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Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 Cult Films

Started by Vermin Boy, May 20, 2003, 07:10:56 AM

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Vermin Boy

From IMDb:
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'Spinal Tap' Tops Cult Movie List


Seminal rock'n'roll documentary spoof This Is Spinal Tap has topped a new poll of cult movie hits. The 1984 Rob Reiner movie about an ill-fated rock group, starring Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean, beat The Rocky Horror Picture Show and 1932's Freaks to claim top spot in the Top 50 Cult Movies list in influential American magazine Entertainment Weekly. Notable omissions include A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Life Of Brian, Straw Dogs and Reservoir Dogs.

The top ten is:
1. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
3. Freaks (1932)
4. Harold & Maude (1971)
5. Pink Flamingos (1972)
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
7. Repo Man (1984)
8. Scarface (1983)
9. Blade Runner (1982)
10. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
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Most of that top ten is actually pretty respectable, but how on earth did Scarface and The Shawshank Redemption beat out Plan 9 From Outer Space and Eraserhead? Hell, what's The Shawshank Redemption even doing on the list? I was under the impression that it was a pretty mainstream hit, and I wasn't aware of any groups of die-hard Shawshank Redemption fans. The top 7 I have no beef with (though I'd probably put Plan 9 at #1).

Anyone have the full list?

-Vermin Boy

My site: The Vermin Cave
My band: The Demons of Stupidity
?????: ?????

The Burgomaster

I agree. There are too many mainstream hits on that list. Even THIS IS SPINAL TAP. I think it started out as a cult hit, but over the years many people have seen it and I think it is borderline "mainstream" these days.

I think a more accurate top 10 is probably (and this is not necessarily MY top 10, it is just based on things that I have heard or read):

1. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (undisputed champ)
2. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
3. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
4. PINK FLAMINGOS
5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
6. THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
7. FREAKS
8. GLEN OR GLENDA?
9. ERASERHEAD
10. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

I would have had a few other on the list (like EASY RIDER, BILLY JACK, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, etc.), but I think they are more "mainstream" nowadays.

"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

raj

Scarface? Directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, starring Al Pacino?  That ain't no cult film, that's one of them there Hollywood mainstream moving pictures.

(Agree about Shawshank & Spinal Tap)

Even Blade Runner (which I love) isn't cult, but then it is Entertainment Weakly

Mr_Vindictive

I must disagree Raj.

Scarface is an extremely cult film.  People worship this film.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a b/underground flick to become a cult film.

Same with Blade Runner.  It's not your normal everyday flick, and there is a huge following behind it.  Once again, doesn't have to be unknown to be cult.

__________________________________________________________
"The greatest medicine in the world is human laughter. And the worst medicine is zombie laughter." -- Jack Handey

A bald man named Savalas visited me last night in a dream.  I think it was a Telly vision.

raj

True, but when I saw Scarface, it was just another Hollywood shoot'em up that's looking to tap into the War On Drugs ramp up which Reagan started in the early 1980s.  

Similar with Bladerunner, which I love (got the director's version on DVD).  A well done movie.

If they wanted movies with devoted followings, then why aren't Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, A Wonderful Life, or hell, Star Wars, up there in the top ten?

Johnny Blister

I haven´t seen"This is Spinal Tap".Is it any good?

The Burgomaster

SPINAL TAP is hilarious . . . as are all of the "mockumentaries" that Christopher Guest and company have made. My 2nd favorite is WAITING FOR GUFFMAN.

"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

jmc

Did you see A MIGHTY WIND?  Funny in places but I think they may have finally started running out of steam.  

The thing about SCARFACE and BLADE RUNNER is that both didn't do well when first released but gained popularity over time, due to cult follwings.  I question SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION too--didn't it get an Oscar nomination?
But maybe it didn't do well at the box office, only to achieve popularity through its endless cable re-airings.  

I'm very surprised to see FREAKS and HAROLD AND MAUDE in there, but they are definitely cult films.   ROCKY HORROR would have to be number one.

Brother Ragnarok

The concept of the "cult film" is one of my favorite whipping boys for pretentious mainstream film geeks who think they're really cool and underground when they mention "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" or "Rocky Horror."  These people obviously have no f**king clue what a cult film is and have probably never seen Bad Taste in their lives.  I hate hate hate hate hate people like that.  My film professor is like that.  He's a dick.  So is everyone else whose list of cult films is just a bunch of old Hollywood stuff that was controversial when it was released.

Brother R

There are only two important things in life - monsters and hot chicks.
    - Rob Zombie
Rape is just cause for murdering.
    - Strapping Young Lad

Mr_Vindictive

Brother R, I agree completely, but I do see how some of those films can be labeled as "cult".  Well, except for Shawshank.

__________________________________________________________
"The greatest medicine in the world is human laughter. And the worst medicine is zombie laughter." -- Jack Handey

A bald man named Savalas visited me last night in a dream.  I think it was a Telly vision.

Dave: Blackeye15

Can "Toxic Avenger" be a cult film?

-the first rule of fat club-

Damien01

8. Scarface (1983)
9. Blade Runner (1982)
10. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Yea, sure... why not say ET, Ghostbusters, and The Godfather too...

My list of cult films...

1... Plan 9 from Outer Space
2... Black Christmas
3... Flesh Gorden
4... Galaxina
5... The Rocky Horror Picture Show
6... Repo Man
7... Dawn of the Dead
8... Zombie 2/ or The Blind Dead
9... Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
10... Freaks

I kind of agree with The Burgomaster EASY RIDER, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE has become more "mainstream" nowadays. I also think, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE has also became mainstream.

Also, The Night of the Living Dead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Plan 9 from Outer Space are becomming very mainstream lately...

And it seems like a large cult followning for the Pre-Halloween movie Black Chirstmas.

And I just got Galaxina last month and for some odd reason I love this movie... It pre-dates Space Balls and it seems to be very funny... And this movie is also a cult film because of the playmate that was murdered.

Dawn of the Dead fans seems bigger then night of the living dead.

And as zombie films goes... those Euro Shockers Zombie movies are also rising cult status...

:D

SkullNinja

I could even see putting Reservior Dogs on the list, but never Shawshank. Face it, EW is not the avant guard magazine that it thinks that it is.

jmc

I don't know how old some of you are, but I'm old enough to remember when BLADE RUNNER first came out--it was considered a total disaster by all but a handful of obsessive fans and a very few critics.  The movie didn't really start getting mainstream acceptance until the early Nineties.

illcos

yeah, 'freaks' is an awesome movie - no one can dispute that fact, but is it as big a cult film as they seem to think it is on this list.  also, i don't see this list as the 'best' cult film more than the most widely recognized movies that have an inordinately large audience.  i think 'shawshank...', though a strange choice, does fit that description as it seems to only get more popular over time where it was just kind of this unknown movie only a few years ago.  'scarface' on the other hand is a ridiculously cult film - if grown people put posters of a film in their houses, that is CULT. :P