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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".

The Believer (2001)

7.2/10
Director: Henry Bean
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Theresa Russell, Billy Zane

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, "The Believer" is a daring and gripping portrayal of a young Jewish man living an imposs... Read more

Mulholland Drive (2001)

8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Ann Miller, Laura Harring, Robert Forster, Dan Heda...

David Lynch pulls out all the stops, upends all expectations, and, well, goes all Lynchian in this maniacal, mind-bending mix of Hollywood satire, fil... Read more

Little Otik (2000)

Director: Jan Svankmajer
Starring: Jan Hartl, Jaroslava Kretschmerova, Veronika Zilkova

Jan Svankmajer's darkly comic film, based on a Czech fairy tale, tells the story of a barren couple whose inability to conceive a child drives them to... Read more

Oldboy (2003)

8.4/10
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Hye-jeong Kang, Ji-tae Yu

Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) has been imprisoned in a room for 15 years with no explanation when, barely sane, he is released. Thrown back into the world... Read more

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

7.1/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi

Powerful, explosive, erotic, political film that took the world by storm; Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando co-star in this film of love, sex and will... Read more

Children of Paradise ( Les Enfants du Paradis ) (1945)

8.3/10
Director: Marcel Carne
Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur

Poetic realism reaches sublime heights with "Children of Paradise" ("Les Enfants du Paradis"), the ineffably witty tale of a woman loved by four diffe... Read more

Hot Fuzz (2007)

7.9/10
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Kennet...

The lads that brought us zombie spoof 'Shaun of the Dead' turn their attentions to the British bobby in this cameo-packed mickey-take of the cops-and-... Read more

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

8.5/10
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards

A great Western by the great Sergio Leone. Henry Fonda is the ruthless psychopath, Jason Robards the half-breed falsely accused of a terrible slaughte... Read more

The Big Lebowski (1998)

8.1/10
Director: Joel Coen
Starring: David Huddleston, Peter Stormare, Steve Buscemi, Sam Elliott, Philip Seymour Hof...

A comedy about kidnapping, nihilism, the Gulf War and bowling, courtesy of Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges plays Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, a middle-... Read more

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

8.5/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Buster Keaton, Erich Von Stroheim, Fred Clark, Gloria Swanson, Jack Webb, Nancy...

Billy Wilder's classic drama stars Gloria Swanson as reclusive silent movie queen Norma Desmond. Sharing a mansion with her live-in butler/former husb... Read more