Midnight Madness: Cult Cinema for the Brave

Seventeen films that built the midnight movie tradition

These were the films shown at midnight screenings, in repertory houses, on battered VHS tapes passed between friends. They follow no rules because they reject the premise of the question. Seventeen films that built the midnight movie tradition — from the first Elgin Theater Saturday-nights of El Topo in 1970 to Cosmatos's analogue-VHS rebuild of memory in 2010.

Comedy Horror 1970s Hidden Gems
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Created: December 14, 2025

The Collection

El Topo

El Topo

1970
1
El Topo
1970
1
El Topo
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director Alejandro Jodorowsky
Cast Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio
Box Office $80,302
Why El Topo. Jodorowsky's first midnight film at the Elgin Theater in 1970, every Saturday night for si…
The Holy Mountain

The Holy Mountain

1973
2
The Holy Mountain
1973
2
The Holy Mountain
IMDb 7.7 / 10
Director Alejandro Jodorowsky
Cast Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders
Box Office $61,001
Why The Holy Mountain. Jodorowsky's most ambitious. Nine seekers and an alchemist climb a mountain to o…
Multiple Maniacs

Multiple Maniacs

1970
3
Multiple Maniacs
1970
3
Multiple Maniacs
IMDb 6.5 / 10
Director John Waters
Cast Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce
Box Office $33,036
Why Multiple Maniacs. John Waters' second feature, his breakthrough into deliberate bad-taste cinema. A…
Pink Flamingos

Pink Flamingos

1972
4
Pink Flamingos
1972
4
Pink Flamingos
IMDb 6.0 / 10
Director John Waters
Cast Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce
Box Office $6,000,000
Why Pink Flamingos. Waters' formal declaration that cinema could go anywhere, do anything, eat anything…
Performance

Performance

1970
5
Performance
1970
5
Performance
IMDb 6.7 / 10
Director Nicolas Roeg, Donald Cammell
Cast James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg
Why Performance. Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's first film. A London gangster on the run hides in th…
Eraserhead

Eraserhead

1977
6
Eraserhead
1977
6
Eraserhead
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director David Lynch
Cast Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph
Box Office $7,000,000
Why Eraserhead. David Lynch shot it over five years in an abandoned stable on the AFI campus. He lived …
Hausu

Hausu

1977
7
Hausu
1977
7
Hausu
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director Nobuhiko Obayashi
Cast Jay Karales, Jacob A. Miller
Box Office $209,765
Why Hausu. Nobuhiko Obayashi's hallucinatory teenage haunted-house movie, made for Toho when they asked…
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

1974
8
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974
8
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
IMDb 7.4 / 10
Director Tobe Hooper
Cast Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger
Box Office $30,859,000
Why The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Tobe Hooper made it for $140,000 in the Texas summer heat with non-ac…
Suspiria

Suspiria

1977
9
Suspiria
1977
9
Suspiria
IMDb 7.3 / 10
Director Dario Argento
Cast Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci
Box Office $2,900,000
Why Suspiria. Argento's giallo as full-spectrum dream. Goblin's score plays in the lobby of the dance a…
Phantasm

Phantasm

1979
10
Phantasm
1979
10
Phantasm
IMDb 6.6 / 10
Director Don Coscarelli
Cast A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister
Box Office $11,988,469
Why Phantasm. Don Coscarelli made it at 23 with money he saved from previous shorts. A tall man in blac…
Possession

Possession

1981
11
Possession
1981
11
Possession
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director Andrzej Żuławski
Cast Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen
Box Office $1,158,473
Why Possession. Andrzej Żuławski shot it in West Berlin while his marriage fell apart. Isabelle Adjani …
Liquid Sky

Liquid Sky

1982
12
Liquid Sky
1982
12
Liquid Sky
IMDb 6.0 / 10
Director Slava Tsukerman
Cast Anne Carlisle, Paula E. Sheppard, Bob Brady
Why Liquid Sky. Slava Tsukerman's no-wave alien-junkie New York comedy. Tiny aliens land on a Manhattan…
The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

1975
13
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975
13
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
IMDb 7.4 / 10
Director Jim Sharman
Cast Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick
Box Office $112,892,319
Why The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The definitional midnight film. Failed initial theatrical run, then …
Repo Man

Repo Man

1984
14
Repo Man
1984
14
Repo Man
IMDb 6.8 / 10
Director Alex Cox
Cast Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter
Box Office $129,000
Why Repo Man. Alex Cox's punk Los Angeles where Otto (Emilio Estevez) repossesses cars while a 1964 Che…
Society

Society

1989
15
Society
1989
15
Society
IMDb 6.5 / 10
Director Brian Yuzna
Cast Billy Warlock, Concetta D'Agnese, Ben Slack
Why Society. Brian Yuzna's body-horror Beverly Hills class allegory. The rich are literally inside-out …
Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

1989
16
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
1989
16
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
IMDb 6.9 / 10
Director Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Cast Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka
Why Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Shinya Tsukamoto shot it on 16mm in Tokyo with a crew of three, including him…
Beyond the Black Rainbow

Beyond the Black Rainbow

2010
17
Beyond the Black Rainbow
2010
17
Beyond the Black Rainbow
IMDb 5.9 / 10
Director Panos Cosmatos
Cast Eva Bourne, Michael J Rogers, Scott Hylands
Box Office $56,491
Why Beyond the Black Rainbow. Panos Cosmatos's debut, made before Mandy. A psychedelic-pharmacological …

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