D Peary's Cult Movies COMPLETE LIST
R.J. Lahey
The following is a COMPLETE list of the titles and years for the cult
movies included in Danny Peary's Cult Movies series (*Cult Movies*, *Cult
Movies2*, and *Cult Movies 3*. This posting covers all 200 films in the
three volumes (100, 50, 50).
I am posting the list so that interested cultists may have a broad
list of films commonly considered cult movies, and so that those who are
interested in seeing some new films may have a kind of cult reference
guide (at least to 1986).
Please note that Peary does not attempt to say that these are the
*best* or the *most popular* cult films. He makes no attempt to rate or
rank them.
In fact, Peary's own working "definition" of a cult movie would not
allow for a common list to be shared by all cultists. He says: "I chose
to define 'cult movies' quite broadly. I consider them those special
films that elicit a fiery passion in moviegoers long after their initial
releases; that have been taken to heart as if they were abandoned orphans
in a hostile world, cherished, protected and enthusiastically championed
by segments of the movie audience; that are integral parts of people's
lives." He sees cult movies as having a special appeal to their own
"segments". It is doubtful that he would see his own list as being a cult
movie list for any one person, probably not even himself.
If any cult movie fan is not familiar with Peary's three books, I'd
recommend them. You will not agree with all the films he includes, or
with all his comments, but they are a good set of source books, and great,
if sometimes provocative, reading. They seem to be readily available at
bookstores with a decent film section.
The titles are as follows:
Danny Peary, *Cult Movies: The Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird,
and the Wonderful*, (New York, Dell, 1981).
Danny Peary, *Cult Movies 2: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers,
the Weird and the Wonderful" (New York, Dell, 1983)
Danny Peary, *Cult Movies 3: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers,
the Weird and the Wonderful*, (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1988).
DANNY PEARY'S LIST OF CULT MOVIES (vols. 1, 2 & 3)
(The film title is followed by an a.k.a. or translated title in
brackets (), then the year of release, then the volume number of *Cult
Movies* in which the film is found.)
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 1
42nd Street 1933 1
Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1972 1
All About Eve 1950 1
Altered States 1980 2
American Friend, The (Der amerikanische Freund) 1977 2
American Werewolf in London, An 1981 3
Andy Wahorl's Bad 1977 1
Annie Hall 1977 3
Badlands 1974 1
Barbarella 1967 2
Basket Case 1982 2
Beat the Devil 1953 2
Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete) 1946 1
Bedazzled 1967 2
Bedtime for Bonzo 1951 1
Behind the Green Door 1972 1
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls 1970 1
Big Heat, The 1963 2
Billy Jack 1971 1
Black Cat, The (The House of Doom, The Vanishing Body) 1934 3
Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) 1960 1
Blade Runner 1982 3
Blood Feast 1963 2
Blood Money 1933 2
Blue Velvet 1986 3
Body Heat 1981 3
Boy and His Dog, A 1976 2
Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) 1959 2
Bride of Frankenstein 1935 2
Brood, The 1979 1
Burn! (Queimada) 1970 1
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The 1919 3
Cafe Flesh 1982 3
Caged Heat 1974 1
Casablanca 1942 1
Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) 1943 2
Chilly Scenes of Winter (Head Over Heels) 1982 3
Choose Me 1984 3
Citizen Kane 1941 1
Clockwork Orange, A 1971 2
Conqueror Worm, The 1968 1
Cutter's Way (Cutter and Bone) 1981 2
Dance, Girl, Dance 1940 1
Dark Star 1974 2
Daughters of Darkness 1971 2
Deep End 1971 1
Detour 1946 1
Diva 1982 3
Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb 1964 3
Duck Soup 1933 1
Easy Rider 1969 3
El Topo (The Mole) 1971 1
Emanuelle 1974 1
Enter the Dragon 1973 1
Eraserhead 1978 1
Fantasia 1940 1
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Leather Girls, Mankillers,
Pussycat) 1966 3
First Nudie Musical, The 1979 2
Five Million Years to Earth (Quartermass and the Pit) 1968 3
Forbidden Planet 1956 1
Force of Evil 1948 1
Freaks 1932 1
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953 3
Girl Can't Help It, The 1956 1
Glen or Glenda? (I Led 2 Lives, I Changed My Sex, He or She?,
Transvestite, Glenn or Glenda?) 1952 3
Godzilla, King of the Monsters (Gojira) 1956 2
Great Texas Dynamite Chase, The 1977 2
Greetings 1968 1
Gun Crazy (Deadly is the Female) 1949 1
Halloween 1978 1
Hard Day's Night, A 1964 1
Harder they Come, The 1973 1
Harold and Maude 1971 1
High School Confidential! 1958 2
His Girl Friday 1940 2
Honeymoon Killers, The 1970 1
House of Wax 1953 1
I Married a Monster from Outer Space 1958 1
I Walked with a Zombie 1943 1
Imitation of Life 1959 3
In a Lonely Place 1950 3
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956 1
It's a Gift 1934 1
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 1963 3
It's a Wonderful Life 1946 1
Jason and the Argonauts 1963 1
Johnny Guitar 1954 1
Killing, The 1956 1
King Kong 1933 1
King of Hearts (Le Roi de Coeur) 1967 1
Kiss Me, Deadly 1955 1
La Cage aux Folles (Birds of a Feather) 1979 1
Land of the Pharoahs 1955 1
Last Tango in Paris 1972 2
Laura 1944 1
Liquid Sky 1983 3
Little Shop of Horrors, The 1960 1
Lola Montes (The Sins of Lola Montes) 1955 1
Long Goodbye, The 1973 1
Mad Max 1979 1
Maltese Falcon, The 1941 1
Man Who Fell to Earth, The 1976 2
Man of the West 1958 1
Marnie 1964 2
Martin 1978 3
Massacre at Central High 1976 2
Miracle on 34th Street 1947 3
Mommie Dearest 1981 2
Monsieur Verdoux 1947 3
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 2
Morgan! (Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment) 1966 2
Ms. .45 1981 2
My Darling Clementine 1946 2
Naked Kiss, The 1964 3
Napoleon (Abel Gance's Napoleon) 1927 3
New York, New York 1977 3
Night of the Demon 1957 2
Night of the Hunter, The 1955 3
Night of the Living Dead 1968 1
Nightmare Alley 1947 2
Now, Voyager 1942 3
Nutty Professor, The 1963 1
Olvidados, Los (The Young and the Damned) 1950 3
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 3
Once upon a Time in the West 1969 1
One-Eyed Jacks 1961 3
Out of the Past 1947 1
Outrageous! 1977 1
Over the Edge 1979 3
Pandora's Box (Lulu) 1929 1
Parallax View, The 1974 2
Peeping Tom 1960 1
Performance 1970 1
Petulia 1968 1
Phantom of the Paradise 1974 2
Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975 2
Pink Flamingos 1973 1
Plan 9 from Outer Space (Grave Robbers from Outer Space) 1956 1
Pretty Baby 1978 2
Pretty Poison 1968 1
Producers, The 1968 1
Psycho 1969 3
Quadrophenia 1979 2
Quiet Man, The 1952 3
Rain People, The 1969 1
Rebel without a Cause 1955 1
Red Shoes, The 1948 1
Reefer Madness (Tell Your Children, The Burning Question, etc.)
1936 1
Ride the High Country 1962 3
Rio Bravo 1959 1
Road Warrior, The (Mad Max 2) 1981 3
Rock 'n' Roll High School 1979 1
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The 1975 1
Salt of the Earth 1953 2
Scarlet Empress, The 1934 1
Searchers, The 1956 1
Seconds 1966 3
Seventh Seal, The (Det Sjunde Inseglet) 1957 2
Shock Corridor 1963 1
Shooting, The 1967 1
Singin' in the Rain 1952 1
Some Like it Hot 1959 2
Sons of the Desert 1933 3
Star is Born, A 1954 3
Stunt Man, The 1980 3
Sullivan's Travel's 1941 2
Sunset Boulevard 1950 1
Sylvia Scarlett 1935 1
Tall T, The 1957 1
Targets 1968 1
Tarzan and his Mate 1934 1
Taxi Driver 1976 2
Terminator, The 1984 3
Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 1
That Hamilton Woman (Lady Hamilton) 1941 3
The Gods Must Be Crazy 1980 3
Thief of Bagdad, The 1940 3
Thing, The (The Thing from Another World) 1951 3
To Be or Not to Be 1942 2
Top Hat 1935 1
Touch of Evil 1958 3
Trash 1970 1
Two for the Road 1967 1
Two-Lane Blacktop 1971 1
Up in Smoke 1978 1
Vanishing Point 1971 2
Vertigo 1958 1
Walkabout 1971 3
Wanderers, The 1979 3
Warriors, The 1979 1
Where the Boys Are 1960 3
Where's Poppa? 1970 1
White Heat 1949 2
Wicker Man, The 1973 2
Wild Bunch, The 1969 1
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1974 2
Wizard of Oz, The 1939 1
Wuthering Heights 1939 2
Zardoz 1973 2
Any questions, comments:
Allen B
> DANNY PEARY'S CULT MOVIES (ver. 1.2)
>
> allow for a common list to be shared by all cultists. He says: "I chose
> to define 'cult movies' quite broadly. I consider them those special
> films that elicit a fiery passion in moviegoers long after their initial
> releases; that have been taken to heart as if they were abandoned orphans
> in a hostile world, cherished, protected and enthusiastically championed
> by segments of the movie audience; that are integral parts of people's
> lives." He sees cult movies as having a special appeal to their own
> "segments". It is doubtful that he would see his own list as being a cult
> movie list for any one person, probably not even himself.
I think he's full of crap. Of course, I think most people who insist on
promoting terms like "cult movie" are. Most of them (him included)
call it a cult movie if they like it and not if they don't. They start
adding movies to the list (as he did by writing two more books) to be
"cooler". Surely most people only worship a few of these movies.
That said, if you >are< going to play this game, you really should nail
a definition that makes a little more sense and fits reality better.
The quoted part is really good, but it implies to me that "cult movies"
should be movies that are "abandoned orphans in a hostile world".
That means to me any movie that got wide critical acclaim is out. No
point in preaching to the choir.
A movie need not be classed a cult movie to be any good. In general, I
think a really good movie can't be a cult movie. A cult movie (like a
religious cult) has a great appeal to a small audience and little or
none to everyone else. Haven't you seen people flee cult movies when
they get too "mainstream"?
I guess I do believe in cult movies as a phenomenon, but not as an
institution. They're real, but many people really aren't the cult
members they pretend to be.
ab