Cult classics can be quite strange, not only when you consider the typically off-the-beaten path narratives, characters, or settings they present, but also when you think about the fact that most of these little artistic masterpieces were either ignored or completely despised when they were first released. And in the world of horror cinema, there are hundreds of cult classic flicks to absorb, often because these unique films are made on such small budgets, receiving minimal promotion and only hanging out in theaters for a small window of time (or going straight to home video).
We’ve gone ahead and rounded up the best cult classic horror movies you can stream right now. If you’ve been in the mood for something unusual, ridiculous, or completely unexplainable, one of these seven movies will likely check a box or two for you.
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project was a viral marketing sensation that took the world by surprise — a realistic promotional website and other ancillary publicity tools convinced a number of individuals that the film’s actors were actually missing or presumed dead. The movie itself is a truly inventive and groundbreaking “found footage” flick about three film students who find more than they bargained for when investigating the titular local legend.
Filled with the kind of scares that hit hard because we’re forced to use our imaginations to fill in the unseen gaps, The Blair Witch Project turned a mighty profit at the box office, cementing the film as one of the most recognizable cult classics of all time and paving the way for the found footage sub-genre. Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, you can both thank Blair Witch for your = immense successes.
Eraserhead (1977)
Writer-director David Lynch is one of the most confounding auteurs of the last half-century or so, delivering films and TV shows with oddball characters, surreal stories, and enough nightmarish imagery to keep us up at night for a lifetime. And it all started back in 1977, with Lynch’s feature debut, Eraserhead — a cult classic for the ages. Starring Jack Nance as Henry, when the big-haired pariah of a protagonist learns that his girlfriend is having a baby, the father-to-be is horrified when the newborn turns out to be some kind of humanoid infant.
Forced to raise the infernal being on his own, Henry’s hallucinatory daydreams of a world inside his radiator are the hapless father’s only escape from his creepy kid … until his dreams devolve into sinister nightmares, that is. Shot in black and white, the film was financed in part by the AFI Film Conservatory and would take over five years to actually complete. But if it weren’t for Eraserhead, we wouldn’t have Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, or even Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (the director famously screened Eraserhead as a reference film for his Stephen King adaptation).
The Babadook (2014)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Director Herk Harvey didn’t spend much time making narrative features — in fact, Carnival of Souls is his only fiction film, with previous cinematic efforts dedicated solely to industrial and commercial productions. But it seems destined that Carnival of Souls would be the man’s one and only stab at proper filmmaking, because the little shoestring effort of a feature would go on to inspire artisans like David Lynch, George Romero, and countless other genre stalwarts.
The quick hour-plus story follows Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), a woman who miraculously survives a horrific drag-race accident and decides to take a job as a church organist in a local town. But as disturbing visions of a ghoulish man begin plaguing her, Mary soon learns that her near-death experience may not have been so “near” after all. It feels primitive, looks primitive, and is even performed in a kind of off-beat, avant-garde fashion. Is it because Harvey didn’t know how to direct his talent and just went with his gut? Who knows. But what we do know for sure is that the results are most certainly eerie.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
When it comes to zombie cinema, there’s no maestro more recognizable and revered than George A. Romero. And it would be the writer-director’s 1968 feature film Night of the Living Dead that would cement the auteur’s calling card as the go-to king of the flesh-eating hordes. About as simple as a zombie story gets, the film follows a band of survivors who have holed themselves up inside a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania as the titular undead begin emerging from the earth, gnawing their way through any human flesh they come in contact with.
Utilizing guerrilla filmmaking techniques and shot for a measly $100,000, Romero’s zombie classic would go on to inspire countless horror films over the years, and it all started with one Pittsburgh filmmaker’s dream to break out of industrial and commercial work to make a cool little fiction film (sound similar to Carnival of Souls’ Herk Harvey?).
Frailty (2001)
The late, great Bill Paxton is perhaps best known for acting roles in movies like Twister, Aliens, and Titanic. But as many onscreen talents do, the charismatic performer hopped into the director’s chair for the 2001 horror-thriller Frailty, starring Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, and Paxton himself.
The story follows Fenton Meiks (McConaughey), a man who pays a visit to FBI agent Wesley Doyle (Boothe), claiming that his deceased brother, Adam, is the man behind a string of murders known as the “God’s Hand” killings. Intercut with flashbacks, the narrative explores Fenton’s childhood, where his father (Paxton) claims to have been visited by an angel who tasked the patriarch with eradicating demons that are disguised as human beings. An often-overlooked psychological horror entry, Frailty is a powerful film with arresting performances, plenty of scares, and a major third-act twist.
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