31. Pi (1998)
Sure, Darren Aronofsky's films can be humorless, pretentious, and downright ridiculous. (Seriously. Watch Black Swan again.) But even those less enamored of his oeuvre have to admire the audacity of his breakthrough feature about a math genius dodging Hasidic Jews, Wall Street weasels, and his own impending madness. — A.O.
32. Pink Flamingos (1972)
Predating punk rock, the gay-rights movement, and the mainstreaming of bad taste, John Waters and his Dreamland Players celebrated extreme fashion, outré culture, and the comedy of shock long before they were trendy. And while Hairspray may be Waters' most beloved creation, Pink Flamingos remains his most notorious, thanks to cheerful scenes of depravity (like Divine's notorious shit-eating grin) that still elicit gasps in a post-Human Centipede world. — A.O.
33. Plane 9 From Outer Space (1959)
Ed Wood, Jr.'s masterpiece received a Golden Turkey as the worst film ever made, but that's not why it's on this list. Plenty of drive-in (and mainstream) movies of the '50s had silly dialogue and wooden acting, but Wood's consistently cracked vision, proto-goth aesthetic and all-star ensemble (including Vampira, Tor Johnson, and Bela Lugosi) make Plan 9 genuinely entertaining, while the failed director's can-do optimism in the face of insurmountable odds serves as an inspiration (and cautionary tale) for indie filmmakers everywhere. — A.O.
34. Re-Animator (1985)
Stuart Gordon's screwball H. P. Lovecraft adaptation was one of the first "video nasties." You just had to be sure to tell your friends to get the "unrated" edition, or else they'd miss the scene involving a trussed-up naked woman and a living severed head, which reportedly inspired the screenwriter to call the director in the dead of night and yell, "I've just written my first visual pun!" Testament to its lasting late-night appeal, Kevin Spacey gives it a stoned shout-out in American Beauty. — P.N.
35. Repo Man (1984)
In the old days, indie films weren't just low-budget versions of Hollywood product with more sex, drugs, and cursing. Instead, they were often singular, inexplicable one-offs like Alex Cox's mash-up of punk rock, L.A. noir, Gen-X malaise, and sci-fi conspiracy theories involving radioactive Chevy Malibus. Back then, the life of a repo man was always intense. — A.O.
36. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Back before Quentin Tarantino ruled the world, he was just another guy at the Sundance Film Festival with a movie under his arm. It turned out to be the genre movie of the year, an accomplishment that did not go fully appreciated in that high-minded environment. Tarantino had to wait until his movie went viral on videocassette to see it begin to achieve what he had been put on Earth to do: kick-start the American independent film movement by proving that indie movies could be fun. — P.N.
37. The Road Warrior (1981)
Like the man who played him, Max Rockatansky is an angry, troubled dude from Australia. And while it's hard to understand why a movie star as rich and handsome as Mel Gibson is so full of hate and bile, it's easy to sympathize with Mad Max. After seeing his loved ones cut down by punks in a world gone to hell, the former cop just wants to wear a bad-ass leather jumpsuit and roam the wasteland with his faithful dog in a tricked-out muscle car. But then more damn punks show up, resulting in the tightest, coolest action film of all time. — A.O.
38. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Catchy tunes aside, it's hard to fathom why someone would finance a cinematic adaptation of a bizarro British musical about intergalactic sex fiends in the first place. But for whatever reason, the decision paid off, spawning one of the most successful midnight movies of all time, as well as a weekly rite-of-passage safe haven for sweet transvestites and other misfit toys around the world. — A.O.
39. Sisters (1973)
Brian De Palma's fifth feature film was his first real horror movie, and you could almost hear the universe clicking into place. With its bloody killings and off-the-wall humor (especially in the opening sequence), combined with Bernard Herrmann's old-timey yet zingy score, it sums up both the early-'70s cult audience's lust for something harshly new and their nostalgic taste for something that felt "old." — P.N.
40. Slacker (1991)
Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater's patchouli-soaked ode to summer, stoners, and '76, is a beloved cult classic in its own right. But the director's debut, a plotless love letter to his beloved Austin, is a touchstone for eccentrics of every generation. — A.O.
41. Stop Making Sense (1984)
People had been filming rock concerts and calling the resulting footage "movies" for decades before Jonathan Demme took command of the director's chair. But working with his stars, Talking Heads, Demme made a concert movie with no out-of-focus shots, catch-as-catch-can camerawork, or even the intruding interviews that characterized even Martin Scorsese's
The Last Waltz. Plus, the Heads had already designed the concert to have the escalating feel of a movie, which didn't hurt. —
P.N.
42. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
The coolest thing Bill Cosby ever did was to help finance Melvin Van Peebles' labor of love about a righteous black man kicking ass at a time when pop culture was utterly devoid of such imagery. Like an African-American
Easy Rider, the underground hit fed the hunger of an underserved audience (while launching the career of Earth, Wind & Fire as an added bonus). —
A.O.
43. Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, a couple of hometown boys on their way to becoming legendary, worked together to create one of the most intensely alive visions of New York City ever.
Taxi Driver's New York is a squalid, writhing beast with a hooker on every street corner and a gun dealer in every hotel lobby. The idea was to make the feelings of a lonely killer comprehensible to sane people. But
Taxi Driver didn't just make those feelings comprehensible —
it burned them into the screen with acid. —
P.N.
44. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper's nightmare in bright Southwestern sunlight is one of the smartest films ever to be consistently described as "harrowing." It
is harrowing, even though it plays on your nerves instead of waving entrails in your face — it's much less gory than the uninitiated probably assume, and than many who have seen it probably remember. Along with another 1974 drive-in movie,
Macon County Line, it also led the way in the innovation of flat-out lying about being based on "a true story." —
P.N.
45. The Thing (1982)
Sure, the 1951 original is a sci-fi classic, but the monster that attacks a frozen research base in that film is basically James Arness with a forehead prosthetic. And, yes, the 2011 prequel has CGI. But the jaw-dropping, pre-digital effects in John Carpenter's version still blow our minds. And besides: who kicks more ass than Kurt Russell? —
A.O.
46. The Toxic Avenger (1984)
According to hyperbole-prone director Lloyd Kaufman, his New York-based Troma Entertainment may be the most truly
independent film studio of all time. Indeed, the company's been sticking it to The Man with its own distinctive brand of political gross-out horror (and sex comedy) since 1974, with their signature nerd-turned-superhero "Toxie" serving as the (melted) face of Tromaville like a mutant Mickey Mouse. —
A.O.
47. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Two-Lane Blacktop is the ultimate road movie, which is to say that, like a lot of road trips, it captures the thrill of feeling the country passing by your car window even though it doesn't really go anyplace.
Esquire magazine published Rudolph Wurlitzer's script in its pages and put the lead actress, Laurie Bird, on the cover with the promise, "Movie of the Year." The magazine later repented after the movie died at the box office, but even though 1971 turned out to be a pretty good year for movies, they were closer to being right the first time. —
P.N.
48. The Warriors (1979)
"Warriors... come out to play! Warriors! Come out to
plaaay-hay!" Walter Hill's spare, compelling (and, yes, kind of goofy) urban adaptation of an ancient Greek heroes' journey deserves its spot on this list just for the scene where David Patrick Kelly's rogue gang leader taunts the hunted Warriors. The Riffs, the Lizzys, the Baseball Furies, and especially the hot lips of Lynne Thigpen's disembodied DJ all just sweeten the deal. Can you dig it? —
A.O.
49. Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
For Todd Solondz's likably unlikable dork protagonist, Dawn "Weiner-Dog" Weiner (Heather Matarazzo), puberty is a hilariously grim nightmare of abuse, neglect, and hideous kitty sweatshirts.
Welcome to the Dollhouse is the perfect movie for anyone who's ever tried to forget their own teenage wasteland. —
A.O.
50. Withnail and I (1987)
Richard E. Grant gives the performance of his life, in the role he was born to play, as a character who's a cult object all by himself: Withnail, the profane, druggy, vicious would-be actor whose career will never take off, because what role could be grand enough to tempt him to ever be anyone but his own thrilling self? Oscar Wilde said that you have to decide between putting your art into your work or your life. This movie makes the best possible case for making the wrong choice. —
P.N.
Runners-up: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai,
Aguirre - The Wrath of God,
Akira,
Audition,
Bad Lieutenant,
Blade Runner,
Bottle Rocket, Brick,
Chungking Express,
El Topo, Fantastic Planet,
Hands on a Hard Body,
Head,
Heavenly Creatures,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch,
Irma Vep,
The Little Shop of Horrors,
Liquid Sky,
My Neighbor Totoro,
Mysterious Skin,
Night of the Comet,
Once Upon a Time in the West,
Putney Swope,
Reefer Madness,
Return of the Living Dead,
Sexy Beast,
The Stepfather,
Suspiria,
This is Spinal Tap, Troll 2,
Velvet Goldmine,
Wet Hot American Summer,
The Wicker Man
