The cult films I’ve seen

It’s Sunday, but I realize I haven’t posted something in awhile, so I’ll steal this list from Charles G. Hill based on the list found in the upcoming book 100 Cult Films.

Bold indicates I’ve seen it. Italics means I have it on DVD but haven’t.

2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968: Saw it twice on the same day at the Trans-Luxe Blue in Charlotte with my brother, who was a big Kubrick fan. I was eight at the time. Dull at times to an eight-year-old, but damn if I still don’t remember the experience vividly.
Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Angel of Vengeance, Abel Ferrara, 1981
Bad Taste, Peter Jackson, 1987
Baise-moi, Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi, 2000
Begotten, E. Elias Merhige, 1991
Behind the Green Door, Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell, 1972 Saw it years later at the Trans-Luxe Blue in Charlotte, after it converted to a porn theater.
La belle et la bête, Jean Cocteau, 1946
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Russ Meyer, 1970
The Big Lebowski, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, 1998 You know, I gotta see it again. Where’s that DVD?
Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, 1982 On video. I’ve been waiting for that machine that lets you zoom in on pictures and around corners ever since.
Blue Sunshine, Jeff Lieberman, 1978
Brazil, Terry Gilliam, 1985 Finally found the “happy endings” version on DVD when the local Blockbuster closed down. There’s also a great book, “The Battle of Brazil” that’s worth getting for a movie fan.
Bride of Frankenstein, James Whale, 1935
The Brood, David Cronenberg, 1979
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920 In film class at the University of North Carolina.
Café Flesh, Stephen Sayadian, 1982
Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato, 1979
Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942 Cult film? This is a cult film? What the fuck is this book about?
Un chien andalou, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, 1928 Same film class. Taking classes like this was wonderful because it exposed you to films you might not normally have seen. This was also back in the ’80s, so these were on 35mm prints. I’ve always associated movies with the clacketing sounds of the projecter.
Coffy, Jack Hill, 1973
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero, 1978 Did you know there was a boardgame by SPI based on this movie?
Deadly Weapons, Doris Wishman, 1974
Debbie Does Dallas, Jim Clark, 1978
Deep Red, Dario Argento, 1975
Dirty Dancing, Emile Ardolino, 1987
Django, Sergio Corbucci, 1966
Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly, 2001 Saw this two years ago. Wonderful, wonderful movie.
Don’t Torture a Duckling, Lucio Fulci, 1972
Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton, 1990 Not as good as I had hoped, but still interesting. I think, when we watch movies, we remember bits and pieces afterwards. A line. A scene. A look. Never really the whole story. That’s why we have to rewatch good movies and reread good books. That’s the only way we can experience the totality of the creation. Otherwise, we just react to what we remember, and that’s like reacting to the sugar in a creme brulee, or the bacon in a cheeseburger. It’s not the whole thing; the true thing.
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Aristide Massaccesi, 1977. Doubt I will ever see it, but I had to check out the Wikipedia article to see what kind of mindbender this is. Those Italians are seriously fucked, man, I tell you.
Emmanuelle, Just Jaeckin, 1974
Enter the Dragon, Robert Clouse, 1973 Awesome. Simply awesome.
Eraserhead, David Lynch, 1977
The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, 1981 Ditto.
Fight Club, David Fincher, 1999 Haven’t seen it, but it’s permeated so much of Internet culture that I don’t have to.
Flaming Creatures, Jack Smith, 1963
Freak Orlando, Ulrike Ottinger, 1981
Freaks, Tod Browning, 1932 Does seeing this video count?
Ginger Snaps, John Fawcett, 2000
The Gods Must Be Crazy, Jamie Uys, 1981
Godzilla, Ishirô Honda, 1954
The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, 1972
Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby, 1971
Häxan, Benjamin Christensen, 1922
Hellraiser, Clive Barker, 1987
The Holy Mountain, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973
The House with the Laughing Windows, Pupi Avati, 1976
I Walked with a Zombie, Jacques Tourneur, 1943
Ichi the Killer, Takashi Miike, 2001
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh, 2008
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, 1956 Paranoia may destroy you.
Invocation of My Demon Brother, Kenneth Anger, 1969
It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, 1946
The Killer, John Woo, 1989
Lady Terminator, H. Tjut Djalil, 1988
The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, 2001-3 (2 of 3)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, George Miller, 1981
Man Bites Dog, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992
Manos, the Hands of Fate, Harold P. Warren, 1966 Does the MST3K version count?
The Masque of the Red Death, Roger Corman, 1964
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, 1975 I met Graham Chapman in Baltimore when he did a little standup tour a few years before he died. He signed my copy of the screenplay. It’s one of my proudest possessions.
Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow, 1987
Nekromantik, Jörg Buttgereit, 1987
Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero, 1968 Genuinely creepy.
Pink Flamingos, John Waters, 1972 I saw John Waters in a Baltimore bookstore. We were both in the true crime section. I wanted so much to talk to him, but I was too much of a dweeb at the time. Now, I realize I should have. It would have made his day. He also filmed the dance scenes for “Hairspray” down the street from the bar I regularly drank at on Harford Road. The Emerald Tavern. He filmed at the VFW hall. I walked down and stood across the street. If I had been more on the ball, I probably could have talked myself into a role, something, anything, considering later I did the same thing to get onto the set of “The Patriot.” We always regret the things we didn’t do, far more than the things we did.
Piranha, Joe Dante, 1978
Plan 9 from Outer Space, Edward D. Wood Jr, 1959 Obvious choice. Sad choice. Wouldn’t “Glen or Glenda?” or “The Violent Years” have made a better choice?
Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon, 1985 Greatest H.P. Lovecraft adaptation of all, matched by the sequel, “Bride of the Re-Animator.”
Reefer Madness, Louis Gasnier, 1936
Repo Man, Alex Cox, 1984 “Put it on a plate, son. It will taste better.” still sticks with me.
Ringu, Hideo Nakata, 1998 They should have put “Rango” on here.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman, 1975 This deeply unnerved me as an 18-year-old.
Rome Armed to the Teeth, Umberto Lenzi, 1976
The Room, Tommy Wiseau, 2003: Haven’t seen this, but if you want to know more about it, go to the podcast “How Did This Get Made?” and download it.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975 I saw Pasolini’s “The Decameron” so I’m counting it here.
She Killed in Ecstasy, Jesús Franco, 1971
Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven, 1995 Just haven’t gotten around to it.
Soul Vengeance, Jamaa Fanaka, 1975
The Sound of Music, Robert Wise, 1965
Star Wars, George Lucas, 1977-2005 (3 of 6) In the theater, in its opening months. Had no idea what I was in store for. Cathy, a nerdy copycarrier at The Charlotte Observer told me simply, “Go see it.” The first time I was completely blown away at a movie.
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Todd Haynes, 1988
Suspiria, Dario Argento, 1977
Tank Girl, Rachel Talalay, 1995
Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974
This Is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner, 1984 Glad I didn’t use this movie to judge my wife. She didn’t get into it nearly as much as I did. I still love her.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Bo Arne Vibenius, 1974
Thundercrack!, Curt McDowell, 1975
El Topo, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970
The Toxic Avenger, Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, 1984 First time I heard the “Ben Dover” joke.
Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman, 1971
Two Thousand Maniacs!, Herschell Gordon Lewis, 1964
The Vanishing, George Sluizer, 1988
Videodrome, David Cronenberg, 1983 Don’t remember much from it.
The Warriors, Walter Hill, 1979 When you watch this, reflect that this was rated R for extreme violence in 1979. Then reflect that “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” wasn’t, but that “Sin City” was. Now you know why conservatives tend to think of society has heading downhill.
Witchfinder General, Michael Reeves, 1968
Withnail & I, Bruce Robinson, 1987. Haven’t seen this, but read Richard E. Grant’s memoir “With Nails” which also discussed his work on “Hudson Hawk.”
The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming, 1939 Saw it on television as a kid. It’s great to see movies out of context. They seem so much more special.

Here’s the ones they missed that I had seen: 200 Motels (Frank Zappa uncharacteristically boring); A Taut and Gripping Movie (which I can’t trace but I think was a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young movie); Electra Glide in Blue (pre-murderer Robert Blake and a cool motorcycle); Penn and Teller Get Killed.

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