True Cult Classic Movies, Part 3
Part 1 Part 2
Here is part 3, the final part of my collection of rigorously analyzed and curated true cult classic movie list. I intentionally ended the curation at 2011. This is for logistical purposes, because it takes a good 15 years to establish that a movie has a cult following, and to prove that following continues from fan to fan, generation to generation. Some cult movies ‘retire’, meaning they had a cult but not anymore. All 9 these still do! To learn more about what my standards were check part 1.
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999, Michael Patrick Jann)
In Mount Rose Minnesota, the Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant is a very big deal. But soon, accidents start happening. Amber Atkins, a teen from the trailer park who works at a funeral home, keeps competing even as tractors explode and parade floats catch fire, all thanks to her rival’s ruthless mother.
Critics called Drop Dead Gorgeous mean-spirited, and it unfortunately disappeared from theaters, but fans saw the cruelty differently. Drag performer Coco Taylor turned it into a full-cast show where people could quote lines and join in, and independent theaters still show it today. The movie appeals to anyone who loves small-town danger played completely straight, and each new casualty just makes it funnier. This movie is so funny it made my parents laugh.
Jawbreaker (1999, Darren Stein)
In Jawbreaker, a birthday kidnapping prank goes wrong, leaving Courtney Shayne’s friend dead with a jawbreaker stuck in her throat. Instead of telling the truth, Courtney covers it up and bribes a classmate with a makeover. She uses friendship as a tool, and Rose McGowan’s Courtney never says sorry: “I killed the teen dream. Deal with it.”
Reviewers wrote it off, and theaters stopped showing it soon after, but queer audiences loved its over-the-top cruelty. Chicago’s Music Box showed it with drag and a DJ, Arkadin held a costume contest, and New Orleans put on a drag-hosted movie night. Let me be clear, this is a movie heterosexuals will love too; the candy-colored sets look like a teen movie, but the mood feels more like a coronation for a villain who knows exactly how good she looks.
The Boondock Saints (2000, Troy Duffy)
Irish twins Connor and Murphy MacManus kill two Russian mobsters in self-defense, and start to believe God has given them a mission. Their loud, loyal friend Rocco joins them as they take on Boston’s crime syndicates, one violent showdown after another. Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe plays a flamboyant FBI agent who follows the trail of bodies and gradually figures out who is behind it all.
Boondock Saints only played in five theaters, made no money, and critics wrote it off as a Tarantino copycat–but it found an audience on home video. Fans started using the brothers’ prayer as a password, and now independent theaters show it every St. Patrick’s Day. People don’t watch it for realism. They come for the swagger, the brotherly loyalty, gunfights that feel like opera, and Dafoe delivering every line like he’s playing to the back row. The moral certainty is absurd, and that’s the appeal. It’s a movie built for a room full of people who already know every line.
But I’m a Cheerleader (2000, Jamie Babbit)
In But I’m a Cheerleader, Megan has a football player boyfriend, pom-poms, and a perfectly ordinary teenage life, at least until her family holds an intervention. They decide her vegetarianism and indifference to her boyfriend means she’s a lesbian. She is sent to True Directions, a camp covered in pink where Cathy Moriarty plays a strict counselor who teaches gender roles with all the subtlety of a hammer. Megan starts to falls for a fellow camper instead.
Most critics didn’t like the movie and it barely made a mark in theaters, but queer audiences embraced it. Drag performers dress up as the characters, fans recite the lines, and Portland’s yearly celebration keeps the tradition alive. Underneath the bright, satirical style is a genuine love story. Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall bring real sentiment to the awkward, hopeful moments, and the film always treats its teenage characters with respect. That warmth is why people still show up in costume.
Josie and the Pussycats (2001, Elfont and Kaplan)
Josie, Melody and Val start out as garage rockers from a small town, but their lives change fast when a slick record label signs them and turns them into pop stars. Their sudden fame isn’t all it seems, and the girls soon realize something strange is going on in the music business. Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson star as the cat-eared trio, while Parker Posey plays the label boss, acting like a cartoon villain with an excellent publicist.
Critics dismissed Josie and the Pussycats as just a product-placement cash grab and it failed at the box office, but audiences saw the humor in it. At screenings today fans show up, many wearing cat ears, and the Portland Art Museum even held a Josie-themed bingo night. People keep coming back for the pop-punk soundtrack, the clever background jokes, and a film that pokes fun at consumer culture while being part of it.
Super Troopers (2002, Jay Chandrasekhar)
I love Super Troopers so much. Five bored Vermont state troopers pass the time by pulling over stoners and messing with drivers just for fun. When budget cuts put their jobs at risk, a botched drug bust throws them into a murder case and a rivalry with the uptight local police. The pranks get wilder, mustaches bristle, and someone even drinks a whole bottle of maple syrup.
Super Troopers earned $18.5 million on a tiny budget, but it really took off when college students started watching it on DVD. Two decades on the fans are still doing the work; quote-alongs still get staged, and “meow” is like a secret handshake that identifies the initiated. The movie keeps drawing people back because it’s the perfect hangout comedy: dumb in all the right ways, endlessly rewatchable, and best with friends who already know every line. Super Troopers 2 is funny too, and ST3 came out this year so those mustaches are here to stay.
The Room (2003, Tommy Wiseau)
Johnny is a banker in San Francisco with a great job, a loyal best friend named Mark, and a fiancée he loves. But when Lisa, feeling bored, seduces Mark, everything unravels. What follows are rooftop arguments, dropped storylines, and some of the oddest conversations ever put on film.
Tommy Wiseau wrote, directed and starred in The Room, spending $6 million of his own money. When it came out on just two screens in Los Angeles, it made barely $2,000. It could have disappeared, but instead audiences embraced it. Fans throw plastic spoons at the screen, shout “Oh hi, Mark!” together, and show newcomers how it all works. These traditions are what make it a living cult classic instead of just a strange movie from the past. People don’t watch it for a well-told story, they watch for the confusing dialogue, Wiseau’s fearless performance, and a crowd that has turned bewilderment into a shared sport. Bring friends, and bring spoons.
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008, Darren Lynn Bousman)
In a future ravaged by organ failure, GeneCo offers transplants on payment plans. Miss a payment, and a Repo Man will come to take the organ back—by force. Shilo Wallace is a sheltered teenager kept inside by her overprotective father, Nathan, who says she has a blood disease. She doesn’t know he’s actually the company’s most feared collector. When GeneCo’s dying founder notices her, she gets caught up in a fight over inheritance, betrayal, and who owns whom.
Lionsgate gave Repo! The Genetic Opera a tiny release in 2008, and most critics dismissed its crazy gothic-industrial style. But I’m here to tell you the midnight audiences freakin’ loved it. It turned into a cult favorite, with shadow casts acting out scenes and fans waving glowing Zydrate vials. This is not a polite Broadway musical, expect a loud goth-rock score, a powerful performance from Anthony Head, and a bloody spectacle fans have kept alive to this day.
Jennifer’s Body (2009, Karyn Kusama)
Jennifer Check has been the popular girl her small-town high school, while her shy best friend Needy has always been in her shadow. After a fire at a dive-bar concert, an up-and-coming indie band tries to sacrifice Jennifer in a botched satanic ritual to gain fame. Jennifer returns looking even more gorgeous, but now she’s possessed and starts preying on her male classmates, while Needy is the only one who tries to stop the killing.
Fox marketed the movie to horny teenage boys as a Megan Fox sex-horror film, but they completely missed the point. It’s actually a sharp, dark comedy about female friendship and exploitation. The movie got mixed reviews and didn’t do well at the box office, but queer and feminist fans embraced it, which is why you now hear people quoting “Hell is a teenage girl.” Since then it’s become a favorite at Halloween revivals, interactive screenings, and shadow-cast shows. This is NOT your typical 2000s slasher. Watch it for Megan Fox’s sly performance, Amanda Seyfried as the unraveling Needy, Diablo Cody’s vicious dialogue, and a bloody, darkly funny look at a toxic friendship.
Okay, that’s everything. With this whole series you may think some more movies belong, that’s normal, but I can justify every single movie here with logic that is totally consistent. I’ve included the very best. Happy viewing!