Watch list: Danny Peary's Cult Movies

[my_daroga]

While Mr. D and I are not yet done with our OrsonWatch project, we've embarked on an overlapping film series which involves watching every movie in Danny Peary's Cult Movies [volume 1], mostly because every movie we've seen that we heard about from reading it (or the two follow-up volumes) has been awesome. Some may dispute the cult cred of the titles, and I've seen many of them before, but we figure it's as good a guide as any. So for my own amusement, I'm going to list them here in the hopes it will make me write reviews of them as I go.

Film's I've seen in bold, even if I'm going to watch them again. Particular favorites are asterisked. Reviews will be links.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
*All About Eve (1950)
Andy Warhol's Bad (1977)
Badlands (1974)
Beauty & the Beast (1946)
Bedtime for Bonzo (1951)
Behind the Green Door (1972)
*Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
Billy Jack (1971)
Black Sunday (1960)
The Brood (1979)
Burn! (1970)
Caged Heat (1974)
Casablanca (1942)
*Citizen Kane (1941)
The Conqueror Worm (1941)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Deep End (1971)
Detour (1946)
Duck Soup (1933)
El Topo (1971)
Emmanuelle (1974)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
*Eraserhead (1978)
Fantasia (1940)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Force of Evil (1948)
42nd Street (1933)
Freaks (1932)
The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
*Greetings (1968)
Gun Crazy a.k.a Deadly is the Female (1949)
Halloween (1978)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
The Harder They Come (1973)
*Harold and Maude (1971)
The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
House of Wax (1953)
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It's a Gift (1934)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Killing (1956)
King Kong (1933)
King of Hearts (1967)
Kiss Me, Deadly (1955)
La Cage aux Folles (1979)
Land of the Pharaos (1955)
Laura (1944)
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Lola Montis (1955)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Mad Max (1979)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Man of the West (1958)
*Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
Out of the Past (1947)
Outrageous! (1977)
Pandora's Box (1929)
*Peeping Tom (1960)
Performance (1970)
Petulia (1968)
Pink Flamingos (1973)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1956)
Pretty Poison (1968)
The Producers (1968)
The Rain People (1969)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
The Red Shoes (1948)
Reefer Madness (1936)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Rock'n'Roll High School (1979)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
*The Searchers (1956)
Shock Corridor (1963)
The Shooting (1967)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
*Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Sylvia Scarlett (1936)
The Tall T (1957)
*Targets (1968)
Tarzan and his Mate (1934)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Top Hat (1935)
Trash (1970)
Two for the Road (1967)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Up in Smoke (1978)
Vertigo (1958)
The Warriors (1979)
Where's Poppa? (1970)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Comments

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

That's a great list - I think I will copy it to stick on the fridge (when I am in the mood for a movie.) Laura is one of my favorite films, too, as well as the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I'd say that well over half of these are not cult movies in any way, shape of form. I've seen 38 of them. and finally

Rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school
I hate the teachers and the principal
Don't wanna be taught to be no fool
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock'n'roll high school

You can never go wrong with The Ramones.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. I was going to say I was impressed with myself because I've seen two on this list you hadn't! And then I realized I watched them both for my film class :o)

Um. You can watch any of these without me, or tell me I should watch any of them you particularly like (I have seen all the asterisked ones except for Greetings. Mostly at your house, too, which is funny). But there are a couple I always felt like I should see and would like to (besides ones that merely sound interesting, I mean):

A Hard Day's Night
King Kong (1933)
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Mad Max (1979)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Red Shoes (1948)
Reefer Madness (1936)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Wild Bunch (1969)

So...Singin in the Rain is on the list...does that mean Mr. D will go see it with us?

[my_daroga]

I still need to see both of those; the 1978 remake of Body Snatchers has always been a favorite.

[my_daroga]

If you define "cult" as "a movie which has gained a particular following distinct from the mainstream," stuff like Wizard of Oz etc gets a pass. Also; this book was written before video. This, I think, is significant, as we can all just pick these up now. Still, I "discovered" several favorites from these books that I'd never hear of before, so it seems worth it.

[my_daroga]

Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I'm not sure if we're re-watching all the ones we've seen before, but I'll let you know. And I think he well; he signed and said he figured he had to when I asked him.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Don't let me forget--Dylan gave me free SiFF tickets.

[filmnoir6.livejournal.com]

I used to have this book Ms. D. I've seen a good 85% of these films.

[my_daroga]

AWESOME.

[my_daroga]

I figured you had. :)