Netflix is a go-to for must-watch series like 3 Body Problem and Stranger Things, but it’s not really a cult movie destination. If you dig deep, though, you can turn up some offbeat sci-fi and horror gems. With io9's previous Netflix cult-movie guide now mostly outdated, here’s a fresh list culled from the streamer’s current selection.
(This post originally appeared on Gizmodo.)
Alex Cox directs Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton in this 1984 tale of a punk rock kid who takes a job repossessing cars, only to get mixed up with a Chevy Malibu that’s literally out of this world. Endlessly quotable, with a killer soundtrack too. Watch on Netflix.
Here’s another endlessly quotable one from that magical year of 1984, in which Val Kilmer—making his feature film debut—plays a goofy Elvis Presley type who gets caught up in espionage shenanigans in East Germany. From the same zany slapstick specialists who also brought us Airplane! and The Naked Gun, the latter of which is getting a remake soon starring Liam Neeson. Watch on Netflix.
Netflix currently has almost all the Nightmare films (sorry if you’re a fan of Freddy’s Dead or crossover Freddy vs. Jason), but for pure cult status, you have to go with 1987's Dream Warriors. Set at a hospital for troubled teens who haven’t slept well in months, it features a young Patricia Arquette, a pre-stardom Laurence Fishburne, and the return of original Final Girl Heather Langenkamp. Plus, you can’t beat that Dokken theme song. Watch on Netflix.
Nearly 10 years after its release, we’re still having nightmares about this dread-filled tale of a college student (Maika Monroe) infected with a strange curse, in which an entity that can look like anybody pursues her... relentlessly, exhaustingly, terrifyingly. Watch on Netflix.
The reviews were not kind, but certain audiences found things to like about Dakota Johnson’s recent foray into Sony’s Marvel realm. Is it too early to declare Madame Web a cult movie? Here’s your chance to stream it and be on the cutting edge of re-appreciation. Watch on Netflix.
Back to 1984 again, this time for John Carpenter’s sci-fi romance about a widow (Indiana Jones’ Karen Allen) who reluctantly agrees to help an alien (Jeff Bridges) who’s taken on the exact form of her dead husband. Watch on Netflix.
Not the remake—this is the 1984 original starring Drew Barrymore as Stephen King’s young pyrokinetic heroine, Martin Sheen as the government baddie who’d very much like to turn a tiny girl into a terrifying weapon, and George C. Scott as the assassin obsessed with taking her down. Watch on Netflix.
Before MaXXXine arrives to show you what happened next, take another trip to that grimy Texas farm to remember the porn movie shoot gone gruesomely awry that finally inspires Mia Goth’s character to try her luck in Hollywood. Watch on Netflix.
Our final selection from 1984 is Brian De Palma’s neo-noir Hitchcock riff about a struggling actor (Craig Wasson, who’s also in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!) obsessed with spying on his sultry neighbor—then becomes entangled in danger when he witnesses her brutal murder. Or does he? Watch on Netflix.
Released in 1997 but somehow as timeless as ever, Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi satire draws from the Robert Heinlein novel but adds its own slick, glossy blend of soap-opera drama, stylized storytelling, and buggy gore. Would you like to know more? Watch on Netflix.
(This post originally appeared on Gizmodo.)
