5 Cult Movies for True Cult Movie Fans

by Conan Simmons – June 24, 2021 – 11:36 pm

This isn’t a list of the most popular cult movies like ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ or ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’.

This is a list of five movies that, if you’ve already begun your journey into exploring the wild genre of cult cinema, are highly recommended you seek out. These aren’t the usual top recommended films like ‘Maniac’, ‘Eraserhead’ or even the newer deliberately bad films like ‘Sharknado’.

These are films for the more adventurous cinema seeker. Films that are not always good, not always bad. At least, not so bad to lack reason to watch.

‘Grave of the Vampire’ (1972)

William Smith stars with Lyn Peters and Michael Pataki in, what at the time was, a new take on the vampire genre. As a couple make love one night in a cemetery an ancient vampire awakens killing the man and, in a shocking scene, rapes the woman in an open grave. Years later, the offspring of that devilish union has grown up as a half-vampire now on the hunt for his vampire father in order to drive a stake in his heart.

If that sounds familiar it’s because the 1998 film ‘Blade’ starring Wesley Snipes had a similar plot with less salaciousness. It’s interesting to note that the Blade character from Marvel comics was created by Marv Wolfman in 1973 for The Tomb of Dracula issue #10. This movie clearly inspired the comic book character of a half-vampire / vampire hunter along with 1972’s ‘Blacula’.

‘Grave of the Vampire’ is filmed much like any early 1970’s horror film. The plot is intriguing, the grave scene notable for its outrageousness, and the film features what is arguably William Smith’s best performance, though his most notable film role may be as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s father in the 1982 fantasy classic ‘Conan the Barbarian’.

‘Turkish Star Wars’ a.k.a. ‘Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam’ (1982)

You may or may not of heard of this one as it had a bit of a renaissance here in the U.S. several years ago with theaters like The Alamo Drafthouse hosting screenings. Turkey went through a period of making very oddball movies like this and 1973’s ‘Turkish Star Trek’ that, for better or for worse, seems to be long over now.

Starring martial artist Cüneyt Arkın and directed by Çetin Inanç this film is cram packed with rip-offs of major Hollywood movies of the time. Lifting full scenes from George Lucas’ 1977 classic ending of the x-wing run on the Death Star to place awkwardly behind shots of actors in a grade Z level of staging. The training montage as Arkın kicks boulders into a mountainside is hilarious as is the repetitive cutting back and forth of close-ups of him and his romantic interest staring lovingly at each other. The best part might be during the alien saloon fight when our hero rips off the arm of what looks like a giant teddy bear and stabs said alien with its own arm.

The villain is clearly modeled after Ming the Merciless from 1980’s ‘Flash Gordon’, an inspiration hammered home by the bassline from Queen’s iconic song playing whenever the villainous wizard appears. John Williams’ music score from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is also used several times whenever the hero charges into action.

‘Turkish Star Wars’ is absolute escapism and the pure joy of filmmaking pours out of every frame.

‘Conquest’ (1983)

Between the top sword-and-sandal fantasy films of the 1980’s starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘Conan the Barbarian’ and ‘Conan the Destroyer’, there emerged quite a lot of Dungeons & Dragons inspired films looking to cash in on the craze. ‘Conquest’ is among the best of those and it hails from Italian cinema maestro Lucio Fulci, the Godfather of Gore.

Filmed to look like the primordial history of mankind the movie constantly has a sort of hazy fog to picture. Andrea Ochipinti stars as a barbarian with a magic glowing bow and similarly glowing arrows who teams up with a warrior, Jorge Rivero, to take on an evil demigoddess, Sabrina Siani, in her cave lair protected by werewolf-looking bandits and various monsters.

Lucio Fulci of course showcases his trademark gore which fits perfectly with the barbarians vs. monsters setting. ‘Conquest’ doesn’t enjoy the same level of fan appreciation as Fulci’s more horror focused film like ‘Zombie’, but it is essential for any Fulci fan. Likewise, as the sword-and-sandal fantasy genre is coming back with big budget films of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series, fans of the genre should absolutely make time for ‘Conquest’.

‘Ninja III: The Domination’ (1984)

Given how popular the 1980’s have been for audiences in recent years, ‘Ninja III: The Domination’ is well worth checking out.

Directed by Sam Firstenberg, this is the third film of a trilogy of films starring Sho Kosugi. After 1981’s ‘Enter the Ninja’ starring Franco Nero with Kosugi as a major villain in the Philippines and 1983’s ‘Return of the Ninja’ which featured Kosugi as the hero in Salt Lake City, Utah this third and equally unrelated film places Kosugi in a major supporting role as telephone line repairwoman and aerobics instructor Lucinda Dickey finds herself possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja in Los Angeles, California.

Lucinda Dickey has help not only from Kosugi but from a police officer, Jordan Bennett, who was among those responsible for the death of the evil ninja. He takes her to see an exorcist, James Hong, who chains her up as she starts exhibiting demonic behavior complete with projectile vomit.

The movie is very 1980’s with synth music, neon lights and big hair. It’s also bizarrely uneven switching from action movie to ‘Poltergeist’ style ghost movie to the previously mentioned riff on ‘The Exorcist’. The stunt work is fun to watch and there is an obscure arcade game that never officially released featured prominently in the main characters apartment.

‘Lady Terminator’ a.k.a. ‘Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan’ a.k.a. ‘Revenge of the South Sea Queen’ (1988)

Taking its que from the success of John Cameron’s ‘The Terminator’ this film from Indonesia, directed by Tjut Djalil a.k.a. Jalil Jackson and produced by Ram Soraya, puts a whole new spin on it.

Opening with a man being seduced by the mythical South Sea Queen, who has a very unique way of killing people (understatement), the man manages to overpower the South Sea Queen who then curses his ancestor out of anger.

Years later, a university student, Anne Constable, researching the myth goes diving and gets possessed by the South Sea Queen. Remarkably, this somehow turns her into a leather-clad, sunglasses wearing, machinegun toting ‘Lady Terminator’. Going in search of the cursed ancestor, Claudia Angelique Rademaker, who happens to be a popstar. As the unstoppable killing machine wreaks havoc in her quest to kill, a New York City policeman who is working in Jakarta, Christopher J. Hart, is on the case with another mullet-haired stereotypical American. Together they go on a violently bonkers adventure to stop the Lady Terminator, defeat the South Sea Queen and break the curse.

If you think you’ve seen it all you must absolutely check this gem out! ‘Lady Terminator’ is practically guaranteed to become a favorite of any true cult movie fan.