The 51 Best Cult Horror Films
by danny-chr-jensen | created - 26 Apr 2015 | updated - 09 Jun 2021 | PublicA Dirty, Gory and Sexy list of the 50 best Cult Horror films, In Order, for those whose veins run with ooze.
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1. Street Trash (1987)
Unrated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror
A liquor store owner sells alcoholic beverages to homeless people, unaware of what the bottles actually contain: toxic brew.
Director: J. Michael Muro | Stars: Mike Lackey, Bill Chepil, Vic Noto, Mark Sferrazza
Votes: 11,447
2. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 202,026 | Gross: $40.46M
3. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,963 | Gross: $13.78M
4. Army of Darkness (1992)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie
Votes: 194,437 | Gross: $11.50M
5. Evil Dead II (1987)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva
Votes: 181,998 | Gross: $5.92M
6. Altered States (1980)
R | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid
Votes: 38,655 | Gross: $19.85M
7. Braindead (1992)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin
Votes: 103,337 | Gross: $0.24M
8. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,899 | Gross: $24.95M
9. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,536 | Gross: $2.02M
10. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Director: John Landis | Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne
Votes: 120,589 | Gross: $30.57M
11. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,489 | Gross: $2.40M
12. Zombie (1979)
R | 91 min | Horror
Strangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately seeks the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
Director: Lucio Fulci | Stars: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver
Votes: 30,745
13. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,758 | Gross: $30.86M
14. Them! (1954)
Not Rated | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness
Votes: 24,202
15. The Blob (1988)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A deadly entity from space crash-lands near a small town and begins consuming everyone in its path. Panic ensues as shady government scientists try to contain the horrific creature.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 43,545 | Gross: $8.25M
16. Black Sheep (2006)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
An experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into bloodthirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm.
Director: Jonathan King | Stars: Oliver Driver, Nathan Meister, Tammy Davis, Matthew Chamberlain
Votes: 42,107 | Gross: $0.08M
17. Dagon (2001)
R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Raquel Meroño, Macarena Gómez
Votes: 21,054
18. Splinter (I) (2008)
R | 82 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
Trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still-living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.
Director: Toby Wilkins | Stars: Shea Whigham, Jill Wagner, Paulo Costanzo, Charles Baker
Votes: 40,946
19. Slither (2006)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
Director: James Gunn | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Don Thompson
Votes: 88,913 | Gross: $7.77M
20. Bride of Re-Animator (1990)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Doctors Herbert West and Dan Cain discover the secret to creating human life and proceed to create a perfect woman from dead tissue.
Director: Brian Yuzna | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Claude Earl Jones, Fabiana Udenio
Votes: 17,592
21. The Stink of Flesh (2005 Video)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy, Horror
Wandering a zombie wasteland, matool survives by his wits and animal instinct, often employing his trusty hammer and gigantic nails to fend of the ravenous hordes of flesh eating undead. ... See full summary »
Director: Scott Phillips | Stars: Kurly Tlapoyawa, Ross Kelly, Diva, Billy Garberina
Votes: 695
22. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)
R | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Riki-Oh, a young man who has superhuman strength, is incarcerated in a private prison, where inmates are treated like slaves. He is forced to use his unstoppable form of martial arts to destroy the corrupt officials and their lackeys.
Director: Ngai Choi Lam | Stars: Siu-Wong Fan, Mei Sheng Fan, Ka-Kui Ho, Yukari Ôshima
Votes: 15,040
23. Suspiria (1977)
R | 92 min | Horror
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé
Votes: 105,499
24. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,945 | Gross: $26.12M
25. Society (1989)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Horror
An ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.
Director: Brian Yuzna | Stars: Billy Warlock, Concetta D'Agnese, Ben Slack, Evan Richards
Votes: 21,963
26. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
When residents of their nursing home start dying of dubious causes, an aged Elvis and an African-American senior who claims to be President John F. Kennedy discover that the perpetrator is an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Bob Ivy, Ella Joyce
Votes: 51,511 | Gross: $2.00M
27. The Final Girls (2015)
PG-13 | 91 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer.
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson | Stars: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam Devine, Thomas Middleditch
Votes: 51,767
28. The Toxic Avenger (1984)
R | 82 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
Tromaville has a monstrous new hero. The Toxic Avenger is born when meek mop boy Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste. Now evildoers will have a lot to lose.
Directors: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman | Stars: Andree Maranda, Mitch Cohen, Jennifer Babtist, Cindy Manion
Votes: 32,184
29. Tusk (I) (2014)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror
A brash and arrogant podcaster gets more than he bargained for when he travels to Canada to interview a mysterious recluse... who has a rather disturbing fondness for walruses.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez
Votes: 63,239 | Gross: $1.82M
30. Scarecrows (1988)
R | 83 min | Action, Crime, Horror
Criminals hijack a plane and force the pilot and his daughter to fly them to Mexico. However, an unexpected landing finds them in a cemetery inhabited by killer scarecrows.
Director: William Wesley | Stars: Ted Vernon, Michael David Simms, Richard Vidan, Kristina Sanborn
Votes: 5,654
31. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong
Votes: 154,081 | Gross: $11.10M
32. Meet the Feebles (1989)
Not Rated | 97 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
Multiple animals and insects experience the sleazier side of show business while working on a variety show.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Danny Mulheron, Donna Akersten, Stuart Devenie, Mark Hadlow
Votes: 22,211
33. Cemetery Man (1994)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Horror
A cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.
Director: Michele Soavi | Stars: Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Mickey Knox
Votes: 23,352 | Gross: $0.25M
34. Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
R | 93 min | Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
NYPD detectives Shepard and Powell are working on a bizarre case of a ritualistic Aztec murder. Meanwhile, something big is attacking people of New York and only greedy small time crook Jimmy Quinn knows where its lair is.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree
Votes: 9,467
35. Save the Green Planet! (2003)
Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Byeong-gu believes that the world is on the verge of an alien invasion, and sets out to save the world.
Director: Joon-Hwan Jang | Stars: Shin Ha-kyun, Baek Yun-shik, Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jae-yong
Votes: 8,706 | Gross: $0.01M
36. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
Director: Stephen Chiodo | Stars: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon
Votes: 45,508 | Gross: $15.63M
37. Motel Hell (1980)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the "special meat" they are famous for.
Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod
Votes: 13,618 | Gross: $6.34M
38. Basket Case (1982)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror
A young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed, formerly conjoined twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Kevin VanHentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner, Robert Vogel
Votes: 21,717
39. Bad Taste (1987)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne, Craig Smith, Mike Minett
Votes: 49,134
40. Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
In future Tokyo, a young woman in the privatized police force tracks down her father's killer while battling against mutant rebels known as engineers.
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura | Stars: Eihi Shiina, Itsuji Itao, Yukihide Benny, Jiji Bû
Votes: 12,739
41. Frankenhooker (1990)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiancée by building her a new body made of Manhattan street prostitutes.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: James Lorinz, Joanne Ritchie, Patty Mullen, J.J. Clark
Votes: 13,530 | Gross: $0.21M
42. Basket Case 2 (1990)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Horror
Duane and his basket-bound mutant brother are taken in by a secret home for wayward freaks with journalists hot on their tail.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Kevin VanHentenryck, Judy Grafe, Annie Ross, Heather Rattray
Votes: 5,707
43. Brain Damage (1988)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
One morning, a young man wakes to find that a small, disgusting creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. The creature gives him a euphoric state of happiness but demands human victims in return.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes
Votes: 13,176
44. Evil Ed (1995)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Horror
A mild-mannered film editor is assigned to cut a series of infamous slasher films and is driven murderously insane by the miles of extremely violent footage he edits.
Director: Anders Jacobsson | Stars: Michael Kallaanvaara, Olof Rhodin, Hans Wilhelmsson, Anders Ek
Votes: 4,013
45. From Beyond (1986)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree
Votes: 30,782 | Gross: $1.26M
46. Night of the Creeps (1986)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them.
Director: Fred Dekker | Stars: Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow
Votes: 26,130 | Gross: $0.59M
47. The Deadly Spawn (1983)
R | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Alien creatures invade a small town and four teenagers, along with a young boy, attempt to escape from them.
Director: Douglas McKeown | Stars: Charles George Hildebrandt, Tom DeFranco, Richard Lee Porter, Jean Tafler
Votes: 5,358
48. The Stuff (1985)
R | 87 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation, but the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino
Votes: 18,507
49. Ticks (1993)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of troubled teenagers are led by social workers on a California wilderness retreat, not knowing that the woods they are camping in have become infested by mutated, blood-sucking ticks.
Director: Tony Randel | Stars: Rosalind Allen, Ami Dolenz, Seth Green, Virginya Keehne
Votes: 5,751
50. Leprechaun (1992)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
An evil, sadistic Leprechaun goes on a killing rampage in search of his beloved pot of gold.
Director: Mark Jones | Stars: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt, Mark Holton
Votes: 30,514 | Gross: $8.56M
51. Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993)
R | 96 min | Horror
Lovecraft visualizes 3 stories in Necronomicon: The Drowned, The Cold and Whispers, about bringing a dead wife and child back to life, extending life and aliens.
Directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna
Votes: 6,956
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