What odd bizarre cult-following sleeper-type movies do you like? Doesn't matter what genre
film they are.

I love "Picnic At Hanging Rock" and have been
kinda obessesed with it lol. I bought the novel
it was based on, a book dealing with theories about the book & novel and two movie posters. Also
am searching for the original video with scenes
that were cut out- scenes not on the newly reissued director's cut dvd- strange thing, that is!

Army of Darkness, Weird Science, Encino Man, Wild at Heart, Raising Arizona, Das Boot, The Matrix, and my recent fav Signs.

I think if I directed Signs, I would have killed everyone in the end.

cat

PS If you've never seen "Wild at Heart", with Nicolas Cage, your missing out.

i've seen parts of "Wild At Heart" but never the whole thing...yet.

Donnie Darko

Definate must see movie. Not sure if it was ever released to theatres but it's excellent. I taped it from HBO the other night. Eerie flick about a high school kid who gets visits from a creepy 6 ft rabbit from who-knows-where, well, that's just to begin with. This movie can't compare to anything else.
A dark fantasy, i guess. Drew Barrymore & Patrick
Swayze have minor roles in it. Great fantastic musical score, just ordered the hard-to-find soundtrack. Has anyone else seen this? So dern cool, i wanna see it again soon! If you don't have HBO, rent it, it's worth it. ok, i have creepy taste sometimes, but still...

My fav 'obscure' sleepers are:

Juggers
(also Salute To The Juggers or The Blood Of Heros)). The many titles already tell the sad story of a movie confined to the shady corners of video shops.
It's another post apocalyptic flic from OZ, with Rudger Hauer and Joan Chen in the lead. Written and directed by David Peoples, one of my fav screen writers. He, for instance, also wrote Blade Runner, Ladyhawke, Unforgiven, 12 Monkeys and Soldier.

Which brings me to 'Soldier' itself, the movie for which Kurt Russell got his worst reviews ever.
I am the one STRONGLY objecting.

Outland
An SF variation on High Noon with Sean Connery in the lead. Was a total flop at the box office. I, for one, love it.

Truely Madly Deeply
My all-time fave romantic movie. A small British production with Alan Rickman and an utterly awesome Juliet Stephenson in the lead. It suffered the fate of having been done roughly at the same time as the vastly inferiour Ghost which had a similar theme and infinitely more mass appeal.

The Long Ships
My all-time fave classic adventure movie. Made in 1963 with Richard Widmark as a Viking obsessed with the legend of a gigantic golden bell called The Mother Of Voices, lost somewhere in the Orient. Sidney Poitier played his only ever real baddie as the evil Sultan.
Wonderful stuff... and totally, totally overlooked.

obscure
The Xenatizer

I wouldn't call these to "obscure" in the classic sense (I need to think more on which of those are on my list) but they are not blockbuster-type movies by any stretch of the imagination.

Cinema Paradiso, Kiss of the Spiderwoman and, more recently, Blowdry

I'll get back to you with others.Need to consult the shelf o' videos in the other room...

[ January 26, 2003, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: lila997 ]

I really liked "Bob Roberts" with Tim Robbins.

Also "Eating Raoul" is one of my all time faves.

"When Night Is Falling" is a beautiful film. Wish I could find it on DVD.

"Dark City" Loved it from beginning to end

"City of the Lost Children" not sure how well
known this is. A French film, starring Ron Perlman (Beauty & the Beast tv series). An evil
scientist incapable of dreaming has his henchmen kidnap orphan children. He tries to steal
their dreams with some device he's invented.
Perlman's a carnival strong guy who's out to rescue the kidnapped kids. A dark sci-fi/fantasy with some awesome set designs.

Oh, Good One! Dark City's a massive favourite of mine as well, but I didn't consider it a sleeper, since it was pretty successful over here.
Oh, and Alex Proyas, the director, did also The Crow.

***

BTW, the directors of City Of Lost Children did another cult sleeper before that. (In Europe it was a smash hit, tho.) It's called 'Delicatessen'. I like it even more than City, but that's down to my twisted tastes.
One of the directors went on to make Alien IV - Resurrection.
The most recent collaboration of both is 'Amèlie'.


The Xenatizer

ah "Delicatessen". I've been looking for that to show up on cable again so i can finally see it. I missed it last time it was being aired & i can never find it on vhs/dvd to rent (if it's on dvd).

Two movies directed by Wim Winders- "Wings Of Desire" and "Until the End of the World". That'd make a great double feature to watch anyday!

I LOVED Amèlie.

Audrey rocks.

Here I saw the title of the thread and was thinking along the lines of Night of the Comet LOL
I'm not sure how many of my pick could be classified as 'cult' flics...

Maybe Raising Arizona, it's a classic - Holy Hunter is too damn good, "I'm baren!"
and True Stories. It's a David Byrne (of Talking Heads) film.

Some others I like are....
Tempest - with John Cassavetes and Gena Rolands
Montana - with Kyra Sedgwick and Stanley Tucci
High Fidelity - John Cusack

"The Claim"

Starring Sarah Polley & Nastassja Kinski. 1860's
California, the Pacific Union railroad is maybe
going to pass near a little town. Plot sounds dull but this is one beautiful film. i bought it
for a friend of mama xc's, she didn't like it, i saw it & i bought it from her, yay me.

"No Such Thing"

Sarah Polley (again) & Robert Burke &- Julie Christie yay! Many critics hated this movie. It was thought to be a typical beauty & the beast type film. Which it is, in some ways, but there's much more going on here & none of it typical. The beast isn't any long haired freaky cultured baron or some misfit dude in a castle, no no. He's a monster in the modern world
that has worse monsters. i love this movie, to heck with the critics, they're the monsters!

"The Unbelievable Truth"

Robert Burke (see above) & Adrienne Shelly. He's
a ex-con mechanic returned home & she's maybe going to college maybe becoming a model & they're
both reading about George Washington & waiting for
the end of the world. Great satire, cool dialogue,
i got most of it memorized, which is why i forget where i put my car keys.

"The Sweet Hereafter"

Sarah Polley (yet again) & Ian Holm. Bus accident into an icey lake kills a lotta kids. Polley & the busdriver escape, Holm's the insurance investigator. Great story of survival & compromise
& strange goings-on in a little town.

"White Lies"

Sarah Polley (again?) in a movie about white supremists. Sucky subject, but Polley's a great actress and makes it worth watching, sucky subject
& all.

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"

Eric Idle, John Neville, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams and Sarah Polley when she was really
young. Bizarre Monty Pythonish stuff. Ya'll have
seen this already, eh?

I'm so ashamed - how could I forget The Princess Bride.

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya...."

This is a difficult film to watch...but, Once Were Warriors by Lee Tamahori will blow you away. It is about a modern urban Maori family. There is alot of family violence, so be prepared. It came out in 1995.

We watched it and as the credits rolled we both said "Wow".

Edited to add: Wim Wenders' Paris TX is also one of my favorites. I love Harry Dean Stanton though and Ms. Kinski is always interesting.

[ February 03, 2003, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: le ]

I got to see that on IFC and you are right - tough to watch, but well worth it.

Quite a stretch from TOWW to "Die Another Day", eh?
Ah, the temptations of Hollywood.

***

Oh, and Shawn mentioned 'Kalifornia' in another thread, and I was like, Cripes! How could I have forgotten THAT one?
Done before the Tarantino craze broke out, this one's not only a prototype of its kind (and a testament that Brad Pitt is indeed a brilliant actor), it's also proof that quality doesn't always reflect success.
Kalifornia, together with Thelma & Louise, forms what are the best road movies of the 90's... and possibly the 80's as well, since there haven't been any good road movies apart from 'Hitcher'.

****

I just realized that one of my all-time fav movies wasn't such a thundering success as well.
Just a cult classic amongst the decidedly weird.

BRAZIL

Gods, do I love that movie.

***

Talking of Terry Gilliam, his 'Fear & Loathing In Las vegas comes a VERY close second to BRAZIL.

Hollywood doesn't ALWAYS suck the last spirit out of you before shelling out a bit of cash.

Cameron, take note.


The Xenatizer

life is pain, princess. anyone who tells who otherwise is selling something

i love The Princess Bride

big Wim Wenders fan as well. Wing of Desire is one of my all-time faves.

also, just about anything directed by Terry Gilliam. Time Bandits and The Fisher King, especially. Brazil, too.

Hmm, I loved the movie Heathers with Christian Slater and Winona Ryder... is that a sleeper?

I've seen 'Kalifornia' too, can't remember it too well but it was the first one I ever say Brad Pitt in... as I recall he wasn't looking his usual good looking self in that one.

Inconceivable!!
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

cat

hehe, cat. that was my second quote choice...

I think Ive seen that movie a hunred times.

cat

oh yeah, love "Princess Bride" & "Heathers" &
"Brazil".

also- "Legend" love this on dvd with original score & deleted scenes restored

"Valley Girl" fer sure!

"Death Race 2000" nice little car race movie hehe

I don't know where this one sits as far as "sleeper" but one of my favorites was "Duel". I was terrified of tankers until I was a teenager. (ack, alliteration!)

Time Bandits!!
"Here's to stinkin' rich!"
"Here's to Kevin!"
"Here's to stinkin' Kevin!"

Another odd little movie was "Kentucky Fried Movie".

And in the non-English speaking category:
"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios ) -- young Antonio Banderas... I liked him better there.

"Christiane F" (Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo) If I could find a subbed version of this I'd be happy. I've only seen a dubbed one. I. Cannot. Stand. Dubbing (though it's hilarious in Japanese monster movies). I'd rather hear the actors' own voices.

[ February 04, 2003, 08:57 PM: Message edited by: Herculena ]

anyone ever see The Gods Must be Crazy?