# Worthy cult classics. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324 "2019-12-03T20:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/61 "2019-12-05T01:26:27Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > My wife LOVES that one. When it became available on tape, she ran out to get it and we watched it together. Didn’t do a thing for me. [The Stunt Man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081568/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) is one of my all-time favorite films. Despite its problems. Or maybe because of them !?!? A must see. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/62 "2019-12-05T01:29:20Z")
Wizards (chill – its a cartoon) Caltiki: The Immortal Monster Dinosaurus! and anything from MST3K except the westerns. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/63 "2019-12-05T01:48:58Z")
Not _Manos: The Hands of Fate_. I know it has the reputation as being the worst film ever made but I just found it boring. Now _The Star Wars Holiday Special_, on the other hand, has well-deserved reputation as being one of the worst movies ever produced. I would recommend _Metal-Storm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn_ and _The Dungeonmaster_. The latter film being the source of the quote: “I reject your reality and substitute my own!”. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/64 "2019-12-05T02:27:29Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > In the West, the term “Western movie” means a movie set in the American Old West: > > [Western (genre) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_(genre)) Yeah, I thought about that. But I can’t call them Hollywood movies because _Easy Rider_, \*Two Lane Blacktop \* and \*Wizards \* were low budget independent productions. 😕 Edit: I just looked up \*Wizards \*and it was backed my 20th Century Fox. I thought it was an independent production because Bakshi couldn’t afford to properly do the battle scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/65 "2019-12-05T02:46:33Z")
And the rest of the list… Picnic At Hanging Rock Cinema Paradiso Mad Max Bless The Beasts and Children Manhattan Annie Hall Close Encounters of The Third Kind The Sting This Is Spinal Tap ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/66 "2019-12-05T08:14:57Z")
So, Wolfman, as you watch these films (and you’ve gotten a lot of recommendations at this point), tell us which ones you like so we can recommend others. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/67 "2019-12-05T09:02:16Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _House_ and _House II: The Second Story_. Two horror/comedies, produced by the same crew, but otherwise unrelated, except for the generic haunted house meme. The first one is slightly scarier. The second one is mostly comedy. I’d forgotten about these two, if your “bag” is comedy horror like Evil Dead II/Army of Darkness/Cabin in the woods, The first two House movies are great versions of it. I… think there was a third, but it might not be good. And since the name, how about the House Party movies, with Kid and Play. Which were fun movies I’d long since forgot, but I watched about the same time. Similarly I remember the first two being good to decent, and third being horrible. It appears there was fourth in 2001, maybe even a fifth, maybe not involving Kid and Play. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/68 "2019-12-05T09:04:16Z")
I suspect one of the ultimate classic cult movies of the 80s really has dated a lot… The Wizard of Speed and Time with Mike Jittlov. Pre CGI effects applied to a tale of making effects movies in Hollywood… ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/69 "2019-12-05T09:24:51Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > I’d forgotten about these two, if your “bag” is comedy horror like Evil Dead II/Army of Darkness/Cabin in the woods, The first two House movies are great versions of it. I… think there was a third, but it might not be good. The third movie (titled _House III_ overseas, titled _Horror Show_ in the US) was straight horror, with no comedy. _House IV_ was back to horror/comedy, and is the first that is actually a sequel to any of the predecessors. I haven’t seen either of them, so cannot comment on quality. Word-of-mouth was not kind to them. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/70 "2019-12-05T13:10:19Z")
A few more from the ‘80s. I don’t know how culty they are but anyway - [Choose Me](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087054/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt) from 1984 with Keith Carridine, Genevieve Bujold, Leslie Ann Warren, and Rae Dawn Chong And Barfly with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway Birdywith Matthew Modine and Nicholas Cage Speaking of Nicholas Cage, Valley Girl - a sweet bad boy - good girl romance Liquid Sky - lesbians and drug-addicted aliens, what could go wrong? Diva might be too slick for ‘cult classic’ but worth a mention IMO ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/71 "2019-12-05T13:12:27Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Wizards (chill – its a cartoon) > Caltiki: The Immortal Monster > Dinosaurus! > and anything from MST3K except the westerns. Hmm – we share a wavelength. **Wizards** is alternately amazing and terrible. It’s Ralph Bakshi’s trial run for his awful **Lord of the Rings** movie, with some great animation, some innovative re-use of solarized old cinema as a background for new animation, some incredibly tasteless Nazi imagery and religious satire, a Wizard voiced by a guy imitating Peter Falk, the incredibly sexy Princess Elinor, still image flashbacks by Mike Ploog, and a lot of non-sequiturs, including the ending. The first poster featured the robot, Necron-99, atop one of the two-footed “horses” with a skull on the back of the saddle. A couple of months later they used the same image, but replaced the skul with “Peace”, and tried to sell this post-apocalyptic movie with the tag line “An Epic Fantasy of Peace and Magic”, which it very clearly was not. At least the “Peace” part. A confused mishmash that would’ve been great if they ever straightened out exactly what they were trying to do. **Calltiki – The Immortal Monster** was an Italian monster movie dubbed into English that looked like a Mexican movie dubbed into English. Like many movies from this time (_The Blob_, _X-the Unknown_, _The H-man_, _The Angry Red Planet_) the creaturte was a shapeless, all corroding all-consuming blob. In this case the blob was a thing living at the bottom of a Mayan well, a la Chichen Itza, and eating the sacrifice tossed in. It’s been dormant until a bunch of archaeologists come along. It promptly eats most of one diver, then surfaces to eat the other snacks by way of archaeologists. They managed to immolate most of it, but a piece remains, attached to the arm of one guy who stumbles into it, trying to retrieve a sack of goodies. They remove it and store the piece, but it’s eaten his arm to the bone. It turns out that the creature is re-energized by radiation from a comet which, wouldn’t you know it, just happens to arrive. The little piece of the thing grows to immense size, so they attack it with very bad model tanks with flamethrowers and immolate the new thing. I’d love to own a copy, but the DVDs of it sell for a premium price, and I’m not willing to pay that. **Dinosaurus!** – I saw thisd one as a kid in a drive-in movie during a thunderstorm, a unique experience. It had a stop-motion T. Rex and a stop-motion brontosaurus. They had been “frozen” somehow at the bottom of the Carribean near an island (this didn’t make any sense to me as a kid, either) until they were dredged up, along with a preserved caveman, by a mining company. They get revived by a bolt of lightning, and go around the island. A kid befriends the brotosaurus and the caveman, and the two go riding around the bronto’s back. I didn’t notice until I got a VHS tape of this movie that many of the scenes of the T. rex arren’t really animated – they used a puppet to save time and money. Animation was by Wah Cheng and a lot of the Projects Unloimited team that did work on _The Outer Limits_. I had the comic book adaptation. I’m convinced that the climactic showdown between the hero, using a steamshovel to fight the T. Rex, inspired James Cameron’s _Aliens_, with Sigourney Weaver fighting the Alien Queen with her exoskeleton loader suit. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/72 "2019-12-05T13:31:33Z")
Sorry my links were all f\*\*\*ed. Here we go again: [Choose Me](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087054/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt) from 1984 with Keith Carridine, Genevieve Bujold, Leslie Ann Warren, and Rae Dawn Chong And [Barfly](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092618/) with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway [Birdy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086969/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) with Matthew Modine and Nicholas Cage Speaking of Nicholas Cage, [Valley Girl](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086525/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)- a sweet bad boy - good girl romance [Liquid Sky](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085852/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) - lesbians and drug-addicted aliens, what could go wrong? [Diva](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082269/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) might be too slick for ‘cult classic’ but worth a mention IMO ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/73 "2019-12-05T14:14:20Z")
I’d nominate “Prelude to a Kiss” as one of the most mainstream like Cult movies I’ve seen. I’m not sure many have heard about it, considering it is a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin in the early 90s. Normal dude and quirky girl fall in love. On their wedding day, she kisses and old man and body swaps with the old man. Normal dude eventually works out that his brides body is there but the mind has gone, and tracks the old man, which is hard given that he has in effect lost control of his life with dementia. While on the common theme of living someone else’s life in body swap movies, the romantic side of it makes it a tad different. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/74 "2019-12-05T14:59:02Z")
Serial - 1980 film with Martin Mull > **[Serial (1980 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(1980_film))** > > Serial is a 1980 American comedy film produced by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay, by Rich Eustis and Michael Elias, is drawn from the novel The Serial by Cyra McFadden, published in 1977. Produced by Sidney Beckerman and directed by Bill Persky, the film stars Martin Mull, Tuesday Weld, Sally Kellerman, Christopher Lee, Bill Macy, Peter Bonerz and Tom Smothers. The original music score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. > In trendy Marin County, California, during the late 1970s, uptight Harvey ... Dragonslayer - 1981 film > **[Dragonslayer (1981 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonslayer_(1981_film))** > > Dragonslayer is a 1981 American dark fantasy film directed by Matthew Robbins from a screenplay he co-wrote with Hal Barwood. It stars Peter MacNicol, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam and Caitlin Clarke. It had a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, where Paramount handled North American distribution and Disney's Buena Vista International handled international distribution. The story is set in a fictional medieval kingdom, where a young wizard experiences danger a... ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/75 "2019-12-05T15:38:05Z")
[Far Out Man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099546/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_51) - Better than _The Corsican Brothers_, this movie features Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin but not as Cheech & Chong. It also has a stellar cast and while it isn’t a great movie by any means, it does have quite a few excellent moments and quotable lines:the scene with Martin Mull and the guitars is priceless, “he took all my money and my drugs” as she loots a watch from his corpse, “Smoke fish!”, etc. 😛 [Bunraku](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181795/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) - I mention this film in these threads all the time; not sure anyone has ever watched it, tho. Prolly not exactly a cult film as it’s fairly recent and still fairly unknown. This is a classic orphan’s revenge tale at it’s heart. But it’s told in a weird narrative and visual style. The narrative style is Japanese story trappings but with a decidedly Russian-style antagonist and an American-style protagonist (altho there’s no Cold War dynamic at play; this movie as made in 2011). The visual style is this bizarre, flat 2D cartoon-movie-set-with-washed-out-improperly-skewed-technicolor thing that is both minimalist and striking at the same time. The acting is ham-fisted scenery-chewing go-for-broke-theatre style and yet it all works. It’s the closest I’ve come to seeing a comic book on a movie screen since _Sin City_. My last for this post isn’t a movie but it is worthy and should be considered a cult classic, IMO. This is a short video series (6 parts, 32:43 long) called [Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ux2ZxSXePs). Best short description I can give is that it’s a surreal comedy horror concept dressed up in children’s TV show trappings. Super bizarre. Totally unforgettable. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/76 "2019-12-05T17:04:42Z")
[Something Wild (1986)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091983/) [Into the Night (1985)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089346/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) [After Hours (1985)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088680/) [True Stories (1986)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092117/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/77 "2019-12-05T18:09:57Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > . . . and for some campy fun if you haven’t seen it, Clue. Based on the board game with Tim Curry, Leslie Ann Warren, Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn and Michael McKean - I never get tired of watching that one. Be sure to get a copy with all of the endings. If you want shallow, rather than deep, try **Flash Gordon** (1980). Soundtrack by Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/78 "2019-12-05T18:19:46Z")
Das Boot Das Boot Das Boot …mentioned many times. But! The OP specifically requested material that wasn’t “too deep.” . . . . Thank you, I’ll be here all night. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/79 "2019-12-05T18:21:16Z")
Drop Dead Gorgeous Man Bites Dog ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324/80 "2019-12-05T18:21:44Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Be sure to get a copy with all of the endings. > > If you want shallow, rather than deep, try **Flash Gordon** (1980). Soundtrack by Queen. I loved Flash Gordon as a kid for the fun action. Nobody took this movie seriously, except maybe Queen, who wrote some awesome music just for the movie. You could see Highlander, which you probably already saw. It hasn’t aged that well, I find upon a recent viewing. The best part in the movie was when the (again, dedicated) music by Queen was playing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worthy-cult-classics/844324.md?page=5)