Novus Cultus Seclorum

April 11, 2013 2:11 PM

In the spirit of Danny Peary's definitive Cult Movies books, Scott Tobias's New Cult Canon sought to compile and review a grand roll of the offbeat oddities, midnight wonders, overlooked influencers, and otherwise cultish flicks of the last 20 odd years. The series began in 2008 with a retrospective of Donny Darko and ended today with a look at Michael Tolkin's The Rapture and the announcement of Tobias' resignation from the A.V. Club.

The films, in order of review:

Donnie Darko
Morvern Callar
Irma Vep
Miami Blues
Babe: Pig in the City
They Live
Clerks
Primer
π
The Blair Witch Project
I am Cuba
The Rules of Attraction
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
Battle Royale
Dead Man
Wet Hot American Summer
The Boondock Saints
Punch-Drunk Love
Wild Things
Road House
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Troll 2
The Devil's Advocate
Showgirls
Sexy Beast
Sonatine
Gremlins 2
The Kingdom
American Movie
Fight Club
Songs from the Second Floor
Oldboy
Gerry
Irréversible
Office Space
Rounders
Near Dark
Audition
Pulse
The Devil's Rejects
Fallen Angels
Exotica
Reservoir Dogs
Married to the Mob
King of New York
Mysterious Skin
Bitter Moon
Velvet Goldmine
The Limey
Eyes Wide Shut
Heavenly Creatures
Femme Fatale
Beau Travail
The Way of the Gun
The Room
The Iron Giant
Jan Svankmajer's Alice
Spirited Away
The Triplets Of Belleville
Millennium Actress
Careful
The Big Lebowski
Brick
Team America: World Police
Code Unknown
Trust
Quick Change
I ♥ Huckabees
Darkman
Lost Highway
Pootie Tang
Beetlejuice
Naked
Dead Ringers
Stuck
The Lovers on the Bridge
Slacker
Napoleon Dynamite
Head-On
The Pusher trilogy
The Stepfather
Army Of Shadows
Ginger Snaps
Hedwig And The Angry Inch
In The Company Of Men
Army Of Darkness
Bad Santa
Bottle RocketZero Effect
Zero Effect
Requiem For A Dream
Man Bites Dog
Let The Right One In
The Fall
Synecdoche, New York
The House Of The Devil
Serenity
Glengarry Glen Ross
Hard Boiled
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans
The Descent
Mr. Brooks
Sátántangó
Starship Troopers
A Tale of Two Sisters
Delicatessen
American History X
Heathers
Buffalo '66
American Psycho
Demonlover
Death Wish 3
Kung Fu Hustle
Hausu
Clue
Session 9
Martyrs
Point Break
Real Genius
Series 7: The Contenders
The Last Seduction
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Enter The Void
Highlander
Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Slither
Double Team
The Vanishing
Schizopolis
May
Zodiac
Inside
Shaun of the Dead
Black Dynamite
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Anaconda
Diggstown
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Dazed and Confused
Observe and Report
Dead Alive
Cabin Boy
Hackers
Ichi the Killer
Vampire’s Kiss
UHF
The Host (2006)
Margaret
Hot Rod
12 Monkeys
Bound
The People Under the Stairs
Memento
The New World
[REC]
Pump Up the Volume
Zoolander
Hard Target
My Own Private Idaho
The Rapture

Previously: Underrated Movies and an Introduction to Cult Movies.

posted by Iridic (38 comments total)

Scott Tobias will be missed.

And this is a great post!
posted by Marky at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2013

Whoa. I remember stumbling across those Cult Movies books when I was a wee lad left to my own devices at UT's PCL. (The main library.) Lots of interesting info but I admit part of my interest as a 12-year old was not entirely pure... there were occasionally screencaps with nudity in them. *shamefaced*
posted by kmz at 2:16 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Tobias says he got another job.

But if you want a more nefarious reason, former editor Keith Phipps left a couple months ago, and there are some comment section rumors that The Onion is starting to dictate coverage of The Onion-related projects, or something conspiracy theorish like that.
posted by muddgirl at 2:20 PM on April 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Man, this series has been going almost since I entered college. I'd forgotten it a while ago. I'd assumed it would go on forever. I hope Tobias's new job suits him.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:24 PM on April 11, 2013

I have a disturbingly large number of these films on hand or have watched them.

Wait, this means I'm cool, right?

Like you aren't kidding me? I AM cool now?

Seriously?

Ummmmm... Wow.
posted by Samizdata at 2:45 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

All three Cult Movies books have a proud place on my bookshelf, but they're rather out of date. This is a wonderful resource of new movies to track down, thanks!
posted by daveje at 2:49 PM on April 11, 2013

Just to be sure everyone here has already seen Dead Man right?
posted by shakespeherian at 2:51 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

shakespeherian: "Just to be sure everyone here has already seen Dead Man right?"

Oh. Come the HELL ON! What? We poseur amateurs here? Get outta town...
posted by Samizdata at 2:53 PM on April 11, 2013

Just to be sure everyone here has already seen Dead Man right?

i was gonna get to it at some point
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:57 PM on April 11, 2013

Yeah, I've been wondering if there's something rotten in Denmark over at the AV Club for a while now. Am worried.
posted by Diablevert at 2:59 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

quantity drives out quality
posted by Postroad at 3:01 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

The management got insanely lucky when the move from New York to Chicago only darkened the tone of the Onion instead of utterly destroying its quality. It'll be a pity if they take that luck as a license to push the famously loyal A.V. Club staffers too far. Phipps had been with the company for fifteen years.
posted by Iridic at 3:12 PM on April 11, 2013

Or maybe he just got a better job. It's not unheard-of for even long-time staffers to move on.

I'll probably be singing a different tune when Sean O'Neill quits.
posted by muddgirl at 3:19 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I started my own movies cult. Our bible is Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight.

All hall Billy Zane.
posted by smackwich at 3:22 PM on April 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

I loved the Danny Peary books, and I love Tobais' feature. I'm not sure what's happening with the AV Club, which I also love, but at the rate people are leaving the only ones left will be Nabin and O'Neal.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:31 PM on April 11, 2013

Also, cult movies saved my life. When I first moved out of home I was lonely and paranoid. I went to a cult movie night hosted by some lovely people and the community gave me strength.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 3:33 PM on April 11, 2013

But if you want a more nefarious reason,

It's Metafilter. In a thread about cult movies. Of course we do.
posted by tyllwin at 3:50 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I saw this today and was so disappointed. It also means we'll never get entries for I Saw the Devil and Dark City, which were next on the agenda.
posted by theuninvitedguest at 3:59 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't have anything to add to this except: Movern Callar is amazing.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:07 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

From the Pootie Tang review:

For every four or five ill-advised experiments in anti-comedy, like Freddy Got Fingered or Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy or Run Ronnie Run, there may be a Borat-like phenomenon waiting around the corner.

Oh no you did not just say that about Brain Candy, Scott Tobias.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:12 PM on April 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

The A.V. Club recently hired on Mike D'Angelo as a proper film critic, instead of the hired gun who has a column and covers Cannes, and he's my fav reviewer anywhere. New blood's not always a bad thing.

Maybe Phipps and Tobias just didn't like the new office.
posted by Peevish at 5:02 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

The A.V. Club offices have been in Chicago for a really long time. The current editor of the A.V. Club used to work at Milwaukee's Atomic Records back in the day (along with running "Milk" magazine when that was a thing).
posted by drezdn at 6:46 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

My disappointment that Scott Tobias has opted to dignify the Ed Wood of the MRA movement with a place in his canon is outweighed by his review of Brick, Careful, and Trust.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:52 AM on April 12, 2013

There are rumors of a lot of dissatisfaction with current Onion mgmt. People weren't happy over the Oscar tweet apology, I know.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:14 AM on April 12, 2013

Oh man, I have quite the weird love for 'The Rapture'. A very stilted movie of philosophies with such a killer ending..
posted by FatherDagon at 10:23 AM on April 12, 2013

Just to be sure everyone here has already seen Dead Man right?

Nah, Ebert only gave it 1.5 stars. Ghost Dog is where it's @.

Oh man, I have quite the weird love for 'The Rapture'. A very stilted movie of philosophies with such a killer ending..

Love the Rapture so much.

So many good movies here. Hard to pick any faves, but I have a soft spot for Gerry. Just so perfect in so many ways.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:37 PM on April 12, 2013

Nah, Ebert only gave it 1.5 stars. Ghost Dog is where it's @.

But Chicago's own far more irascible film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote a whole book about Dead Man.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:42 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Excellent. It is probably my favorite movie ever, but I've never read any reviews or criticism. Here's an interview from Rosenbaum:

A Gun Up Your Ass: an Interview with Jim Jarmusch

For me, one of the most interesting things (of many) about the film is that I usually don't care much at all for Neil Young, but it is also probably my most favoritest soundtrack ever.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:45 AM on April 15, 2013

Perhaps you know my poetry.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:47 AM on April 15, 2013

Now Tasha Robinson is leaving the AV Club? What is going on there?
posted by drezdn at 5:53 AM on April 26, 2013

And Nathan Rabin just announced he's leaving the AV Club too.
posted by drezdn at 8:44 AM on April 26, 2013

I noticed that too, drezdn, and asked myself the same question.

Not that it's the same level as the long-time names leaving, but I just remembered that the poorly-publicized-but-well-respected AV Club crossword was discontinued in November. Not the same, but a data point worth adding, I think.

(On preview, looks like I'm not the only one who remembered this thread on seeing that news :) And really? Rabin?)
posted by themanwho at 8:47 AM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Add Genevieve Koski to the list.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/an-update-from-the-av-club,97016/

I didn't like her, but she was part of the club. This is like when Games Magazine got a new owner, and it started going downhill fast.

I just finished reading that whole post, and it looks like they're jumping ship for their own project. It makes sense now.
posted by themanwho at 8:49 AM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

It seems the question isn't who's leaving, but who's left.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:03 AM on April 26, 2013

Next thing you know, they'll be letting Ben Wyatt Fan fiction go.
posted by drezdn at 9:19 AM on April 26, 2013

Rabin?!? Holy crap!
posted by Chrysostom at 9:29 AM on April 26, 2013

Comment from Noel Murray on this thread:

"Apologies for posting this so late in the day (and late in the thread), but some of you have been contacting me privately and speculating publicly about whether I'm still writing for The A.V. Club. The short answer is: Yes. But I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I've always been just a freelancer here, which means it's not my place to "give notice" per se. When I'm ready to move on, I just taper off on contributing. And that's what I'll be doing. I'm going to continue with Comics Panel, and I have some pieces in the pipeline that I'm going to be completing; but for about 10 years now, roughly 80% of my income has come from the work I've done here, and by next month, that'll be down to about 5%. I stress that this is entirely by my choice. I'll be joining my friends in a new venture, the details of which will have to wait for now, but which is very exciting."

Looks like he's moving on, too.
posted by Tevin at 2:19 PM on April 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

I can't believe Nabin is leaving too.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 12:28 AM on May 1, 2013