September 27, 2019
What is a cult classic? Re-watched and over-quoted films almost always get this title. Some are B-movies, beloved with irony. Others are rejected masterpieces, reclaimed in outrage. Others still are cult in tone: if a movie is surreal, if it satirises, leans hard into genre or refuses to be classified, if its visuals are campy or interrupt tradition, sometimes we deem it cult, then, just for the feeling it gifts us. The sense that something is off delightfully, perhaps knowingly so.
Below are some of our all-time favourites on Netflix, the classics that keep us on our toes, rewatch after rewatch.
Whats unexpected about American Psycho is how funny it is. How much obvious pleasure it takes in ketchup-viscous blood and tonal dissonance. Christian Bales career-making Patrick Bateman, the high-powered, primly OCD 80s investment banker with a secretthirst for blood, giddily parodied the unchecked hedonism, misogyny, and moral bankruptcy of the American financial sector. Have you ever noticed that everymanat Pierce & Pierce has a card that reads Vice President? Or that when Bateman ushers a nosy detective out of his office, he mentions a lunch meeting with Cliff Huxtable? Inanity abounds on Wall Street; stylisation merely helps.
Boyz n the Hood was not exactly overlooked it received nominations for John Singletons screenplay and directing but was, in many ways for mainstream white Hollywood, ahead of its time. Its portrait of young men in South Central Los Angeles is both heartbreaking and hopeful, the nuanced work of a writer-director who lived the landscape. Characters speak sometimes in structural critiques (Either they dont know, dont show, or dont care about whats going on in the hood), but also in unexceptional teen remarks, the business of dating and SAT prep. Singletons balance, pathos, and complexity is staggering, still, and worth many revisits.
Blue Velvet is, by nearly every imaginable definition, cult. It garnered mixed critical reception and a loyal base with its Lynchian fever-dream sensibility it is unfathomably dark, surreal, abrupt, and occasionally completely impenetrable, with imagery that sticks nonetheless. You cant forget that underbelly universe of beetles, writhing beneath Lumbertons pristine suburban lawns. Or the sound of those fabric scissors, chomping with chilling rapidity through the air. Blue Velvet continues to frustrate more than 30 years after its release, but remains essential cult cinema viewing. As Jeffrey asks Sandy on the night they meet: Its a strange world, isnt it?
The original Carrie is horror simply doing what horror should do, which is to draw social anxieties out to their logical conclusion. The bullied and abused Carrie White finds secret sanctuary in her telekinesis, a power that serves, for much of this Stephen King story, as a heavy-handed but not unwelcome metaphor for a teenage girls fledgling sexuality and self-possession. People remember Carrie for its eventual prom-night reckoning, but the best of this 70s classic is its build-up. The increasing sense detectable in Sissy Spaceks over-wide eyes that the centre in Chamberlain, Maine cannot hold. Something must snap.
Linklaters third film meanders; it follows 70s-era Texas high schoolers after the bell as they kind of... drive around. Some get stoned and decide George Washington farmed weed at Mount Vernon. Ben Affleck beats up freshmen for sport. Matthew McConaughey, in his breakout role as recent graduate Wooderson, leers at girls. None of which sounds particularly sweet or engaging, but Dazed and Confused is both: its a snapshot of average kids doing average things, a listless two hours not unlike being high, or growing up. You just gotta keep livin, man, Wooderson declares in final-act half-summary. L-I-V-I-N.
Something salient about the premise of Girl, Interrupted in the late 60s, a teen is lazily diagnosed with Borderline-Personality Disorder after she swallows a bottle of aspirin, leading to her institutionalisation is that women are misdiagnosed by the psychiatric community still, their symptoms misunderstood or simply dismissed. This film does pose some interesting questions about mental illness and gendered experience, though its mostly worth a rewatch for its performances: Winona Ryder is an anchor as Susanna, and Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning powerhouse as Lisa, the combative but alluring sociopath (A word of advice: dont point your fucking finger at crazy people.).
Box-office success and three Oscars should doubly disqualify Moonstruck from cult status, but something about its quirky, appropriately moon-eyed sensibility keeps it just off-centre enough. It is impossible not to grin at this films winking use of Thats Amore; at its intentionally operatic speeches in the snow; at the over-clear sky hanging above its over-enchanting Brooklyn; or at its big, broad dialogue. Ronny isnt just tormented by his brothers betrayal, hes gonna cut his throat about it. Loretta doesnt just love Ronny, she loves him awful. Everything is slightly too much, and too much is sometimes that much better.
Tom Shone estimates that Tarantino hit his peak influence around 1994, when California cafs teemed with aspiring screenwriters bashing out talky, violent, blackly comic shoot-em-ups on their typewriters. That analysis places Reservoir Dogs a chatty, blood-soaked, men-in-suits heist-gone-awry story told largely through flashbacks at the very centre of the cult of Tarantino. His feature debut is more reserved than his later works (however unbelievably, he pans away in this film as an ear is severed from its head), but its Tarantinos world nonetheless, a sunny Los Angeles that speaks in witticisms and runs on hyper-machismo.
Another early 90s classic, for a very different cult. Thelma & Louise is maybe the best film about female friendship, feminine sexual reclamation, and the rejection of compulsory heterosexual institutions ever made. When the titular best friends kill an attempted rapist in self-defence, they take to the sanctuary of the open road, racing with famously clasped hands away from subjugation and towards the Grand Canyon. This is a Western through-and-through its got the stiff-blue denim, the guns, the stirring vistas but feminist catharsis is its real lifeblood, and its American dream is a very particular one. Just out-of-reach, over some horizon.
On quotability alone, The Princess Bride is one of the cultiest movies of all time. Its a bedtime story told with a Monty Python-esque sense of humour, one that billed itself Not Just Your Basic, Average, Everyday, Ordinary, Run-of-the Mill, Ho-Hum Fairytale. There are the requisite tropes princess, castle, adventure, swashbuckling but also a gleeful sense that were messing with something longstanding, partaking in the witty rewriting of tradition. Well never survive! Princess Buttercup cries, facing some medieval danger or another. Nonsense, replies Westley, her farm-boy love. Youre only saying that because no one ever has.
Read the rest here:
Ten of the Best Cult Films to Watch on Netflix - AnOther Magazine
- Home - Wild Women Vacations - December 23rd, 2016 [December 23rd, 2016]
- Hedonism - New World Encyclopedia - December 26th, 2016 [December 26th, 2016]
- Hedonism II (Negril, Jamaica) - UPDATED 2016 Resort (All ... - January 3rd, 2017 [January 3rd, 2017]
- Hedonism II Resort Negril, Jamaica - January 8th, 2017 [January 8th, 2017]
- Hedonism II Community | Home - January 30th, 2017 [January 30th, 2017]
- Hedonism and healing - Independent Online - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Dark side of hedonism: a rock journalist's battle with drug addiction - The Guardian - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Rainbow Serpent turns 20: a weekend of boundless hedonism - Mixmag - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- 'Dream Boat': Love Comes In All Shapes And Sizes In This Candid Berlinale Documentary Set On A Gay Cruise Ship - moviepilot.com - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Black Wave review: From hedonism to the apocalypse - Irish Times - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Feminism, ambition, hedonism: drama explores lives of university's privileged - The Guardian - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Leftism: From Bloody Tragedy to Therapeutic Parody - FrontPage Magazine - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Science: How to Get into the "Flow" and Do What Makes You Happiest - Big Think - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Weekend Arts: Find the Beethoven Music Festival, 'Avenue Q' and more in Tulsa this week - Tulsa World (blog) - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Now We Are 40 by Tiffanie Darke review a generation lost to hedonism and irony? - The Guardian - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Chefs to Watch for 2017 - Hedonism II, Negril - Jamaica Observer - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Hicks column: Schools should stick to the facts, as should everyone else - Charleston Post Courier - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Berlin Syndrome - The Upcoming - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Tears in the Club - PopMatters - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Chefs to Watch for 2017 - Hedonism II, Negril - Food ... - Jamaica Observer - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Hedonism II | CheapCaribbean.com - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Book review: 'The True Story of Guns N' Roses' will rock your world - Times LIVE - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Pleasures: the desert of life - Tulsa World - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Living Like a Hedonist - Daily Trojan Online - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- How dirty do you like it? Revel in hedonism with You Pull It, the new EP from The Byzantines - Happy - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- When did Britain stop being a nation of hedonists? - The Guardian - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- What is Hedonism wines? Mayfair vendor owned by Russian exile counts Jose Mourinho among its clientele and ... - The Sun - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Pastor's column: Hedonism: Self-driven life of pleasure - Gridley Herald - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Look around the wine store where Ranieri's future was decided Mourinho loves this place! - Daily Star - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- The Gooch Palms are a handful of hedonism - Mandurah Mail - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Jose Cuervo's Apocalyptic Vision Encourages Hedonism 03/08/2017 - MediaPost Communications - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Europe conquers itself - Arutz Sheva - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Hedonism alone didn't kill George - Irish Independent - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Hedonism II All-inclusive Resort Reviews & Deals, Negril - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Phoenix: 'The purity of French identity is an illusion; it's never existed ... - The Guardian - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- First-rate musical performance & production that's hard to fault: Garsington's Semele reviewed - Spectator.co.uk - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Guest Post: Bhante Suddhso Guidelines for Happiness - Patheos (blog) - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- 'I trafficked women at a famous Hong Kong nightclub' - South China Morning Post - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Sydney Festival Film Review: Axoltl Overkill (Germany, 2017) burns up Berlin with heavily stylised hedonism - the AU review (blog) - June 11th, 2017 [June 11th, 2017]
- Fun Fair Shot Bar By Claudia Comte Brings Seor Frogs-Style ... - ARTnews - June 13th, 2017 [June 13th, 2017]
- On 'Ti Amo', Phoenix Combat Dark Times with Fun and Gelato - Vulture - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Honey-glazed, hedonistic, and hyper-real - Cherwell Online - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Review: True to the original, 'Cabaret' revival trades in hedonism, horror - Seattle Times - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Spanish Party Town Publishes 64 Rules to Stop Hedonism of Drunk Tourists - Heat Street - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- WIL DARCANGELO: Hedonism has its advantages - Sentinel & Enterprise - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- Comme des Garons' spring collection designed for a warehouse rave - The Guardian - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Considering a weekend in Ibiza? Our guide to the White Isle tells you where to eat, sleep, rave, repeat - Mirror.co.uk - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- Norfolk makers of Wild Knight vodka score first London stockist - Norfolk Eastern Daily Press - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Hedonism II - Negril, Jamaica The Swinger Cruise - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- Comic Legends: How Did 9/11 Change Strangers in Paradise's Ending? - CBR (blog) - July 3rd, 2017 [July 3rd, 2017]
- The kids are all white: can US festivals live up to their 'post-racial' promise? - The Guardian - July 4th, 2017 [July 4th, 2017]
- Cakes Da Killa on Clubbing, Labels and His Shanghai Debut ... - That's Online (registration) - July 4th, 2017 [July 4th, 2017]
- Claude Speeed is the trance-inspired ambient nomad documenting Berlin's rave sadness - FACT - July 5th, 2017 [July 5th, 2017]
- Reporter strips naked to quiz nude swingers on their love of wife-swapping in bizarre telly segment - The Sun - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Steve Vizard's Vigil at Arts Centre Melbourne reveals trauma ... - The Age - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Party Report: Hideout Festival 2017 - Deep House Amsterdam (press release) (blog) - July 11th, 2017 [July 11th, 2017]
- Wimbledon 2017: The tech behind the world's top tennis tournament - Ars Technica UK - July 12th, 2017 [July 12th, 2017]
- Exploring the world's first dog glamping site at NOS Alive music festival - Metro - July 12th, 2017 [July 12th, 2017]
- Hyundai has come a long way with its outstanding Ioniq Hybrid - Philly.com - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- Why campus boys make the best husband materials - The Standard - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- I demand a critical reappraisal of Kesha's brilliant, brilliant music - Salon - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- Norfolk vodka brand joins London's jet set - Business Weekly - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- Clean raving: how club culture went wild for wellness - The Guardian - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- News Bites | Loewe Releases Ibiza-Inspired Record, Erdem x H&M - The Business of Fashion - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- Crisis in leadership as bright minds avoid public service - The New Indian Express - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- Woman seriously injured after falling off stage at Guns N' Roses show - The Times of Israel - July 16th, 2017 [July 16th, 2017]
- What's the Best Song, According to Science? - Gizmodo - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- We Asked the Happiest People at Lovebox About Their Worries - Noisey - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Dance Like Nobody's Watching To Shock Machine's Unlimited Love Video - The FADER - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Gig review: Catfish and The Bottlemen at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield - Yorkshire Evening Post - July 18th, 2017 [July 18th, 2017]
- Montreal's Ancient Future Festival Reveals 2017 Lineup with Hudson Mohawke, the Underachievers, Sam Paganini - Exclaim! - July 18th, 2017 [July 18th, 2017]
- Coexistence at the beach - Opelika Observer - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- Ibiza: Where To Eat, Party And Beach - HuffPost UK - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- Film Streams, Joslyn team for screening of 'Marie Antoinette' - Omaha World-Herald - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- Hedonism II Hotel - Jamaica | Oyster.com Review & Photos - July 20th, 2017 [July 20th, 2017]
- Fiction review: Living the Dream - The Sydney Morning Herald - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Arcade Fire - 'Everything Now' Album Review - NME - NME.com - July 21st, 2017 [July 21st, 2017]
- Dream Hoarders - HuffPost - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- PS Spotlight: Remembering celebrity fancy dress for the grand Cointreau Ball - The Sydney Morning Herald - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- Last Night Guns N' Roses Played An Epic Set At The Apollo, Today Appetite For Destruction Turns 30 - Stereogum - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]