The Queue: Five Fabulous Cult Movies You Can Watch on Netflix Right Now
Here’s a useful word: “Overchoice” is a term deployed by sociologists to describe that brain lock that happens when you want to make a decision, but have too many options.
You may be familiar with this cognitive freeze from browsing for movies on Netflix. Along with its high-profile new releases and increasingly impressive original programming, Netflix is also home to a constantly churning archive of thousands of older movies. It’s overchoice gone wild.
We’re here to help. In this edition of The Queue, we recommend five classic cult films currently in rotation at Netflix that are well worth watching (or revisiting) on your next movie night at home.
The Warriors (1979)
Before he made the action-comedy classic 48 Hrs., director Walter Hill confused the living daylights out of critics and audiences alike with The Warriors, his 1979 pop opera about New York City street gangs. The mannered acting and stylized violence cut directly against the grain of mainstream action movies of the day.
Adults were baffled, but teenagers tuned into the movie’s weird wavelengths, tearing up several movie theaters in the process. Among the story’s surreal street gangs: The Savage Huns, The Electric Eliminators, Satan’s Mothers and the immortal Baseball Furies.
Starship Troopers (1997)
For adventurous science-fiction fans, Starship Troopers is an interesting case study: The movie is sort of like a two-hour optical illusion. Look at it one way, and it’s a lurid, ultraviolent gorefest in space — fun in a middle-school kind of way. Shift your gaze just a little, however, and it becomes a ferocious satire of warmongering and military jingoism.
Director Paul Verhoeven previously made the controversial films RoboCop (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992) — he’s not one for following rules, really. And hey, is that a young Neil Patrick Harris? Why, yes it is!
Clueless (1995)
One of stealthiest comedies ever to come out of Hollywood, Clueless stars Alicia Silverstone as a spoiled Beverly Hills teenager who is nevertheless clever, kind and almost impossibly lovable. Loosely based on Jane Austin’s novel Emma, the movie is much smarter than it has any obligation to be.
It’s also genuinely funny and perfectly cast — twenty years later, the jokes still hold up amid all the 1990s L.A. mall culture madness. And hey, is that a young Paul Rudd? Why, yes it is!
Let the Right One In (2008)
If it’s a scary movie night you want, this Swedish import is as good as anything you’ll find on Netflix — or anywhere else, really. The story concerns a deadly vampire stalking 1980s suburban Stockholm. But since the vampire in question is a 12-year-old girl (kind of), everything plays out like a sideways nightmare.
Several publications voted Let the Right One In the best horror film of the year — a few called it the best of the decade — and it’s a must-see for fans of the genre. But heads up: It really is scary.
The Trip (2011)
British actors Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan play fictionalized versions of themselves in this very funny road trip movie, which was actually cut together from a hugely popular 2010 BBC TV series. The film version didn’t make much noise in the U.S., but it’s gained a cult following due primarily to one brilliant scene.
Known informally as the Dueling Michael Caine scene, it still goes viral every few months, like a lingering low-grade fever. You can sample the (slightly NSFW) sequence below.
