15 Best cult movies on Netflix: classic cult films revealed
Take a step away from the mainstream with these cult Netflix movies.
Netflix isn’t just the name of a popular streaming service. It’s entered the vernacular as a byword for relaxing in front of the TV with a glossy box set or a blockbuster movie from yesteryear.
What tends to fall in between the cracks (often courtesy of the service’s less than helpful browsing experience) is all those films that might not have raked in millions or filled column inches over the years, but which still have something special going for them.
We’re talking about films that have built up a cult following, or have simply been forgotten over the years.
Here, then, are 15 top cult classic films that are available to stream right now on Netflix. Watch them now before they get lost in the scramble to ‘Netflix and chill’.
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15. The Guilty
This brilliantly taut 2018 Danish thriller takes place in a single claustrophobic location - a Copenhagen police call centre. Despite this inherent limitation, The Guilty manages to put you through a whole range of emotions as you follow officer Asger Holm through the final hours of a shift. It soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems in this low budget masterpiece. It’s no wonder Hollywood quickly came calling, with a remake in the works starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
14. Blindspotting
Blindspotting may well be a bit too new to gain cult status, but it has all the trappings of a cult movie. Revolving around the lives of Bay Area residents Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, the movie shows the two friends part of a community that is in a state of flux, with gentrification rubbing up against the original hood. It’s a fantastic look at both racial tensions and economic tensions in the US, packed with some brilliant dialogue that more often than not veers into rapping. This is for anyone that’s looking for a film that’s got the DNA of early Spike Lee embedded into it.
13. Lifeforce
Lifeforce is not the movie we would have expected from the director of The Chainsaw Massacre and the writer of Alien, but it is a wonderfully barmy movie about space vampires that invade London. A word of warning: this is a very 80s movie. The space girl, played by Mathilda May, is naked a lot of time, for no discernable reason, there’s a ton of violence and the acting and FX are ropey in places. But it’s one of those midnight movies that need to be seen at least once - oh, and it stars, among other theatre stars, none other than Patrick Stewart.
12. Under The Shadow
This is one of the best horror movies of recent years. Writer/Director Babak Anvari sets the movie in wartorn 80s Tehran and focuses on a mother and daughter who are spooked by ghostly goings-on in their small apartment. It relies heavily on atmosphere for most of its scares, which means that your heart will be in your mouth for most of it. While the movie is a grim analogy of the horrors of war, it is also punctuated by some beautiful and sweet moments between the mother and daughter, gracefully played by Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi.
11. Would You Rather
Would You Rather is a delicious horror movie and one that’s criminally underseen. Much like the recent Ready or Not, this is about rich people playing deadly games with the poor - in this instance, it’s a bloody and horrific game of Would You Rather. It’s an inventive and surprisingly funny chiller but don’t watch if you are squeamish about eyes!