13 Must-Watch Cult Movies That Make Tubi the Underrated King of Free Streaming
With nearly every big service committed to regular price hikes, there’s never been a better time to check out free, ad-supported streamers like Tubi. But with so much content in the FAST world, it can be overwhelming just trying to pick a movie. Cult fans, we got you: here are 15 wonderfully weird titles to start off your Tubi journey.
Troll 2
It might not have been the original aim of this Italian-made, Utah-shot creature feature to become history’s “best worst movie,” but that’s a title it has since proudly claimed in the years since its 1990 release. Troll 2 absolutely lives up to the hype, laying on the anti-vegetarian sentiment, outrageously uneven acting and special effects, and outstandingly quotable one-liners. You’ll never, ever forget that “Nilbog” is “Goblin” spelled backwards. Watch on Tubi.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Sometimes an overstuffed plot and a world that’s knowingly wacky can make a movie feel like it’s trying too hard, but that’s not the case with this 1984 sci-fi comedy, which stars Peter Weller as a brilliant doctor and Jet Car test pilot who’s also a rock star, a romantic, and a sharp-dressed style icon whose adventures feature both a similarly snappy entourage and an unhinged alien nemesis. Somehow, it all boils down to the simplest of truths: “No matter where you go, there you are.” Watch on Tubi.
Bubba Ho-Tep
io9 once called Don Coscarelli’s 2002 horror comedy one of the most perfect B-movies ever, and it’s not hard to see why: it stars Bruce Campbell as an elderly Elvis, living under an assumed identity in a nursing home alongside a similarly alive-and-disguised John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis), who must take a stand against a soul-stealing mummy in a cowboy hat. Watch on Tubi.
The Gate
There are a lot of movies about demons being accidentally unleashed upon our world, but only 1987's The Gate also features the following: young teen protagonists (one is played by Stephen Dorff, in his feature debut), nightmarish premonitions, a backyard pit that coughs up a cursed geode, evil incantations, heavy metal lyrics, Biblical verses, ghostly construction workers, human sacrifices, and adventures in babysitting. Watch on Tubi.
Logan’s Run
An io9 retro review dubbed Logan’s Run—released in 1976, and set in a dystopian world where nobody ages past 30—as “both fabulously dated and weirdly timeless.” Find out why by watching it on Tubi.
Leprechaun
This 1993 horror comedy spawned an unlikely franchise as well as the career of future superstar Jennifer Aniston—who manages to be quite charming as she battles a trash-talking, vengeance-seeking leprechaun played with zeal by the great Warwick Davis. Watch on Tubi.
Ginger Snaps
A werewolf tale with a decidedly feminist bent, 2000's Ginger Snaps follows two misfit sisters (Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle) whose fraught coming-of-age becomes further complicated by supernatural intrusions. Watch on Tubi.
The Toxic Avenger
While cult-film junkies wait for word on when the festival-beloved remake is getting a theatrical release, there’s no better moment to acquaint yourself with Troma’s proudly, revoltingly squishy 1984 original—a “revenge of the nerd” tale like no other. Watch on Tubi.
The Stuff
Larry Cohen’s 1985 satirical sci-fi comedy imagines the world being driven to the brink of madness when most everyone becomes addicted to a creamy dessert that miraculously bubbles from beneath the earth. Turns out it’s actually an alien parasite... but damn, it sure is delicious. Watch on Tubi.
John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars
Yes, there are perhaps a few too many flashbacks, plot holes, and irrational character choices... but this underrated 2001 sci-fi horror entry from genre legend John Carpenter still features a villain named “Big Daddy Mars,” and stars Ice Cube as a reluctant hero named “Desolation.” In other words, Ghosts of Mars knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and it’s all the more entertaining for it. Watch on Tubi.
Basket Case
Frank Henenlotter’s 1984 horror comedy was fully restored in 2017 by the Museum of Modern Art—the only ultra-low-budget tale of a man who totes his formerly conjoined mutant twin brother around in a wicker basket while seeking revenge on the doctors who separated them ever to achieve that distinction. Watch on Tubi.
Teen Witch
Robyn Lively and Poltergeist’s Zelda Rubenstein star in this lightweight 1989 comedy that somehow gets more delightful with every viewing. Not for nothing does YouTube have one of its most famous musical scenes available in case you need a quick hit (above). For the full spellbinding effect, of course, watch it on Tubi.
Night of the Comet
It’s Valley Girls (The Last Starfighter’s Catherine Marie Stewart and Chopping Mall’s Kelli Maroney) against what’s left of the world in this 1984 sci-fi horror comedy, set just before Christmas in a Los Angeles that’s been nearly wiped out (or zombified). Watch on Tubi.
Sign up for Gizmodo's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
