6. Purple Rain (1984)
The third 1984 released movie in this list is the story of Prince. Loosely based on Prince’s life, he stars as The Kid, a troubled lead singer of the band Revolution. It’s a musical drama about The Kid’s struggle with his personal life, balanced with his struggle to keep his band’s slot at the First Avenue nightclub. His slot is threatened to be replaced by a girl group led by his new girlfriend Appolonia and managed by his rival Morris.
Purple Rain is an overly dramatic movie that was received surprisingly well at its release even being praised as the first good artist’s movie since the Beatles ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’
Since then the praise somewhat faded as negatives like bad acting by the inexperienced cast were pointed out more. Nonetheless, Purple Rain still has a strong cult following, and deservingly so. Besides it’s goofy nature, stemming from it being too serious at times, it still holds up as a fun watch and naturally it has great music accompanied with it.
7. Waiting for the Hearse (1985)
Well known in Argentina, but sadly underseen outside of their borders. A build-up of chaotically comedic circumstances, adapted from a theater play of the same name; Waiting for the Hearse is about a family whereof the siblings each try to shove the care of their old mother in someone else’s hands. When the old mother decides to go out for a while, and her children hear of an old lady that jumped in front of a train, they quickly jump to the conclusion that their poor mother committed suicide as a result of their doing.
The cult status is probably gained because the movie, although a hilarious black comedy, knows how to reflect its themes about Argentine culture in a satiric way. With themes going into the habits of Argentine people in the 70s and 80s to the state Argentina’s society was in at the time of release, the movie has a lot to unpack.
Waiting for the Hearse spawned a sequel 23 years later in 2009 which was received badly, but the original movie will always be a fun one to look back on.
8. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Being co-written by Roald Dahl, with music by the Sherman brothers, and Dick Van Dyke starring, this has classic children’s movie written all over it.
The first half of this overly long movie takes a look at the fun life of the kids of an eccentric inventor played by Dick Van Dyke. No fantasy is involved yet, but with wacky inventions and a musical performance at a candy factory, there’s nothing to get bored over.
The second half embraces the mind of Roald Dahl as the inventor tells his children a story about their car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, named after the sound it makes. The story he tells shifts the movie in the second gear and makes up the most of the second half, filled with fantasy elements, from a flying and floating car to an evil kingdom that locks up kids beneath the streets.
As more movies on this list, it’s sometimes hard to understand how it gained its cult status, but mainly in the UK, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is loved by a select few. For people in quarantine together with their young kids, this is a perfect movie to get through the time.
9. Agneepath (1990)
Agneepath is an Indian epic, that besides the typical Indian elements, seemingly has a lot of western influences. With its three-hour runtime and a story that follows the protagonist throughout his life it could best be compared with something like Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America.
Amitabh Bachchan terrifically plays the role of Vijay. Vijay is a young boy whom witnesses his father getting killed by doing of a gangster. After this his thoughts of avenging his father lead him into a dark path, eventually becoming a gangster himself and slowly turning into the kind of person he tried to take revenge on.
Classic Bollywood combined with Western influences and a lot of quirky elements like a golden villainous laugh make this into a true cult classic and a welcome introduction to the many great Indian movies that are on Netflix.
10. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
This wouldn’t be a list about cult movies without a campy horror film, with horror being probably the genre that is most prone to receiving cult status. Sci-fi must come as a close second with its cultish appeal, so that makes this comedic horror-sc-fi a winner in the cult book.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is exactly what the title suggests. In a town filled with loud college kids having sex in their cars and tough cops that don’t want anything to do with said kids, clownish-looking aliens come down in a giant circus tent. With the help of sentient popcorn and ray guns looking like toys, they harvest the town folks and put them in cotton candy-like cocoons.
As 80s as it can get, Killer Klowns of Outer Space is filled with raunchy dialogue, great visual gags and features a killer soundtrack to top it off. A must watch for every cult fan.