21 thoughts on “Cult Movie Bracket: The Finalizeling”

1. I own a lot of these. I might go through and write down what I don’t have.

2. I…I think all my choices made the cut. Wow.

3. Oooh. I am disappointed at what didn’t make the cut and excited over what did.

4. ultragotha – me too, I think, but I didn’t nominate too many.

   I also don’t personally think of a lot of these films as “cult classics”, but tthat’s a discussion for a different day.

5. I’ve always liked off beat films. Most of these fit that.

6. The list looks good, Hampus.

7. steve davidson: I also don’t personally think of a lot of these films as “cult classics”, but tthat’s a discussion for a different day.

   I’m wondering if my own opinions about that will be justified as the voting plays out, or if I just have an idiocyncratic idea of what makes a cult film.

8. I love this title with a fierce and abiding love. Just saying. Thanks so much for doing this, Hampus. I know the brackets are a huge amount of work for the organizer.

   I suspect it isn’t possible to come up with a definition of cult classics that would sway even a slim majority here, unless you made the definition so broad as to be meaningless. Maybe the best approach is I knows it when I sees it (and I trust you to do the same, even when we disagree.) 😉

9. What an eclectic & intriguing collection of movies, both the ones that made the cut & the ones that didn’t.

10. Mike Glyer on July 6, 2016 at 11:29 am said:

    steve davidson: I also don’t personally think of a lot of these films as “cult classics”, but tthat’s a discussion for a different day.

    I’m wondering if my own opinions about that will be justified as the voting plays out, or if I just have an idiocyncratic idea of what makes a cult film.

    I’m certainly going to vote on a basis of whether a movie has essence-of-cult deeply pervading it – even if I’m not sure what that essence is.

11. The 1978 Drunken Master rather than the far superior Drunken Master II (1994) (released in the US as Legend of Drunken Master)?? I guess I can’t complain since I didn’t vote.

12. Only 15 on that list I haven’t seen, and one of them (Troll 2) I never had any intention of seeing. Lots of overlapping interests.

13. Some of my more obscure nominations got more votes than I was expecting them to. One (Hedwig) even made the final list. I’m glad I didn’t go with my initial instinct and leave them out in favor of more popular fare!

    Of all the nominees that didn’t quite make it, I think I’m saddest about Let the Right One In, Strange Brew, and The Gods Must Be Crazy

    @Stankrom: I pondered that question when I first saw it nominated, but decided to second the one that had been nominated. The first may not be as good overall, but it’s still a cult classic. And I certainly enjoyed it.

    And yes, I do plan to allow my ideas of “cultness” influence my voting. There’s a couple of things on the list that I love but have a hard time thinking of as cult, so I may feel compelled to vote them down. Though I cannot offer a definition of “cult movie” that I would expect anyone to accept. 🙂

14. I wish I hadn’t missed the nomination phase. I too have struggled with a definition of cult. To me, one of the defining elements has to be a film that was generally overlooked upon initial release but later develops a passionate following. So that would disqualify Fargo, for instance, which was nominated for Best Picture.

    Keeping with the Cohen Bros., perhaps The Big Lebowski would count, since a lot of people were underwhelmed by it when it was released, if I recall, and now it’s considered the Cohen’s best film by many. Of their films, I think Blood Simple would fit under my criterion, but that didn’t make the cut.

15. I’ve seen 18 of the movies which made it into the bracket and heard of a few others. This should be an interesting bracket. I expect more commentary than usual explaining votes.

    Thanks for putting this together Hampus.

16. I have seen 112 of th of all the movies listed here. It make me wonder HOW MANY movies I have seen in my lifetime…

17. I’ve seen 84 of them, many of those multiple times, which is what makes them cult movies, I suppose. Which is odd because I did most of my movie watching last century. Did they stop making cult films at some point, or did the cult films just get so self-aware they ceased being cultish?

    (Woot Escape From New York made the cut! Along with all the movies that would probably be on my top movies of all time list if I had bothered making one — fortunately I don’t have to do that now. Thanks for the listifying!)

18. I”ve seen only 28. The list makes it plain that “cult movie” means, er, nothing, but I salute Hampus for his work: I know first-hand how much is involved in putting a bracket together and he’s done amazing stuff so far.

19. Only fifteen I haven’t seen at all, though there’s a few others I’ve mostly seen in bits and pieces, rather than ever sitting down to watch the whole thing. Despite its reputation for being “so bad it’s good”, I don’t think I’ve seen quite all of Plan 9, for example.

    Six of the fifteen are movies I’ve never heard of, which makes them particularly interesting.

    @Charon D.: I think it takes a while to properly establish a reputation as a cult movie, even using such a vague definition as we have here. Without that time, it’s too easy to mistake a randomly forming flash-mob from a purposeful cult. 🙂

20. I have seen a bit over 100 of the movies in the bracket myself and have 5-10 others lying on my living room table waiting to be seen. The rest I have ordered. 😉

    The list is a mix of obvious cult movies, what promotional texts call “cult classics”, highly quotable movies, movies that might have cult following, “this is cult among *my* friends” and “there is something special about this one”. Which is about what I expected.

    Those I am most surprised in not seeing on the final list are Flesh Gordon, The Blob and Killer Klowns From Outer Space. And I miss La Grande Bouffe, Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Mr. Vampire myself. I would have thought a bit more exploitation and turkey movies would have been nominated, but the nature of the bracket says it is the “mainstream cult” (whatever that is) that will win most nominations. The more cultish a movie, the less people have seen it. 😛

    It is a bit fun to see “Let The Right One In” nominated as a cult movie. For me, it is just a very popular swedish movie. The swedish cult campire movie would be “Frostbitten” which is fantastic fun with not a serious bone in its body.

21. And afterwards: Why didn’t I nominate Empire of the Ants and Death Becomes Her?

Comments are closed.