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I came across this list of "Top 50 Cult Movies" in my internet travels Here's the first 25: 1.This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
"It's such a fine line between stupid...and clever."
"He died in a tragic gardening accident... Authorities said... it's best to leave it... unsolved."
2.The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
"Hi, my name is Brad Majors..." (Asshole!) "...this is my fiancee, Janet Weiss." (Slut!)
3.Freaks (1932)
"Gobble gobble, gobble gobble... We accept her... One of us, one of us..."
4.Harold and Maude (1971)
Harold: "You sure have a way with people."
Maude: "Well, they're my species!"
5.Pink Flamingos (1972)
"Filth are my politics! Filth is my life."
6.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
"Hey, Grampa, we're gonna let you have this one!"
7.Repo Man (1984)
"Let's go get sushi and not pay!"
8.Scarface (1983)
"Shay 'jello to my wittle vrend!"
9. Blade Runner (1982)
"Wake up. Time to die."
10. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
"Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."
11.Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
"Hwayiii!"
12.Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
"All you of Earth are IDIOTS!"
"Greetings, my friends. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember, my friends, future events such as these will affect you in the future."
13. Brazil (1985)
"That is your receipt for your husband...and this is my receipt for your receipt."
14.Eraserhead (1977)
(A pervasive hiss of unsettling white noise.)
15.Faster, Pussy-Cat! Kill! Kill! (1966)
"Honey, we don't like nothing soft. Everything we touch is hard."
16.The Warriors (1979)
"Warriors come out to plaaay." or
"Can...you...dig it?"
17.Dazed and Confused (1993)
"That's what I love about these high school girls, man: I get older, they stay the same age."
18.Hard-Boiled (1992)
"There's no room for failure now. The innocent must die!"
"Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God."
19.Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987)
"Groovy" or
"I'll swallow your soul!"
"Let's head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch."
20.The Mack (1973)
"We can settle this like you got some class, or we can get into some gangster s---."
21. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
"I know you are, but what am I? Infinity!"
"There's a lot of things about me you don't know anything about, Dottie, things you wouldn't understand, things you couldn't understand."
22.Un Chien Andalou (1928, France)
"It's a silent movie, but shrieks and gasps can often be heard in the audience."
23.Akira (1988)
"Tetsuoooooo!"
24.The Toxic Avenger (1984)
"They're going to nuke the monster!"
25.Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(1971)
"What is this, Wonka, some kind of fun house?"
"Why? Having fun?"
Of the first 25, I've seen (bolded) 15 of the 25. Which kind of surprised me, because I don't consider myself a "cult films" kind of guy. And beyond a vague sense of what "Cult film" entails, I really never bothered till now to see what the precise definition is to put a film in this category. Of course it means a film with a strong fan following, but also indicates a movie that people get together to re-watch, and that are frequently quoted. There also seems to be a lovable schlock --borderline unintentional comedy-- element common to virtually all these films. (The two exceptions being Bladerunner and Brazil, which are both remarkably intelligent, sophisticated, and very high budget films to be on a cult list.) To me, Rocky Horror Picture Show is the ultimate cult film. I'm surprised it's listed at number 2. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is another that was a surprise to see on the list. Many I'm surprised anyone would ever want to see again (for example, Warriors) So which are your favorites, which do you think deserve cult status, which do you hate, and what films not listed do you think deserve cult status?
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movies 26-50 on the list: 26.Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
"It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off!"
27.Dawn of the Dead (1978)
"They kill for one reason: They kill for food!"
28.The Wiz (1978)
"Ease on down the road."
29.Clerks (1994)
"I'm not even supposed to be here today."
30.The Harder They Come (1973)
"Don'... f--- ... wit' ... me."
31.Slap Shot (1977)
"Old-time hockey!"
32.Re-Animator (1985)
"You steal the secret of life and death, and here you are trysting with a bubbleheaded coed!"
33.Grey Gardens (1976)
"In dealing with me, the relatives didn't know that they were dealing with a staunch character...S-T-A-U-N-C-H."
34.The Big Lebowski (1998)
"The Dude abides."
35.Withnail & I (1987)
"I demand to have some booze!"
36.Showgirls (1995)
"I'm not a whore, I'm a dancer!"
37.A Bucket of Blood (1959)
"I've never seen anything like it before...and I hope I never see anything like it again."
38.They Live (1988)
"I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass...I'm all out of bubble gum."
39.The Best of Everything (1959)
"Here's to men! Bless their clean-cut faces and dirty little minds!"
40.Barbarella (1968)
"I'd better adjust my tongue box."
41.Heathers (1989)
"Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast or something?"
"Hey Ram, doesn't this cafeteria have a no-fags-allowed rule?"
42.Rushmore (1998)
"She's my Rushmore, Max."
43.The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
"...No matter where you go, there you are."
"Laugh-a while you can Monkey-Boy!!"
44.Love Streams (1984)
"Life is a series of suicides, divorces, promises broken, children smashed, whatever."
45.Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)
"I will not wear that hip-hugger thing. Mother. It makes me look really fat."
46.Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
"I am the Wrath of God!"
47.Walking and Talking (1996)
"Do we really have to listen to this vagina music all the way there?"
48.The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years (1988)
"I'm the happiest son-ofabitch, motherf---er there ever was."
49.Friday (1995)
"It's Friday... You ain't got s--- to do."
50.Faces of Death, Vol. 1 (1978)
"Banned in 46 countries!" (Tagline)
Of this 25, my favorites I consider worthy of the cult status are: Dawn of the Dead, Clerks, They Live, Heathers, and Buckaroo Banzai. Not listed and worthy of the status for me are: Terminator (1984) Eddie and the Cruisers (1984) And equally worthy as high-budget films like Scarface, Bladerunner or Brazil: Godfather (1972) Godfather Part II (1974) Godfather Part III (1990)
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Another not listed: Reefer MadnessIn an unintentional comedy Plan 9 From Outer Space sort of way.
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Cult films, particularly ones like Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw, and Rocky Horror used to be a big "midnight Movie" draw in the early/mid 1980's.
To my knowledge, midnight movies aren't done anymore. Which is too bad, they were a fun part of the high school/college experience, back in the day.
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Terminator and the Godfather films aren't cult movies. They were legitimate and highly influential mainstream hits.
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Terminator and the Godfather films aren't cult movies. They were legitimate and highly influential mainstream hits. Well, don't Bladerunner and Brazil fit that category as well? All sophisticated widely acclaimed big-budget mainstream films? Like I said, I was surprised to see some of those listed as "cult" films. But Terminator and Godfather films fit the criteria of having a huge and enthusiastic fanbase, being frequently re-watched, and having oft-quoted lines. What separates Bladerunner's "cult film" status from that of the Godfather films?
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Well, don't Bladerunner and Brazil fit that category as well? All sophisticated widely acclaimed big-budget mainstream films?
was a box office disappointment during its initial run. Brazil was an outright box office flop. Both films were initially beloved only by a small group of dedicated fans. Those fans (the cult, if you will) eventually bolstered each film's reputation among the public and critics. Conversely, the Terminator and the Godfather films (at least the first two-does anyone 'love' the third?) were major box office hits with wide audience appeal from day one. If the Godfather and Terminator are cult movies then every enduring mega- hit movie from "Gone with the Wind" to "Star Wars" to "Titanic" is a cult film.
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Fight Club. Nowhere to be seen.
Bullshit.
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Way of the Gun. Also not there.
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Shawshank is the only movie I like from the first list.
Dawn of the Dead and Lebowski are the only movies I like from the second list.
"My friends have always been the best of me." -Doctor Who
"Well,whenever I'm confused,I just check my underwear. It holds most answers to life's questions." Abe Simpson
I can tell by the position of the sun in the sky, that is time for us to go. Until next time, I am Lothar of the Hill People!
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Well, don't Bladerunner and Brazil fit that category as well? All sophisticated widely acclaimed big-budget mainstream films?
was a box office disappointment during its initial run. Brazil was an outright box office flop. Both films were initially beloved only by a small group of dedicated fans. Those fans (the cult, if you will) eventually bolstered each film's reputation among the public and critics. Conversely, the Terminator and the Godfather films (at least the first two-does anyone 'love' the third?) were major box office hits with wide audience appeal from day one. If the Godfather and Terminator are cult movies then every enduring mega- hit movie from "Gone with the Wind" to "Star Wars" to "Titanic" is a cult film. I wikipedia'd BladeRunner, and that, while profitable, it was not quite the runaway hit I thought it was at the time. Likewise Brazil. Brazil, while a sophisticated S-F speculative fiction movie with a message about Orwellian loss of freedom, was at many points playful and comedic, often to the point of silliness. Both are sophisticated and acclaimed movies. But I concede the point, they were not box-office smashes like Terminator or the Godfather films. Elements of what defines a "cult film" still elude me. But it seems to focus on films that are relative commercial or critical flops, but Phoenix-rise later to acclaim and success through a small core of fans. And that while Terminator and Godfather films manifest some of that fan enthusiasm and frequent re-watching and quotability, they don't fit the definition because they were runaway successes from the start.
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Shawshank is the only movie I like from the first list.
Dawn of the Dead and Lebowski are the only movies I like from the second list.
Big Lebowski is one I haven't seen, but would like to. I'd also like to see a sequel to Buckaroo Banzai (I love that movie!), but I doubt it will happen. And the original cast now 30 years older, it just wouldn't be the same.
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I never heard of it till now.
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Ed WoodI'm not sure it qualifies, though. While a tremendously fun depiction of the director's life, and highly acclaimed, it bombed in the box office, but never seems to have Phoenixed. Although it deserves to. What a wonderfully odd movie.
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I looked up another of my favorite movies, EDtv, to see if it qualifies. I was surprised to see it was a box-office bomb, and only earned $35 million, on an 80 million budget. And never phoenixed. It's my favorite movie with Matthew McConaughey, with great supporting roles by Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, Jenna Elfman, Dennis Hopper, Ellen Degeneres, Elizabeth Hurley, Adam Goldberg, Woody Harrelson and Rob Reiner. I love the idea of televising some modest guy's life, and that even in the most normal-seeming family, there are dark dirty secrets that no one wants aired. And that there's love, even in such a seemingly dysfunctional family. The odd mixture of emotions that keep families together. I found it both touching and very funny. Engaging from start to finish. I thought it was a great movie, I'm surprised it didn't catch on.
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What about movies like Dr. Strangelove or any of the Monty Pythons. Do those count?
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What about movies like Dr. Strangelove or any of the Monty Pythons. Do those count? I love Dr Strangelove, a beautiful and sophisticated satire, but it doesn't qualify (like many of my previous picks) because it was commercially and critically an enormous success from the start. The criteria for qualifying (that G-man slowly got me to understand) is that the film, no matter how good or bad, had to initially be a box-office disappointment or failure, that through a loyal cult/fan following later became a commercial success, through cable broadcast, VHS and DVD sales after-the-fact. The only one I'm familiar with is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And while it's not my style, it doesn't qualify because it was an enormous commercial success from the start.
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I saw that tonight on IFC, they're playing this one at 8 PM, and again at 10 PM. Which is an odd coincidence after I posted this list, because I haven't seen it broadcast since I saw it in the theatre back in 1979. They've also been playing Bladerunner a lot. And Scarface.
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I warched part of Warriors earlier. The clothing, musical scoring and gang members all reminded me of Death Wish 1 and 2, particularly 2 that ramped up the violence and had music scored by Robert Plant!
What was violent and disturbing 30 years ago now, by modern standards, seems staged, almost comically so.
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Warriors, as I recall, is where I first heard the song "In the City" by Joe Walsh, released on the Eagles' album The Long Run. There was another movie called FM that came out about the same time as Warriors, that similarly had a classic rock soundtrack. It centered around a radio station in the New York area, and i recall two groupie-girls running around peripherally involved with the station. And a lot of great music by Steely Dan, Boston, Linda Rondstadt, Joe Cocker and others. As I recall, Boston appear in the movie as themselves at a signing-appearance, in front of a crowd of screaming teenage girls. It had a double-LP soundtrack album that I still have buried in my files somewhere. As I recall, it didn't do well in theatres, but several new songs from it got play on the radio, particularly the Steely Dan theme song. Not a movie that ever pheonixed or got a cult following. One of the few movies I haven't seen released on DVD.
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 Looking very primal, with the wild hair and face-paint! He needs to have three beer-bottles on the fingers of one hand, and clink them together, and taunt: "Warriors, come out to playyyyyy..." The most bizarre image of the film for me.
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You have weird sexual fantasies, Dave.
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I fantasize about seeing a better movie! I was describing a scene from the last 10 minutes or so of the movie The Warriors, where the leader of another gang clinks the bottles together as some kind of tribal-like challenge for the Warriors gang to come out and fight them. "Warriors, come out to playyyyy..."  As I said, bizarre.
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Another for the list: Heavy Metal (1981)I was surprised, it is described as widely panned when it premiered. I thought it had good animation, sophisticated animation storytelling, and was very funny (as opposed to the obvious child-oriented mentality of most animated films). It first gained a following as a midnight movie favorite, and took 15 years to come out on video, due to copyrights of songs in the movie! The long wait for video release probably hurt its popularity. I recorded it off cable many years prior to release. And bought the soundtrack on DVD, back in the day. Another surprise is that it's a Canadian-made film.
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The secret to cult-movie success, revealed: A new video from Screen Junkies explores how the hottest cult films rise from obscurity into the mainstream, and what the others are missing. http://www.cnet.com/news/the-secret-to-cult-movie-success-revealed/
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Streets of Fire is another that I think qualifies. I always loved Michael Pare, who also starred in Eddie and the Cruisers and The Philadelphia Experiment. All three great B movies, all three by all appearances cult classics. All three consecutive flops that probably destroyed Pare's career, despite being engaging movies. Two of the three having great soundtracks.
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Eddie was actually a hit if you count the fact it played on HBO daily forever and ended up selling millions of soundtracks. The eventually did a sequel.
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Hey, you don't have to sell me, I'm already sold. I loved Eddie and the Cruisers.
And although not as much, I enjoyed the sequel too.
But looking at the wikipedia listing, while it did enjoy cult status popularity, it didn't break even in the box office, and was therefore a bomb.
There's a lot of movies that are tragically unsuccessful, despite that they're good movies. It sometimes defies explanation, why they were not more successful. Ed Wood despite being a box office bomb, was a critical success, and won Martin Landau an Academy Award. I would think when a movie wins an Academy Award, that would instantly make it a success and drive people to suddenly rent or purchase an acknowledged great film that they missed. But it doesn't seem to work that way.
Eddie and the Cruisers was even released a second time in theatres after it gained popularity from its broadcast on cable, and bombed a second time in the box office. It's difficult to make sense of how that could happen.
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Another I ran across recently is Outlander. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_(film)I thought it was a really cool movie about an alien man who crashes in Scandinavia in Viking times. He was pursued across space by a race of aliens (similar to those in the Alien movies) who wiped out his entire race. The appearance of the enemy aliens are monstrous and conform to the medeival image of dragons. But apparently not interesting enough for many, and yielded a $6 million return on a 47 million budget.
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Another low-budget teenage comedy I really enjoyed was Making the Grade (1984) That came out roughly the same time as the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science and for me was as enjoyable as any of them. Making The Grade announced a coming sequel at the end, but its box office apparently didn't warrant a second film. It was the first movie I saw Judd Nelson in. He played a street kid from New Jersey, in financial trouble with his bookie (the thuggish Andrew Dice Clay, his first movie appearance). And the Jersey kid crosses paths with a drunken slacker rich kid Palmer Woodrow (played by Dana Olsen) who keeps flunking out of schools, and has to graduate from his most recent school to get his trust fund. No one knows him at the new school, so he hires the street kid from New Jersey (Judd Nelson) to attend for him. A "slobs vs. the snobs" type story. I thought Dana Olsen was hilarious in this movie and was surprised he did so little afterwards. Among my friends in 1984-1985 this one was a cult classic that we often quoted. We were all preppies, and enjoyed the lines about being a preppy, and attending prep school, as well as the more wild stuff in the movie. The 80's were for me the Golden Age of teen comedy. A good one here and there since, but not nearly ratio of really fun movies there were in the 1980's period. With Reality Bites and the Kevin Smith movies, the 1990's despite some great material was a distant second.
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