We like movies here at FoulENT, if that wasn't incredibly obvious. However, for all the best and worsts, highs and lows, rankings and predictions for movies past and present, there are those movies that are just too perfect within their own rules and boundaries that they become incredibly popular with select audiences. These cult movies are the ones that do the bet job of creating a loving following and in turn creating a whole new viewing experience that feels far more special than watching a summer blockbuster in a crowded multiplex. Here are 10 cult movies that you owe it to yourself to watch. You might even find a new favourite.
Note: I've tried not to include obvious choices like The Big Lebowski, or movies that were made with niche audiences in mind like A Clockwork Orange. Listed below are my ten choices for movies that have transcended the conditions of it's release and will be forever timeless.
10. - Blazing Saddles/Young Frankenstein (1974)
Image Credit: younghollywood.com
Ultimately, our number 10 is a cop out as it's two movies, but given that two of Mel Brooks' best movies release in theatres in the same year, it would be amiss of me not to include them both. One is a raunchy, racial Western comedy and the other is a parody retelling of a horror classic, but both deserve to be on this list. Both movies tread the line of good taste multiple times and always come out with the winning gag. They're both insanely quotable, utterly timeless and oddly enough both star Gene Wilder. If I was forced to pick just one, I have watched Saddles more, but don't let that cloud your judgement of Young Frankenstein. Sadly, the racial nature of Saddles means it doesn't get the love it deserves these days, but Young Frankenstein has been given the musical treatment in the past decade giving it move longevity going forward. However, these moves are cult classics for a reason and they are not to be missed for old school comedy fans.
9. - Battle Royale (2000)
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Ever wondered who would win in a fight to the death between you and your friends? This Japanese swansong directed by Kinji Fukasuku postulates on just that idea, when the government forces high school children to engage in an annual no-holds-barred gladiatorial combat game, where only one can come out alive, in order to control the countrys population. This movie is ultra-violence personified, with striking visual composition, great uses of gore and an outstanding performance from Japanese acting legend 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano. It's a film so bloody and offbeat, Quentin Tarantino is jealous he didn't think of it. The language barrier is obviously a problem to anyone who's allergic to reading, but the movie gives you plenty of awe-inspiring and agonising sequences of violence to stop that being a problem.
8. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
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Released in 2001, this absurdist comedy movie has a huge cast of now-familiar faces getting their first big breaks, including Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and Joe Lo Trugilo, as well as already defined stars like David Hyde-Pierce and Janeane Garofalo. In it, the final day of Camp Firewood is depicted in a whirlwind of off-kilter and completely random events that include but are not limited to: Saving the world from a giant meteor, a Vietnam veteran befriending a can of mixed vegetables, impromptu gay sex, a group of friends 3 hour addiction to heroin, drowning/abandoning children and a cross country car chase to stop a man losing his virginity. This movie is completely insane from start to finish and it couldn't have been done better. Luckily, this movie has had new life breathed into it as two Netflix series, both a prequel and a sequel, have managed to reunite the all-star cast as well as adding to it. This is definitely one that just gets better with age.
7. - The Warriors (1979)
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New York in the 1970's was apparently a pretty shitty place, but it has not been a shittier place than the way it is depicted in The Warriors, adapted from the noivel of the same name by Sol Yurick. This cult classic sees a band of leather waistcoat-toting bad boys trying to escape being killed by pretty much every other person under the age of 25 in a city where they all happen to be a part of one of several outfit co-ordinated gangs. The visual design alone is enough to see this movie into cult status, with enemies like the Baseball Furies offering some of the movies most memorable and colourful moments. The soundtrack is real old-school cool, featuring a great cover of Nowhere To Hide and Joe Walsh's iconic closer In The City. And of course, the infamous quote "Warriors, come out to play" was one of the movies best improvised lines from David Patrick Kelly. It lives on in the form of the 2005 video game from Rockstar, which expanded the story from the novel with events before the movie, and there have been talks of a modern day remake as well as a TV series headed by the Russo Brothers, but to my relief, nothing has ever come of this. It's very much a product of it's time, and it's kitsch charm benefits from that.
6. - Evil Dead 2 (1987)
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What do you do after making one of the most striking low budget horror movies of all time? You do it all again but this time make it a zany comedy! Evil Dead 2 shouldn't really make sense on paper. It's a reboot/sequel/parody of it's predecessor, unsurprisingly called The Evil Dead, but is in my opinion the best of the series. It was the one to balance the horror and comedy elements perfectly, it would go on to be Bruce Campbell's finest hour, leading to his infinite B-Movie hero status, as well as propel Sam Raimi to directorial heights, leading to him helming three Spider-Man movies. Whilst the first and third movies often get the most attention for being the most horror filled and comedy filled respectively, you have to respect what Evil Dead 2 does with all the conventions it break. It basically tells the same story over again, but this time it's funnier and it has the gall to play straight faced horror scenes against a scene where a man removes his possessed hand and replaced it with a fucking chainsaw. And the future of the franchise looks bright, with two successful and very entertaining series of the TV hit Ash Vs Evil Dead and a pretty intense and fresh remake of the first movie releasing in 2013. Proving that horror and comedy do belong together, Raimi and Campbell will hopefully go on to furrther prove that Evil Dead is still groovy.
5. - Kung Fury (2015)
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Proving that cult's not dead, this 2015 Swedish crowdfunded darling is the shortest of our 10 entries at only 30 minutes in length, but the compactness of this movie allows it to tell one of the funniest and ridiculous stories ever. It's half past the retro-future in the 80s, and a cop with supernatural kung fu moves must hack back in time to recruit vikings, dinosaurs and Thor himself to fight Hitler, who is planning on bringing down society with gun-toting arcade cabinets. The synopsis of this move reads like a mad-lib, and honestly the sheer force of the 80s throwback cheese and random humour may be too much for some people, but the tight focus of the movie and it's off the wall humour make it such a slick and satisfying watch. Oh, and David Hasslehoff is in it, because of course he is. Luckily for us, both a sequel and a full length remake are on the cards, so we may be seeing more of the Kung Fury world very soon.
4. - The Princess Bride (1987)
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I am still shocked that it's 2017 and I continuously meet people who have either never seen or never heard of The Princess Bride. Current year argument aside, this darling fantasy adventure film is easily one of the most quotable and meme-able movies to have ever been made. Adapted from the William Goldman novel of the same name, the movie uses a bedtime story to frame a fantasy epic wherein a farmhand journeys across the land, besting people and monsters in combat and wit in order to save his sweetheart from a loveless marriage proposal. As stories go, not the most unique, but by God, this movie is filled with enough charm, memorable characters and infinitely quotable lines and exchanges to make you forget that. The standout cast includes Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Andre The Giant and Mandy Patinkin, as a cast of characters who will stand above all others in the family/fantasy genre. Please, please watch this movie if you haven't already, it's inconceivable that you would miss it.
3. - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Image Credit: rockymusic.org
Alright, this one seems almost too obvious, but to leave it off a list like this would be to spit in the face of tradition. Rocky Horror is a British institution, a comedy institution and has paved the way for provocative, sexual and absurdist humour to be popular. It's the movie that made an overnight star out of national treasure Tim Curry and has one of the all time best original soundtracks of any movie ever made. Fuck you if you don't agree, I will fight you in the street if you disagree with me. Now, Rocky Horror does kind of go against my rule about obvious or popular choices, that wouldn't really make it cult, but it's the very act of watching it that is cult itself. When you go to see Rocky Horror in either it's movie form or the stage show, you get an experience unlike any other. People dressing up as characters, sporting BDSM gear like it's the norm, riffing on the movie and making their own jokes, joining in with established jokes, bringing their own props to re-enact scenes from the movie, it;s totally fucking bonkers and I love it. Madcap from start to finish and undoubtedly for years into the future, this might be Richard O'Briens best gift to the world... Well, despite The Crystal Maze. Just try to forget that the horrendous 2016 remake ever happened, which was so bad that even though it came out in the same year as Trump winning the presidency, it still manage to be the worst thing to happen that year.
2. - Oldboy (2003)
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No movie in this list, or indeed any list, will hit you harder than Oldboy. That is a guarantee. Oldboy is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, foreign language films ever committed to film. It follows a businessman who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 before being mysteriously released for seemingly no reason. Following this, our main character Oh Dae-su sets out on a crazed investigation to find out who kidnapped him and why, accompanied by a young sushi chef with whom he shares a romantic relationship. What happens following that set up is so shocking, it would feel wrong to even hint at it. The dedication of the cast and crew is highly commendable, which includes a scene where dedicated vegan and Bhuddist Choi Min-sik genuinely ate a live squid, as well as the progenitor for Marvel and Netflix's fascination with hallway fights with the granddaddy that started it all; Oh Dae-su and his hammer vs the world. There is no movie more heart-wrenching, disgusting, fascinating and thought provoking than this one, and despite attempts to recapture its brilliance in 2013, it couldn't come close to this masterpiece of Asian cinema. This one isn't just worth your time, it's worth everyone's time.
1. - The Room
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Sometimes a movie is made so badly, acting so poorly, edited so sloppily, written so unaware of it's own terribleness, that a miracle happens and it becomes one of the greatest cinematic exerperiences in recent memory. The meme culture behind The Room is not just an inside joke gone bad, it is the jewel in the crown of this movies undisputed reign as the best cult movie ever made. And it wasn't even supposed to be this way. Directed, starring, produced, edit, funded and presumably catered by madman/genius/complete psychopath Tommy Wiseau, this unintentional comedy follows Johnny, a bumbling and mumbling banker who is blissfully unaware that his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, his autistic best friend is also in love with his girlfriend, that it's socially unacceptable to randomly ask people how their sex lives are and that a tuxedo is not suitable sportswear. It is utterly baffling how this movie was even made despite its clear awfulness, which is what will make the upcoming dramatised biopic The Disaster Artist all the more sweet to watch. Wiseau is either clinically unstable or one of the greatest creatives of our time, and it's genuinely impossible to tell which is true. And this movie also has it's own audience participation moments created by a fanatical community, which includes the throwing of plastic spoons, saying lines aloud and riffing off the terrible script. It's perhaps one of the best rags to riches stories of a movie doing a complete critical 180 and I'm all the more glad that the internet opened is loving, if brutally critical arms and immortalised this compete garbage fire. It's best worst movie you will ever see, bar none.
Obviously there are more than just these ten of must-see cult movies, so feel free to leave your suggestions below or hit me up on Twitter. Remember: time well wasted is time well spent.
Obviously there are more than just these ten of must-see cult movies, so feel free to leave your suggestions below or hit me up on Twitter. Remember: time well wasted is time well spent.
By Mike Owen
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games
@ThatMikeOwen
The Editor in Chief of Foul Entertainment, Mike edits most of what you see on the site. He runs the production of our podcasts, and currently pens Pop Culture Club and The Death of Video Games