Stunning Debuts
by dsensNWN00 | created - 27 Feb 2015 | updated - 16 Sep 2020 | PublicLet's focus on the last 20 years, won't we. There's a lots of stuff I haven't seen (yet).
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1. Shotgun Stories (2007)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Thriller
Set in Arkansas, this poetic and powerful film directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) tracks a blood feud that erupts when two sets of half-brothers come to blows at their father's funeral.
Director: Jeff Nichols | Stars: Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr.
Votes: 11,246 | Gross: $0.05M
2. Black Water (2007)
R | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A boat tour of a mangrove swamp turns into a fight for survival when a group of people are attacked by a ferocious saltwater crocodile.
Directors: David Nerlich, Andrew Traucki | Stars: Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody, Andy Rodoreda, Ben Oxenbould
Votes: 16,040
3. Love (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama, Music, Sci-Fi
A man spends years alone on a space station orbiting Earth after losing communication with Houston/Earth. He spends time on maintenance, exercise, watching old messages, and reading a journal by a soldier in the American Civil War.
Director: William Eubank | Stars: Gunner Wright, Corey Richardson, Bradley Horne, Nancy Stelle
Votes: 8,965
4. Prospect (2018)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other ruthless inhabitants, but with her own ... See full summary »
Directors: Christopher Caldwell, Zeek Earl | Stars: Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, Pedro Pascal, Luke Pitzrick
Votes: 34,523
5. Hereditary (2018)
R | 127 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.
Director: Ari Aster | Stars: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff
Votes: 378,453 | Gross: $44.07M
6. Primer (2004)
PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
Director: Shane Carruth | Stars: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya
Votes: 114,211 | Gross: $0.42M
7. Margin Call (2011)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
Follows the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
Director: J.C. Chandor | Stars: Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany
Votes: 144,395 | Gross: $5.35M
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
PG-13 | 93 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
Director: Benh Zeitlin | Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes
Votes: 85,080 | Gross: $12.80M
9. They Look Like People (2015)
Unrated | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Suspecting that people around him are turning into evil creatures, a troubled man questions whether to protect his only friend from an impending war, or from himself.
Director: Perry Blackshear | Stars: MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake, Mick Casale
Votes: 8,663
10. The Eyes of My Mother (2016)
R | 76 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother (a former surgeon) teaches her daughter, Francisca, anatomy, and how life and death are not to be feared. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters ... See full summary »
Director: Nicolas Pesce | Stars: Kika Magalhães, Will Brill, Olivia Bond, Paul Nazak
Votes: 14,468 | Gross: $0.03M
11. The Birth of a Nation (2016)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Nat Turner, a literate slave and preacher in the antebellum South, orchestrates an uprising.
Director: Nate Parker | Stars: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Penelope Ann Miller, Jackie Earle Haley
Votes: 21,824 | Gross: $15.86M
12. The Gift (VI) (2015)
R | 108 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A married couple, Simon and Robyn, run into Gordo, an old classmate. Things take a turn when Gordo begins to drop in unannounced at their house and inundates them with mysterious gifts.
Director: Joel Edgerton | Stars: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Allison Tolman
Votes: 172,196 | Gross: $43.77M
13. Cold Souls (2009)
PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Paul is an actor who feels bogged down by his participation in a production of Chekov's play, Vanya.
Director: Sophie Barthes | Stars: Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson, Dina Korzun, Armand Schultz
Votes: 10,227 | Gross: $0.90M
* great acting performances (vii): give Paul Giamatti the Oscar already ('bit unbelievable in his role as Paul Giamatti). And David Strathairn who manages to keep a strat face saying this. Emily Watson, goes without saying. and and and
14. The Childhood of a Leader (2015)
115 min | Drama
A chronicle of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.
Director: Brady Corbet | Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Liam Cunningham, Stacy Martin, Yolande Moreau
Votes: 6,499
15. Son of Saul (2015)
R | 107 min | Drama, War
A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
Director: László Nemes | Stars: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont
Votes: 51,971 | Gross: $1.78M
16. Drunkboat (2010)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama
Drunkboat tells the story of a young teenager, Abe, who manipulates his unsuspecting alcoholic uncle (Malkovich) into buying a boat from a conman (Goodman).
Director: Bob Meyer | Stars: John Malkovich, John Goodman, Jacob Zachar, Brian Deneen
Votes: 711
17. The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Julian Richings
Votes: 301,110 | Gross: $25.14M
18. Girlfight (2000)
R | 110 min | Drama, Sport
Diana, without her father knowing it, trains as a boxer and achieves impressive success, blazing new trails for female boxers.
Director: Karyn Kusama | Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Douglas Santiago, Jamie Tirelli, Paul Calderon
Votes: 11,383 | Gross: $1.52M
19. Vigil (1984)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Mystery
A lonely girl living on an isolated, mist-cloaked farm is confronted with the changes wrought by a stranger that arrives.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Penelope Stewart, Frank Whitten, Bill Kerr, Fiona Kay
Votes: 887
20. Stormy Monday (1988)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A crooked American businessman tries to push the shady influential owner of a nightclub in Newcastle, England to sell him the club. The club's new employee and the American's ex lover fall in love and inadvertently stir the pot.
Director: Mike Figgis | Stars: Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean
Votes: 4,442 | Gross: $1.79M
* haven't seen for DECADES.
21. Compliance (2012)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, History
A normal Friday service at a fast food restaurant becomes interrupted by a police officer who claims an employee stole from a customer, but something more sinister is going on.
Director: Craig Zobel | Stars: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp
Votes: 37,307 | Gross: $0.32M
22. Moon (2009)
R | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
Votes: 376,802 | Gross: $5.01M
23. Ex Machina (2014)
R | 108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
Votes: 589,998 | Gross: $25.44M
24. Tyrannosaur (2011)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction, earns a chance of redemption that appears in the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.
Director: Paddy Considine | Stars: Peter Mullan, Archie Lal, Jag Sanghera, Mike Fearnley
Votes: 33,778 | Gross: $0.02M
25. Timecrimes (2007)
R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
Director: Nacho Vigalondo | Stars: Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga, Nacho Vigalondo
Votes: 68,804 | Gross: $0.04M
- wonderful for cosplay. We can now safely establish the fact, that time travel backwards makes very determined and/or homicidal (working hypothesis.)
26. The Orphanage (2007)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera
Votes: 163,643 | Gross: $7.16M
27. Space Station 76 (2014)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
A 1970s version of the future, where personalities and asteroids collide.
Director: Jack Plotnick | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Marisa Coughlan, Matt Bomer
Votes: 8,610
28. American History X (1998)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama
Living a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien
Votes: 1,186,667 | Gross: $6.72M
29. Once Were Warriors (1994)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga
Votes: 36,857 | Gross: $2.20M
30. In the Bedroom (2001)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
A New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.
Director: Todd Field | Stars: Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei
Votes: 42,437 | Gross: $35.93M
31. The Gray Man (2007)
R | 97 min | Biography, Crime, Thriller
Obsessive manhunt to identify and capture a despicable serial killer.
Director: Scott L. Flynn | Stars: Patrick Bauchau, Jack Conley, John Aylward, Jillian Armenante
Votes: 1,838
32. Zero Effect (1998)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The world's greatest detective Daryl Zero aided by his associate Steve Arlo investigates a complex and mysterious case of blackmail and missing keys for shady tycoon Gregory Stark who is less than forthcoming about what is really happening!
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O'Neal, Kim Dickens
Votes: 15,340 | Gross: $2.09M
33. House of Sand and Fog (2003)
R | 126 min | Crime, Drama
An abandoned wife is evicted from her house and starts a tragic conflict with her house's new owners.
Director: Vadim Perelman | Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher
Votes: 72,618 | Gross: $13.01M
34. Time Expired (2011)
Not Rated | 93 min | Comedy
Randall, a terminally ill meter maid, wants nothing more than to live out his final days in peace. Unfortunately, his family and friends have other ideas.
Director: Nick Lawrence | Stars: Don Taylor, Eric Starkey, Bob Hensley, Tyler Roberds
Votes: 173
35. Starlet (I) (2012)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama
An unlikely friendship forms between twenty-one-year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Boonee, Stella Maeve
Votes: 8,689 | Gross: $0.09M
36. Zero Day (2002)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
Two troubled adolescents chronicle the events that ultimately lead up to a terrifying assault on their school.
Director: Ben Coccio | Stars: Cal Robertson, Andre Keuck, Serataren Adragna, Melissa Banks
Votes: 4,789 | Gross: $0.01M
37. Nightcrawler (2014)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
Director: Dan Gilroy | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed
Votes: 604,855 | Gross: $32.38M
38. Taking Chance (2009 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 77 min | Drama, War
Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming.
Director: Ross Katz | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Tom Aldredge, Nicholas Art, Blanche Baker
Votes: 14,778
- doesn't matter, if you're pro- or anti-war. Doesn't matter WHICH war. Doesn't matter, which side you're on.
39. The Messenger (I) (2009)
R | 113 min | Drama, Romance, War
An American soldier struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer.
Director: Oren Moverman | Stars: Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone
Votes: 36,783 | Gross: $0.07M
40. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 256,271 | Gross: $107.92M
41. Hellraiser (1987)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law and lover. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body and escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their underworld.
Director: Clive Barker | Stars: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Sean Chapman
Votes: 140,595 | Gross: $14.56M
- actually kicks -ss aplenty on a 60'' plasma under Sennheiser HD650s in the middle of the night.
42. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.
Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton
Votes: 132,093 | Gross: $92.00M
43. Duel (1971 TV Movie)
PG | 90 min | Action, Thriller
A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell
Votes: 78,432
- a thing of beauty.
44. The Vicious Kind (2009)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
A man tries to warn his brother away from the new girlfriend he brings home during Thanksgiving, but ends up becoming infatuated with her in the process.
Director: Lee Toland Krieger | Stars: Adam Scott, Brittany Snow, Alex Frost, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 8,091
- strictly speaking not a 'debut'.
45. Starry Eyes (2014)
Not Rated | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
A hopeful young starlet uncovers the ominous origins of the Hollywood elite and enters into a deadly agreement in exchange for fame and fortune.
Directors: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer | Stars: Alexandra Essoe, Amanda Fuller, Noah Segan, Fabianne Therese
Votes: 22,342
- strictly speaking not a 'debut'.
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