EW's Top 50 Cult Films

[Phoenix]

Here you go, Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 list of cult films..and I really do agree with most everything on the list. The last 11 are ones that viewers wrote in to "add" to the list.

1 This Is Spinal Tap
2 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3 Freaks
4 Harold And Maude
5 Pink Flamingos
6 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
7 Repo Man
8 Scarface
9 Blade Runner
10 The Shawshank Redemption
11 Five Deadly Venoms
12 Plan 9 From Outer Space
13 Brazil
14 Eraserhead
15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
16 The Warriors
17 Dazed And Confused
18 Hard-Boiled
19 Evil Dead II
20 The Mack
21 Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
22 Un Chien Andalou
23 Akira
24 The Toxic Avenger
25 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
26 Stranger Than Paradise
27 Dawn Of The Dead
28 The Wiz
29 Clerks
30 The Harder They Come
31 Slap Shot
32 Re-Animator
33 Grey Gardens
34 The Big Lebowski
35 Withnail and I
36 Showgirls
37 A Bucket Of Bood
38 They LIVE
39 The Best Of Everything
40 Barbarella
41 Heathers
42 Rushmore
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
44 Love Streams
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking
48 The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
49 Friday
50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1
51 Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail
52 A Clockwork Orange
53 Mommie Dearest
54 The Princess Bride
55 Swingers
56 UHF
57 Valley of the Dolls
58 Fight Club
59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)
60 Better Off Dead
61 Donnie Darko

[Heineken Skywalker]

Thanks for the list, Phoenix.
I don't know that I agree that all of these choices are truly "cult" films, but whatever.
Out of these, which ones haven't you guys seen?
I haven't seen:

5 Pink Flamingos
11 Five Deadly Venoms
15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Director, Russ Meyer recently died. I taped his "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" recently off of IFC, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet.)
20 The Mack
22 Un Chien Andalou
24 The Toxic Avenger
26 Stranger Than Paradise
30 The Harder They Come
33 Grey Gardens
35 Withnail and I
37 A Bucket Of Bood
39 The Best Of Everything
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (Have seen bits & pieces, but never the whole thing.)
44 Love Streams
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking
50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1 (Don't care if I never see it. Not my cup of tea.)

And from the "write-in" choices I haven't seen:

59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)

[Phoenix]

Thought I'd put a bit of a working definition on "cult films." This came from the same EW article:

"most died at the box office, some of them horribly. Mangled and despised, they were re-animated on video. And now they compose our cultural Esperanto, a subliminal vocabulary of vaguely subversive images, ideas, and phrases that we continue to obsess over and dissect at parties, around watercoolers, in bars, over the blaring banalities of the mainstream media din. They are Cult Movies."

I'm sure there are better definitions, but I thought I would be lazy and just steal it from the same article.


And I'm very ashamed to say that there are many, many, many films on that list I have not seen.

[ZapRowsdower]

I hope by "They", they mean "They Live"... I heard "They" was a horrible movie.

[Phoenix]

IamTheSmitty said:

I hope by "They", they mean "They Live"... I heard "They" was a horrible movie.

It is "They Live" on the list ( John Carpenter - 1988). I fixed it on the list.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Okay, so that's one more I've seen already.
There are some real classics here and I think a couple of these, especially in the Top Ten, could even provoke a visit from the Movie Police.

[Phoenix]

I admit I've never seen the number 1:

This is Spinal Tap.

Is that grounds for the movie police???

[Heineken Skywalker]

That's just "criminal", Phoenix. I think I hear the Movie Police's sirens wailing already.
Oh, and we have a "Movie Police" thread going in the "Off the Chest" section. Check it out.

[LivingDeadGirl]

I haven't seen:

5 Pink Flamingos
11 Five Deadly Venoms
13 Brazil 15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 16 The Warriors
18 Hard-Boiled
20 The Mack
22 Un Chien Andalou23 Akira 24 The Toxic Avenger
26 Stranger Than Paradise
30 The Harder They Come
31 Slap Shot
33 Grey Gardens
35 Withnail and I
36 Showgirls
37 A Bucket Of Bood
39 The Best Of Everything
40 Barbarella
42 Rushmore
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
44 Love Streams
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking
57 Valley of the Dolls
60 Better Off Dead
61 Donnie Darko

[Phoenix]

LDG: I see one you can get arrested on your list too: Donnie Darko.

But I guess that isn't as "criminal" as This Is Spinal Tap.

I remember I tried to watch it once on VH1 but I think it was after a party so I passed out. So I guess I can't count that.

Here is what I haven't also seen:
7 Repo Man
11 Five Deadly Venoms
13 Brazil
14 Eraserhead
16 The Warriors
18 Hard-Boiled
20 The Mack
22 An Chin Andelou
30 The Harder They Come
33 Grey Gardens
35 Within Nail and I
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
44 Love Streams
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking

[Termination]

Havn't seen these,

1 This Is Spinal Tap
2 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3 Freaks
4 Harold And Maude
5 Pink Flamingos
7 Repo Man
11 Five Deadly Venoms
12 Plan 9 From Outer Space
13 Brazil
14 Eraserhead
15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
16 The Warriors
18 Hard-Boiled
20 The Mack
22 Un Chien Andalou
23 Akira
24 The Toxic Avenger
25 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
26 Stranger Than Paradise
27 Dawn Of The Dead
28 The Wiz
30 The Harder They Come
32 Re-Animator
33 Grey Gardens
35 Withnail and I
37 A Bucket Of Bood
39 The Best Of Everything
40 Barbarella
41 Heathers
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension
44 Love Streams
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking
48 The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1
53 Mommie Dearest
54 The Princess Bride
57 Valley of the Dolls
59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)
60 Better Off Dead
61 Donnie Darko

Where's that siren sound coming from? Wait a tic... I being dragged out of my room by some people, I can't make out their faces (blind fold), but wait, yes on the back of their kevlar vests I see MP hdgihsds89ygh aahhhhhhhhh

[Heineken Skywalker]

Jesus, Termination!
In your case it would've been easier to just post what titles you had seen! Man, the Movie Police are just going to throw away the key after they lock up your ass! ;D
How can you have as large a DVD collection as you and still manage to not have seen such movies as SPINAL TAP, ROCKY HORROR, BRAZIL, WILLY WONKA, DAWN OF THE DEAD & THE PRINCESS BRIDE? Especially with all your "blind buys".
And Phoenix, VH1 is no way to watch SPINAL TAP. Sober or not. At the very least, you should rent the DVD, so you can see it uncut and without commercials.

[Phoenix]

Termination: You haven't seenFreaks! That is def one you HAVE to buy. So you can become "One of us, One of us."

Seriously, it's worth having and it just came out on DVD a few months ago.

[Heineken Skywalker]

That is def one you HAVE to buy. So you can become "One of us, One of us."

LOL!
Yep, the new FREAKS DVD is really good with some excellent extra features for such an old film.

[Termination]

Heineken said:

Jesus, Termination!
In your case it would've been easier to just post what titles you had seen! Man, the Movie Police are just going to throw away the key after they lock up your ass! ;D
How can you have as large a DVD collection as you and still manage to not have seen such movies as SPINAL TAP, ROCKY HORROR, BRAZIL, WILLY WONKA, DAWN OF THE DEAD & THE PRINCESS BRIDE? Especially with all your "blind buys".

I guess its because I only like to watch quality pictures. Kidding of course, its actually because I have 628 hours of un-watched dvds, I am not joking, thats 26 consecutive days of being in front of the Tv Box.