The Best Cult Films of All Time

Wes Anderson’s second film was his take on the coming-of-age genre in this dramedy. Jason Schwartzman plays private-school student Max Fischer, who vies with an older man (Bill Murray) for the affections of a first-grade teacher (Rosemary Cross). Luke Wilson also appeared in the film and his brother Owen co-wrote it with Anderson.

The black-and-white indie flick “Stranger Than Paradise” was Jim Jarmusch’s directorial debut. It follows the aimless lives of two New Yorkers whose routine is jolted by the arrival of one’s Hungarian cousin. After the cousin leaves to stay with an aunt in Cleveland, the two men set out for Florida and what they believe is paradise.

John Carpenter’s remake of the 1950s’ classic horror-movie stars Kurt Russell. A research team in Antarctica is pitted against a malevolent shape-shifting visitor from another world. Carpenter’s reboot is grimmer and gorier than the original and the tension is relentless. “The Thing” holds the highest score from Rotten Tomatoes audiences among Carpenter films.

Bruce Robinson directed and wrote this acerbic take on bohemian characters living on the edge. Out-of-work actors Marwood and Withnail spend time in their filthy London apartment, at the unemployment office, or drinking at the pub. A holiday in the country with Withnail’s gay uncle turns into a disaster as the luckless thespians battle tedium and the constant rain.

The gender-bending “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” which draws comparisons to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” is about a German emigrant living in a trailer in Kansas, the victim of a botched sex-change operation, who is searching for fame and love. John Cameron Mitchell won audience and directing awards at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.