The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83

From ''Pee-Wee'' to ''Brazil,'' ''Scarface'' to ''Showgirls'' -- the movies from the past 25 years that may not be loved by all, but are all held dear by a legion of deeply devoted fans

25. THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION II: THE METAL YEARS (1988)

Alice Cooper, The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years | Most of the headbangers in Penelope Spheeris' doc never made it, but Metal Years showcases their big-bucks dreams in a way that's far more memorable…
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Most of the headbangers in Penelope Spheeris' doc never made it, but Metal Years showcases their big-bucks dreams in a way that's far more memorable than their songs.
SIGNATURE LINE ''I'm the happiest sonofabitch motherf---er there ever was.''

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23. SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY (1987)

Cynthia Gibb, Mitchell Anderson, ... | Hard to imagine that a dissertation on everything from anorexia to the Vietnam War in the guise of a biopic performed by Barbie-like dolls could…
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Hard to imagine that a dissertation on everything from anorexia to the Vietnam War in the guise of a biopic performed by Barbie-like dolls could be so moving. Todd Haynes' short has never been commercially available, so how can you see it? EW would never steer you to a site like illegal-art.org. Never.
SIGNATURE LINE ''I will not wear that hip-hugger thing, Mother. It makes me look really fat.''

22. LOVE STREAMS (1984)

Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, ... | Just brutal. Rarely did John Cassavetes' raw talk and tense hysterics produce such a softhearted wonder. The director stars as a drunken, oversexed pulp novelist…
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Just brutal. Rarely did John Cassavetes' raw talk and tense hysterics produce such a softhearted wonder. The director stars as a drunken, oversexed pulp novelist whose just-divorced sister is no less a crack-up. They wail; you wince; it's the emotional equivalent of a slasher film.
SIGNATURE LINE ''Life is a series of suicides, divorces, promises broken, children smashed, whatever.''

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John Lithgow, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
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Rushmore, Bill Murray, ... | An oddball love triangle between a freakishly precocious 15-year-old, a widowed teacher, and a depressed tycoon, Rushmore is a movie that defies its eccentricities. The…
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Heathers, Christian Slater, ... | Young lovers Veronica and Jason engage in some high-school class warfare in this classic black-as-a-dark-hole comedy. Corn nuts!
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They Live (1988)

They Live, Keith David, ... | John Carpenter's bizarro political satire starts off with a conceit that's almost as frightening as it is funny: What if the world's leaders were all…
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The movie's homeless protagonist John Nada (Roddy Piper) uncovers the truth behind our society with a pair of shades apparently plucked from the Risky Business set. They show that most people are actually aliens and subliminal advertising is taking over. Duh! In today's current state of product placement pollution, Cruise's Ray-Bans would be useless.

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Elizabeth Berkley, Showgirls
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Withnail and I, Paul McGann, ... | Fringe films often go to pot for inspiration, but pub-lovin' Brits made a cult hit out of one that honors alcohol. The bleakness of Bruce…
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15. THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, ... | To a casual viewer, it might come across as a tangle of slapstick metaphysics and ad hoc wackiness. Fair enough. But for the Coen Bros.…
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To a casual viewer, it might come across as a tangle of slapstick metaphysics and ad hoc wackiness. Fair enough. But for the Coen Bros. faithful, The Big Lebowski is a masterpiece of anti-storytelling. Jeff Bridges' Dude is a cinematic curio, the hero as placeholder: a detective who doesn't detect, an agent without agency. Plus, Tara Reid's near-cameo as the kidnapped Bunny ''Logjammin'' Lebowski may prove to be the highlight of her career.
SIGNATURE LINE ''The Dude abides.''

14. RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

Barbara Crampton, Re-Animator | It sure as heck ain't your run-of-the-mill slasher-horror flick — a point that becomes painfully obvious sometime after the titular mad scientist resuscitates a pissed-off…
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It sure as heck ain't your run-of-the-mill slasher-horror flick — a point that becomes painfully obvious sometime after the titular mad scientist resuscitates a pissed-off dead feline that's missing half its body, and long before some dude's frothing, severed head starts to molest a naked blond chick. With outrageous and wildly over-the-top performances, Re-Animator resides high in the pantheon of zombie films, thanks in part to the fact that the whole schlocky — though, we have to admit, unusually well-crafted — enterprise makes a strange kind of sense.
SIGNATURE LINE ''You steal the secret of life and death, and here you are trysting with a bubbleheaded coed!''

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Clerks, Brian O'Halloran, ... | Shot for $27,500, Kevin Smith's slacker landmark is the ultimate low-budget do-it-yourself indie, because it's such a perfect fusion of form and function: It's about…
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John Lurie, Eszter Balint, ...
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The Toxic Avenger, Mitchell Cohen | Taunted by the muscle-headed elite who surround him at his job, mild-mannered health-club mop boy Melvin flees through a window into bubbling green radioactive waste…
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Akira (1988)

Akira (Movie - 1988) | When most people think of anime, they are probably thinking of something akin to Akira : neon dystopias, biker gangs, old children, giant teddy bears…
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Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when anime — Japanese animation — was a rarity on American screens, especially anime for an adult audience. But this violent, post-apocalyptic tour de force was the film that paved the way. Director Katsuhiro Otomo adapted his own manga and created a lush, nightmarish look at a futuristic Tokyo beset by motorcycle gangs, a corrupt military-industrial complex, and mutant teens.

9. PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985)

Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure | Amid the vendetta-fueled Stallone stories and the teen-makeover movies of the '80s came the surreal world of Pee-wee, a weird boy-person with an extensive lawn-ornament…
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Amid the vendetta-fueled Stallone stories and the teen-makeover movies of the '80s came the surreal world of Pee-wee, a weird boy-person with an extensive lawn-ornament collection and a dark side (''I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel.''). Tim Burton's directorial debut is genuinely winsome, never ironic, and always gloriously juvenile.
SIGNATURE LINE ''I know you are, but what am I? Infinity!''
RANDOM POP-CULTURE REFERENCE Pee-wee pours Mr. T cereal on his flapjacks.

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Evil Dead II, Bruce Campbell | Gore just doesn't get any giddier than Sam Raimi's sequel-slash-remake (emphasis on slash), which finds average-guy Ash Williams facing off against the undead, armed with…

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Hard Boiled, Chow Yun-Fat | A detective and a deep-cover operative unite to depose a crime lord. Simple, right? But in John Woo's hands, Hard-Boiled is an action dream that…
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Dazed And Confused, Matthew McConaughey, ... | There's a nostalgic ode to Me Decade teendom to be found somewhere amid Richard Linklater's primer on freshman paddling, trashcan tipping, parent duping, spliff toking,…
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Jim Broadbent, Katherine Helmond, ...
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This is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest, ... | Years ago, we sat next to a middle-aged couple at a screening of Rob Reiner's faux documentary. As the has-been band of the title launched…
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3. REPO MAN (1984)

Olivia Barash, Emilio Estevez, ... | Beer-swigging suburban punks and blue-collar repo men collide as they track down a 1964 Chevy Malibu — which, by the way, just might be from…
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Beer-swigging suburban punks and blue-collar repo men collide as they track down a 1964 Chevy Malibu — which, by the way, just might be from outer space. Exec-produced by an ex-Monkee (Michael Nesmith) and directed by onetime Oxford law student Alex Cox, Repo Man was destined for weirdness. But the movie found its audience in rebellious high schoolers and alienated Reagan-era hipsters, who grooved to its surf-punk soundtrack and memorized its riffs on society, space aliens, and, of course, shrimp.
SIGNATURE LINE ''Let's go get sushi and not pay!''

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Scarface, Al Pacino | We suppose the saga of penniless Cuban refugee-cum-wealthy drug kingpin Tony Montana's rise and fall has a moral, if you want to look for it.…
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Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, ...
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