Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 Cult Films

[Dolph Lundgren]

Sounds like a lot of people have a different interpretation of what a "cult" film is.  Perhaps EW's list was based off of their own interpretation.  As crappy as the list might seem to many of us, it's their interpretation, their opinion.  Yeah, I disagree with most of the list, but I think it's commendable that EW's attempting to branch out and cover other stuff that isn't as popular.  I'd rather have a list like this that I can agree or disagree with as opposed to the latest news on American Idol or the next "big" Hollywood movie that everyone's heard about a million times.

Oh, and, for the record, I agree with a lot of the movies that you guys have pinpointed that were left out (Matrix, Big Trouble in Little China, etc).  As well as ones that shouldn't be on there (Shawshank Redemption?  Okay..).

Nick

[jmc]

To me it's a movie that doesn't do well in its initial release but its memory is kept alive by fans.  Actually, I guess the biggest part is the memory being kept alive.
About the only thing to me that would disqualify a movie would for it to have quite a bit of mainstream success when it first came out.    One of the biggest things for me is if people quote lines from it years later, or if people still talk about certain scenes.  Or if you can find at least one website dedicated to it out there put together by an obsessive fan.  

About the only titles that I don't think there's much of a case for are WALKING AND TALKING and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, though like I said earlier, that movie is similar to cult films in that it gained a lot of popularity years after it was released.  But I believe it was pretty popular to begin with.

[BoyScoutKevin]

It's a common mistake, but "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is not a Disney film. David L. Wolpers Productions, Quaker Oats Company, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Home Video were involved in the production and distribution, but not Disney.

There is a Disney film on the list. Not "Tron," though that is a good candidate for a cult film, but "Rushmore," which was produced by Disney's adult subsidiary ,
Touchstone Pictures.

And restricting myself to films I've seen, liked, and are listed at this stie, here are 15 films that should qualify as cult films.

The Beastmaster
The Blob (1958)
Death Race 2000
The Fly
Killer Shrews
Lair of the White Worm
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Nosferatu
Planet of the Apes
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Tarantula
Terror of Tiny Towm
Tingler
Wizards

[yaddo42]

I got to look at the issue when a co-worker showed me his copy yesterday. I was even more disappointed when looking at some of the write-ups for each film.

They listed a catch phrase or quoteable line from several of the movies. For THE WARRIORS the catchphrase listed was Cyrus' line "Can...You...Dig...It?". C'mon as much as I like that line, anyone who knows anything about the movie knows that the most memorable and quoted line is: "Warriors.....Come out to pla-aay!"

The line is so associated with the movie that when I bought my copy, the girl behind the counter (who looked all of 17) quoted it to me the instant she saw the cover. I got a warm fuzzy feeling when she said that, knowing that the movie's following lives on. Damn, I'm a sad case.

[Vermin Boy]

I agree on the write-ups. It's painfully clear from the Buckaroo Banzai capsule that the writer simply scanned a plot synopsis.

[Steven Millan]

           The new Leatherface is in the zine all dirty,and blood drenched...I thought that Michael Bay promised to make a clean,sanitized,bloodless "Chanisaw" movie!!!
             With R. Lee Emery(as Leatherface's perverted cop brother),and the Savini-esque looking Leatherface,maybe there is a little hope for this film(so,we all hope).