Top 10 Modern Cult Movies

American moviegoers will recognize actor-director Taika Waititi as the man behind 2017's “Thor: Ragnarok.” But Waititi has been big news in his home country of New Zealand long before the rest of us, due to his offbeat films like “Eagle vs. Shark,” “Boy,” and this movie, a laugh-out-loud horror mockumentary about four out-of-touch vampires who share a house in the suburbs together. Co-starring and co-written by Jemaine Clement of “Flight of the Conchords” fame, “What We Do In the Shadows” is sometimes ghastly, occasionally sweet, and always funny. It’s also full of quotable dialog and memorable moments. Not only do all these features make up the perfect recipe for a cult hit, but they also help spawn a hilarious and critically praised TV series of the same name.

A surprising number of films begin life as a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, and this over-the-top “MacGyver” parody is no different. What sets “MacGruber” apart from most other “SNL”-inspired movies is its deep roots in action films of the 1980s and '90s, such as “Die Hard,” “Lethal Weapon,” and “First Blood.” It balances Will Forte's narcissistic and ridiculous ex-Army Ranger MacGruber against a cast including Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and others, who play it relatively straight. “MacGruber's” humor and cult-classic memorability arise from the tension between those two elements.

What do you do when a crippling recession breaks your country? If you're Japan, you apparently periodically send in high-school kids to fight each other to the death in a large, outdoor arena. Predating “The Hunger Games” by more than a decade, “Battle Royale” is surprisingly similar to those mega-popular films – but it's much harsher, pulling no punches in its exploration of murder and suicide under extreme duress. Death in “Battle Royale” is grim and often unexpected, and because the fighters all knew each other beforehand, things get complicated between them fast. It's a dark, stylish, and unforgettable cinematic experience.

This American-Canadian production mixes action and dark fantasy with live action and animation, and just so happens to be about a cult. Oh yeah - it also has Nicolas Cage in the role of Red Miller, which uses the actor’s insanely over-the-top acting in the most fitting and unforgettable way. As a man whose girlfriend is burned alive in front of his eyes by said cult, Cage as Miller is allowed to go absolutely ballistic in his quest for revenge. The result is an intensely emotional, supremely violent and well-directed flick that had both critics and movie-goers raving for weeks.

Arguably one of the most visually arresting action movies of this decade, “Dredd” pairs the testosterone-fueled violence of the “Judge Dredd” comic strips with breathtaking slow-motion cinematography and a surprisingly understated lead performance from Karl Urban. The film is a treat for fans, showcasing the overwhelming scale of Mega-City One and the wickedness of its criminals in a way that feels very true to the source material. Dredd himself comes across as severe and unstoppable, but also ethical and self-controlled, rather than a tooth-gnashing caricature. Overall, it's stylish fan service done right – and you can't ask for more than that.

No group of people take themselves more seriously than teenagers, and this movie recognizes that fact. It's a sharply-written mystery that takes the trappings of hard-boiled film noir detective stories and transplants them onto a group of teens in the present day, with pitch-perfect results. It's electrifying to watch the protagonist, Brendan, visit various high-school cliques and slowly gather information with the dogged determination of a silver-screen gumshoe, as the plot twists and turns the whole way. “Brick” is a dark film, fraught with death and danger, and it's not for everyone. But many cinephiles consider it to be a modern mystery classic.

On the surface, this is a quietly silly comedy about an unlikable loner who has trouble communicating with others. It can be hard to connect with Napoleon, because it's hard to tell whether he even cares about what's happening. But people who watch a little more closely start to see that he is paying attention, and he does care – he just has trouble expressing it. That little ribbon of humanity ties the whole movie together and changes it from a pointless exercise in laughing at awkward people into a charming and uplifting tale about making the most of the cards you're dealt.

Despite a ton of hype and critical acclaim, this quirky action-comedy was a box-office flop, granting it cult film status almost from the start. It's a comic book adaptation that mines the 21st century nerd culture trend for surprising and entertaining video game-based visual cues to tell a whimsical story about a man who must defeat his girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win the day. The exes are almost more fun to watch than the main character, and the simple plot and colorful cast keep the movie entertaining and easy to view from start to finish.

This film about potentiality and alternate dimensions isn't quite as mind-bending as it sometimes thinks it is, but it's still strange and attention-grabbing enough for anyone. Aside from introducing a new generation of fans to the Tears for Fears classics “Mad World” and “Head Over Heels,” “Donnie Darko” used its unusual premise – an event that wasn't supposed to happen, but did – to explore interesting questions about free will and personal responsibility in an accessible way. On top of all that, it's a pretty decent high school drama in its own right, making it the rare movie that has a little something for everyone.

Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

“Waiting...” (2005)

“Repo! The Genetic Opera” (2008)

“House of 1000 Corpses” (2003)

“Ghost World” (2001)

“Spring Breakers” (2012)

More than the disjointed but oh-so-quotable dialog, more than the bad acting and unexplained personality shifts, more than the endless go nowhere subplots, what makes this legendary film so captivating are the little details – the clothing, the leisure activities, the attempts at small talk – that reflect a distorted, funhouse-mirror vision of ordinary American life back at us. The whole movie seems to be desperately trying to convince audiences that it's authentic and real, while somehow missing every note by half a step. It's this subtle, well-intentioned cultural dissonance that makes “The Room” such a weirdly charming cult classic.