November 17, 2004
Llamas Go To The Movies
Ah...List time again! Someone has come up with a supposed list of top cult films. As did my source, I'll bold the ones I've seen and italicize the ones I'd see again (or a first time). Also, as is my wont, I'll add a few comments along the way. Ready? Here we go:
1 This Is Spinal Tap - I know, I know. I really should get off my lazy butt and rent this. Everyone raves about it.
2 The Rocky Horror Picture Show This is exactly the sort of thing that overly-hip teenagers would find cool. I didn't happen to see it until my late 20's. By which time I thought, "Yeah, I'd have liked this when I was 17....."
3 Freaks
4 Harold And Maude - A big fav amongst my colleagues at The Glorious People's Soviet of Middletown, CT. Frankly, I thought it whiny and pretentious. And the, er, relationship between the snotty, spoiled teenager and the whacky old dame was, in a word, disgusting.
5 Pink Flamingos
6 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I probably ought to, but I just can't stand slasher flicks.
7 Repo Man - Classic line: Girlfriend - "What about our relationship?" Emilio Estevez - "F*ck that."
8 Scarface
9 Blade Runner
10 The Shawshank Redemption - Tim Robbins. 'Nuff said.
11 Five Deadly Venoms
12 Plan 9 From Outer Space - Despite what Jerry Seinfeld says, the novelty of this film wears off in about 15 minutes.
13 Brazil - One of my favorites. (I own it.) A wicked, wicked piece of dark comedy. Jonathan Pryce and Michael Palin (yes, that one) are brill.
14 Eraserhead
15 Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
16 The Warriors - I think this is the one where a gang, far out of its territory, gets wrongly accused of a murder and has to fight its way back to its home turf against various rival gangs, including one dressed as the Yankees.
17 Dazed And Confused
18 Hard-Boiled
19 Evil Dead II
20 The Mack
21 Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
22 Un Chien Andalou
23 Akira
24 The Toxic Avenger
25 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory - The Llama-ettes have just discovered this one. We're all singing the Oompa-Loompa song these days.
26 Stranger Than Paradise
27 Dawn Of The Dead
28 The Wiz
29 Clerks
30 The Harder They Come
31 Slap Shot
32 Re-Animator
33 Grey Gardens
34 The Big Lebowski
35 Withnail and I
36 Showgirls
37 A Bucket Of Bood
38 They Live
39 The Best Of Everything
40 Barbarella - Okay, politics aside, Jane Fonda was damn' hot in that space chick outfit.
41 Heathers - I saw this a long time ago and thought it rather good.
42 Rushmore
43 The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension - Classic. Classic. Too bad they never made another one. There is so much going on in this flick that you have to see it multiple times. Jon Lithgow's greatest performance.
44 Love Streams
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
46 Aguirre, The Wrath of God
47 Walking And Talking Nicole Holofcener
48 The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
49 Friday
50 Faces of Death, Vol. 1
51 Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Well, yeah....
52 A Clockwork Orange - I've been thinking I really ought to read the book.
53 Mommie Dearest
54 The Princess Bride - I am gradually falling under the cult spell of this one.
55 Swingers
56 UHF
57 Valley of the Dolls
58 Fight Club
59 Dead Alive (aka Braindead)
60 Better Off Dead
61 Donnie Darko
I'm kinda surprised that 3 O'Clock High did not make the list. And if we're going with Big Gun films, why not Raising Arizona? I'm sure there are a zillion others as well.
Yips! to Mixolydian Don, for whom we are currently trying to dig out the lyrics to the Llama Song.
UPDATE: Of course, feel free to add any suggestions for other flicks you think should be on the list. No, Steve, not "Escape From New York."
FURTHER UPDATE: Can I get a shout-out for any of the following?
"Eric the Viking" - A Python-ish film about a Norseman who has a sudden attack of existential angst. Yes, it's (a very young) Tim Robbins, but I still like the flick.
"Little Shop of Horrors" - "Feed me, Seymour!" The scene between Steve Martin's sadistic dentist and Bill Murray's masochistic patient is one of the funniest of all times.
"Porky's" - I have to admit that as sophomoric as this film is, it causes me to laugh uproariously every time.
"The Terminator" - Why the hell isn't this flick on the list? Because T2 and T3 were such hyped productions? (I didn't really like either one.)
"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" - I must be the only person on the planet who really loves this movie. In spite of Terry Gilliams insufferable preachiness, I think it is beautifully done.
"Conan the Barbarian"/"Conan the Destroyer" - Again, what gives? Is there some kind of anti-Ah-nold bias?
"The Road Warrior" - Um...helloooo? "Mad Max" is okay. "Thunderdome," eh. But TRW was a classic.
Which Llama song?
PS: Jane Fonda hates Barbarella. She feels cheep for doing it. It's the only one of her movies my dad will watch (because she hates it).
See Clerks -- It's really worth it.
Posted by: lane at November 17, 2004 01:46 PMLook, I know you've heard this, but you really do yourself a disservice for every moment of your life spent without the knowledge of Spinal Tap.
Go. Now.
It's so up both of the Llamas' alleys that I declare it a cosmic anamoly in need of immediate correction.
Posted by: Bill from INDC at November 17, 2004 02:05 PMYou really should add Blade Runner to your "ought to see" list.
Agreed on Barbarella (and that may form the basis for a future SF Babe poll).
I read A Clockwork Orange many years ago. I remember it was different than the movie (but not in a bad way) but a real bear to read due to the Russian "nadsat" lingo.
Clerks is a must see. The whole riff on the contractors working on the second Death Star is hilarious.
Is it sad that I've seen 85% of these movies multiple times?
Posted by: Brass at November 17, 2004 02:13 PMScary thing: I met my wife at Rocky Horror Picture Show... I had just stopped performing as the criminologist a few weeks before and was drinking a pitcher of beer in the back of the theater. It was a good night...
Posted by: Chad at November 17, 2004 02:23 PMOne you should catch (if you get the chance) is a re-dub of Night of the Living Dead. Apparantly due to copyright foul-ups they got the legal right to abuse an existing movie. Its really really funny... and offensive to nearly everyone.
The name is "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D". Definitely a keeper if you're lucky enough to locate a copy.
Posted by: Gekkobear at November 17, 2004 02:59 PMHow could they possible leave out Army of Darkness from the Evil Dead trilogy. "Shop smart. Shop S Mart."
Posted by: Pat H at November 17, 2004 03:47 PMAs to the above post - Duhhh, that would be "possibly" not "possible".
Posted by: Pat H at November 17, 2004 03:49 PMSay, how about "Eating Raoul"? We are big fans of the flick--even though it's a bit stupid.
Posted by: the crack young staff at November 17, 2004 04:48 PM"Eating Raoul" - Crack "Young" Staff, indeed!
Posted by: Robert the LB at November 17, 2004 05:46 PMBest bits from Porky's:
Young Coach and Miss "Lassie" having sex above the gym for all to hear, and...
especially the conference in the Principal's office about how to track down the owner of the (insert appropriate male appendage slang here) that poked through the peephole in the girl's shower.
Hilarious.
Posted by: Lord Floppington at November 17, 2004 09:00 PMI'd like to suggest "American Movie" and "Deadly Friend" as viewables. They're both like looking at a car wreck, but entertaining at the same time.
"American Movie" is like looking at a car wreck where, amazingly, everyone emerges intact. "Deadly Friend" is like looking at a car wreck and thinking, "There, but for the grace of God...".
Posted by: Squatch at November 17, 2004 10:21 PMFast Times at Ridgemont High.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at November 17, 2004 10:41 PMOk, in light of the other suggestions I have to submit The Fifth Element
It's got all the classic makings.
Mystery Men.
Strange Brew.
Oh, and The Special ists. (space added to foil anti-spam device)
If they aren't Cult Classics, they should be.
Posted by: Nathan at November 18, 2004 02:08 PMMy bad. The movie I was intending to cite was:
The Specials.
I'm a freaking idiot today. The link should have pointed to this IMDB page.
Posted by: Nathan at November 18, 2004 02:17 PM
