Le Sabot Post-Moderne

Doing some counting, you've seen 6 more of these than I, but you missed some goodies. Hard Boiled is amazing if you like bullets. Better Off Dead is quite funny in an early '80's kind of way. Brazil is one of my favorites of all time.

I'd like to nominate two aussie additions to the list: The Castle, and Love Serenade. Both were very funny, very quirky comedies.

Office Space and Amazon Women on the Moon.

Paul-

I really, really want to see Brazil. That's one that everyone raves about. I also need to see Evil Dead.

By the way, have you seen Eraserhead, or any other David Lynch movie? His "Mulholland Drive" deserves to be a cult movie, even though it hasn't really achieved that status.

Nixon-

Dude, I can't believe I forgot Amazon Women on the Moon! That is one of the all-time greats. Kentucky Fried Movie wasn't bad either. . .

I've seen several Lynch films, but not Eraserhead yet. Wild at Heart was pretty wild. Elephant Man is a classic. I liked Mulhallond Drive, especially after I read an article explaining some of it. Was a big Twin Peaks fan. Didn't like Lost Highway that much--a little too creepy for me.

BTW, just watched Kill Bill pt 2 while baby watching today. Have to catch stuff like that before little JS is old enough to know what's going on.

It's hard to discern what characteristics make something a cult film. They would seem to be films who scored low at the box office but have endured long after. But there are films here that don't quite fit that mold, such as "Scarface," "Blade Runner," and "Pee Wee," all of which did respectable box office business (as best I can remember). Campy, quoatable, underappreciated...perhaps what makes a "cult" film is ultimately undefinable.

So recognizing that it's tough to define, I'm still suprised several films were left off:

* Pink Floyd's "The Wall." One of the freak-out films of all time. Walk through any college dorm, and you'll find this movie in every fourth room.

* "Fletch." Box office bomb in '85 or '86, with a long, long afterlife on TV and video. After "Caddyshack" (which probably should also be on the list--though it did very well at the box office), this is one of the most quoted movies in existence by men of a certain age (mainly MY age...)

* Most John Hughes films. You mentioned Ferris Bueller. Again, it's an age group thing, but that and "The Breakfast Club" earn more repeat viewings among 30-somethings than most of the films on the list.

* "Apocalypse Now." The absense of this film makes it impossible to take the list too seriously. It has every hallmark of a cult film (except, perhaps, campiness). Box office failure. Grows in appreciation. Quotable ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning..."). Freaks out pot-smokers. All the hallmarks.

* "Raising Arizona." The quintessential cult film. "Her insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase." Probably all the Coen Brothers' films could go on this list.

Paul-

LOVED Twin Peaks. I was still buying Wrapped in Plastic Magazine like 5 years after the show was cancelled. That's only mildly pathetic, right?

Kill Bill 2 was a great improvement on the first one, I thought. As far as the kiddos, mine are getting old enough to be problematic. My eldest reads everything he gets his hands on. When we return home in June, I'm getting a glassfronted bookshelf with a lock. Not that I have anything bad, but people like Proust or Paglia have plenty of ideas he doesn't need in his head.

John R-

Awesome suggestions. I think Lebowski got tapped over Arizona because of the weirdness factor. I'm surprised Fargo didn't make the cut, also.

Another weird omission is "Reefer Madness", which was big with all the punks when I was in high school.

I forgot to mention that we also saw Friend of the Deceased this week, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I can only assume you've seen it. Lots of great shots of Kiev. It also gave me a little sense of how fast Kiev has been changing, since the film (1997) made the city look fairly quiet.

Paul-

It's weird, but I haven't seen it. I'll have to see if I can find a copy here. Oh, we're having friends over to watch "S Lyokim Parom" next Saturday. Another classic I've never managed to see. :)

The Orpheum Theater in Wichita, Kansas held a "Night of Thanksgiving Turkeys" on Friday: "Plan 9 from Outer Space," "Reefer Madness," and "The Terror of Tiny Town." It was my first time to see all three films, and I got to watch them in this wonderful 1922 movie palace on the big screen.

(Visit http://www.wichitaorpheum.com)

The Orpheum Theater sounds amazing!

We were able to see "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in historic Ybor City, Tampa. It was wonderful.

Hey - Great list, but wuttabout Last House on the Left, Top Secret!, Up In Smoke, Major League, Crossroads and BLUE VELVET!!?? View um and get back to me. See Ya at the movies.........