Over the last decade, independent film was brought to a mainstream audience. Distributors such as Miramax and Sony Picture Classics started competing with the major studios and paved the way for a slew of amazing—and some not so amazing—films that have reached cult status today.
Picking only ten was difficult, as it’s been harder to define the term “cult movie” over such a short era. Is a cult film something that withstands the test of time? It also could be how a film imprints a certain style or trend on popular culture. In the end, I think it’s all that and a bit more. The only way to be truly sure is to bury this list in a time capsule and dig it up in ten years so it can be compared with another list by another geeky film buff.
1. OFFICE SPACE, dir. Mike Judge, 1999—This deadpan little indie film starring a young Jennifer Aniston and Ron Livingston, will have people repeating lines from the movie around the water cooler for years to come.
2. THE BIG LEBOWSKI, dir. the Coen Brothers, 1998—Jeff Bridges brings new meaning the word “dude.” Maybe not the best Coen Brother’s flick, but did you know there are actually “Dude Conventions,” where everyone dresses up as the Dude? Yep. It's true.
3. FIGHT CLUB, dir. David Fincher, 1999—I swear I have never seen so many men get so emotional about a film. It truly struck a nerve with both hetero and homo men. It even started a brief little fad of men beating the shit out of each other. It’s also just a really good film.
4. TRAINSPOTTING, dir. Danny Boyle, 1996—It made heroin so un-chic since it came out after the drug had run amok in big city music communities during the early '90s. The soundtrack (which rocks) also brought Iggy Pop back to icon status. And how could I make a list without at least one reference to cutie-pie Ewan MacGregor?
5. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, dir. James Cameron Mitchell, 2001—People dress up, they sing, they dance, they even re-work it in theatres. What more could you want?
6. SHOWGIRLS, dir. Joe Eszterhas, 1995—Possibly the worst movie ever made that is loved by all. Years back it started showing on cable and people started having drunken parties ridiculing the film. “Saved by the Bell"’s Elizabeth Berkley also licks a pole in a strip club. Now that’s class!
7. CLERKS, dir. Kevin Smith, 1994—Jay and Silent Bob rule! Never have two slacker drug dealers been so endearing and I might add totally rad. In this debut feature, Kevin Smith actually created a cult of characters that lived on in his future films.
8. THE ADVENTURES OF PRICILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT, dir. Stephan Elliot, 1994—This Aussie gay/transsexual road movie made us all want to dress up and dance in the outback. It also influenced my fashion sense for the next ten years. I stopped wearing the color black.
9. DONNIE DARKO, dir. Richard Kelly, 2001—While you may be sick of reading about Donnie Darko in Tablet, I couldn’t in good taste keep it off the list. If the fans hadn’t resurrected it on DVD, we never would’ve gotten the fabulous director’s cut, which solves many of the mysteries in the first one.
10. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, dir. Jared Hess, 2004—If you have seen this movie you know why it’s on this list. If you haven’t, you will know when you see it. I’m sure this film makes John Waters a proud cult papa. It also has the best lines like, “Uhhh! I told you, I was hunting wolverines all summer with my uncle!” Need I say more? |
