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Not every film gets the love it deserves – luckily, streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and Prime Video make sure they aren’t forgotten.
Some of the best talents from Britain and around the world have had some of their strongest works largely ignored by the public while they were available to watch in cinemas.
And sometimes independent films don’t have enough money to get a major release at all cinemas, with some relying on word of mouth to gain more recognition.
This list features a star of one of the biggest film sagas of the 21st century, a very recent five-time Oscar-winning director, and some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
Despite the star power and incredible creative people behind them, these films have ended up flying tragically far under the radar and deserve more love.
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Here are seven of the very best films from recent years that didn’t get anywhere near the appreciation or recognition that they deserved from British audiences.
Lake Mungo (Prime Video)
In the late 2000s, little-known Australian filmmaker Joel Anderson set out to make what ended up being the scariest fake documentary of all time.
Eventually released in 2008, Lake Mungo follows the lives of the fictional Palmer family following the death of their 16-year-old daughter Alice.
The family had been swimming during a family holiday in Victoria, Australia, when Alice had disappeared and ultimately drowned in a lake.
After Alice’s funeral, the family sets up video cameras in their home after beginning to wonder if Alice is haunting their home – what follows is arguably the most chilling and spine-tingling 90 minutes of your life.
It has gained a cult following over the years and has been named among the best found footage films of all time, but upon its release in cinemas, it made the Australian equivalent of just £22,000.
What’s even more surprising is that, while he’s worked behind the scenes on some projects for Netflix, Anderson never made another film that was all his own.
Watch Lake Mungo on here.
Personal Shopper (Disney Plus)
After she finished up with the Twilight saga in 2012, Kristen Stewart quickly became one of the most recognisable faces of independent cinema.
Four years after she stopped playing Bella Swan, Kristen stepped into the role of Maureen Cartwright in Olivier Assayas’ gripping psychological thriller Personal Shopper.
After her twin brother Lewis unexpectedly dies, Maureen – a personal shopper for rich Parisians – waits for him in the French capital so he can send a signal from the afterlife.
While waiting, however, Maureen soon begins receiving text messages from mysterious unknown sources and is dragged into a world of murder and betrayal.
The film cost a modest £6.7million to make but didn’t really come close to earning its money back, despite its 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes a special award for best director at Cannes.
Watch Personal Shopper here.
Shirkers (Netflix)
In the early 1990s, Singapore-born filmmaker Sandi Tan set out to make an independent assassin thriller that would have been her home country’s first ever action road movie.
Along with her friends Jasmine and Sophia, Sandi shot the film – which had the working title Shirkers – with her film teacher and mentor Georges Cardona.
When shooting was finished, however, Cardona vanished off the face of the earth, leaving Tan and her friends high and dry and unable to finish the film.
In 2011, four years after Cardona’s death in 2007, his ex-wife contacted Tan and her friends to reveal that she was in possession of the Shirkers footage that had been shot 20 years before.
Finally back in possession of her elusive indie film, Tan set about making a documentary, giving it the name Shirkers – eventually releasing it through Netflix in 2018.
A tale of teenage nostalgia, youthful creativity, and unexpected betrayal, Shirkers won numerous indie film awards and currently has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Watch Shirkers here.
Support the Girls (Prime Video)
If you’re in the mood for something easygoing but meaningful, then you shouldn’t look any further than Andrew Bujalski’s brilliant low-budget comedy drama Support the Girls.
Starring Regina Hall and Hayley Lu Richardson, Support the Girls follows the bubbly and lively staff at a Hooters-style bar called Double Whammies as it strives to stay afloat.
The film, which also stars Orange Is the New Black actress Lea DeLaria, won several awards in America for independent cinema after its release in 2018.
Despite being such a hit with critics – it boasts a 91% Rotten Tomatoes rating – the film barely made £100,000 worldwide and only really gained a cult following after it hit streaming services.
The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: ‘Support the Girls handles serious themes—and a talented ensemble cast—with wit and humor, all while proving Regina Hall’s talents have been woefully underutilized.’
Tangerine (Prime Video)
Released in 2015, Tangerine was shot entirely on an iPhone 5S and followed the story of a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend (also her pimp) has been cheating on her.
Starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee Rella, Tangerine is an old-fashioned comedy drama set against the backdrop of Hollywood itself.
Tangerine is responsible for really bringing American filmmaker Sean Baker to public attention – Baker would later go on to direct 2025’s Oscar best picture winner Anora.
While it wasn’t his first film, Tangerine was the first time Baker was welcomed by the international film audience, especially when he followed it up with modern cult classic The Florida Project.
Tangerine currently boasts a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, won several independent film awards, and remains one of the only feature films to have ever been shot on an iPhone 5S model.
Watch Tangerine here.
For Sama (Channel 4)
Syria’s civil war may not be raging as it once was in the 2010s, but the fighting continues, and one of the country’s largest cities – Aleppo – is still a battleground.
The worst of the fighting in Aleppo (home to approximately 2.1 million people in 2025) took place between 2012 and 2016 when four years of armed combat resulted in more than 30,000 deaths.
As bullets and missiles flew overhead, a young woman named Waad Al-Kateab was on the ground – a journalist and filmmaker who began to document her daily life in Aleppo as the city fell apart.
The documentary, titled For Sama, showed her falling in love amid the violence and eventually giving birth to her daughter, Sama, for whom the film was named.
For Sama shows Waad and her partner Hamza agonising over whether to flee Aleppo for Sama’s safety, or to stay behind and protect the people of the city they call home.
Waad’s film won best documentary at the Baftas in 2020 and held a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for the first two years after its original release (it still sits at 98% today).
Watch For Sama here.
Bait (BFI Player)
Mark Jenkin’s 2019 British drama Bait is another Bafta-winning film from recent years that seems to have gone almost entirely unnoticed by the public.
Shot entirely on a vintage hand-cranked Bolex camera, which were originally made in the 1920s, Bait was filmed on location in the Cornwall villages of Charlestown and West Penwith.
The film follows the story of Martin Ward, a fisherman who lives in a quiet Cornish village that has become increasingly reliant on tourism and affected by gentrification.
Bait received glowing reviews from critics, especially Mark Kermode, and landed a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus calling the film ‘thrillingly original’.
The film was nominated for two Baftas and won one, taking home the prize for outstanding debut by a British writer, director, or producer. It was only beaten to the prize of best British film by 1917.
Watch Bait here.
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