcoming life forms. Dennis Quaid is the voice of Jaeger Clade, the elder patriarch of the family while Jake Gyllenhaal plays his son Searcher who 25 years after being abandoned by his father in the name of exploration is now a father himself and on his own adventure.

The film was only released at the end of November, but there has been almost no chatter about it, and it has performed poorly at the box office. Based on pulp sci-fi magazines and stories like Journey to the Center of the Earth, Strange World is a wonderful family adventure that succeeds with heart despite falling into some tired trope traps.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

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Directed and produced by George Miller and co-written by Miller and Augusta Gore, Three Thousand Years of Longing is based on the short story The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A.S Byatt. Idris Elba plays the eponymous Djinn while Tilda Swinton is the British scholar Alithea who finds his bottle and releases him. While trying to convince Alithea to make wishes despite her distrust of him, the djinn tells her three tales from his past and the people that he has encountered in his long life.

A visually stunning film led by strong performances, Three Thousand Years of Longing was a box office failure. With little marketing efforts by the studio and a generally poor summer turnout for theaters in general, the film was swept away among larger releases. An imaginative and beautiful film that deserves more eyes on it.

Holy Spider

Holy-Spider

Based on the true story of serial killer Saeed Hanaei in Iran who targeted sex workers with the claim that he was cleaning up the streets. The film follows a young female journalist Arezoo Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) investigating the crimes and is left disillusioned by the response to the horrific crimes by conservative members of the government, many of who hailed Hanaei as a hero for his disgusting crimes.

Critically the film has garnered huge praise and competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, with Ebrahimi winning the award for best actress for her performance. The film was also heavily condemned by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as was the Cannes festival, with them also threatening punishment for anyone within Iran involved in making the film. The film itself is a slow and gut-wrenching drama that faces down the politics of a culture that birthed the killer in the first place.

Resurrection

Resurrection-Rebecca-Hall

Resurrection is a difficult watch. Directed by Andrew Semans and starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, Resurrection is a deep, dark, and disturbing psychological thriller about the long-lasting effects of abuse. Hall is a successful businesswoman Margaret who lives in New York with her daughter Abbie. One day, Margaret glimpses David (Roth), a man she used to know, and is sent spiraling into a world of anxiety and terror as David begins appearing more and makes demands of "a kindness" from her.

David torments Margaret with memories of her past life, their relationship, and her lost son. Hall and Roth both give phenomenal performances with Hall displaying abject terror in one of the most believable depictions of trauma this year. Roth on the other hand is genuinely terrifying as the manipulative and malicious David. Breathtaking like a panic attack, Resurrection isn't for the faint of heart, but it is spectacular.

Vesper

Vesper-2022

Directed by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper Vesper is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film where the inhabitants of Earth have wiped out edible plants and animals and also large sections of the populace with genetically engineered viruses that were accidentally released. Citadels house the oligarchy while those outside them must scavenge for food and rely on seeds given to them by the Citadels. Vesper is a 13-year-old girl who after a Citadel ship crashes near her home helps a survivor called Camellia and finds herself caught in a complex story involving advanced AI and what it means to be human.

A visual triumph with standout performances from young lead Raffiella Chapman as Vesper and Eddie Marsan as her vindictive and selfish uncle Jonas, Vesper was almost completely missed by everyone. The film took only $49,000 from the US box office and made a worldwide total of $1.5 million. Despite Guillermo del Toro praising the film on social media, nobody turned out to see it. Hopefully, it can find the audience it deserves on home media.

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