The 1990s was a decade of midnight movies so out there that some consider them brilliant, and others too eccentric for their liking. The cult film experience attracts a different audience – it attracts those who are more open to unique sensibilities and portrayals of unconventional satire and controversial ideologies.
The characters in cult films are often highly exaggerated individuals who don’t really depict what most humans are like, but who many have probably wanted or envisioned to be. From a wide array of beloved cult films out there, this list focuses on a few favourites, such as The Big Lebowski,Office Space, and Reservoir Dogs.
‘Fight Club’ (1999)
A man called the Narrator is unfulfilled by his mundane life and suffers from chronic insomnia. He begins to attend support groups as an impostor (Edward Norton) who pretends to suffer from diseases, where he meets another impostor, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). While on the flight back from a business trip, he meets a soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), and his life would change.
When the Narrator arrives at his apartment, he finds his home has been destroyed by an explosion. Upset by this, he arranges to meet the man he met on his flight back, Tyler, at a bar. They walk to a parking lot after a few drinks, where Tyler asks the Narrator to hit him. They have a fistfight, but instead of feeling angry at each other, they find the experience cathartic. Soon, the two men decide to form an underground club called the Fight Club, where large groups of men gather in the bar’s basement and fight each other. Other than its famous line, “The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.”, David Fincher’s Fight Club has since been adapted to video games, influenced film scores, film scenes, and up there as one of the most referenced films in pop culture.
‘Cruel Intentions’ (1999)
Mrs. Caldwell (Christine Baranski) asks popular teenager Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to look out for her naïve daughter, Cecile (Selma Blair). Kathryn tells her stepbrother Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Philippe) she wants to use Cecile to take revenge on her ex-lover Court Reynolds (Charlie O’Connell), who has recently dumped her for Cecile. To achieve this, she asks the help of Sebastian, a notorious womanizer, to seduce Cecile and thereby ruining her image in Court’s eyes.
To Kathryn’s surprise, Sebastian rejects her offer as he has set his eyes on Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the virgin daughter of the school’s headmaster who recently published an essay on supporting chastity until marriage. Kathryn and Sebastian agree on a wager: Kathryn gets Sebastian’s vintage Jaguar XK140 if he fails to seduce Annette, but will have sex with him if he succeeds. But as Sebastian goes to extreme lengths to pursue Annette, he gets more than he bargained for. Though Cruel Intentions received mixed reviews, the film has long been regarded as a cult classic.
‘Office Space’ (1999)
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a lethargic programmer at Initech. Two business consultants, “the Bobs”, Bob Slydell (John C. McGinley) and Bob Porter (Paul Wilson), are brought in to help Initech downsize. While Peter charms the consultants with his rebellious behavior, his two colleagues, Michael (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu), are mistreated. Later, Peter agrees to help Michael and Samir in plotting revenge against the Bobs by infecting the company’s accounting system with a computer virus.
Despite the film’s disappointing domestic gross of $12 million against a $10 million budget, the movie quickly gained a cult status and following. Actors Gary Cole (who played Bill Lumbergh) and Jennifer Aniston (who played Joanna) still get many impressions and lines thrown at them. Ron Livingston, who played protagonist Peter Gibbons, frequently gets approached by college students and office workers who tell him ‘I quit my job because of you.’ and that watching Office Space always made them feel better.
‘The Big Lebowski’ (1998)
Los Angeles slacker and bowling enthusiast Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) gets assaulted by two men when he is mistaken for a millionaire who bears the same name as him, Jeffrey “The Big” Lebowski (David Huddleston). After learning that the millionaire was their intended victim because he owes their boss, a porn kingpin named Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) money and that Lebowski’s trophy wife is kidnapped, Lebowski pays The Dude to bring the ransom money to Jackie. As if the situation isn’t messy enough, all hell breaks loose when one of The Dude’s friends and bowling buddies, Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), hatches a plot to keep the ransom money.
Other notable stars in the film include Steve Buscemi, Sam Elliott, Julian Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, and more. Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time of its release, the reviews for the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski have since become more positive and considered one of the best cult films of all time.
“With their inspired, absurdist taste for weird, peculiar Americana – but a sort of neo-Americana that is entirely invented – the Coens have defined and mastered their own bizarre subgenre. No one does it like them and, it almost goes without saying, no one does it better.” – Desson Howe, The Washington Post
‘Trainspotting’ (1996)
Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a heroin addict who still lives with his parents in Edinburgh. He partakes in regular heroin use with his friends, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner), and their dealer, Swanney “Mother Superior” (Peter Mullan). Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting shows the troubles of heroin addiction while living in Edinburgh’s poverty.
Trainspotting became the number-one film in London upon its release, grossing over $18 million and an additional $16.4 million in North America. It became the highest-grossing British film of 1996 and the fourth highest-grossing British film in history at the time. With regard to the film’s criticism for glamorizing drug use, film producer Andrew Macdonald defended the film by stating they “were determined to show why people took drugs…you had to show that it was fun and that it was awful.” Despite its controversy, Trainspotting has frequently been regarded as a favourite cult classic and one of the best British films of all time.
‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)
Pulp Fiction is told in a non-linear order of three separate but interwoven storylines that each have a different protagonist: Vincent Vega (John Travolta), a hitman; Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), Vincent’s partner-in-crime; and Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), an aging boxer. Their stories are intertwined and include other prominent characters such as gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) and his actress wife Mia (Uma Thurman); cleaner and master fixer Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel); and nervous armed robbers, “Pumpkin” (Tim Roth) and “Honey Bunny” (Amanda Plummer).
Quarter pounder with cheese, Bible passage, heroin overdose, twist dance, and diner. Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction has become such an integral part of world cinema and pop culture that most would be able to tell which movie those things are associated with. The way Pulp Fiction has stunned film critics, cinema-goers, and home audiences come as no surprise that it is regarded as one of the best cult classics and perhaps the most referenced film in American pop culture.
“It towers over the year’s other movies as majestically and menacingly as a gang lord at a preschool. It dares Hollywood films to be this smart about going this far. If good directors accept Tarantino’s implicit challenge, the movie theater could again be a great place to live in.” – Richard Corliss, TIME
‘The Crow’ (1994)
The night before his wedding, Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancé Shelley Webster (Sofia Shinas) are violated and murdered by a violent inner-city gang. One year after their deaths, a crow taps on Eric’s gravestone, which causes Eric to rise from his grave. The crow would become Eric’s guide on his quest to take revenge on the perpetrators responsible for their deaths. In his quest, he tracks down the gang members and murders them one by one before eventually facing the head gangster Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) to complete his gruesome mission.
The Crowleft a legacy as a cult classic and most importantly as a reminder of Brandon Lee’s last and most prominent acting role before he was accidentally shot on set just three days before the completion of the shoot. The blistering and moody, but heartfelt storyline was what gravitated many toward the film. The Crow has a story, style, and substance.
‘Clerks’ (1994)
Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran), a clerk at Quick Stop Groceries in New Jersey, gets called into work on his day off to cover another employee’s shift. Next to Quick Stop Groceries is a video rental store, RST video, where Randal (Jeff Anderson) works. As Dante complains about working on his day off, Randal, a slacker, abandons his job at the video store and accompanies Dante to the grocery store instead. The two pass the time while engaging in discussions about movies, sex, relationships, and difficult customers.
Despite being a low-budget film of approximately $260,000, Clerksgrossed a total of $4.4 million. The film is often commended for its realism and memorable characters. It also won many admirable awards, such as the “Award of the Youth” and “Mercedes-Benz Award” at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and the “Filmmakers Trophy” at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue.” – Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com
‘Dazed and Confused’ (1993)
Dazed and Confused is a coming-of-age film that follows a group of rowdy teenagers in Austin, Texas, celebrating their last day of high school. The film does not focus on one particular character and instead follows each one separately. The graduating class of Lee High School heads to a pool hall called the Emporium for a graduation party. While the seniors prepare for their annual “hazing” of the freshmen, the juniors distance themselves from the seniors to avoid being their victims. Soon, the Emporium is filled with drinks, marijuana, and harmless flirts.
The movie encapsulated the American culture so accurately that it has become an integral part of American culture. Not only was it a memorable film, but the memorable cast hugely helped make it the cult classic it is today. Some stars in the film include Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Renée Zellweger, Adam Goldberg, and more. To this day, Matthew McConaughey is still highly associated with the catchphrase ‘Alright, alright, alright’, a line he came up with for his character, David Wooderson, on Dazed and Confused.
‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992)
In Tarantino’s feature-length debut, he wrote and directed a crime film called Reservoir Dogs. The film focuses on a group of six criminals who are all strangers to each other, and refer to each other by their assigned colours; Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Blue (Edward Bunker), and Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino). The six criminals carry out a diamond heist, but things don’t go as they expect them to, and their story is filled with gunshots, death, and betrayal.
Reservoir Dogs hugely impacted the art of independent filmmaking, especially shown through the film’s carefully curated dialogue, storyline, and cast members. Many people walked out during the infamous ear-cutting scene in the screening, including horror film director Wes Craven and special makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Tarantino responded to the walkout by stating, “Five people walked out of that audience, including Wes Craven,… The f—ing guy who did Last House on the Left walked out? The guy who did Last House on the Left, my movie’s too tough for him.”
