Top 100 Cult films of all time (1 Viewer)

[Shaw]

This I think would be a much more fascinating and intriguing look at the movies. These would be films that are not necessarily American, not box office hits(Star Wars is too mainstream for a list like this)
These flicks must go against the grain. Stuff like Cast Away and Forrest Gump are out. It's practically a requirement if the film is not popular amongst the general public.
Although the AFI list has greeat selections, I don't think flicks like "Tootsie" are really deserving of such honors.
Tom Hanks is not, in my opinion on par with someone like Orson Welles... hmmm?
Here is a selection of films that have cult status for one reason or another.
This list is in no particular order. I have not seen some of these films, but my brother has.
1. Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark
2. The Wicker Man
3. The Fall Of The House Of Usher
4. Evil Dead
5. Night Of the Living Dead
6. The Bounty
7. Dawn Of The Dead
8. Evil Dead 2
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
11. Mad Max
12. Fitzcarraldo
13. Plan Nine From Outer Space
14. The terminator
15. A Nightmare On Elm Street
16. A Christmas Carol(1951 with Alistair Sim as Scrooge)
17. The Iron Giant
18. The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane
This is not a complete list basically because I'm making it up as I go along.
My real problem with movies these days is the Hollywood Dream Machine. They continue to churn out pointless garbage(for the most part) year after year. A recent exception is the wonderful and unique "Iron gian". My wife just picked that up and it is an exception to the rule these days of amking animated flicks where Cats or Animals sing.
I personally see this ome as a sleeper that is going to take on greater and greater significance as time goes on. Don't let anyone tell you the CGI of the Giant isn't any good. Mixed in superbly with the traditional animation. A truly amazing film
My movie list will include unique, underrated, campy, horror, comedy, sci-fi, etc. A list of highly unique and rarely seen footage. Any contributions welcome. This is all for fun after all.
Shaw
Moncton, NB Canada

 

[Joshua_Y]

Near Dark

Last House on the Left

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Evil Dead

Beautiful Girls

Donnie Darko

eXistenZ

Thirteenth Floor

Clerks

Mallrats

Chasing Amy

Dogma

J&SBSB

Grosse Point Blank

True Romance

Reservoir Dogs

 

[RobD]

The Stepford Wives is a good one and you can't really have Blood For Dracula without Flesh For Frankenstein.

 

[phreakt]

ok to touch on the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy movie, there is one, btw one of my favorite movies of all time, i read the book, loved it, but after watching the movie, i carried a towel around with me for a few months, hey , its a big galaxy , and if you wanna survive , always know where your towel is, as for movies, this is a very broad subject, so ill just touch on it a little, its hard to find movies that have been left out, but here goes,

BLOOD AND DONUTS,

JESUS' SON,

BONGWATER,

HOWARD THE DUCK,

A FACE IN THE CROWD,

SUBURBIA,

HEAVY METAL,

A SCANNER DARKLY,

TREMOURS,

DONNIE DARKKO,

JOHNNY PNEUMONIC,

HACKERS,

SLC PUNK,

EQUALIBRIUM (IM NOT SURE IF I WOULD REALLY SAY CULT, BUT I DONT KNOW BUT A HAND FULL OF PPL THATS SEEN THIS, IT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED)

KIDS(PROLLY WOULD BE THE MOVIE TO DEFINE MY TEENS, CEPT FOR THE AIDS)

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND

ONCE BITTEN

8 DAYS A WEEK

HAROLD AND KUMAR

FACES OF DEATH(TRILOGY)

STAR WARS IS THE BEST MOVIES EVER MADE, CULT OR NOT

FIGHTCLUB

MY BOYFRIENDS BACK

BARBED WIRE

PANS LABRINTH

EL MARIACHE

DESPERADO

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

AND WELL MANY MANY MORE,but that will work for now

 

[42nd Street Freak]

I would say a lot of the more recent entries on these lists are invalid purely because any remotely mainstream release gets a BIG audience base in every high street and Internet site around the world via DVD.
DVD has basically killed off the true cult film (real underground, no distribution deal of any real size films aside) as most films now end up in big quantities in mainstream shops all over the world.
Cult films were made because you had to hunt them down in sometimes rare, out of hours, cinema screenings. Which meant your general mainstream movie goer would probabaly never even bother (or risk it!).
The very way they existed helped to make that cult status as much as the content.
Later on it was late night TV screenings maybe, but those you also had to hunt out.
Now almost every film, even those you have not heard of before, flood out onto high street/Internet shops as much as any Michael Bay flick almost.
And I've never agreed that a mainstream film that flopped automatically means it's a cult film. It's just a flop.

 

[Corey3rd]

100 Years - 100 Beers
The Missing 12 Pack

 

[mork]

Plan Nine From Outer Space!!!! I love it! "Humans are just stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" HAahaha!!11!!!! Did MST ever do that movie?

 

[Michael Elliott]

These films work on their own so I'm not sure why people need MST to get them to laugh.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Right you are, Mr. Elliott.

 

[AaronMan]

How is Robocop a cult film? Not that I don't like it, but it was a huge smash hit when it was released in 1987.

Now how about Laserblast? Now that's a cult film!

 

[Eric Ten]

MY CULT FLIX

FLASH GORDON

PERFORMANCE

FIGHT CLUB

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

THE HARDER THEY COME

WITHNAIL AND I

SHOGUN ASSASSIN

BATTLE ROYALE

PIRAHNA

QUADROPHENIA

DAWN OF THE DEAD

EVIL DEAD 2

DEATH RACE 2000

BARFLY

SAINT JACK

BUFFALO 66

THE WARRIORS

VANISHING POINT

 

[SD_Brian]

I'm not terribly sure what people think qualifies a movie for "cult" status these days. I've always considered a "cult" movie one where the "cult" knows every word by heart and comes to the screenings dressed as their favorite characters ("Rocky Horror Picture Show" would meet that criteria, as would "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "The Sound of Music" and "The Wizard of Oz"), dedicate countless web pages to discussing the minutia ("Twin Peaks," "The X-Files," "The Matrix"), hold conventions ("Star Trek," "Twin Peaks"), obsessively collect memorabilia ("The Wizard of Oz," "Star Wars") in short, movies that people dedicate a significant chunk of their lives to.

John Waters, when discussing his designation as a "cult filmmaker" said something to the effect that, if he is truly a "cult filmmaker," his followers should be willing to do his bidding, die and kill for him. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of what he said. In short, he should be like Jim Jones with a movie camera. That's what his movie, "Cecil B. Demented," is about.

There is a difference between a cult movie, a camp classic, a midnight movie and an obscurity/underseen gem.

Cult Movies (i.e., Movies with obsessive followings):

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Star Wars

Star Trek (the TV show and the movies)

Twin Peaks (the TV show and the movie)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The Sound of Music

The Wizard of Oz

Harry Potter

The Evil Dead

Camp Classics (i.e., Movies So-bad-they're-good, but without the obsessive following of a true "cult" movie):

Mommie Dearest

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Flash Gordon

Grease 2

Showgirls

Plan 9 From Outer Space

Midnight Movies (i.e., Movies that first made a splash through midnight screenings, but without the obsessive following of a true "cult" movie):

Pink Flamingos

El Topo

Eraserhead

Obscurities and Underseen Gems (i.e., Movies I like that mainstream audiences never heard of/embraced):

This is a highly personal list and everyone's will be different, but this is the list that would be inclusive of most of the movies already named in this thread.

 

[Ockeghem]

I wasn't sure if this one has been mentioned, but I'd like to include The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-the-Moon Marigolds.

 

[Chris]

Serenity, which has a yearly showing now at many theaters, has to be a cult film.
I'll throw out a few new ones:
BtVS: "Once More With Feeling" Yes, it's a TV show. But for several years, it occupied theaters with a massive sing a long. Dear god, get this back on track; some of the most fun hours I've had anywhere.

Serenity: Yearly showings almost everywhere.
Love, Actually: I know, this is a traditional melodrama, but this also now has yearly showings in quite a few places, and is one of the few films that gets me damn near every time. Especially at this scene.

 

[big-tony]

I can believe nobody has said The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series yet