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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 Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Director: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester

Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) makes a bride for his creature (Boris Karloff), and all hell breaks loose. Arguably better than the orginal - both emot... Read more

Top Hat (1935)

7.8/10
Director: Mark Sandrich
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton

Commonly called the quintessential Astaire-Rogers musical, Top Hat is a breathless combination of glorious music, marvelous dance routines which seem... Read more

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

Three Musketeers: The Serial 1-6 (1933)

6.7/10
Director: Armand Schaefer
Starring: John Wayne, Francis X Bushman, Ruth Hall, Lon Chaney Jr

'One for all and all for one!' Daredevil thrills and spills abound, as John Wayne and the men of the Foreign Legion battle villainous El Shaitan and h... Read more

42nd Street (1933)

7.6/10
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Starring: Dick Powell, George Brent, Guy Kibbee, Ruby Keeler, Warner Baxter, Una Merkel

The archetypical backstage musical given depth, life and power by the extravagant touch of Busby Berkeley. Warner Baxter is Julian Marsh, the 'musical... Read more

Duck Soup (1933)

8/10
Director: Leo McCarey
Starring: The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern

In postage-stamp sized Freedoria, Prime Minister Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) declares war on neighbouring Sylvania just for the hell of it in this sati... Read more

King Kong (1933)

7.9/10
Director: Ernest B Schoedsack, Merian C Cooper
Starring: Robert Armstrong, Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot

He is billed as "the eighth wonder of the world" and, in the sixty years since the movie's release, animator Willis O'Brien's awesome creature has all... Read more

Sons of the Desert (1933)

7.7/10
Director: William A Seiter
Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Mae Busch

Laurel and Hardy attend a convention of the fraternal order of the Sons of the Desert without letting their wives know the real reason for their absen... Read more

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

7.3/10
Director: Ernest B Schoedsack
Starring: Irving Pichel, Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks

Schoedsack and Pichel's adaptation of the famous 1924 short story by Richard Connell that was filmed on the same jungle sets as 'King Kong'. On a dens... Read more

Freaks (1932)

7.9/10
Director: Tod Browning
Starring: Wallace Ford, Olga Baclanova, Leila Hyams

Inspired by childhood recollections of running away with the circus and befriending the sideshow freaks, Tod Browniing's vision of sideshow life is bo... Read more