Guide to the 70 Cult Movies You Absolutely Must See

Cult movie is a very flexible, abstract concept which is applie to many types of cinematographic works but which can be easily manipulated for commercial purposes. Looking at the ads for the new movies, it seems like all of them are cult movies. Triumphal writings appear on trailers: the one or that critic called it a masterpiece. That magazine said it’s a new cult movie.

🎬 Indiecinema Cult

Indiecinema was born precisely to give a home to these orphaned and rebellious works. If you are looking for films that no one else has the courage to distribute, you are in the right place.

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Explore the Cult Phenomenon

Cult cinema is a vast universe. To help you navigate, we have divided our collection into thematic paths. Click on the category you want to explore:

The Fathers of Cult & The Visionaries Behind every great cult film is a mind that refused compromise. We speak of directors like David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, or John Waters—auteurs who used the camera to explore the unconscious, the sacred, and the profane without a safety net.

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The Golden Age: 80s Cult Movies If there is a decade that codified the aesthetic of modern cult, thanks to the explosion of VHS and midnight screenings, this is it. From neon-noir sci-fi to practical horror, these are the films that defined a generation.

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B-Movies & Underground Cinema Budget isn’t everything. Often, a lack of funds sharpens wit (or madness). Here we celebrate B-movies, Exploitation, and those films “so bad they’re good” that found glory in imperfection and excess.

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Cult Horror & Terror Cinema

Horror is the genre that has spawned the most cult films in history. From Universal monsters to 80s slashers, right up to extreme Body Horror. If you are looking for blood, fear, and disturbing visions that defied censorship, this is your section.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: Best Cult Horror Movies

“Cursed” & Weird Movies There are works that defy any classification. Experimental, disturbing, dreamlike films that require a viewer willing to lose their rational coordinates. From surrealism to acid-westerns, this is the most extreme zone of the catalog.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: Weird & Unclassifiable Movies

Cult Movies You Absolutely Must See

A selection of cult movies that have marked the history of cinema, or that for some reason represent works of worship. Works forgotten for years that were then rediscovered, box office failures then rediscovered and become phenomena of custom. First works and minor films by great directors who became cult movies after their authors became famous. Seminal and avant-garde films that have marked the history of cinema. This is not the usual ranking that mixes films, from blockbusters to independent films, which you find on generalist websites that deal with cinema. It is not the usual large basket from which to fish something at random, written just to fill a page. Many probably don’t know what exactly a cult movie is, but now you know. This is a list of true cult films that every true cinephile should know.

Bugonia (2025)

Two young conspiracy theorists kidnap the CEO of a powerful pharmaceutical corporation, convinced that she is actually an alien sent to Earth to destroy humanity. They hold her captive in their basement, subjecting her to surreal interrogations and grotesque torture to force her to confess the invasion plan, while the woman tries to manipulate their paranoia to save herself.

Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster) returns with a remake of the Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!. It is perfect material for his cinema: a pitch-black, paranoid, and misanthropic comedy exploring the thin line between madness and truth. Leaving period costumes behind, Lanthimos focuses on a fierce contemporary satire against corporatism and collective psychosis, one of the weirdest and most disturbing films of the year.

One Battle After Another (2025)

In a contemporary California shrouded in an atmosphere of paranoia and decay, a man (Leonardo DiCaprio) finds himself entangled in a sprawling conspiracy involving corrupt political figures, law enforcement, and social chaos. The plot, still shrouded in mystery but inspired by the vibes of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, follows the protagonist’s desperate attempt to protect his family (including a prodigy daughter) while the world around them seems to slide toward a political and moral apocalypse.

Paul Thomas Anderson directs the most expensive and “commercial” film of his career, assembling a monumental cast that includes Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. It is a return to the great American fresco style of Magnolia, but updated to the neuroses of the present. Shot in IMAX format, it promises to be an intellectual action thriller blending physical pursuit with a philosophical investigation into the decline of the West. It is not just an anticipated film; it is the cinematic event aiming to unite auteur cinema with blockbuster spectacle.

Strange Darling (2024)

What begins as a seemingly innocent one-night stand between a woman (“The Lady“) and a man (“The Demon”) quickly spirals into a brutal cat-and-mouse game through the Oregon wilderness. The narrative is fractured into six non-linear chapters that constantly deconstruct the viewer’s perception of who is the victim and who is the predator, revealing a trail of blood left by a serial killer terrorizing the state.

Directed by JT Mollner and shot entirely on 35mm film by cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, this is an aesthetically stunning horror thriller that redefines the slasher genre. It is not the usual survival movie: it is a psychological puzzle with hypersaturated colors and a dreamlike atmosphere, praised even by Stephen King for its ingenious structure. An instant cult classic that uses graphic violence not to shock, but to explore power dynamics and manipulation within a toxic relationship pushed to the extreme.

Sasquatch Sunset (2024)

A year in the life of a family of four Bigfoots (Sasquatch) wandering the forests of North America. There is no dialogue, no voiceover, no visible humans. Only grunts, gestures, and the daily struggle to eat, mate, and survive in a dying nature. Hidden under heavy, unrecognizable prosthetic makeup are famous actors like Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, who totally immerse themselves in the animalistic roles.

This is the weirdest, bravest, and most absurd film of the year. The Zellner brothers have created a fictional nature documentary that oscillates between scatological comedy (burps, sex, vomit) and tragic poetry about the loneliness of an endangered species. It is an endurance test for the mainstream viewer, but a gem of originality for those looking for something unlike anything they’ve seen before. Instant cult for its madness.

A Better Life

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Drama, thriller, by Fabio Del Greco, Italy, 2007.
Rome: Andrea Casadei is a young investigator specializing in audio wiretapping who conducts investigations commissioned by husbands betrayed by their wives, or by parents worried about what their children are doing outside the home. But what interests him most is understanding the human soul, listening to casual conversations in the streets, knowing what people think. He often meets in Piazza Navona with his friend Gigi, a frustrated street artist obsessed with success at all costs, with whom he shares a passion for wiretapping. Shocked by the mystery of the disappearance of Ciccio Simpatia, another street artist common friend, Andrea decides to abandon the commissioned works to seek a better life and reflect on his own and others' existence. He will meet the actress Marina and with a bug he will slowly enter her life until he discovers her most unthinkable secrets. The film deals with an important theme of contemporary Western society: the lack of love. The mysterious and tormented figure of Marina is reflected in a gloomy and soulless Rome.

Director Fabio Del Greco declared about his film: "Perhaps this film is a reflection on the art of observing, of listening, in short, of what one does when one leaves the real world to tell about it. Perhaps he wants to talk about the subtle relationship between the mirages of success touted by today's society, power and the most authentic human relationships.A 'dark cloud' hangs over the city: it is engulfing everyone in a sort of indistinct, uniform mass, where everyone thinks the same things, where everyone they are more alone. Where is the truest part that makes us unique? Maybe you can try to intercept it only secretly."

LANGUAGE: Italian
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch.

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Stopmotion (2024)

Ella is a stop-motion animator living in the shadow of her overbearing mother, a legendary artist in the field. When her mother falls ill, Ella begins working on a macabre project using raw meat, dead animals, and organic materials to create her puppets. As the film takes shape, Ella’s sanity crumbles: the puppets seem to take on a life of their own, and the line between her art and her own flesh begins to blur in a delirium of blood and clay.

Directed by Robert Morgan (a true master of creepy animation), this is a film about artistic obsession turning into self-destruction. It is a visceral and textural experience: you can smell the rotting meat and hear the squelching sound of the puppets. There is nothing digital or glossy here; it is a tactile, dirty, and grotesque nightmare reminiscent of early David Lynch or Jan Švankmajer. An instant cult classic for those who love art that hurts.

Cult Movie of the 10s

At the turn of the century, cinema was still a wild territory without rules. In this pioneering decade, the first visions challenging reality were born: from the French crime serials of Fantômas, celebrating anarchy and disguise, to the first expressionist experiments. This is where cinema discovered it could be a dream (or a nightmare) and not just a recording of real life.

L’Inferno (1911)

In the silent blockbuster L’Inferno, loosely inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, we witness a literal journey through the circles of eternal damnation. We follow Dante and Virgil as they encounter the damned, winged devils, giants, and finally Lucifer himself devouring traitors. For its time, it was a titanic production that took three years of filming and hundreds of extras to visualize the unimaginable.

It is the first true feature film in Italian cinema history and a masterpiece of artisanal special effects. Through superimpositions, perspective tricks, and set designs inspired by Gustave Doré’s illustrations, the film creates a gothic and grotesque imagery that has lost none of its visual power. A fundamental work to understand how cinema learned to show the invisible and the supernatural.

Fantômas (1913)

The film serial Fantômas brings the genius of crime and lord of terror to the screen across five historic episodes. The mysterious criminal, a master of disguise, sows panic in Paris by committing impossible thefts and creative murders, always pursued by the obsessive Inspector Juve. Fantômas is not a simple thief, but an almost supernatural entity who challenges the established order and logic.

Directed by Louis Feuillade, this is not just a crime film, but the birth of the modern “supervillain.” Loved by the Surrealists (Magritte and Apollinaire adored it) for its dreamlike atmosphere and the anarchy it exuded, it is the grandfather of all psychological thrillers and heist movies. Its influence on pop culture, from Diabolik to the Joker, is incalculable.

A Page Of Madness

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Drama, horror, by Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan, 1926.
A page of madness is an independent film shot on a nearly non-existent budget and then lost for forty-five years. Fortunately the director rediscovered it in his archive in 1971. It is a film made by a group of Japanese avant-garde artists, the School of new perceptions. A movement that had as its objective to overcome the naturalistic representation. In a country asylum, in torrential rain, the caretaker meets patients with mental illness. The next day a young woman arrives who is surprised to find her father there who works as a caretaker. The woman's mother first went mad because of her husband when she was a sailor. The husband has decided to change jobs to stay close to his wife in the asylum and take care of her. Her daughter tells her father that she will marry soon, but the father is worried because he fears, according to popular rumors of the time, that the mother's mental illness will be inherited by her daughter. If the young husband and his family found out about his mother's madness, the marriage would fall apart. The caretaker tries to take care of his wife during her work as she gets beaten up by other inmates, but this interferes with her role and is scolded by the head of the asylum. Slowly the keeper loses contact with reality and its boundaries from the dream. He begins to daydream about winning the lottery when his daughter meets him again to tell him that his marriage is in trouble. The man thinks of taking his wife out of the asylum to hide her existence and solve every problem. Teinosuke Kinugasa is the director of some of the best Japanese films of the 1920s. A page of madness has been compared to the great German expressionist films. It is an experimental film, of extreme avant-garde, which seems to anticipate the atmospheres and themes that would have made David Lynch famous many years later. Nightmares, distortions, blurs, double exposures and photographic deformations: a film that explores the furthest boundaries of moving images. Then there are those masks set in an eternal succession of bars, locks and corridors that fuel the sense of fear and loss of the various protagonists to excess.Yasunari Kawabata, the writer of the story, won the Nobel Prize for literature in the 1968.

Without dialogue

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Les Vampires (1915)

In Les Vampires, an investigative journalist tries to unmask a powerful secret criminal organization that terrorizes Paris with kidnappings, poison gas, and acrobatic thefts. Leading them (or confusing them) is their muse, Irma Vep, a femme fatale who moves across the city rooftops in a tight black catsuit, becoming an icon of mystery and dangerous seduction.

Another serial masterpiece by Louis Feuillade that veers into dreamlike delirium. Despite the title, there are no supernatural bloodsuckers, but the atmosphere is so bizarre and hallucinated that it feels like a waking nightmare. Irma Vep (an anagram of Vampire) is cinema’s first true dark anti-heroine, a symbol of emancipation and danger that has bewitched generations of cinephiles with her aesthetic modernity.

Intolerance (1916)

A cult film for the grandeur of its project and for being one of the first blockbusters that changed the history of cinema, a fusion of great spectacle and visual experimentation. David Griffith, to prove that the accusations against him of racism stemming from his previous film, The Birth of a Nation, were unfounded, directed a blockbuster about intolerance.

Intolerance, a 1916 historical drama, tells four different stories spanning 2,500 years. War in ancient Babylon, betrayal and the Crucifixion in Biblical history, intolerance in the French Renaissance, and conflicts and crimes in the early 20th century in the Americas. Humanity seems destined, unable to find agreement, to remain in perpetual conflict. At least until a global internal change occurs.

Broken Blossoms (1919)

In the film Broken Blossoms, set in the foggy slums of London, Cheng Huan, a Chinese idealist who came to the West to spread Buddhist philosophy but ended up running an opium den, rescues Lucy. The girl, brutally abused by her boxer and alcoholic father, finds in him a platonic love made of glances and delicacy, which flourishes briefly before being crushed by the racist and patriarchal violence of her father.

D.W. Griffith, following the controversies of his epic films, directs this intimate “chamber” drama that is a gem of atmosphere. The soft focus photography and lighting create a ghostly and poetic London. It is a film of devastating sadness, tackling themes such as domestic abuse and racial prejudice with a visual sensitivity that elevates melodrama to pure lyrical art.

Cult Movie of the 20s

The 1920s are the decade where art meets madness. While Hollywood began building its empire, Europe birthed works that remain disturbing today. It is the era of Buñuel and Dalí’s Surrealism (Un Chien Andalou), German Expressionism warping perspectives (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), and prophetic sci-fi (Metropolis). Visually powerful films that laid the foundation for all “alternative” cinema.

Battleship Potemkin

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Drama, war, by Sergej Eisenstein, Russia, 1925.
The revolt of the sailors of the battleship Potemkin and the citizens of Odessa against the ruthless police of the tsar, who reacts with reprisals and carries out a massacre. Sergej Eisenstein makes a film commissioned by Goskino, the office for cinematography and film production in the Soviet Union. It is a "propaganda" film for the celebration of the 1905 revolution, but Eisenstein makes it an experimental and grandiose work, destined to change the history of cinema and editing forever.

Food for thought
The revolution sees things in political terms, it presupposes that in order to transform man, the structure of society must be changed. But no revolution has ever succeeded in transforming man. The revolutionary wants to change society, the government, the bureaucracy, the laws, the political system. All revolutions have always failed miserably, and man has always remained the same. Revolutionaries are not needed to change the world, rebels are needed.

LANGUAGE: Russian
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The plot of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari revolves around a village fair where a mysterious doctor exhibits Cesare, a somnambulist he keeps under hypnosis in a coffin and who predicts the future. When a series of murders begins to strike the town, suspicion falls on the duo. The story is told through the flashback of a young protagonist, but the reality we see is distorted, distressing, and perhaps the product of a sick mind.

This is the film that invented German Expressionism in cinema. There are no realistic sets: everything is painted, crooked, angular, and deformed, to reflect the fractured psyche of the characters. It is the father of all psychological horror cinema, asylum films, and final plot twists. A work of visual art where the set design is the true protagonist, creating a nightmare world from which there is no escape.

Nosferatu (1922)

Real estate agent Hutter travels to the Carpathians to close a deal with the mysterious Count Orlok, a nobleman living recluse in a dilapidated castle who wants to buy a house in Germany. In Nosferatu, Hutter discovers too late that the Count is not human, but a skeletal, rat-like undead who brings plague and death with him. As Orlok travels toward the city of Wisborg hidden in a coffin filled with soil, Hutter’s wife senses the arrival of evil.

F.W. Murnau creates an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (changing names to avoid paying rights), yet creating something unique. Unlike Hollywood’s charming vampire, Orlok (played by Max Schreck) is a repulsive monster, an embodiment of disease and shadow. Shot on real locations rather than sets, the film uses elongated shadows and hostile nature to create a sense of gothic terror that still freezes the blood.

Metropolis (1927)

“Metropolis” is a 1927 German silent film directed by Fritz Lang. It is considered one of the masterpieces of cinema and a cult film in the history of science fiction cinema. The film is famous for its extraordinary sets, its futuristic vision and the social issues addressed.

The storyline of “Metropolis” takes place in a futuristic society divided into two distinct social classes: the workers, who work under oppressive conditions deep underground in the city, and the ruling class who live in a luxurious city above the surface. Joh Fredersen, the head of the town, discovers a rebellion taking place among the workers and runs into Maria, a young woman who leads them. Intrigued by Maria and a desire to put an end to the uprising, Fredersen uses an android called the “Maschinenmensch” to manipulate events. What makes “Metropolis” a breakthrough film is its innovative and visionary production design. The sets are surprising, with imposing skyscrapers, futuristic architecture and mechanical machinery, all enriched by cutting-edge special effects for the time. The film depicts a complex and detailed urban world, with an aesthetic that has influenced many subsequent films.

However, “Metropolis” is not just a visual spectacle. It deals with relevant social and political issues, such as social inequality, class struggle and the conflict between capital and labour. The film explores the need for mediation between the powers of the industrial elite and the common good of society. The figure of Mary, who represents compassion and humanity, contrasts with the coldness and greed of the leaders. The film also presents a reflection on the ethical implications of technological innovation. The android Maschinenmensch raises questions about the nature of human identity and the consequences of unchecked technology. These themes were tackled in a visionary way by Lang and found an echo in many subsequent works of science fiction.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

The film The Passion of Joan of Arc focuses exclusively on the final hours of the Saint’s life, condensing the long trial for heresy into a single, claustrophobic verbal and psychological confrontation. Joan, alone and illiterate, faces a court of corrupt and grotesque ecclesiastical judges who try to manipulate her into renouncing her faith. The narrative is an escalation of psychological torture culminating in the final burning at the stake.

Carl Theodor Dreyer makes a radical choice: he abandons expensive sets (which he had built) to shoot almost the entire film in extreme close-ups on faces. The result is a devastating emotional experience, carried entirely by Renée Falconetti’s face, offering what many critics consider the greatest performance in cinema history. A film of pure suffering and transcendence, shot without makeup, digging into the human soul like no other.

Carnival of souls

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Horror, by Herk Harvey, United States, 1962.
Mary Henry emerges unscathed from a car accident that killed her two companions, and sets off on a strange adventure in Salt Lake City, where she finds herself drawn to a dilapidated lakeside pavilion and haunted by a ghostly figure (played by same director). A low-budget ($ 30,000) horror masterpiece that went unnoticed at the time of its release, it has become a cult film in the United States since the late 1980s. Sounds and images that have inspired directors such as George Romero and David Lynch (the masked man from "Lost Roads").

LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian

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Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

In Man with a Movie Camera, there is no story, no actors, no sets. We simply follow a cameraman traveling through the city (a mix of Moscow, Kyiv, and Odessa) from dawn to dusk, filming daily life: machines, crowds, work, sports, births, and deaths. The city wakes up, moves frantically, and rests, becoming a living organism.

Dziga Vertov signs the manifesto of the “Kino-Eye.” It is an experimental documentary that is actually a treatise on editing and the potential of cinema. Vertov uses every trick in the book: split-screen, superimpositions, slow motion, stop motion, divided screens. It is an explosion of visual energy, a film celebrating the speed of modern life and the camera’s ability to see reality better than the human eye. A work of pure avant-garde.

Un Chien Andalou (1929)

The short film Un Chien Andalou opens with one of the most shocking images in cinema history: a human eye sliced open by a razor, edited in parallel with a cloud slicing across the moon. From that moment on, plot, logic, and time cease to exist: a man drags pianos topped with dead donkeys and priests, ants crawl out of a hand, characters die and resurrect in a dreamlike, sexual stream of consciousness.

Born from the collaboration between Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, this is the absolute manifesto of Surrealism. It is not a film to be “understood,” but to be experienced like a hallucination. It is a direct attack on bourgeois logic and reassuring storytelling. Even today, nearly a century later, its subversive power and disturbing imagery remain intact, making it the father of all experimental cinema and modern music videos.

Cult Movie of the 30s

With the arrival of sound, cult cinema found its voice in horror and transgression. This is the decade of Tod Browning’s Freaks, a film so shocking it was banned for decades, and the great Universal monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula) that defined gothic iconography forever. But it is also the era of “Pre-Code” films, bold and cynical works showcasing sex and violence before Hollywood censorship imposed its moral veil.

M, A City Searches for a Murderer (1931)

M – The Murderer of Düsseldorf (1931) is a German film directed by Fritz Lang. The film is considered one of the classics of the film noir genre, and has influenced numerous other films in the genre. The story follows the events of Hans Beckert, a man who murders a group of girls. The police are under pressure from the public, and they are committed to finding the monster.

The film is known for its directing, which is characterized by dark and evocative photography, and for its realistic portrayal of the theme of violence. It is a prophetic cult film, which tells with incredible intuition about Germany just before the arrival of Nazism. Directed by Fritz Lang in Germany, in 1931. The unhealthy atmosphere and the anger of the people seem an invisible substance that permeates the city of Dusseldorf everywhere.

The film is inspired by the heinous crimes committed in Germany in the 1920s by Fritz Haarmann and Peter Kürten, but it tells more. It tells the soul of German society deeply corrupt and possessed by evil. The final scene of the private trial by the criminal associations of the monster is one of the most beautiful in the history of cinema. A scene that through faces, expressions, dialogues and rhythm, becomes the very portrait of evil, of the dark side of the human being.

Children of Hiroshima

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Drama, by Kaneto Shindō, Japan, 1952.
Takako Ishikawa is a teacher off the coast of Hiroshima and has not returned to his atomic bombed city in 4 years. His trip to Hiroshima becomes a journey to his destroyed homeland, in search of surviving old friends. The city has almost been rebuilt, but the tragedy is still very present: the disfigured faces, the shrunken limbs, the sterile women and the handicapped children without joy. In an old blind man accompanied by his nephew Taro Takako he recognizes the servant of his own family, destroyed with the house.

Film shot with sobriety, it shows the tragedy of the bomb only in a short flashback from the protagonist in a few seconds of hallucinating images. The short scene, however, always remains present in her mind as in the mind of the spectator. The tone of Kaneto Shindo is not that of a historical account but that of an intense and restrained lyrical emotion, which seeks its essence in the details. In the sky, finally, a plane passes: the eyes of the teacher are filled with anguish, those of the child are only pure and curious. In competition at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, shot after the war when the pain was still fresh, full of dark and realistic atmospheres. Shindo, who died at 100 in 2012, less known in the West than Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, realizes his masterpiece with this film.

LANGUAGE: japanese
SUBTITLES: english

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The Blood of a Poet (1932)

The Blood of a Poet (1932) is a French surrealist film directed by Jean Cocteau. The film is the first installment of Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, which explores themes such as artistic creation, love, and death.

The story follows a poet (Enrique Rivero) who tries to get rid of a mouth that has been imprinted on the palm of his hand. The mouth is a symbol of his creativity and artistic drive, but it is also a source of obsession and torment. The poet begins a journey through his subconscious, in search of a solution to his problem. Along the way, he meets a series of enigmatic characters, including a talking statue, a group of children, and a black angel.

First work in the filmography of the great poet and director Jean Cocteau. Filmography that will end with a film that the epilogue of the first, the testament of Orpheus. Absolute cult film, descending into the deep unconscious in the most authentic part of itself, between poetry, thought and vision. A delight for cinephiles who also love painting and poetry. A film born in the golden age of surrealist movement. Cocteau departs from surrealism to create his own personal style, not easily identifiable. We could define it, like almost all of Cocteau’s filmography, poetry that becomes cinema. Funded by the Viscount of Noailles, patron of the surrealists, who thought that Jean Cocteau was giving him a cartoon and who repudiated the film.

Freaks (1932)

The story of Freaks takes place in a traveling circus, where the beautiful trapeze artist Cleopatra seduces the dwarf Hans to seize his inheritance, planning to poison him with the complicity of the strongman Hercules. But the “code” of the freaks is rigid: “Offend one, and you offend them all.” When the community of “others” discovers the plan, their revenge on a stormy night will be terrible and will transform the “normal” ones into something horrible.

Tod Browning, who had actually worked in circuses, uses real performers with physical disabilities (Siamese twins, bearded ladies, limbless men) not to exploit them, but to show their humanity contrasted with the moral monstrosity of the “beautiful people.” The film was so shocking for the time that it was banned for 30 years and destroyed the director’s career. Today it is a cult masterpiece about acceptance and cruelty, unique and unrepeatable.

Vampyr (1932)

In Vampyr, a young traveler fascinated by the occult arrives in a village where inexplicable events occur. He finds himself immersed in a waking nightmare made of shadows detaching from bodies, evil doctors, and an old female vampire feeding on a young woman. Narrative logic dissolves to make way for a succession of dreamlike and ghostly images.

Carl Theodor Dreyer creates not a horror film, but a film about a nightmare. Shot largely through a gauze veil to make the image milky and blurred, it is pure visual poetry. Famous for the subjective sequence in which the protagonist imagines being buried alive in a coffin with a glass window, it is a surrealist work of art that must be experienced as a hypnotic trance rather than understood rationally.

Baby Face (1933)

The protagonist of Baby Face, Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck), exploited by her father in a provincial speakeasy, decides to use her beauty and sex as weapons to climb the social ladder. She moves to New York and, floor by floor, bed by bed, seduces and discards increasingly powerful men within a large bank, until she reaches the top. It is a ruthless social climb based on the philosophy of Nietzsche taught to her by an old man.

This is the symbol film of the “Pre-Code” era, that brief period of freedom in Hollywood before censorship imposed strict moral rules. It is scandalous even today for the cynicism and modernity of its protagonist: a woman who does not repent, does not apologize, and uses the patriarchy against itself. A feminist cult before its time, bold, fast, and morally ambiguous.

Dementia

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Horror, noir, by John Parker, United States, 1955.
It's night. A woman suddenly wakes up from a nightmare in a seedy hotel in the Los Angeles suburbs. She leaves the room and wanders the neighborhood. She meets a dwarf who sells newspapers with the title "Mysterious Stabbing". In a dark alley, a drunkard harasses her and a policeman rescues her. She then she meets a smartly dressed man with a thin mustache. The man gives her a flower and convinces her to get into the limo with a rich fat guy. As they drive through the city, the man thinks back to his childhood trauma and the violent father who stabbed him with a knife after he shot his unfaithful mother. The rich man takes her to have fun in several nightclubs and then to her apartment. He first ignores the woman while she gorges herself with a big meal. She seduces him, and he approaches her excitedly.

A visionary and hallucinatory nightmare, without dialogue, during a night of a lonely woman in Los Angeles. Between horror, film noir and expressionist film, initially conceived as a short film by Parker based on a dream told him by his secretary, Barrett, who also became the film's interpreter. The film was blocked by the New York State Film Board before being released in theaters in 1955. Later Jack H. Harris bought it and created a new version, with a different cut of editing, also adding a voiceover. and changing the title. This is the original version.

Without dialogue

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L’Atalante (1934)

In the film L’Atalante, Juliette marries Jean, the captain of a river barge, and goes to live with him on the water along with the old sailor Père Jules and his cats. The monotonous life of the river drives her to flee to Paris, attracted by the city lights, leaving Jean in despair. The separation leads both to understand the importance of their bond, in a dreamlike and sensual journey of return.

Jean Vigo’s only feature film (he died at 29 shortly after filming) is the movie that invented Poetic Realism. It is an anarchic, erotic, and incredibly sweet work that mixes the filth of life on board with moments of pure visual magic, like the famous scene where Jean dives into the river and “sees” his bride underwater. A free and unclassifiable film that influenced all subsequent French auteur cinema.

Cult Movie of the 40s

While the world was at war, cinema turned black. The 1940s are the realm of Noir, where the line between good and evil vanishes into the shadows. Cult status here arises from low-budget productions (“Poverty Row”), films shot in days yet possessing a unique atmosphere of desperation and fatalism (like Detour). It is cinema of anti-heroes, femmes fatales, and doomed fates, perfect for those who love smoky, claustrophobic vibes.

The Forces of Evil (1948)

“The Forces of Evil” is a 1948 American film noir, directed by Abraham Polonsky. It is considered a cult movie and an important cinematographic work of the time.

The film tells the story of Joe Morse (played by John Garfield), a ruthless and ambitious lawyer who stumbles upon an intricate plan to control illegal number lottery betting in New York. Joe is involved in a criminal business with his brother Leo (played by Thomas Gomez), a crime boss who runs an illegal gambling ring. As Joe tries to make the most of exploiting the system, he finds himself confronted with his own personal ambitions and the corruption that surrounds him.

“Forces of Evil” is known for its distinctive visual style and gritty storytelling. Director Polonsky, who also wrote the screenplay, offers a sharp critique of capitalism and greed through the context of the world of illegal gambling. The film deals with themes such as morality, integrity and the struggle between good and evil.

The Forces of Evil” was praised by critics for its intense performances and its ability to capture the dark and corrupt atmosphere of the era. Despite its limited initial commercial success, the film has over time become a cult film and is often cited as one of the best examples of the noir genre.

Cult Movie of the 50s

The golden age of B-Movies and paranoia. Under the threat of the Bomb and Communism, science fiction became the refuge for collective fears. It is the decade of flying saucers, giant monsters, and the unintentional trash cinema of Ed Wood (Plan 9 from Outer Space). These films, often made with non-existent budgets and sheer naivety, became cult objects precisely because of their charming “badness” and unbridled imagination.

Dementia 13

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Horror, Thriller, by Francis Ford Coppola, United States, 1963.
Francis Ford Coppola's debut film produced at low cost by Roger Corman, who wanted a film on the model of low budget Psycho with gothic atmospheres and heinous crimes. The Haloran family gathers in their Irish castle to commemorate the untimely death of little Kathleen, who drowned seven years earlier. Mysterious events begin to occur, such as the apparitions of the dead child, and a killer armed with an ax roams the place.

LANGUAGE: english
SUBTITLES: italian

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Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Creature from the Black Lagoon” is a 1954 sci-fi cult horror film, directed by Jack Arnold. It is one of the classics of the monster genre and helped define sea monster iconography in cinema.

The plot of the film takes place in a remote corner of the Amazon, where a group of scientists discover evidence of the existence of a prehistoric creature, a sort of hybrid between a man and a fish, known as the monster of the black lagoon. The creature falls in love with one of the researchers, played by Julie Adams, and begins following her and threatening the group.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is known for its suspenseful atmosphere and skillful use of underwater sequences, which create a sense of menace and tension. The creature’s design was impressively crafted, with a hybrid human-animal appearance, which is still iconic in the movie monster genre today.

The film benefited from the innovative use of 3D filming, which made it an immersive viewing experience for audiences of the time. The underwater sequences and monster attacks were particularly spectacular in this projection mode. Although today it is generally shown in 2D, the film has left a lasting impression thanks to its skillful direction and immersive visual effect.

Creature from the Black Lagoon inspired several subsequent films involving sea creatures or similar monsters. It has become a classic of the monster genre and spawned several sequences and spin-offs. The Creature from the Black Lagoon has become an icon of popular culture, depicted in various media, and remains one of the most recognizable movie monsters.

Pather Panchali (1955)

Pather Panchali is an autobiographical film which explains the growing up of Apu, a little boy in a Bengal village. Satyajit Ray assembled a non-professional crew to make the film. The cast consisted of amateur actors.

After unsuccessful efforts to find a producer to finance the work, Ray began touring in late 1952 with his own savings. Ray made Pather Panchali in two and a half years, an unusually long period, based on when he or his production manager Anil Chowdhury could have additional budgets.

He refused funding from organizations and producers who wanted to change the script. He also disregarded the directions of the federal government of India to include a happy ending, however he got funding which allowed him to finish the film.

Ray showed the film to American director John Huston, who stayed in the hunting grounds of India for The Man Who Would Be King. Huston briefed Monroe Wheeler at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that great talent was on the horizon.

Mr. Arkadin (1955)

Mr. Arkadin” is a film from 1955 that was written, directed, and starred in by Orson Welles, a highly influential filmmaker in the history of cinema. Also known as “Confidential Report,” the movie is a captivating noir thriller that centers around the enigmatic character of Gregory Arkadin, a billionaire with a veiled past.

The storyline of “Mr. Arkadin” follows the journey of Guy Van Stratten, a private investigator portrayed by Robert Arden, who is enlisted by a mysterious man named Jakob Zouk to unveil Arkadin’s hidden history. Through a series of flashbacks and testimonies from individuals who have crossed paths with Arkadin, Van Stratten gradually uncovers fragments of his dark past.

The film is renowned for its distinctive visual style, employing evocative lighting and shadow play characteristic of the noir genre. As both writer and director, Orson Welles masterfully crafts an atmosphere of suspense and tension as the protagonist delves deeper into the enigma surrounding Arkadin. The intricate plot and superb performances contribute to the captivating and immersive experience of “Mr. Arkadin.”

However, it is worth noting that “Mr. Arkadin” underwent several revisions and edits over time. Initially, Welles delivered a version of the film to producer Louis Dolivet in 1955, but subsequent modifications and re-editing occurred without Welles’ direct involvement. Consequently, multiple versions of the film exist, each featuring slight variations in the narrative structure and plot.

Diabolique (1955)

“Diabolique” is a famous French film from 1955, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Also known as “Les Diaboliques” in international markets, the film is considered a classic of the thriller genre and has had a significant impact on subsequent cinema.

The film’s plot revolves around two women, the wife and mistress of an oppressive school director. The two women, portrayed respectively by Véra Clouzot and Simone Signoret, join forces to plan the murder of the director. After drugging and drowning him in the bathtub, they dispose of his body in an empty swimming pool. However, when they return to remove the body, they discover it has vanished. Tension mounts as a series of unsettling and menacing events occur, casting doubt on their sanity.

Diabolique” is known for its impeccable visual style and intricate plot, which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats until the final scene. Clouzot skillfully uses elements of suspense and mystery to create an atmosphere of anguish and fear. The film is also famous for its stunning ending, which delivers one of the greatest twists in cinema history.

The success of “Diabolique” helped solidify Henri-Georges Clouzot as a master of the thriller genre. The film influenced numerous subsequent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, who admired Clouzot’s ability to build tension and surprise the audience.

Detour

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Thriller, noir, by Edgar G. Ulmer, United States, 1945.
Al Roberts, an unemployed pianist, hitchhikes. After getting a ride, he arrives at a restaurant in Reno, Nevada. Another restaurant customer plays a tune on the jukebox: Al is upset because it reminds him of his life in New York City. He remembers a time there when he was bitter about his lack of success as a musician, forced to play in a poor club. One day her partner, Sue Harvey, who is a singer in the same club, seeing no prospects in their relationship, goes to seek her fortune in Hollywood. Al ends up being depressed. After some misadventures he decides to take a trip to California to see her again and marry her. For little money, however, he is forced to hitchhike across the nation. In Arizona, bookmaker Charles Haskell Jr. offers Al a ride to Los Angeles. That night, Al drives while Haskell sleeps. When a storm forces Al to stop to raise the convertible top, he can't wake Haskell. Al opens the passenger door and Haskell falls to the ground: he's dead.

Low-budget independent film made by Edgar G. Ulmer, assistant director of the great Murnau in "The Last Laugh" and "Aurora", Detour is a noir inspired by German expressionism. The protagonist Al Roberts tells the story of him speaking directly to the audience, but several clues suggest that maybe we are not listening to what really happened but what Al Roberts wants us to think happened. Sometimes terrible experiences can be remodeled into fantasies that are less complicated to deal with, sometimes we have to build an alibi: perhaps this is the ambiguous charm of "Detour". Ann Savage's portrayal is phenomenal: there isn't an ounce of humanity in her portrayal of Vera. "Detour" is a perfect example of a low-budget film that transforms its limitations into a strong and consistent style. A cult film where the darkness of noir captures the viewer without the need for technical virtuosity, famous actors or special effects.

LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction cult film directed by Don Siegel. It is based on the 1954 novel ‘The Body Snatchers’ by Jack Finney and has become a classic of the genre and one of the most influential alien invasion films in cinematic history.

The plot of the film takes place in a small town where the inhabitants start behaving in a strange and emotionless way. It is soon discovered that mysterious alien plants are growing in the surrounding fields and are replacing human beings with perfect copies, devoid of individual emotions and identities. These copies, known as “pod people”, seek to convert all of humanity into feelingsless creatures.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers” deals with issues such as loss of individual identity, social conformity and fear of foreign invasion. The film has been interpreted as a metaphor for the growing paranoia and conformity that characterized the society of the time, especially during the McCarthy period.

One of the film’s defining elements is its atmosphere of tension and mounting paranoia. Siegel’s direction and evocative soundtrack help create a sense of constant foreboding. The film deals with the theme of duplicity and alienation, with the protagonist played by Kevin McCarthy trying to convince others of the impending threat.

Touch of Evil (1958)

Touch of Evil” is a 1958 film noir directed by Orson Welles. The film is considered one of the masterpieces of the genre and an icon of film noir.

The plot of “Touch of Evil” takes place in the border town of Los Robles, on the border between the United States and Mexico. The film begins with a famous long opening tracking shot. This sequence starts with a bomb being placed in a car, followed by an explosion. From there, the story unfolds, intertwining a series of complex and corrupt characters.

The protagonist of the film is Captain Hank Quinlan, played by Orson Welles himself, a violent and corrupt police detective. When a respected Mexican citizen is killed along the border, Quinlan and his partner, played by Charlton Heston, are assigned to the case. As they investigate, the secrets and connections of the various characters, including Quinlan’s involvement with drugs and corruption, gradually come to light.

Touch of Evil” tackles complex themes such as corruption, justice, morality, and racism. The film is known for its intricate plot and multifaceted characters, challenging the fine line between good and evil. Orson Welles’ performance as the cynical and disturbed Captain Quinlan is regarded as one of his finest.

The film is also renowned for its bold and innovative visual style. Welles employs unconventional camera techniques, distorted camera angles, and a play of light and shadow to create a haunting and claustrophobic atmosphere. The soundtrack of “Touch of Evil” further contributes to building constant tension and enhancing the film’s dark atmosphere.

The Blob (1959)

“The Blob” is a 1958 science fiction horror film directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. It has become a classic of the genre and had a significant impact on popular culture.

The plot of the film follows the story of a small town that is invaded by a gelatinous alien creature that feeds on human flesh and grows every time it feeds. The creature, called “The Blob”, begins to terrorize the inhabitants and spread rapidly. A group of young protagonists, played by Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut, try to stop the threat and warn others of its presence.

Mortal fluid” has a classic 1950s cinema imprint, with the representation of the alien invasion as a metaphor for the fears of the time, such as the fear of communism and the nuclear threat. The film was influenced by the successes of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) and “The Quatermass Xperiment” (1955), which dealt with similar themes.

One of the distinctive features of the film is the visual representation of the creature, which appears as a gelatinous red mass, which engulfs its victims and continues to grow. This visual element made “Mortal Fluid” memorable and iconic in the horror genre.

The film also benefited from Steve McQueen’s performances and his on-screen charisma. His portrayal helped make the film more engaging for the audience and contributed to its popularity.

Cult Movie of the 60s

The decade of the break. Cinema is tinged with acid, violence, and rebellion. Splatter is born (with Romero), along with experimental cinema and lysergic road movies. Films from this period don’t try to please everyone; rather, they are political and artistic manifestos screaming against the system. It is the birth of the modern “Midnight Movie.”

Faust

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Horror, by F. W. Murnau, German, 1926.
Faust is an elderly scholar who has lost faith in life. He is defeated by his inability to help others and by his awareness of his own mortality. One day, he meets Mephistopheles, who offers him a pact: in exchange for his soul, Mephistopheles will give him eternal youth and power. Faust accepts the pact and Mephistopheles takes him to a world of luxury and pleasure. Faust falls in love with Gretchen, a young innocent woman, but their love is thwarted by Mephistopheles.

Faust is considered one of the greatest silent films ever made. It is a visually stunning film, with Murnau's use of expressionist imagery and symbolism to create a dark and atmospheric world. The film also features some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history, such as the sequence in which Faust and Mephistopheles fly on a magic carpet. In addition to its artistic merits, Faust was one of the last major German films produced before the rise of the Nazis. The film's dark and expressionist style later influenced directors such as Orson Welles and Fritz Lang. It is a visually stunning and thought-provoking film that explores the themes of temptation, redemption, and the human condition.

LANGUAGE: German
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese

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The Time Machine (1960)

“The Time Machine” is a film adaptation of the novel by H.G. Wells and is regarded as one of the most iconic sci-fi cult films of the 1960s. The film was directed by George Pal, a director known for his science fiction works, and achieved widespread critical and commercial acclaim.

The plot of the film revolves around a Victorian inventor named George, played by Rod Taylor, who creates a time machine. Through this machine, George is able to travel back and forth in time. He decides to use his invention to explore the future of humanity.

The film deals with issues such as class division, the nature of humanity and the misuse of technology. It also explores the fragility of human society and the danger of ignorance and selfishness. Director George Pal has managed to create an atmospheric and futuristic atmosphere, making the film a visually captivating experience.

“The Time Machine” is admired for its solid script, innovative special effects for its time, and convincing performances. The film helped set the standard for later time travel films and influenced many other works of science fiction.

Village of the Damned (1960)

“Village of the Damned” is a film by sci-fi/horror of 1960 directed by Wolf Rilla. The film is based on the novel “The Midwich Cuckoos” by John Wyndham. It is considered a classic of the genre and has had a significant impact on popular culture.

The plot of the film takes place in a quiet English village called Midwich. One day, all the villagers lose consciousness for several hours. After this strange event, they find out that many women of the village have become pregnant. Even stranger is the fact that the children born from these pregnancies have hypnotic eyes and telepathic powers. These children display above-average intelligence and appear to be united by a single sinister purpose.

Village of the Damned” explores themes such as fear of the unknown, the threat of otherness and human nature. The film questions the idea of ​​control and power struggle, examining how human beings react in the face of an extraordinary and inexplicable threat. It is also a reflection on the fear of the alien and the evolution of humanity.

The film is known for its dark and foreboding atmosphere, supported by convincing acting and effective direction. It has influenced numerous subsequent films on the theme of evil or supernatural children.

The Mask of the Devil (1960)

In 17th-century Moldavia, Princess Asa Vajda is condemned to death for witchcraft by her own brother, the Grand Inquisitor. Before the executioner hammers the “Mask of Satan”—a bronze mask with internal spikes—onto her face, she casts a terrible curse upon her lineage. Two centuries later, two doctors traveling to Moscow accidentally discover the witch’s crypt and inadvertently bring her back to life by spilling blood on her preserved corpse. Asa rises with a single goal: to drain the life force of young Princess Katia, her identical descendant, to regain her youth and power, unleashing a reign of terror within the family castle.

Marking Mario Bava’s official directorial debut, Black Sunday is the absolute masterpiece that established the Italian Gothic genre. Bava, a master cinematographer, creates a black-and-white nightmare of stunning visual beauty, where fog, cobwebs, and chiaroscuro lighting matter more than the plot itself. The film is immortalized by the magnetic presence of Barbara Steele, who plays both the witch and the innocent victim, becoming the first true female icon of modern horror. It is a dreamlike and macabre work that deeply influenced directors like Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola for its unique blend of eroticism and decay.

Black Sabbath (1963)

Introduced by the legendary Boris Karloff, this anthology film presents three distinct shades of horror. In “The Telephone,” a woman alone in her apartment is terrorized by a series of threatening calls from an ex-lover she believed to be dead, building a crescendo of erotic tension and paranoia. In “The Wurdalak,” set in 19th-century Russia, a noble traveler stumbles upon a family cursed by a cruel form of vampirism: the undead return to feed exclusively on the blood of those they loved most in life. Finally, in “The Drop of Water,” a nurse makes the fatal mistake of stealing a ring from the finger of a dead medium, only to be haunted by the woman’s ghost and the obsessive sound of dripping water.

Considered one of the absolute masterpieces of anthology horror, the film is a perfect compendium of Mario Bava’s visual genius, experimenting here with three subgenres: the psychological giallo, the classic gothic, and supernatural horror. The expressionist use of color—with its acid greens, deep purples, and long shadows—creates a dreamlike, suffocating atmosphere that has influenced generations of directors, from Tarantino to Guillermo del Toro. The final segment (“The Drop of Water”) is particularly renowned, remaining one of the scariest moments in cinema history for its ability to generate pure terror with minimal means.

Fear and Desire

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War, drama, by Stanley Kubrick, United States, 1953.
Fear and Desire is the first feature by Stanley Kubrick, a totally independent film financed by the director himself and by a fundraiser between friends and relatives. Made with a small crew, Kubrick also took care of the editing and photography. The film is the first on the war theme on which he will direct the other famous films in his career. During an unidentified war, a metaphor for all wars, four soldiers crash with a plane and find themselves behind enemy lines. The survivors try to save themselves by building a raft with which to go up the river. It seems that Kubrick has been blocking visibility for years by searching and destroying all copies of the film because he thought it was "a bad cinematic exercise". He was wrong.

Food for thought
The root of the war is inside, outside then simply seeing its branches and leaves. If the underlying script of mankind is not transformed, if mankind is not given a new program by which to live wars will continue. It is not about changing political ideologies or teaching people to live in brotherhood: they are already proven things that have failed. It is about healing the fracture in the human soul where there is constant internal warfare.

LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Italian, French

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Repulsion (1965)

Repulsion” is a 1965 psychological film directed by Roman Polanski. It is considered a cult film by the director and an important work of psychological and horror cinema.

The film follows the story of Carol Ledoux, played by Catherine Deneuve, a young woman who works as a manicurist in London. Carol is an introvert and suffers from mental and sexual disorders. When her sister Helen goes on a vacation, Carol is left alone in the apartment she shares with her, and her psyche begins to deteriorate.

Polanski skillfully uses cinematic language to create a claustrophobic and eerie atmosphere. The black and white photography accentuates the main character’s feeling of alienation and isolation. The rooms of the apartment become a visual nightmare, with walls cracking, objects moving and cobwebs forming. The minimalist soundtrack and sound effects further add to the palpable tension.

Catherine Deneuve’s performance is remarkable. She manages to convey Carol’s fragility and inner anguish in an extraordinary way, making her character fascinating and disturbing at the same time. The film deals with themes such as loneliness, repressed sexuality, fear of human contact and the disintegration of the psyche.

“Repulsion” was critically acclaimed for its experimental and disturbing storytelling. It is considered one of Polanski’s best films and has influenced many subsequent directors in the genre of psychological and horror cinema. The film offers a powerful depiction of mental instability and its destructive effects on the human psyche, remaining an impactful cinematic work to this day.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

2001: A Space Odyssey” is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick. Considered one of the masterpieces of cinema, the film is based on the short story by Arthur C. Clarke entitled “The Watchman” and was developed in collaboration with Clarke himself.

The plot of “2001: A Space Odyssey” is an astral journey through time and space. The film unfolds over four main acts, each of which features a different point in time and setting. The film’s opening shows the dawn of humanity, in which a group of primitive hominids discover a black monolith mysteriously appearing on Earth. This monolith appears to have an influence on human evolution, stimulating intelligence and paving the way for a new stage of development. The second act is set in 2001 and follows a human expedition to Jupiter aboard the spacecraft Discovery One. On board is the AI ​​HAL 9000, a supercomputer with artificial intelligence. However, HAL begins to exhibit erratic behavior and endangers the crew. Astronaut Dave Bowman remains the sole survivor and discovers another monolith on Jupiter’s moon. The third act, called ‘Jupiter Beyond Infinity’, is a visual and psychedelic experience that explores concepts of space and time, pushing the boundaries of human understanding. Bowman plunges into a surreal cosmic journey and transforms into a higher life form.

“2001: A Space Odyssey” is a cult film celebrated for its iconic images, stunning soundtrack (including the famous music “Also sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss), and its revolutionary visual style. The film ushered in a new era in science fiction cinematography, displaying unprecedented scientific accuracy and a thoughtful approach to the exploration of the universe. The film explores profound themes such as human evolution, artificial intelligence, the presence of extraterrestrial life and the nature of the universe itself. Kubrick has created an enigmatic narrative open to multiple interpretations, leaving room for different philosophical and metaphysical interpretations.

Cult Movie of the 70s

If there is a sacred decade for cult cinema, this is it. Midnight theaters in New York and London screened films defying every taboo: El Topo, Eraserhead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is dirty, mystical, excessive cinema, where the line between art and trash vanishes completely. Here, giants were born.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

In The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, American writer Sam Dalmas, about to leave Rome to return home, accidentally witnesses an assault inside an art gallery: a woman struggles with a black-clad figure and is wounded. Trapped between the automatic glass doors, Sam is forced to watch helplessly, haunted by the feeling that a crucial visual detail of the event is escaping his memory. With his passport confiscated by the police as a key witness, he decides to investigate on his own while a serial killer begins to target him. The key to the mystery lies in a sound recorded during a threatening phone call: the call of a rare Siberian bird, the Hornitus.

Dario Argento’s dazzling directorial debut definitively codified the “Italian Giallo” genre, turning it into an international phenomenon. Loosely based on Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi, the film introduces all of the director’s stylistic obsessions: the killer with black gloves, POV shots, the fetishization of the murder weapon, and the hypnotic use of the score (here by Ennio Morricone). The first chapter of the “Animal Trilogy” (alongside The Cat o’ Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet), it is a visually refined thriller that plays with perception and memory, suggesting that the truth is always right before our eyes, yet we often misinterpret it.

Intolerance

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Historical, drama, by David Wark Griffith, United States, 1916.
The Kolossal that changed the history of cinema by bringing ingenious and numerous innovations also to the cinematographic language. Made by Griffith as a response to accusations of racism for his previous film, Birth of a Nation. Four distinct stories over a span of 2,500 years told in parallel about the intolerance of humanity over the centuries: conflicts in ancient Babylon, adultery and crucifixion in the biblical history of Judea, the French Renaissance, social unrest and the crimes of history American of the early 1900s.

Food for thought
Man is perpetually in conflict and the cause of all conflict exists within. Human beings accumulate so much anger, madness, madness within themselves that they cannot help but explode into some new war. Man is divided internally, he speaks of peace and ends up creating a new war. In order to resolve the external manifestations of the conflict, the internal conflict must be resolved.

LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese

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Mean Streets (1973) 

Mean Streets’ is a 1973 film directed by Martin Scorsese, which has received great attention and recognition as one of the director’s earliest achievements. The film is set in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City and follows the life of a young Italian-American named Charlie, played by Harvey Keitel. Charlie is involved in the local criminal underworld and works for his mobster uncle. However, he also tries to balance his life between family responsibilities, his Catholic faith and friendship with his eccentric friend Johnny Boy, played by Robert De Niro.

Mean Streets” explores themes such as identity, guilt, redemption and the conflict between good and evil. The film is known for its gritty and realistic storytelling style, which helped define Scorsese’s signature style as a filmmaker. He has been widely praised for his authentic performances and his authentic portrayal of New York City borough life.

The film also marked the beginning of the collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro, which would become one of the most famous in cinema. “Mean Streets” established Scorsese as a director to watch and paved the way for many of his future successes. With its gritty violence, realistic portrayal of the criminal underworld and complex thematics, “Mean Streets” has become a cult film and a landmark in the gangster film genre. He helped establish Martin Scorsese as one of the greatest directors of his time and left a lasting impression on the cinematic landscape.

The Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

The Phantom of the Paradise” is a 1974 film directed by Brian De Palma. It is a horror musical that mixes elements of Gaston Leroux’s novel “The Phantom of the Opera” with the rock and pop culture of the time. The film tells the story of Winslow Leach, played by William Finley, a talented young composer who has his work stolen by Swan, played by Paul Williams, an unscrupulous record producer. After being wrongfully imprisoned, Winslow suffers an accident that leaves him disfigured. However, he finds refuge in the Paradise building, a performance venue run by Swan.

The Phantom of the Paradise’ is known for its original score, written and performed by Paul Williams, which has received widespread recognition. The film combines various music genres, such as rock, pop, and glam rock, creating a catchy and memorable soundtrack.

Director Brian De Palma deftly mixes elements of satire, comedy, horror and melodrama, offering a grotesque and surreal vision of the music industry. The film is full of references and parodies of famous personalities and musical artists of the time. Though it didn’t score big at the box office upon its release, ‘The Phantom of the Paradise’ has become a cult film over the years, appreciated for its originality and unique fusion of styles. It is considered a landmark in Brian De Palma’s filmography and a milestone in the musical horror genre.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

The Man Who Fell to Earth” is a 1976 science fiction cult film directed by Nicolas Roeg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. The plot follows an alien named Thomas Jerome Newton, played by David Bowie, who arrives on Earth from his home planet, which is threatened by drought. Newton assumes the identity of a businessman and tries to use his advanced technology to develop a company that can provide the knowledge and technology needed to save his planet.

The film explores themes such as alienation, obsession, greed and isolation. It questions the nature of humanity and its relationship with each other and criticizes the consumerist and capitalist society. The Man Who Fell to Earth” is a stark and often melancholy portrayal of the loneliness and strangeness of an alien stranded in a world he cannot fully understand.

David Bowie gives a memorable performance as Thomas Jerome Newton, bringing his own unique and magnetic aura to the character. Nicolas Roeg’s direction stands out for its visually bold style, combining non-linear narrative sequences, symbolic images and unconventional editing. “The Man Who Fell to Earth” has become a cult film and has gained a cult following over the years. It is considered a film that moves away from conventional science fiction stereotypes, offering a more intimate and philosophical reflection on human experiences and the human condition.

Carrie (1976)

In Carrie, shy teenager Carrie White endures a hellish existence, crushed between the ruthless bullying of her high school classmates and the religious fanaticism of her mother, Margaret, who sees sin in every aspect of femininity. Following a traumatic incident in the gym showers, Carrie discovers she possesses latent telekinetic powers that manifest under emotional stress. What appears to be a moment of social redemption—an invitation to the senior prom—turns into a cruel trap when a humiliating prank pushes her over the edge, unleashing an apocalyptic supernatural revenge that will devastate the entire school.

The first film adaptation of a Stephen King novel, this Brian De Palma masterpiece transcends the horror genre to become an operatic tragedy about adolescence and alienation. De Palma applies his baroque and Hitchcockian style—utilizing split-screens, dreamlike slow motion, and saturated colors—to build unbearable tension culminating in the famous prom sequence, a visually unforgettable triumph of blood and fire. Sissy Spacek, with her alien and vulnerable gaze, and Piper Laurie, terrifying as the mother, deliver two of the most powerful performances of 1970s cinema, establishing the film as a cultural icon regarding the fear of the female body and repression.

Love on the Run

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Comedy, romance, by Francois Truffaut, France, 1978.
After seven years Antoine and Christine divorce, while remaining good friends. Antoine is in a relationship with Liliane, friend of Christine, has published an autobiography about his loves and finds work as a proofreader and also begins a cheerful, if tumultuous relationship, with Sabine, a saleswoman in a record store.

It is the fifth and final film in the series of 'Antoine Doinel', which follows the life of the main character from childhood to adulthood. The film won the Jury Prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival. It is a significant representation of human relationships, an intelligent and ironic reflection on the themes of love, loss and personal growth. It is also an homage to French cinema of the 60s and 70s, a sort of synthesis of cinematic themes and styles that Truffaut had explored throughout his career. Léaud had played the character in all the films of the "Antoine Doinel" series and his performance in "Love on the Run" was considered one of the best of his career. "Love on the Run" was well received by critics and is considered one of Truffaut's best films.

LANGUAGE: french
SUBTITLES: english, italian

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Eraserhead (1977)

Eraserhead” is a 1977 film written and directed by David Lynch. It is Lynch’s first feature film and represents one of his most iconic and influential works by him. The film is a surreal and disturbing experience, characterized by an ambiguous plot and a claustrophobic atmosphere. The story follows Henry Spencer, played by Jack Nance, a lonely and alienated man who lives in a rundown industrial environment. His life is turned upside down by the birth of a deformed son, which pushes him towards a state of paranoia and hallucinations. Eraserhead” is known for its black and white aesthetic, which creates a dark and dreamlike atmosphere. The film features a distinctive use of photography and soundtrack, creating a unique sensory experience.

The storyline of “Eraserhead” is open to many interpretations and can be seen as a reflection on the fears and anxieties of modern life, alienation and family breakdown. The film also deals with themes such as sexuality, isolation and existential angst. Despite being an independent and very small budget project, ‘Eraserhead’ has gained a cult following over the years and garnered critical acclaim for its originality and unique vision. The film influenced a number of directors and established Lynch’s signature style as a surreal storyteller. Eraserhead” became a landmark in avant-garde cinema and laid the foundation for the successful career of David Lynch, who would go on to become one of the best-known and most acclaimed directors of his time.

Cult Movie of the 80s

Technology changes everything. With the arrival of the VCR, cult cinema enters the home. It is the decade of practical effects, rubbery horror, cyberpunk, and hyper-violent action. Films from this era have an unmistakable aesthetic—smoke, neon, synthesizers—that is now the object of endless nostalgia.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: Best 80s Cult Movies

The Elephant Man (1980)

Not only among the best cult films of the 80s, but also among the best cinema masterpieces. Frederick Treves, a surgeon at London Hospital, discovers John Merrick in a show in London’s East End, where he is run by Mr. Bytes, a ferocious ringmaster, a money-grubbing man. His head is kept hooded, and his “owner”, who sees him as intellectually disabled, is paid by Treves to take him to the health facility for an evaluation.

Treves shows Merrick to his colleagues and highlights his massive head, which requires him to sleep with his head on his knees, because if he were to lie down, he would surely asphyxiate. Upon Merrick’s return, he is punished so severely by Bytes that he has to call Treves for medical assistance. Treves takes him back to the health facility.

The film directed by David Lynch creates a remarkable synthesis in dealing with his subject, as well as having outstanding interpretations of John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. Hurt is really cool. It can’t be easy to act under such a heavy mask… the packaging is beautiful, especially the black and white photograph of Freddie Francis.

Bad Timing (1980)

One of the least remembered and known cult films of the 1980s. In Cold War Vienna, Milena Flaherty, a young American woman in her 20s, is rushed to the emergency room after taking an overdose in a suicide attempt.

With her is Alex Linden, an American psychoanalyst who remains in town as a university lecturer. As doctors and nurses struggle to save Milena’s life, a detective, Netusil, begins to investigate the event. With fragmented flashbacks, the narrative shows Alex’s story and Milena’s love story.

Nicolas Roeg is a director of unique charisma, and has the ability to fascinate as well as capture attention. In other hands all of this may be just deception and entertainment, but through these fragmented components Roeg and his author Yale Udoff develop a powerful story.

Man with a movie camera

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Documentary, by Dziga Vertov, Russia, 1929.
After a few years spent making propaganda documentaries, Dziga Vertov realizes his masterpiece, inspired by the theories on reality cinema and Kinoglaz. An experimental visual symphony with futurist roots. An ordinary day of a cinematographer wandering around the city without apparent purpose in search of the life to be filmed. The camera triggers an explosion of creativity that is a new vision of reality: pure cinema that is enhanced with ingenious editing inventions. A film so inspired and modern that it is still an endless subject of discussion and new ideas today.

Food for thought
Certain works of art, certain films have an objective art quality. In subjective art, the artist does not consider who is looking at the work of art, he merely brings out his own inner world. The objective work of art, on the other hand, has an inherent quality that can be passed on for thousands of years. The objective work of art is not linked to any ideology, social culture or era: it can excite anyone, at any latitude and in any era.

Without dialogue

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An American Werewolf in London (1981)

One of the great cult films of the 1980s. 2 American backpackers from New York City, David Kessler and Jack Goodman, are traversing the Yorkshire moors. As night falls, they enter an inn called Slaughtered Lamb. Jack sees strange five-pointed symbols on the wall, but when he asks the inn-goers they become aggressive.

They both decide to leave, and the pub-goers advise them to stay on the road, not go to the moors and watch out for the full moon. David and Jack turn off the road into the moor and are attacked by a ferocious creature.

Fun and terrifying at the same time, John Landis‘ horror comedy crosses categories as it features Rick Baker’s stunning makeup effects. Romantic and crepuscular atmospheres, unforgettable scenes of the transformation into a wolf. A special mix of horror movies and parody, comedy and existential drama.

1997 Escape from New York (1981)

“Escape from New York” is a 1981 dystopian film directed by John Carpenter. It is an action-thriller set in a dystopian future where Manhattan has become a maximum security prison isolated from the rest of the world.

The protagonist of the film is Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, a former soldier and war criminal sentenced to serve a sentence in a maximum security prison. When the President of the United States’ plane is hijacked and crashes into Manhattan prison, Snake is recruited for a rescue mission.

Escape from New York” is known for its dark atmosphere and dystopian depiction of Manhattan. The film offers a post-apocalyptic vision of a corrupt and disrupted society, where violence is the order of the day and the law has become ineffective. The storyline is gripping and full of action, with Snake Plissken getting involved in shootings, chases and deadly fights.

“Escape from New York” has become a cult film over the years, appreciated for its dark atmosphere, John Carpenter’s score and Snake Plissken’s unforgettable characterization. It inspired several sequels and helped solidify the escape and survival film genre in cinema.

The Thing (1982)

The cult horror of the 80s. In Antarctica, a helicopter chases a sled to an American research laboratory. Scientists witness the traveler unintentionally detonating the helicopter and himself. The pilot shoots the dog and also insults the Americans in Norwegian, but they fail to recognize him.

He is shot and killed in self-defense by station commander Garry. American helicopter pilot RJ MacReady and Dr. Copper set out to survey the Norwegian base. Among the charred ruins and frozen corpses, they discover the burnt remains of a deformed humanoid which they transfer to the American station.

Kurt Russell is the 80s movie poster boy of cult movies. The Thing is one of John Carpenter most beloved films, but it didn’t start out like that. It was quickly criticized, but later ended up being representative of the 1980s after it launched on home video and TV.

Videodrome (1983)

Max Renn is the president of CIVIC-TV, a Toronto-based television specializing in sensational programs, broadcasts Videodrome, a non-plot show broadcast from Malaysia that features anonymous victims seriously injured and killed. Thinking this is the future of TV, Max orders unlicensed use of the show.

Nicki Brand, a sadomasochistic radio host, is excited by an episode of Videodrome, and will most likely audition for the show when she finds out it’s airing from Pittsburgh. Max contacts Masha, a softcore pornographer, and asks her to help him understand the truth about Videodrome.

Blondie singer Debbie Harry starred in this David Cronenberg film. Famous for body horror films, Cronenberg was successful in enlisting assistance from major Hollywood productions in making Videodrome. The film gained a huge following by pushing censorship restrictions to a new level. The director’s lo is subversive and grotesque. The difficulties did not prevent Videodrome from ranking in the cult hall of fame.

Night of the living dead

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Horror, di George Romero, Stati Uniti, 1968.
One of the most profitable independent films of all time, it grossed around 250 times its budget. Inspired like other cult horror films by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I Am Legend". Shot as a "guerrilla film" with a cast and crew of friends and family and a budget of just $ 114,000, the film is the forerunner of the inexhaustible "zombie movie" genre.

LANGUAGE: english

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Body Double (1984)

Body Double” is a 1984 film directed by Brian De Palma. It is a psychological thriller that combines elements of Giallo, horror, and erotic drama.

The film follows the story of Jake Scully, played by Craig Wasson, a struggling actor in Hollywood who is dumped by his girlfriend and finds himself without a place to live. A friend offers him the opportunity to house-sit an apartment, where Jake discovers a hole in the wall that allows him to spy on his female neighbor, a mysterious woman played by Melanie Griffith, who performs private erotic shows.

Body Double” is known for its visceral and sexually charged murder scenes, which have become trademarks of the director. De Palma employs visually bold techniques, including long tracking shots, suggestive framing, and a compelling soundtrack, to create an eerie and unsettling atmosphere.

The film received mixed reviews upon its release but has gained a cult following over the years. It is considered one of Brian De Palma’s most distinctive works, exploring themes of voyeurism, sexuality, perversion, and obsession.

After Hours (1985)

After Hours” is a 1985 cult film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a black comedy that follows the misadventures of an ordinary man who gets caught up in a crazy and chaotic night in New York City.

The protagonist of the film is Paul Hackett, played by Griffin Dunne, an office employee who decides to go out and experience a different evening than usual. After meeting an attractive woman named Marcy, played by Rosanna Arquette, Paul follows her to the SoHo neighborhood.

However, things take an unexpected turn when Paul loses his subway map and finds himself stranded in downtown New York City, facing a series of bizarre and surreal events. Along the way, Paul collides with a variety of eccentric characters, including wacky artists, ruthless criminals, a gang of vigilantes and a dangerous ice cream man.

Unlike typical Scorsese films, “After Hours” is notable for its humorous tone and satirical depiction of urban life. The film explores themes such as isolation, paranoia, frustration and fear of the unknown, highlighting the absurdity and madness of contemporary society.

‘After Hours’ was critically acclaimed for its clever script and frenetic pace as well as brilliant performances by the cast. Although it didn’t achieve great commercial success upon its release, the film has become a cult film over the years and is considered one of Scorsese’s most distinctive and underrated works.

Highlander (1986)

In 1985, Connor MacLeod faces an old enemy, Iman Fasil, in the Madison Square Garden parking lot. After a sword fight, MacLeod beheads Fasil and a huge energy, named Quickening, hits the surrounding place, destroying several vehicles. After Connor hides his katana in the garage ceiling, NYPD officers detain him for murder but later release him for lack of evidence.

A French-American star who plays a Scotsman (Christopher Lambert) and also a Scotsman who plays an immortal Spaniard (Sean Connery) – what could be better? The defense of eternal life in both 16th century Scotland and 1980s New York really hit the hearts of the public.

A memorable soundtrack by Queen, Russell Mulcahy’s film is filled with legendary sword fights and a scary villain in The Kurgan played by prolific star Clancy Brown. 

They Live (1988)

In They Live, John Nada is an unemployed drifter who arrives in Los Angeles looking for work, finding only a destitute shantytown crushed by media opulence. After recovering a pair of seemingly normal sunglasses from an abandoned church, he discovers a terrifying reality: the colorful world around him is merely a broadcast frequency acting as a disguise. Wearing the lenses, the signal breaks, and billboards reveal totalitarian subliminal commands like “OBEY,” “CONSUME,” and “NO THOUGHT,” while the wealthy elite are revealed to be skeletal-faced aliens who have colonized Earth, treating it like a business. Armed with a shotgun and the glasses, Nada wages a solitary war, brutally trying to convince his coworker Frank to see the truth hiding in plain sight.

This cult classic directed by John Carpenter is not just a sci-fi action movie, but one of the fiercest and smartest political satires ever made against the Reagan era and rampant 80s capitalism. Blending B-movie aesthetics with subversive philosophy, Carpenter suggests that our social apathy is artificially induced. The film has become legendary for the iconic performance of wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and for the famous six-minute alleyway fistfight—one of the longest and most realistic in cinema history—which metaphorically symbolizes how painful and difficult it is to force someone to open their eyes and accept an uncomfortable truth.

Nosferatu

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When a young real estate agent, Thomas Hutter, goes to the castle to close a deal, Orlok is attracted by his blood and decides to follow him to his hometown. The arrival of the count causes a series of mysterious deaths and spreads panic among the inhabitants.

Murnau, through evocative images and disturbing atmospheres, creates a work that goes far beyond the simple adaptation of Stoker's novel. The film explores universal themes such as the fear of death, isolation and the loss of humanity. The production of Nosferatu was characterized by some legal difficulties due to the copyright of Bram Stoker's novel. Despite this, Murnau and his crew managed to make a film of great visual impact. The choice of Max Schreck to play Count Orlok was ingenious. His cadaverous appearance and his unnatural movements have made the character of Orlok one of the iconic monsters in the history of cinema. Over the years, Nosferatu has become a cult film, influencing generations of filmmakers and becoming a reference point for the horror genre. The image of Count Orlok, with his elongated nails and sunken eyes, has become an icon of horror cinema.

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Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

In Tetsuo: The Iron Man, an ordinary Salaryman accidentally hits a “Metal Fetishist”—a man who inserts scrap metal into his body—with his car and, in a panic, dumps the body in the woods with his girlfriend. The guilt and the victim’s curse trigger a horrific metamorphosis: the man discovers a small piece of metal protruding from his cheek, the beginning of an unstoppable biomechanical infection. His body is gradually and painfully colonized by pipes, drills, cables, and rusty gears, transforming him into a machine of destruction driven by rage and lust, leading to an apocalyptic final showdown with the fetishist’s spirit, who seeks to merge with him to “rust the whole world.

Shot on 16mm with grainy, high-contrast black and white, Shinya Tsukamoto’s film is the definitive manifesto of Japanese Cyberpunk and extreme Body Horror. It is a sensory experience rather than a narrative one, edited with a frenetic music-video pace and accompanied by a deafening industrial score by Chu Ishikawa. Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a nightmare about the fusion of flesh and technology and urban alienation, a visceral and disturbing work that influenced all subsequent underground cinema with its ability to transform industrial trash into kinetic art.

Cult Movie of the 90s

Independent cinema conquers the world. Directors like Tarantino, Kevin Smith, and the Coen brothers prove you can make cult cinema with lots of dialogue and little money. It is the era of pulp, post-modern irony, and movies that talk about other movies. Cult becomes “cool” and self-aware.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) 

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” is a prequel film to the acclaimed and influential television series “Twin Peaks,” created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The film was written by Lynch and serves as a sort of introduction to the events that take place before the start of the television series. The film follows the story of Laura Palmer, played by Sheryl Lee, the young woman whose murder is the central investigation in the television series. Fire Walk with Me” focuses on the final weeks of Laura’s life and reveals details about her turbulent life and the dark secrets surrounding her.

The film explores themes of sexual abuse, violence, corruption, and the duality between good and evil, which are characteristic of the strange and mysterious world of Twin Peaks. While the television series primarily focused on unraveling the mystery of Laura’s death, the film delves into her psychology and provides a more raw and disturbing view of events. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” received mixed reactions upon its release, as it diverged significantly from the lighter and more surreal tone of the television series. However, over the years, the film has been reassessed and has gained a cult following due to its emotional power, Sheryl Lee’s performance, and Lynch’s direction, which creates an eerie and surreal atmosphere.

Pi (1998)

Pi” is a 1998 cult film directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is a psychological thriller with science fiction elements and focuses on the themes of obsession, mathematics and the search for the meaning of life. The plot of the film follows a young mathematical genius named Max Cohen, played by Sean Gullette, who lives an isolated and tormented life due to his obsession with numbers and mathematical formulas. Max believes there is a universal numerical model that can explain all aspects of life, including natural phenomena and financial movements.

“Pi” is a film notable for its distinctive visual style, using black-and-white photography, fast-paced editing, and an atmospheric soundtrack to create an intense, claustrophobic atmosphere. The film also explores philosophical and metaphysical themes such as the search for truth, the nature of obsession and the individual’s struggle against power and control. ‘Pi’ has been critically acclaimed for its originality and unique approach to storytelling. It has won numerous awards and has become a cult film over the years, recognized for its provocative vision and reflections on the complexity of the universe and the human mind.

Cult Movie of the 2000s

The new millennium brings anxiety and complexity. Cult films of this decade are often mental puzzles (Donnie Darko, Memento) that require three viewings to be understood. Internet cult is born: films that fail in theaters but become legends thanks to forums and digital word-of-mouth.

The Devil’s Rejects (2005)

In The Devil’s Rejects, set a few months after the Halloween massacre, Sheriff John Wydell launches a brutal raid on the Firefly family farmhouse to avenge his brother’s death. While Mother Firefly is captured, Otis and Baby manage to escape through the fields, eventually reuniting with their patriarch, Captain Spaulding. Thus begins a bloody joyride across the dusty backroads of Texas, leaving a trail of corpses and torture at an isolated motel, while the Sheriff, now descended into madness and religious sadism, hunts them down not to arrest them, but to torture and kill them using their own brutal methods.

Considered Rob Zombie’s masterpiece, this sequel sharply departs from the cartoonish, dreamlike style of its predecessor (House of 1000 Corpses) to embrace a raw, sun-drenched, and realistic 70s road movie aesthetic, inspired by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Wild Bunch. The director performs a narrative miracle by flipping the perspective: he transforms three psychopathic serial killers into charismatic, “free” anti-heroes, pitted against a lawman who becomes progressively more monstrous than the criminals he pursues. Violent, dirty, and nihilistic, the film is a must-watch for its Southern Rock soundtrack and one of the most epic and poignant endings in horror history, set to the tunes of “Free Bird.”

Cult Movie of the 2010s

Cult goes “arthouse.” Production companies like A24 redefine the genre with slow, aesthetic, and psychological horror films (Midsommar, The Witch). The goal is no longer the cheap shock, but atmosphere, discomfort, and formal perfection. It is refined, visually stunning cult cinema that appeals as much to cinephiles as to the Instagram generation.

Holy Motors (2012)

From dawn to night, we follow the mysterious Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) as he travels in a white limousine through Paris. Throughout the day, Oscar assumes different identities for inexplicable appointments: he becomes a beggar, a monster kidnapping models, a family man, an assassin, and a dying man. Who is he really? And for whom is he acting, if there are no cameras?

Leos Carax signs an anarchic and unclassifiable work that is a tribute to the madness of acting and the death of analog cinema (the limousine as a mobile studio). It is a surreal, poetic, and visually shocking film that defies all narrative logic to celebrate the beauty of the artistic gesture for its own sake. A true cult object for those who love cinema that breaks the fourth wall.

Spring Breakers (2012)

Four bored college students rob a restaurant to pay for their spring break in Florida. Arriving at the beach, amidst parties, drugs, and excess, they are arrested but immediately bailed out by Alien (James Franco), a local rapper and gangster with a gold grill. The girls are seduced by his criminal lifestyle and transform into an armed gang in pink bikinis, willing to do anything to keep the vacation going.

Harmony Korine takes Disney icons (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens) and immerses them in a neon-pop nightmare made of dubstep, violence, and nihilism. Misunderstood upon release as a “teen movie,” it has become a cult classic for its corrosive critique of the American dream and MTV culture. It is a hypnotic and disturbing work of art that uses music video aesthetics to tell the emptiness of a generation.

Upstream Color (2013)

In Upstream Color, Kris is abducted by a mysterious figure known as “The Thief,” who infects her with a parasite harvested from blue orchids, placing her in a hypnotic trance that strips her of her free will and financial assets. Physically freed from the parasite by an enigmatic “Sampler” who transfers the organism into a pig, Kris wakes up with no memory of the event and her life in ruins. She meets Jeff, a man with a similar gap in his past, and the two begin an intense, disorienting relationship where their memories and identities bleed into one another, eventually discovering they are psychically linked to the fate of the livestock harboring their former parasites.

Nine years after the cult hit Primer, Shane Carruth returns with a work of organic, sensory science fiction that trades technical dialogue for a stream of pure image and sound, reminiscent of Terrence Malick. The film is a devastating emotional puzzle exploring the cyclical nature of biology, trauma, and the struggle to rebuild identity after a profound violation. Visually stunning and driven by a hypnotic score composed by the director himself (who handled every aspect of production), it is a film that demands to be “felt” rather than logically deciphered, standing as one of the most original visions in modern independent cinema.

Climax (2018)

A group of French dancers gathers in an abandoned school isolated by snow to rehearse a show. After the final dance, they start a party with sangria. Soon they realize someone has spiked the drink with a massive dose of LSD. The party quickly degenerates into a collective hell of paranoia, sex, violence, and psychosis, filmed in long takes that offer the viewer no escape.

Gaspar Noé is the king of extreme cinema, and this is perhaps his most accessible and terrifying film. It is a “dance-horror” that physically drags you into the characters’ delirium. The first part is a celebration of the beauty of the body and movement; the second is a descent into hell without cuts. A film experienced like a panic attack, loved for its technical and visual audacity.

Mandy (2018)

In a dreamlike and hallucinated 1983, Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) lives a peaceful life in the woods with his partner Mandy. Their existence is shattered when a deviant hippie cult, aided by demon bikers summoned from hell, kidnaps and murders Mandy before Red’s eyes. Surviving the torture, Red forges a battle axe and embarks on a descent into madness to exact a bloody and psychedelic revenge.

Directed by Panos Cosmatos, this film became an instant cult classic for its unique aesthetic: a bath of saturated colors, purple and red neon lights, and a deafening doom metal soundtrack (the last by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson). It is not just a revenge movie; it is a sensory experience blending heavy metal with art house cinema. Nicolas Cage delivers a shamanic and unhinged performance that is already legendary.

The Lighthouse (2019)

Two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) try to maintain their sanity while living isolated on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. Amidst alcoholism, relentless storms, visions of mermaids, and latent homoerotic tension, the two men slowly slip into a spiral of madness, fighting for dominance over one another and for access to the forbidden light of the lantern.

Robert Eggers shoots this film in a square aspect ratio (1.19:1) and expressionist black and white reminiscent of early silent films and period photography. It is a claustrophobic, dirty, and mythological film, full of archaic English dialogue and Freudian symbolism. An atmospheric masterpiece that has obsessed cinephiles for its indecipherability and the titanic performances of its two leads.

Cult Movie of the 2020s

Today, a film becomes a cult hit at light speed. Thanks to TikTok and social media, bizarre or extreme works (Titane, Everything Everywhere All At Once) become global phenomena in days. It is an era of total hybridization, where auteur cinema mixes with the language of memes and video art.

Possessor (2020)

Tasya Vos is a corporate assassin who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, using them to commit contract killings, then making them “commit suicide” to return to her own body. But during her latest mission, the host (a man named Colin) begins to resist, trapping Tasya in a mental struggle for control that blurs the boundaries of their identities.

Brandon Cronenberg (son of David) proves he has his father’s talent but with an even colder digital cruelty. It is a hyper-violent and hallucinatory sci-fi thriller exploring identity loss and surveillance. The use of colors, subliminal editing, and gore practical effects makes it a disturbing and unforgettable visual experience. A modern cult classic for those who love cerebral and ruthless sci-fi.

Mad God (2021)

A character known as “The Assassin” descends into a nightmarish underworld populated by grotesque monsters, endless torture, and landscapes of industrial ruin, with the mission to plant a bomb. There is no dialogue, just a succession of visual horrors showing an eternal cycle of destruction and creation, where every living being is fodder for superior gears.

Legendary special effects wizard Phil Tippett (Star Wars, Jurassic Park) spent 30 years making this stop-motion film in his garage. It is a masterpiece of mad craftsmanship, a “dirty,” textural, and disturbing work of art that seems to have come straight from a Bosch hellscape. Not a film for everyone, but for lovers of animation and the macabre, it is a sacred text.

Memoria (2021)

Jessica (Tilda Swinton), a Scottish botanist living in Colombia, is woken one night by a loud sound, like a dull thud, that only she seems to hear. Obsessed with this sound, she begins a journey through Bogotá and the Amazon jungle to understand its origin. Her path leads her to meet a sound engineer and a mysterious man who remembers everything, brushing against the boundaries between personal memory, collective history, and alien presence.

Directed by Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul, this is not a film; it is a hypnotic session. It is Slow Cinema in its purest form: static shots, silences, nature. It is a sci-fi film that shows nothing but makes you “feel” everything through incredible sound design. It became a cult object for its radical distribution (in the US it was shown “only in theaters, forever,” never on DVD/streaming for years) and for its ability to alter the viewer’s perception of time.

Cult, Meaning?

What does cult movie mean? A cult movie is a work that, regardless of its commercial and critical success at the time of its release, has resisted over time to become the cult object of a group of loyal fans, to the point of becoming the emblem of a subculture, of a fashion or a lifestyle.

It sometimes happens that a group of people completely identify with the content, images and stories of a cult film. He wears the clothes worn by the characters in the film, uses their objects, wants to live like them, sometimes bordering on fanaticism.

Mainstream Cult Movie

Can a mainstream film be a cult? In its more commercial sense of cult movie, Star Wars, for example, is definitely one of them. Generations of nerds, kids and adults who have always remained children have always collected and adored the gadgets of the film.

I don’t really agree on this: Star Wars is more of a trending film, a fashion created with great commercial resources, rather than a cult film. But it is easy to find, especially in American magazines, someone who says exactly the opposite.

Many film producers would dispute the claim that a cult film cannot be planned at the table. That otherwise the big studios would like every film they distribute to become a successful cult movie. I disagree because there is a difference between a cult movie and a movie that creates a fashion.

The Hit Cult Movies

Is an indie horror film like Paranormal Activity, made by a group of young, zero-budget filmmakers grossing $ 250 million, a cult phenomenon? From my point of view no. One of the main characteristics of a cult film must be to last over time, for a very long time, and to establish a special, very special and deep bond with the viewer.

The cult meaning is not to be confused with the unexpected success of an independent film of extraordinary viral or underground popularity. Is not just a horror that crowds of people lined up to see at midnight screenings. A cult film is a profound connection: it transforms its contents, which are icons of a certain historical period, of a movement, of a subculture, of a generational sentiment, into timeless contents.

Damn Movies?

There are hundreds of damn movies that are called cult only because their content is out of the ordinary, like some exceptionally violent horror films, but they don’t make a lasting and deep connection with their fans. Although they have provided exceptional entertainment, they do not reach their interior, and after a while they evaporate.

Cult movie: Failures Then Rediscovered

Then there are cult films that have had a dramatic box office failure and have been rediscovered many years later. Or first or second works by directors unknown at that time who then became very famous. A cult film must necessarily be “cursed. No.

They can definitely be called cult films because these directors are indeed cult objects for their fans, and their first films are even more so than subsequent films that have been successful. As if they were reserved for a small circle of enlightened people, true worshipers of the master.

For example, two masters like David Lynch and Brian De Palma made low-cost films that have become cult stars at the beginning of their careers: Eraserhead and the Phantom of the Paradise. These films represent something more than the following ones.

It’s like meeting great directors in their youth, a meeting between university students, having a simple and friendly relationship with them. Or in some cases it may mean knowing their dark side or the period of their creative career when they still had a raw and naive style. Less successful and less well-known films but that fans love to show that their adoration is higher than that of all the other fans of the master.

In short, we understand that in cult films there is an almost religious relationship between disciple and teacher. In these films the master-director transmits something unique to the disciple, the disciple treasures it. The maestro was able to crystallize his fan into his film, the group for which he feels a sense of belonging, perhaps an entire historical period.

Because he knows that something isn’t for everyone. It is something that not everyone can fully understand. Therefore, the meaning that I attribute to the definition of cult film cannot be applied to Star Wars or Indiana Jones.

Cult is a Masterpiece?

While a cult movie is a general term that can refer to any type of film, even commercial, especially in the United States, cinephiles, and more generally Europeans, prefer the term cult film. A cult film for cinema lovers, cinephiles, aspiring filmmakers and professionals, however, can still be something different: perhaps it is simply a film that has remained in the history of cinema because it is a masterpiece.

Perhaps few had noticed it at the time of its release in cinemas. Perhaps its innovative language that made it a masterpiece made it mistake for a mediocre film. It is a recurring thing in the history of cinema. Audience and critics do not hesitate to crush different, innovative films that are not aligned with the dominant preferences.

We could therefore say that the great ambiguity in the interpretation of the term cult film is due to this: it is love and faith that create cult films. If a man loves to ride his Harley Davidson, his cult movie will be Easy Rider. For the neorealist cinema scholar, the cult film will be Rossellini’s Rome, open city. If you love the stories of artists manipulated by power then you will be Brian De Palma’s Phantom.

There is no objective definition of a cult film because everyone has their own cult film, which touches the innermost chords of their soul. If I were really forced to give a definitive meaning of cult film, I would say this: a cult film is a film that deeply touches the hearts of many people, and at the same time marks a historical moment and the history of cinema.

In this way, the circle of cult films is drastically reduced. A film can touch our soul. But how many at the same time have marked a historical moment, a movement, a generation, and the cinematographic masterpieces have also been recognized? Few. Very few.

Is Donnie Darko, for example, a cult movie? Yes, because in it, even if a precise reference is not made to a historical moment or to a subculture, a specific target of people is recognized: adolescents, and adults who have remained adolescents, who experience the same tormented, dark, inexplicable sensations, covered in the film. A cult film manages to create a mysterious emotional and spiritual bond with a certain target of people who watch it.

A cult movie often represents a subculture. Which is not the paradox of subculture going mainstream, like the Beat Generation. It’s a small, restricted subculture that only marked a short period, but that became timeless in that film.

Can we define the popular masterpieces of film history like cult film? Some do, some do not, because they lack this characteristic: to influence a limited group of people belonging to a subculture, a lifestyle, a fashion, an era. By ensuring that that style, that fashion, that culture is found to live forever in the film, without time.

So what does cult mean? The characteristic of the cult movie is therefore to transcend time to become an icon of a certain phenomenon, for which a group of people feels a special bond, a real cult. That phenomenon and that link have infinite variables and this explains the ambiguity of the term cult movie.