Thursday, October 14, 2010

Top 10 Cult Movies From the 80s

Listed below are ten of the most awesome cult movies from the 1980's - some popular and some not so popular but nevertheless, cult cinema gems that must be seen to be believed. Remember though, not for all tastes!

1. The Basket Case (Frank Henenlotter/1982) - In its uncut version, this infamous midnight horror revenge comedy about a confused and vindictive young man carrying (his still alive) and deformed Siamese twin in a basket is good for little more than havoc on your sensibility or lack thereof but no one can deny its weird sense of dark humor, odd romance, comedic horror and cult following. Directed by Frank Henenlotter who also made Basket Case II in 1990 and Basket Case III in 1992.

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2. C.H.U.D (Douglas Cheek/1984)
- Well, you know what happens when nuclear waste seeps into a sewer system – hideous Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers rise from the manholes to stalk the streets of something tasty. CHUD (also released as ‘Panik in Manhattan’ in a few countries) is your typical grade B- Horror movie but it’s got a great sense of campy humor and now considered a Cult Classic. Lookout for Daniel Stern, John Heard, John Goodman and Jon Polito. Followed in 1989 by C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.

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3. Class of Nuke 'Em High (Richard W. Haines, Michael Herz/1986) - The Citizen Kane of the nuclear-marijuana-hybrid-monster genre set in a seedy no holds barred high school. Smart and clever, with over-the-top acting, wacky special effects and a nice rock soundtrack. Oh yeah, this was also made by Troma Entertainment – the same people behind Toxic Avenger and other B-movie cult hits. Released also as Atomic High School followed by two sequels - Class of Nuke 'Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown in 1991 and Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid in 1994.

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4. Howard The Duck (William Huyck/1986) – This Golden Raspberry Award winner (including for Worst Picture) was the first theatrically released film starring a Marvel Comics character. As impossible to watch, this box office debacle starring Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, Lea Thompson and David Paymer was greeted with all sorts of lame duck puns by the critics, earning just $10 million against a multi-million dollar budget. Kids might enjoy the cute (if unconvincing) duck puppet but adults will find it ridiculously inept, insulting and tasteless. Of course, 20 years from now, it may be heralded back as a neglected masterpiece. Duck and cover. Produced by George Lucas (Yes!) and scored by John Barry.

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5. Life Force (Tobe Hooper/1985) - Unbelievably murky sci-fi based on Colin Wilson’s 1976 novel ‘The Space Vampires’ from the director of Poltergeist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A beautiful woman discovered on a ghostly spaceship is brought to Earth for observation where she escapes and runs around naked. Meanwhile, above the London skies, an alien presence sends down a strange ray of light (special effects by Academy Award winner John Dykstra) turning the masses into blood sucking vampires. The to-the-heavens ending is a camp classic. With Peter Firth, Steve Railsback, Patrick Stewart and a (fully nude) Matilda May.

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6. Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman/1983) – With a 94% (and growing) rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a surprise winner at several film festivals, Liquid Sky is East Village deviant punk drug culture as seen through the eyes of an alien craft (or the film’s Russian director). Heroin and style wars reign supreme in this inscrutable Russian Production. Although the plot and dialogue are hip (and needlessly vicious) to a fault, there are some moments that hit home – such as gender-bending Anna Carlisle’s witchy speech about androgyny, marriage and Connecticut barbeques. Truly out of this world!

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7. The Repo Man (Alex Cox/1984) – Considered as one of the 'Top 50 Cult Movies of all time' by Entertainment Weekly and one of the best movies of 1984 by Film.com, Repo Man is a strange, genre-defying crazy little movie that launched the career of director Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy) and popularized Emilio Estevez. Estevez plays Otto, a L.A. punk who by chance falls into the auto-repossession business (hence, the title name), learning his trade from a seedy, nihilistic repo pro (Harry Dean Stanton). While becoming involved with the rough-and-tumble mindset of his wacked-out co-workers, Otto also gets embroiled in a search for a ’64 Chevy containing the deadly corpses of alien space creatures. Set amid L.A’s sleazy, displaced, fast-food culture, Repo Man has quirky humor, many bizarre characters to spare and a superb punk rock soundtrack featuring Black Flag, Iggy Pop and the Circle Jerks. Also the road to fame for Miguel Sandoval (Get Shorty, Blow).

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8. Salvation! Have You Said Your Prayers Today? (Beth Beth Billingsly/1987) – Fortuitously released at the time of the Evangelist Jimmy – Tammy Faye sex scandal, this indie starring Viggo Mortensen about evangelism, sex and money probably wouldn’t have otherwise stood a chance. Exene (lead vocalist of the LA rock band X ) stars as a trailer park-ish housewife obsessed with a TV preacher (Steve McHattie). Her sister (Dominique Davalos) gets a crush on him, tracks him down and seduces him. Of course, there’s hell to pay and a noisy, blasphemous mess ensues. Incidentally, Exene and Mortensen fell in love during the sets and later married in 1987. Great music by New Order, whose super hit "Touched by the Hand of God" was released as part of this movie’s soundtrack

9. The Toxic Avenger (Lloyd Kaufman/1985) - Despite Troma Studios’ Grade Z production values, the Toxic Avenger triumphs through tasteless, cartoonish humor and violence with an endearing monster hero who wears a pink, charred tutu and falls in love with a blind girl at first sight. You’ll have as much fun watching it as the filmmakers appear to have had making it. Though a failure in its original release in 1985, the movie became hugely popular during its re-release in early 1986 and was later followed by The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, a Play and also a limited run children's TV cartoon. Watch out for Marisa Tomei in a small role. Apparently, Toxic Avenger is being remade for a 2014 release, produced by the hit trio of Akiva Goldsman, Richard Saperstein and Charlie Corwin, the folks behind hits like A Beautiful Mind, Hancock, Se7en, etc.

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10. The Vamp (Richard Wenk/1986) - Everyone’s once favorite ebony Amazon – Singer/Actress Grace Jones is the sole attraction in this bloody under-rated vampire flick. With 50s style lighting all around, startling lipstick, hair colors and body paints besides a serious toothy smile from Grace Jones, this is a bizarre horror comedy and perhaps the original inspiration to Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk Till Dawn. Amazin’ Grace more than holds her own but only serious Jones fans will bite for this one. Billy Drago and Michelle Pfeiffer's sister Dedee co-star.

7 comments:

  1. Have you seen all of these?? I haven't even heard of most of them except 1 and 7 and remember seeing only Basket case.

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  2. Absolutely. My fav is Repo Man and CHUD though.

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  3. Damn. Never heard of them. I always thought Bergman, Spielberg or Kubrick were cult phenomenons back then. You've given cult a whole new meaning :P
    Should check it out

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  4. Thanks Kish. A bit of warning though - all these movies except maybe LifeForce and Howard The Duck were promoted by big studios and are 'cult' in a sort of a way by default!

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  5. had only seen Howard th duck before this.. will check these out too.. thanks.

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  6. Hey there. Thanks for visiting my site.

    Great list you've got there. There's 3 I haven't gotten around to watch yet. Sadly, my "must watch" list is already a mile long, but I'll try to squeeze in these as well..

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  7. Great list! Nothing brings the 80's to mind like Troma!

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