Later day David Lynch films are like later day Cronenberg, just more of the same with their initial edginess blunted by abysmal, re-used, plot. I feel the inclusion of Eraserhead on the Old School list is perfect but to include Mulholland on the new school list feels like more of a space filler. Even though I enjoyed Black Dynamite I feel that other self aware genre films such as Planet Terror would have deserved the slot more.

As for other flicks that I feel should have made the cut, I believe Oldboy deserves to be in the list if not number two for new cult films. I would also include Six String Samurai if only to bump Mulholland Drive. The old school list looks pretty good except I would put Rocky Horror at number one for its rabid fan base and ongoing theater presence (I still believe that Bladerunner is a better movie but come on, it’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show).

I appreciate that you have taken the time to compile a list of cult cinema and look forward to your future movie articles.

Of the twelve I have seen, however…

I’m one of the only people who actually went to see “The Big Lebowsky” in its original cinematic run, and while it is a very enjoyable film, I frankly think I’d enjoy it more if I wasn’t constantly being assailed by guys a decade younger than me, telling me how I have to see it, ’cause its like, one of the greatest movies of all time, man. Perhaps that’s just petty of me, but almost any cultural artifact can be damaged due to excessively raised expectations, and I’m afraid than when young people (or others) may come across this movie for the first time in 2011 (or the future), they may be disappointed. Its a good movie…but is it as good as people say? No. Almost no movie has ever been that good.

I also saw “Donnie Darko” in its original cinematic run (at the Camera 3 in San Jose, in October of 2001, a couple days before Halloween), and its one of the best sci-fi (or Fortean) movies of all time. Some sci-fi geeks may have raised expectations a little high with regard to this film as well, but I doubt many will be disappointed.

I saw “Anchorman” when it first came out on DVD, and frankly, I didn’t really get it. It was somewhat funny, but nothing I was anxious to ever see again.

“Fight Club” is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE. What else can I really say, after I’ve said that? Yes, it has a quasi-fascist subtext (albeit of the anti-materialist, capitalism-critical, “Third Positionist,” National Anarchist-esque variety, of which most people, especially my fellow Americans, are almost totally unaware), and I happen to like that quasi-fascist subtext. If people can get away with saying they believe in Communism, but don’t want to be associated with the crimes of Stalin, then I guess I can LOVE a film with a quasi-fascist subtext, without raising too many eyebrows. Or at least, I ought to be able to.

“Audition” is another I caught in its original cinematic run. Its possibly my all-time favorite horror film (which perhaps means a bit more coming from me, as I’ve never really cared for East Asian cinema; “Audition,” and South Korea’s “The Host,” is about all I really like from that part of the world). People who think this movie is “sick,” seem vaguely stupid to me, I’m sorry to have to say. This movie is a story, and the details of what occur are a necessary part of that story. This is a very well made film, and nothing in it is excessive to the task of telling its fascinating tale.

“Mulholland Drive” is a good movie…but it seems a bit over-rated to me. Yet again, this is one I saw in its original cinematic run, and I haven’t seen it since, so perhaps I need to re-watch it a time or two; it does have a rather complex and peculiar plot. So while it may well be better than I am prepared to declare at this time, I think the movie has also been a bit over-hyped because, well, so many guys really enjoy the rather explicit lesbian sex scenes between Naomi Watts (in one of the few roles where she’s actually quite attractive) and that even more stunningly attractive brunette actress (and yeah, I was kinda glad to be seeing it on the big screen when those scenes transpired, I don’t mind noting). When people rave about that film, I always suspect, in the back of my mind, that perhaps the film is being afforded some perhaps undue praise, because its very erotic. And as it so happens, I prefer “Lost Highway.”

“Blade Runner” is, alongside “Donnie Darko,” one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made. In fact, its probably one of the very few that’s superior to the latter. Harrison Ford’s best film, which is saying something. And its dysoptian vision of Los Angeles in 2019, one which seems to be (almost) coming true right on schedule, was pretty dang insightful for 1982. Apparently they’re remaking it (with Ridley Scott directing again), and I wish they were not.

“Night of the Living Dead” is, as you note, the ORIGINAL zombie film. People are always trying to tell me that the final scene has some deep, heavy racial subtext, which frankly I’m not seeing. I mean, seriously, what is the message here? Whitey likes to kill the Black man? And this is expressed through an accidental killing? I think perhaps some people are seeing what they wish to see there, rather than what really is. Its sequel, on the other hand, the original “Dawn of the Dead,” has a VERY blatant racial subtext, which has perhaps led people to look into this film trying to see the same thing…but I don’t particularly think its there.

“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” used to be the funniest movie ever made. Its become a tad quaint and dated, but it was made in 1976, and nothing lasts forever…plus I’ve seen it like twenty+ times (including the first time in probably 1978 or ’79; the first of any of these movies I ever saw by several years), and I reckon that anyone who’s never seen it before, will find it genuinely hilarious to this very day. And even if it doesn’t necessarily hold up as well in 2011 as it did when it was first made in ’76, it was never-the-less a phenomenal accomplishment of its day.

“Repo Man” is another of my all-time favorite sci-fi films. Its also one of my favorite comedies. I’m not sure what else to say, other than that each time I see it, I like it a little more than I did previously.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was very original for its time, and I always did enjoy the very feral character of the family at its center (something many have tried to duplicate, usually with very little success; please see “The Devil’s Rejects” to see an example of when this doesn’t work), but I’m just not a big fan of the slasher genre. If I’d seen this movie in the early 80s, I probably would have loved it, but by the time I did see it in the early 90s, I’d moved on.

“Taxi Driver” is definitely in my Top Ten favorite films of all-time, and probably in my top five. I don’t know what else to say, other than that I can identify its most disturbing scene: Its when Bickle thwarts an armed robbery of the bodega he frequents. After Bickle departs, the store owner puts a “CLOSED” sign in the window, and begins hitting the would-be robber in the stomach with an axe handle (or whatever), as hard as he can. I have no sympathy for robbers, and would generally applaud one getting his brains blown out, but there’s just something about an unconscious man, being hit repeatedly in the abdomen, with such ferocity, that naturally brings out one’s empathy. Plus, its pretty clear no cops are going to be called, and this guy is going to wind up hustled off to a shallow, marshy grave. No one else ever mentions this part of the scene, but whenever I point it out to other people, I find they share in my sense of its being highly disturbing.

Other comments:

“Plan 9 From Outer Space” was lame. I’m not a big believer in the so-bad-its-good meme. I like movies to be good…period. I had to watch that in 3-4 installments.

“Freaks” is a must-see. If you call yourself a horror movie buff, and you’ve never seen 1932′s “Freaks,” then you are a fraud. And don’t worry; its a “talkie.”

Everybody tries to be cool now, and say “Mad Max” is better than “The Road Warrior” (25 years ago, it was only the cognoscenti that pulled that act; now everyone does). Bee-Ess. “Mad Max” is great, but “The Road Warrior” is better. Its probably best to skip that “Beyond Thunderdome” thing, with Tina Turner, however.

I’ve never seen “Blood Feast,” but one of my favorite cult horror films is 1987′s “Blood Diner,” which I believe is the pseudo-remake of “Blood Feast.” Can’t comment on “Blood Feast,” but “Blood Diner” is the second-best horror movie of the 1980s (after “Angel Heart,” which may well have also deserved a mention in this article).

“Reservoir Dog” is better than “Pulp Fiction.” Or any of Quentin Tarantino’s other films, for that matter. Its difficult for me to mention Tarantino without noting that I really like “Jackie Brown” (maybe even more than I do “Pulp Fiction,” which is a great movie, but its also a bit gimmicky & dated), and that I consider “Inglorious Basterds” to be one of the ugliest, most vile cultural artifacts in the history of the human experience. If I could push a button and make every copy of that film disappear in a puff of sulfur, I would do so.

As far as I know, the only film I’ve seen from your list of ten most obscure cult films, is “The Warriors.” Maybe I’m just old (I’ll be 41 in about a week), but I have a difficult time thinking of “The Wariors” as obscure. But maybe to people born since 1980, it is. It was a major film in the year it came out, however (I think around ’78). I swear, the best casting in that film is the Black radio announcer, the top of who’s face we never see. She had such an ostensiblty small role, but she made it very big. The movie would not have been the same without her.

And it wouldn’t really be cricket for me to drone on and on in such a verbose manner, without recommending some other cult film that was not in any way suggested by your article. So here is my contribution: Kongo (1932)

It came out the same year as “Freaks,” and in my opinion, it may well be better. Lupe Velez is one of the hottest women who ever appeared in cinema, and I’m not lowering my standards for some old-timey film here, by any means. This is a pre-Hayes Code film, and man, does it ever show! Ms. Velez appears in almost every scene covered in a sheen of baby oil. Oooh-La-La! “Kongo” isn’t exactly a horror movie…but it is pretty horrific, and would probably appeal to the same audience ie., people with “dark” sensibilities.