Cult Films / After Dark
Cult Films generally have limited but very special appeal. They are usually strange, quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, or surreal. They may have outrageous, weird, cartoony characters or plots, and garish sets. They are often considered controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical conventions. Cult films cut across many film genres (science fiction, horror, melodrama, etc.), and though they can be very stylized, they are often flawed or unusual in some striking way. To make a little sense of this unique genre, scroll the motherlode below, or take a side road by clicking a blue sub-heading to yer left...
Visiting "Television Shows" and the "Cult Television" sub-feature may be worth checking out, also the "Animation" feature and the "Cult Animation" or "JapAnime" sub-feature will help with the bigger picture..
Right: Henry (Jack Nance) is "Eraserhead".
New Adventures of Tarzan: Volume 2 (1934)
5.4/10
Director: Edward Kull
Starring: Herman Brix, Ula Holt
This oddity was produced by Edgar Rice Burroughs' own company and was the first Tarzan film shot on location (in Guatemala). The adventurers seek the... Read more
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
6.9/10
Director: Martin Davidson
Starring: Tom Berenger, Michael Pare, Joe Pantoliano, Ellen Barkin
In the early 1960's, Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare) and his band, The Cruisers, enjoyed a brief fling with success, but their career came to a halt when... Read more
Force Of Evil (1948)
7.4/10
Director: Abraham Polonsky
Starring: John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, Thomas Gomez
Film Noir featuring John Garfield as an attorney who works for a mobster and finds himself caught in a numbers racket scheme that could bankrupt New Y... Read more
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
7.5/10
Director: Adrian Lyne
Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello
An original, highly psychological thriller that explores the thin line between reality and illusion. Jacob is a Vietnam veteran who becomes haunted by... Read more
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
6.3/10
Director: Roger Corman
Starring: Jonathan Haze, Jack Nicholson, Dick Miller
Jack Nicholson is the masochist who thrives on dental pain in this very funny cult classic from Roger Corman. The preposterous plot revolves around a... Read more
Monster in the Closet (1986)
4.9/10
Director: Bob Dahlin
Starring: Paul Dooley, Henry Gibson, Donald Moffat, Donald Grant, Denise DuBarry
A perceptive and funny homage to the 50's sci-fi flicks. Clark Kent-type reporter Donald Grant and scientist Denise DuBarry team up to track down and... Read more
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
5.6/10
Director: Bob Kelljan
Starring: William Marshall, Don Mitchell, Pam Grier
'The black prince of shadows stalks the earth again'. An occult ritual summons vampire William Marshall from spirit exile, and only the occult skills... Read more
Samson (1961)
6.3/10
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Starring: Brad Harris, Brigitte Corey, Alan Steel
Bodybuilder Brad Harris brings down the house as the strongman of Old Testament fame, splitting tree trunks with his bare hands, tackling whole legion... Read more
Otto; or Up With Dead People (2008)
5.3/10
Director: Bruce La Bruce
Starring: Olivia Barth, Keith Boehm, Jey Crisfar, Nicholas Fox Ricciardi, Marcel Schlutt,...
Controversial Canadian director Bruce La Bruce wowed them at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival with Otto, a gay neo-Goth zombie who hooks up with... Read more
Redneck Zombies (1989)
4.3/10
Director: Pericles Lewnes
In the back-woods of America live a very special kind of people. Friendly, decent, hard-working dirt farmers. When they accidentally drink a barrel of... Read more