Top 50 Cult Movies

[Flack]

In 2003, Entertainment Weekly published their list of the Top 50 Cult Movies. I kept this issue because, eventually, I would like to watch every movie on the list. Here is the list (which I was able to find online this morning as well):

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Freaks (1932)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Pink Flamingos (1972)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Repo Man (1984)
Scarface (1983)
Blade Runner
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
Brazil (1985)
Eraserhead (1977)
Faster, Pussy-Cat! Kill! Kill! (1966)
The Warriors (1979)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Hard-Boiled (1992)
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987)
The Mack (1973)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Un Chien Andalou (1928, France)
Akira (1988)
The Toxic Avenger (1985)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Wiz (1978)
Clerks (1994)
The Harder They Come (1973)
Slap Shot (1977)
Re-Animator (1985)
Grey Gardens (1976)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Withnail & I (1987)
Showgirls (1995)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
They Live (1988)
The Best of Everything (1959)
Barbarella (1968)
Heathers (1989)
Rushmore (1998)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Love Streams (1984)
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
Walking and Talking (1996)
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years (1988)
Friday (1995)
Faces of Death, Vol. 1 (1978)

So, here are my questions for you:

How many of these have you seen? How many have you been meaning to see? Any movies you would remove from the list? Any movies you would like to add to it?

[RetroRomper]

Shawahank Redemption, Rocky Horror, Blade Runner, Akira, and Showgirls need to be (the only most obviously) removed. All of these are well known films in their own regard (except for Rocky) and hold some vaunted place as examples of their respective genre as opposed to cult films.

But these lists bug me (as does scanning the Top Genre Films at imdb) because they are the obvious and most overused examples of an idea (plus I've already for example, seen every film on this list at least twice). I've explicitly stopped paying attention to a media group that thinks "this is spinal tap" or "plan 9" are novel ventures: all they are doing is plucking the most poPular examples as opposed to actually trying to impart an understanding of the medium.

The route I've gone, is watching films from earlier periods more or less whole sale, to develop a feeling for how elements have evolved and progressed. For quite a while, I follow an unbroken line of teacher student relationships in the Japanese Romanporn genre, seeing how techniques, styles, and ideas changed through the decades. Now I'm working through Japanese cinema from the 20's to the 90's in a bid to write some sort of trustie on the idea...

But it's worth going back and spending the time evaluating how the media has developed, as opposed to feeding into the notion that the most popular films (as endorsed here) constitute he whole of the mediums style and progression.

[pinback]

HAVE SEEN:

Harold and Maude (1971)
Scarface (1983)
Blade Runner
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Brazil (1985)
The Toxic Avenger (1985)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Clerks (1994)
Re-Animator (1985)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Showgirls (1995)
They Live (1988)
Rushmore (1998)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th
Faces of Death, Vol. 1 (1978)

I think you gotta remove Shawshank. It was an Academy Award Best Picture nominee for the love of Christ.

[RetroRomper]

And... 2/3rds of these films are the stereotypical list of "indie smash / cult cinema" any random website or media outlet will pull out when they need a feature.

Cult assumes a small pool of interest and recognization, which none of these films actually encompass.

[Flack]

So far, I agree. None of these movies meet my own definition of a "cult classic". Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? My kids have seen that film at least a dozen times!

Here's the ones I have seen:

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Freaks (1932)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Pink Flamingos (1972)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Repo Man (1984)
Scarface (1983)
Blade Runner
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
Eraserhead (1977)
The Warriors (1979)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
The Toxic Avenger (1985)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Clerks (1994)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Heathers (1989)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years (1988)
Faces of Death, Vol. 1 (1978)

That means, here are the ones I have not seen:

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
Brazil (1985)
Faster, Pussy-Cat! Kill! Kill! (1966)
Hard-Boiled (1992)
The Mack (1973)
Un Chien Andalou (1928, France)
Akira (1988)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
The Wiz (1978)
The Harder They Come (1973)
Slap Shot (1977)
Re-Animator (1985)
Grey Gardens (1976)
Withnail & I (1987)
Showgirls (1995)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
They Live (1988)
The Best of Everything (1959)
Barbarella (1968)
Rushmore (1998)
Love Streams (1984)
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)
Walking and Talking (1996)
Friday (1995)

A couple of those (Showgirls, Friday, The Wiz and Akira) are movies I've seen parts of but wouldn't say I've "watched" (as in, I could describe the plot to another person).

With movies, like music, it's easy to try and "out-obscure" one another. After a few years of turning my nose up at any band that was signed to a major label, I found that I had missed out on a lot of decent music by means of my own snobbery. I did the same thing with movies for a while. For a while I was only watching remakes of Japanese horror films ... then I switched to Japanese horror films (stuff like Tokyo Gore Police and Meatball Machine) ... then the Guinea Pig series ... hen I switched to Korean horror that wasn't even subtitled ... it's just this never ending drain circling of trying to get more and more obscure and eventually I just decided to watch everything I could.

But anyway, yeah, I get what you are saying. If Plan 9 is the worst film you've ever seen, you haven't seen enough bad movies.

[pinback]

A couple of those (Showgirls, .... I've seen parts of

;) WINK



(I think Buckaroo Banzai counts as a cult classic.)

[Flack]

It's one of those things ... as a kid, you really have no perspective as to what's rare and what's not. In the movie rental store I lived next to, "Child's Play" was on the shelf next to "Chopping Mall", and I saw both of them. So for movies like Buckaroo Banzai, I think we kind of just assumed that all the other little computer geek kids were watching it too.

No matter where you go ... there you are. ;)

[AArdvark]

This is really weird because on a whim I pulled this list up just last Friday. We got Water For Elephants and I wanted something really counter-culture to offset. I know there are all these cult films that I want to watch someday and was thinking that it would be a good mental palate cleanser after two hours of Reece Witherspoon and her pointy chin. So I peruse this list. Not a week later Flack starts a thread about it. It's a sign, I tellya!

Anyway, I was thinking maybe Freaks would offset Water For Elephants, It's been a long time since I saw it and they are both set about the same time period and involve the circus... Hey! What if I played them both at the same time on my monitor! Hmmmmmm!

Back on topic:
OK here are some prerequisites that classify a movie as a cult film.

* They may or may not show the movie on cable, but if they do it will only come on at 2AM.

* If the movie somehow shows up in a theater, you wouldn't take your mother to see it.

* If you watch it drunk or stoned it makes more sense than when cold sober.

* You would arrange for a group of your friends to come over specifically to watch the movie.
(I'm thinking Bill and Ted here, all you olde tyme JCers!)

* There is a fifty percent chance of having robots in the front row, helping you to enjoy the film.

* It's not available in a red box.

I can't think of any more that fit right now, but these will pretty much cover the majority of true cult films.

I have to look the list over and post which movies I haven't seen yet


THE
FUTURE SCHLOCK
AARDVARK

[AArdvark]

-----------PLEASE TO ADD----------

Refer Madness

Night of the Living Dead

Robot Monster

Pink Floyd: The Wall

Amazon Women on the Moon

----------PLEASE TO REMOVE------------

Willy Wonka! ( Dude, it's Disney)
Shawshank Redemption (way too mainstream)
Pee Wee's Big Adventure (this one almost stayed on the list, If there had never been the playhouse tv show it would have made it)
Superstar (I need to eat every time I see this)

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I haven't seen but one of those movies on the list, but I've seen it (Faces of Death) 50 times.

[pinback]

I feel that Buckaroo Banzai is a cult hit, as few people but nerds know about it, AND, other than most of the other movies on the list, it isn't terrible.

I refuse to acknowledge "cult hits" that are also awful movies. Most of these movies on the list are bogus, and their behaviors are unacceptable.

[Flack]

I haven't seen but one of those movies on the list, but I've seen it (Faces of Death) 50 times.

You haven't seen Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? Or Willy Wonka? Or Clerks?

The 30th anniversary DVD release of Faces of Death includes several new documentaries where they interview the filmmakers and they divulge all the secrets, like how they made the fake monkey head/brains and how they faked everything else. They (the directors) also show you all the scenes they were in, like one guy was a cop in the shootout scene, and a victim in a different scene. It also has a long explanation about how the film came to be (Japanese backers basically wanted to fund a fake snuff film). It was definitely worth watching, if you've seen the film multiple times.

So, some of the others on the list ...

Is the Warriors a cult film? A few years ago they turned it into a semi-successful PS2 game, so it's tough to say it's completely underground. When I was a little kid I thought everyone ran around saying "CAN ... YOU ... DIG IT ...".

I didn't see The Toxic Avenger until the 2000s. Right around the time I learned about Troma I bought a 30 DVD pack of Troma movies from eBay.

Lebowski is an interesting movie. It reminds me of a Kevin Smith movie in that the film is not all that great but there are great characters and great quotes, so in my mind it's filed under "great movies", but every time I re-watch it I think, "this is not a good movie." But it's still enjoyable.

I rented and watched Pink Flamingos after finding a list of "the 100 grossest film moments" or something and #1 was the shit eating scene in Pink Flamingos. I think for a lot of John Waters stuff you "had to be there" ... and I wasn't.

[Flack]

I would add Chopping Mall to that list, by the way. The plot of Chopping Mall is basically, "what if a bunch of teens got locked in a mall overnight with a bunch of security robots that look just like the robots from Short Circuit and are armed with lasers that will blow your face off."

I would probably also add Microwave Massacre to that list as well. I don't know if it's well known enough to be labelled a cult classic, but ... man, every group of guys that get together to watch goofy movies should rent and watch that movie.

Meet the Feebles should be on that list. And speaking of puppets, I'd put Labyrinth and/or the Dark Crystal on there as well. And maybe Death Race 2000, which was a bit more obscure before the remake. And Rollerball (the original).

[Tdarcos]

Willy Wonka! ( Dude, it's Disney)

No, it was NOT made by Disney. I was going to comment about it as a reply to the main article, but I'll mention it here. It was made by the Wolper organization.

As far back as a child, I was interested in copyrights, one of the reasons being the copyright notice would tell you who made the film, or book, or song. Well, when I first saw it, which was in a theatre back in 1971, so I'd probably been about 10, I noticed the copyright notice: (C) Copyright 1971 by David L. Wolper Productions Inc and The Quaker Oats Company.

This was probably the first movie tie-in deal made. Quaker Oats put up the $3 million to make the movie and got the rights to the names of the candies used in the film, as well as was planning some sort of marketing deal.

Alas, the movie didn't do that well although my brother and I both love the movie. It has many wonderful pieces of dialog and scenes.

Charlie: Hey Grampa! Look at Augustus [drinking from the Chocolate River]
Grampa: Don't worry, Charlie, he can't drink it all!

Wonka: [Staring at Augustus, trapped in a tranparent fluid pipe, waiting for him to be pushed through] The suspense is terrible. I hope it lasts.

The shots of the actor's faces when the door opens into the main room of the factory and they see the "forest" room was real; none of them got to see it in advance.

I think this was probably one of Gene Wilder's greatest performances.

[Tdarcos]

I just realized I didn't list the ones I'd seen:

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Scarface (1983)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Warriors (1979)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Clerks (1994)
Slap Shot (1977)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

I've been trying to see this one for quite a while:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

I felt the routine, "banal" ending of Clerks was far better than the violent one, because it fits in with the comedy of the entire film, it was just a routine day that had a bunch of weird incidents, but in the end, everybody just goes home and comes back the next day. The other ending just doesn't work given the way the day was; I think it was too over-the-top.

I'd also remove Scarface as a "cult" movie; it went mainstream almost from day of release. I love Slap Shot, the dialog is terriffic, and I thought Harold and Maude had the best twist ending until Usual Suspects, I figured he'd be so upset that he'd really do it that time, I never expected another fake.

Oh, speaking of Scarface, "say hello to my little friend," here's the "edited" version, which is hilarious:

[youtube][/youtube]

[AArdvark]

I'm throwing in a late addition here, mostly because I've never seen it before last night.

Napoleon Dynamite

Something about the totally deadpan, nobody moves while they
have this slow, pausing between each response, dialog between Napoleon and Pedro made this a good movie for me. If it wasn't for that it would have been mediocre at best.
It reminded me of another movie, but I can't put my brain onto it right now. It wasn't even that funny a movie.


THE.......


TOTALLY..........


DEADPAN..........


AARDVARK

[Flack]

So weird -- we're watching it night now. I guess we thought about it after the cartoon debuted tonight.