50 Greatest Cult Movie Moments

Taffin (1988)

The Moment: Taffin loses his shit in spectacular style, bellowing “THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T BE LIVING HERE!” at his startled ladyfriend.

Coolest Element: A cult film thanks largely to the Adam & Joe podcast, which brought Pierce Brosnan’s extraordinary delivery into the public consciousness. A clip that truly never gets old.

Wild Things (1998)

The Moment: Matt Dillon cements his position as jammiest man in Hollywood thanks to his involvement in this steamy threesome with Denise Richards and Neve Campbell.

Coolest Element: Dillon’s manful attempt to deliver his dialogue without choking on his words. “Guidance counsellors get to find out all kinds of interesting things,” he hams, gleefully.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

The Moment: Val Kilmer takes Robert Downey Jr. to task, asking him whether he knows what he’ll find in the dictionary if he looks up “idiot”. “A picture of me?” replies RDJ. “No, the definition of the word ‘idiot’, which you fucking are!”

Coolest Element:
It’s a perfect example of the movie’s whip-smart, expectation-subverting script.

Mallrats (1995)

The Moment: TS and Brodie blag their way onto Truth or Date, allowing Brodie to start tearing strips off the duo’s fellow competitor…

Coolest Element:
“Look at you,” retorts Brodie angrily. “You’re the kind of guy who would beg for sex. I should know, we can smell our own.”

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Moment: It’s hard to choose between the many toe-tapping musical numbers, but Time Warp is a particularly gleeful routine…

Coolest Element:
Put it this way, you’ll be humming it for the rest of the day!

They Live (1988)

The Moment: Rowdy Roddy Piper lays down the law. “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass,” he begins. “And I’m all out of bubblegum.”

Coolest Element: Now you know where Duke Nukem picked it up…

Escape To Victory (1981)

The Moment: Pele sticks it to the Nazis by burying an overhead kick into the top corner. Take that, Fritz!

Coolest Element:
According to co-star and Ipswich legend John Wark, he nailed it on the first take.

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

The Moment: Varla challenges Tommy to a scrap, kicking seven bells out of him in the middle of the desert.

Coolest Element: The sheer bloodlust on show as Varla shows she’s not to be trifled with.

The Dark Crystal (1982)

The Moment: Things take a turn for the horrifying when a cuddly Gelfling has his soul sucked out by a cruel Skesis scientist.

Coolest Element: The levels of horror Jim Henson is allowed to slip into a family film really do beggar belief!

Showgirls (1995)

The Moment: Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan get down to business during a moonlit dip in the pool. It gets thrashy…

Coolest Element: The grunting, pained expressions sported by both parties. Bravo!

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.