Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 Cult Films

[Vermin Boy]

Just picked up the magazine... Here's the full list, if anyone cares:

1. This Is Spinal Tap
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Freaks
4. Harold & 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, p***ycat! 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 Blood
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. I

Wow... Not horrible, but not very good, either. Where's Night of the Living Dead? Where's Reefer Madness? Where are Peter Jackson's gross-out films (I thought for sure they'd go for them, given LOTR's success)? Ah, well-- I guess that's what happens when the establishment pretends to be underground. Oh, and they say that Toxic Avenger was directed by "Samuel Weil." If they were trying to pass themselves off as fans of the films, they just blew their cover.

[Dolph Lundgren]

Yeah, as much as everyone beats this into the ground, Jackson's gross out films should really be on there.

Nick

[Johnny Blister]

Yesterday I mentioned"This Is Spinal Tap"to one of my friends,and he didn´t even know what was I talking about!

Cult movie,huh?

[Steve B]

Yeah, I was thinking that "um...since when does Entertainment Weekly know what the top 50 cult films are?" Come on, it's Entertainment Weekly...hell, they had the dixie b***hes on the cover.

[Steve B]

WTF!!! Where is "Big Trouble in Little China"?!?!?

[Johnny Blister]

f**k that,where is"The Matrix"!?

[Johnny Blister]

Good thing we don´t get"Entertainment Weekly"where I live...

[yaddo42]

I remember when I still subscribed to EW, they had a Top/Best 100 Films on Video You've Never Seen (this was before DVDs). I know the magazine is aimed at a mainstream audience, but I was already aware of about 60% of the list, had seen half of those, and was looking for the others. They only tipped me of to maybe five movies I hadn't heard of that interested me.

This Top 50 Cult Films list is lazy, why only 50? One anime, only one blaxploitation flick, one Roger Corman flick, one George Romero flick, two HK flicks (one Shaw Brothers kung fu, one shooter), one Russ Meyer (and a safe choice at that), one Troma, and only one Klaus Kinski. No samurai flicks, Sonny Chiba, spaghetti westerns, Dario Argento, giallo, HG Lewis, etc.!

They really played it safe (don't risk to risk some cancelled subscriptions, or even worse advertisers) and democratic (one flick each from very broad definitions of various genres). SHAWSHANK, THE WIZ, PEE-WEE'S... don't belong on the list. I notice there's at least fourt flicks with heavy stoner appeal, two of them that I take issue with being on the list. I don't "smoke", but I don't consider them cult movies. One has plenty of mainstream appeal, the other is just a film that I never liked.

Where's PROJECT A, POLICE STORY, DRAGONS FOREVER, HEAD, PIRANHA, DEATH RACE 2000, SUSPIRIA, THEY CALL ME TRINITY (and sequel), RICKY-OH, THE KILLER, REEFER MADNESS, HORRO EXPRESS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, BAD TASTE,THE STREETFIGHTER, DEADALIVE, any of the BLIND DEAD flicks, BLOOD FEAST, ZATOICHI, or 2000 MANIACS? Where are some Jet Li flicks, Tsui Hark, Alejandro Jodorosky (at least what's available), Lucio Fulci, Jess Franco,Takeshi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Paul Naschy or other Spansih Horror, Corman's Poe adaptions, Hammer Horror, Edgar Wallace-inspired Suspense films, the Dr. Mabuse flicks. or Italians sword and sandals (HECULES or any of the thousands of clones).

They let out greats Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones. No Ogami Itto and son, no BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, no Bettie Page, no Rat Pfink a(nd) BooBoo, no Bride with White Hair.

Any list that leaves off KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, and doesn't have more anime on it isn't worth a damn. I understand leaving off some of the really hard to find stuff or things most audiences can't handle like CANNIBAL FEROX, hentai, NEKROMANTIK, etc. But this is a joke, not even a decent starter list. Then again what else should I expect from a magazine that now carries Joel Stein's unfunny dogs**t pile of a column every week.

AND WHERE THE HELL IS INFRAMAN?!?!?!?!

[Johnny Blister]

I agree,this stupid list sucks.

[005]

Where's ROBOT MONSTER, MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER, GODZILLA VS. MEGALON, TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, Bert I. Gordon's "films"?   Terrible list.  Just too many mainstream movies and too little variety.

[Fearless Freep]

I think you have to decide what you mean by 'cult film'

My understanding of a cult film is one that, when released, did poorly or got little attention.  Only later, as time goes by, the film develops a larger following of people who really like the film, a 'cult following' if you will.

[onionhead]

Showgirls?   SHOWGIRLS??

[Damien01]

1. This Is Spinal Tap

I could see it as a cult movie but not that high.

2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Cult movie that is becomming mainstream because of MTV

3. Freaks

Very  likly this high on the list

4. Harold & Maude

Yea, but not the top 10... (I would rather see Sid & Nancy higher up)

5. Pink Flamingos

Sure...

6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

I think this movie is more mainstream today.

7. Repo Man

Agree... :D

8. Scarface

Cult movie... (maybe because of the famous... "Say Hello to my little friend") but I think The Taxi Driver would be higher on  list as Scarface is "very" mainstream of a movie.

9. Blade Runner

Sure... Maybe today... but this high on the list...

10. The Shawshank Redemption

Funny... very funny!!!

11. Five Deadly Venoms

Not too sure, but I think there are other martial art movies has reached bigger cult status...

12. Plan 9 From Outer Space

Arrrrrrrr... For years this movie was called the King of Turky's ... I do think this movie should be higher on the list, and then again this movie is starting to become very mainstream too... I wished Ed Wood was alive durring this...

13. Brazil

cult movie, agree...

14. Eraserhead

cult movie, agree...

15. Faster, p***ycat! Kill! Kill!

cult movie, not too sure seems to be on the list because of Austin Powers...

16. The Warriors

cult movie, agree...

17. Dazed and Confused

cult movie, I think not...

18. Hard-Boiled

cult movie, I think not... (I love hard-boiled but I think this move is too mainstream to become a cult movie)

19. Evil Dead II

Too mainstream to become a cult move!!!

20. The Mack

Sure... But what about Superfly?

21. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

NoNoNo... If this movie was a cult movie it would be ranked 100!

22. Un Chien Andalou

(I dont know about this one so I cannot say)

23. Akira

Maybe 10 years ago, but I do think this movie is very mainstream when looking at anime movies

24. The Toxic Avenger

Well, I guess... But I think Attack of the Killer Tomatoes should be higher.

25. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

I think not, if any disney movie has reach cult status it would be TRON.

26. Stranger Than Paradise

Dont know about this one...

27. Dawn of the Dead

Sure, but I think this should be higher on the list... (Because of the gore, I dont think this movie will ever become Mainstream as Night of the Living Dead)

28. The Wiz

HeHeHeHeHeHeHe... Yea, right! Cult film think not.

29. Clerks

Agree...

30. The Harder They Come

Dont know about this movie...

31. Slap Shot

Sure... Anybody that loves hockey will see this movie... (The story is too crapy to become Mainstream) [Yes, I do like this movie]

32. Re-Animator

Yea, this has become a very cult movie because of its gore content

33. Grey Gardens

Not too sure...

34. The Big Lebowski

I dont think so, the movie has "Cult fashion" written all over it... This movie is no cult film...

35. Withnail and I

???

36. Showgirls

Well, its a good story... but cult film (I think Angel has a higher cult status then this movie)

37. A Bucket of Blood

Sure, but is it the best that they can come up with...

38. They Live

Agree, this movie does have a cult following [Not too sure if The Thing, or Escape From New York] should have a higher cult statis then this movie... :D

39. The Best of Everything

(is somebody pulling movies out of a hat or what... ) Cannot say about this movie

40. Barbarella

Yes, agree!!!

41. Heathers

Yes, agree, too...  (oddly this movie seems to start the "Scream/I know what you did" type of movies... sure this isnt much of a horror flick but it seems to start those films...

42. Rushmore

I cannot say about this movie... (I think I've seen this movie but then again maybe not... I dont think its a cult film)

43. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

I dont think this is a cult film either... its a bad movie and it seems that they need a real bad film to make the list to bad movie fans... I think they could of picked a better movie.

44. Love Streams

Another movie picked from the hat???

45. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

Sure, but this high on the list... maybe on the top 200 list...

46. Aguirre, the Wrath of God

And another movie picked from a hat...

47. Walking and Talking

And yet another movie...

48. The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years

Yea, sure... But I think Heavy Metal would be ranked much higher then this... or even Woodstock...

49. Friday

Yea, agree... but this should be much higher on the list...

50. Faces of Death, Vol. I

Yes, maybe 10 years ago, or even 15 years ago... I could see this as 100... but I do think there are other movies like Faces of Death that was made durring the 1960's blood shock years that would have a higher cult standing.

[Johnny Blister]

"Mainstream" movies CAN become cult movies.

[raj]

Ah.
For me, "cult" is more like off the beaten path, done by a small or independent company.  Movies with big hollywood bucks behind them, for me, just don't fit in,  especially when they start getting promoted (by hollywood publications) as "cult."