The Secret Village (2013)

Two low-budget films: “Monsters” –- made by “Godzilla” director Gareth Edwards -– and “Blair Witch Project”— the found-footage creep-out that launched a genre. Tightly edited. Tense scenes made sharp with glimpses of the unearthly. Finales that leave emotions raw. Similarly budgeted horror-thriller “The Secret Village” has … none of that, not an ounce of ballast to carry its Midnight Movie plot. Here, a young journalist (Ali Faulkner) arrives in a New England town to investigate numerous deaths reaching back to the Salem Witch Trials. Townsfolk are hostel: Leave or die. She is stalked. All along, something is off deep inside her. Sounds intriguing? No. Director Swamy Kandan has made a film so direly boring and incomprehensibly edited, I was left admiring home architecture and the bed comforters. Kandan has other film credits. Guessing on his go-to scare tactic, they must all feature chubby old men in robes. F

The Rain People (1969)

Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Rain People” is a low-budget, outside-the-system film at its best: Brave, as uncomfortable as any harsh truth, and against the set codes of American-GOP-approved rules. It’s a must-watch companion to fellow “F.U.” road picture “Easy Rider” as it follows a conflicted housewife named Natalie (Shirley Knight, raw with emotion) as she runs away from home in -– of all things -– a station wagon. Natalie is newly pregnant and scared of the responsibility. She is consumed by how to carry on, or not. Coppola wisely allows Natalie to stay conflicted, notably speaking of herself in the third person. She -– purposefully unwise -– picks up a hitchhiker, a college footballer dropout (James Caan, excellent) waylaid by a devastating injury to his brain. The two wonder mostly, finding an America beautiful and patriotic, and yet corrupt and uncaring. Deeply poignant, beautifully written, and often purposefully infuriating, “Rain” provides a shot of truth about the lies we tell ourselves and others, boasting of false joy or denying our lost happiness. The movie’s stark ending is as harsh as life’s crueler turns, as it must be. Awesome credit: A guy named George Lucas is listed as production assistant. “Rain” deserves more celebration. A