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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 Night of the Hunter (1955)

8/10
Director: Charles Laughton
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish

Robert Mitchum gives one of his best performances as Harry Powell, a psychotic self-styled preacher who is after the stolen money of a hanged man. Set... Read more

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

7.7/10
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart

Mickey Spillane's pugnacious private eye, Mike Hammer, becomes involved with femmes fatale, diabolical doctors and, perhaps, the end of the world cour... Read more

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

7.8/10
Director: Nicholas Ray
Starring: Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, James Dean, Dennis Hopper

In one of moviedom's most influential roles, James Dean plays Jim Stark, the new kid in town. Stark's loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored those... Read more

Godzilla ( Gojira ) / Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954)

Director: Ishiro Honda, Terry Morse
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Raymond Burr

A giant, fire-breathing lizard threatens civilization in this all time classic Japanese monster movie. Now, for the first time ever, you can view the... Read more

Varietease (1954)

5.7/10
Director: Irving Klaw
Starring: Bettie Page, Lili St Cyr

Legendary pin-up girl Bettie Page struts her stuff along with fellow 'teaser' Lili St Cyr in this classic '50s sexploitation flick. Interspersed thro... Read more

Beat The Devil (1954)

6.6/10
Director: John Huston
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lorre

An audacious offbeat comedy with Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida and Peter Lorre, and screenplay by Truman Capote, about a motley group of petty th... Read more

Jail Bait (1954)

3.2/10
Director: Edward D Wood Jr
Starring: Dolores Fuller, Lyle Talbot, Steve Reeves

A hard as nails gangster film Ed Wood style. A hood on the lam shoots his partner, then forces his surgeon father to change his face... Stars Lyle Tal... Read more

A Star Is Born (Garland) (1954)

7.8/10
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Judy Garland, James Mason, Charles Bickford

The restored version of this masterpiece. Directed by George Cukor this classic musical drama about the doomed marriage of an entertainer whose career... Read more

Robot Monster (1953)

2.9/10
Director: Phil Tucker
Starring: George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle, John Mylong, Gregory Moffett, Pamel...

Ro-Man, a sex starved robot monster (dressed in a gorilla suit and diving helmet), has destroyed all of humanity with the exception of a small band of... Read more

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, How To Marry A Millionaire (1953)

7.2/10
Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn

'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell form a unique duo in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', one of the classic musicals of the 1950's... Read more