Five criminally underrated movies starring Rutger Hauer!

Sure, the man has more than a few more acclaimed classics in his filmography, and even more movies that are easy forgotten. I still consider him one of the best actors around, though he sometimes can sleep himself through a movie, just waiting for the money in the bank to wake him up. But I still respect and love the man. Here's five of his most underrated movies. Some of them has begun to get more recognition, but still is deep in the shadow of Blade Runner, Flesh + Blood, Wanted: Dead or Alive and a few more.

Salute of the Jugger
- To be honest, this is one amazing piece of cinema. At a first glance it seems like an ordinary post-apocalyptic Mad Max-rip off, but it's really in a league of it's own. It's surprisingly serious and with a very compentent direction by David Webb Peoples. The cinematography is slick and the acting is better than in a lot of movies in the same genre. The script is simple, but very effective. Just love this movie.

Split Second
- A video-classic, I guess more than a cinema-classic. Dark, stylish, violent and... I'm not sure about "unique", but at least entertaining as hell! I saw it many times when I was younger, and I'm thinking of buying the german uncut release that also happens to be in anamorphic widescreen. I remember it got quite a lot of negative reviews when it came, at least here in Sweden, and it's really a pity.

Surviving the Game
- How can hate this movie? Ice-T, Rutger Hauer, F. Murray Abraham, Charles S. Dutton and Gary Busey in a gory, violent version of The Most Dangerous Game. It actually was caught in some kinda moral bullshit when some kids killed each other, the day after they rented this movie... and of course it was this movies fault. That they never had the time to see it is another thing. Stupid swedes! And yeah, Ice-T sucks. But I like him anyway. In this movie.

Hemoglobin
- Oh, I heard so many bad things about this movie. Sure, it's a bit slow and the story is really bizarre. But it's quite gory, has good production values, cool monsters, a depressing ending and Hauer in a small but well written part. Stay away from the cut fullscreen version, it's a beautiful and nice exploitation movie that deserves some respect and a good release.

Bone Daddy
- Hardly original, but still one of the finest Seven-rip offs ever to be released on video (together with Russell Mulcahys masterpiece Resurrection). Hauer is gooood in this part and seems to be enjoying himself more than usual. Maybe he thought it was nice to play a good, decent guy for once? I remember some nice gore to, and a tight script. Well worth watching again!