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Some great films never get the love they deserve. In this video, we’re counting down 9 underrated movies that had all the makings of cult classics, but somehow missed their chance.
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00:00Not every largely underrated piece of cinema has been lucky enough to receive the prestigious
00:05cult classic treatment, but as seen in one particularly brilliant Reddit thread this
00:09list was inspired by, that still hasn't stopped certain fans of these hilarious, ridiculous
00:14or jaw-dropping gems from banging the drum for their under-the-radar darlings.
00:19So from the undervalued superhero flicks that were bringing joy before the MCU era, to those
00:24black comedy gifs that keep on giving with every revisit.
00:28These are those films that were so very close to becoming an absolute cult classic.
00:33Gareth here from WhatCulture.com and here are the movies that deserve to become cult classics
00:37but didn't.
00:38Logan Lucky.
00:39Gathering together an embarrassment of acting riches in the form of a Daniel Craig having
00:43the time of his life away from all things 007, Adam Driver delivering the goods as usual,
00:48and Channing Tatum once again showing off his unexpectedly brilliant comedic chops, Steven
00:53Soderbergh's 2017 heist comedy felt like it held all the tools to become a serious cult
00:59hit for the ages, even if the titular Logan brothers were a little less well equipped.
01:03In the time since it actually picked up some widely positive reviews upon its release however,
01:07perhaps the director's most underrated entry to date has largely found itself being unfortunately
01:12forgotten and underappreciated for the well-constructed dose of laugh-out-loud joy Logan Lucky routinely
01:18is.
01:18Everyone involved clearly put their all into producing one of the most gloriously entertaining
01:22robbery attempts ever committed to the big screen, with Craig in particular showing off
01:26his ability to effortlessly slip into the more eccentric characters out there as Joe Beng,
01:31long before his Benoit Blanc days.
01:33But that still couldn't keep this star-studded showing from also being hit with the Logan
01:37family curse in the end, Upgrade.
01:39Arriving on the scene in the same year as another flick involving a central figure being hijacked
01:44from within, Upgrade very much felt like the film Sony's Venom wanted to be at one point
01:48or another, before it ultimately decided to play it a little safer in the PG-13 realm.
01:53And while the often shockingly violent but regularly side-splitting Outing Force stem and Logan Marshall
01:58Green's Grey Trace actually brought home an impressive $70 million on a $3 million budget,
02:04the fact Lee Whannell's little body-controlling outing popped up on the scene around the same
02:08time as Marshall Green look-alike Tom Hardy's symbiote box office monster has ultimately overshadowed
02:13many a memory of yet another Blumhouse success.
02:16In Upgrade, there's definitely the right amount of glorious silliness and genuinely outstanding
02:20action and one-liners to leave horror, sci-fi and comedy lovers with a massive smile on their
02:25face throughout the 100-minute runtime. Instead of becoming another loveable B-movie to add
02:30to the cult classic list though, this 2018 feature hasn't exactly been ignored altogether
02:34in the time since its release, but it's nowhere near as celebrated or adored by a corner of
02:39the cinema fandom as many felt it potentially would be.
02:41Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
02:43In another case of looking at the folks involved and wondering how in the holy hell this particular
02:47project hasn't gone on to become a cherished player in the cult classic world, Shane Black's
02:51black comedy crime picture by the name of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is undoubtedly adored by
02:56some, but nowhere near as much as it should be, or even some of the director's other once
03:00underrated showings like The Nice Guys for example. Combining a pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. with
03:05a Val Kilmer who was clearly loving every second of delivering Black's excellent dialogue and
03:10dropping the odd improvised gem into the mix, what definitely ranks as one of all three talented
03:15figures most overlooked performances sadly didn't exactly gobble up the millions at the box office.
03:19And while the reviews were strong at the time of its arrival, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang just hasn't
03:24ever grown into the all-round cult classic it definitely had the makings to be for a time.
03:28If you haven't had the pleasure of watching RDJ and Kilmer's Harry and Gay Perry respectively,
03:33bickering and showing off some of the finest on-screen chemistry of the noughties in this
03:37neo-noir should-be classic though, then do go and treat yourself.
03:40Sky High.
03:41While the superhero genre wasn't exactly non-existent at the time of Sky High's debut back in 2005,
03:46this was still a time pre-MCU. And the average movie fan simply wasn't as hot on all things
03:52capes and spandex back when Disney first decided to dabble in the live-action supersphere with this
03:57Kurt Russell in a super suit boasting adventure. Admittedly, many of the youngsters who grew up with
04:01Will Stronghold's attempts to live up to his world-famous super parents are quick to salute
04:06this coming-of-age journey with additional super shenanigans. That being said, despite there being
04:10the odd group who confessed to being Sky High supporters through and through, this attempt to
04:14navigate both the struggles of high school and being the next generation of superheroes still
04:18hasn't quite graduated to the point of being a full-blown cult classic yet.
04:22Much like Will, this one is most definitely a late bloomer though, so there's every chance this
04:27sidekick of a feature, showcasing outstanding work from the likes of Russell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
04:32and Bruce Campbell, will continue to gain popularity on Disney Plus and get the hero support it deserves
04:37in the coming years.
04:382012's Seven Psychopaths
04:40When the name Martin McDonagh enters the average movie conversation, most folks would be all
04:44too happy to point to a number of his simply magnificent creations as one-off, if not their
04:49outright favourite feature. Yet while many would be quick to heap praise on the likes of
04:52In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and even his most recent offering of
04:56The Banshees of Inner Sheeran, 2012's Seven Psychopaths doesn't quite get the same level of appreciation
05:01from McDonagh diehards and film fans in general. Again, bringing with it a collection of superb heavy
05:07hitters in the form of Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson,
05:11this tale of dognapping gone even more wrong became yet another critically praised release
05:16for the eventual Academy Award-nominated director. And with it possessing the same sort of riotous
05:20dark wit and colourful characters seen in McDonagh's other more celebrated works, Seven Psychopaths
05:25definitely seem destined to become a source of eternally memorable one-liners and go-to satirical
05:30classic for generations to come.
05:32As of recording, though, this collection of nutjobs are still yet to really steal the hearts
05:36of more than a select few of McDonagh lovers.
05:39Election
05:39Taking its spot here is yet another film that has unquestionably been appreciated by a decent
05:44amount of fans over the years. Without ever fully becoming an out-and-out cult classic,
05:48The Reese Witherspoon-starring 1999 black comedy known as Election feels like the sort of film
05:53tailor-made for cult hit status. Despite not exactly succeeding at the box office, the satirical
05:58flick centred around a high school student body election, and one particularly driven student
06:03president candidate by the name of Tracy Flick earned a ton of critical praise when it dropped
06:07at the end of the century. Yet in the wake of picking up an Academy Award nomination for
06:11Best Adapted Screenplay, the film largely went under the radar for the decades that followed,
06:15with Election's razor-sharp script and top-class performances from Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick
06:20only being revisited by a particularly small class of supporters. That being said, the fact the
06:25adaptation of the 1998 Tom Perotter novel of the same name, has since earned itself a sequel
06:30adaptation of the author's 2022 follow-up novel Tracy Flick Can't Win, may help shed some more
06:35light on the cherished by some high school picture in the coming years.
06:39Welcome to the Jungle of The Rundown
06:41Kicking off a jungle trend that would ultimately make itself known throughout a great many of
06:45Dwayne Johnson's big screen adventures, 2003's Welcome to the Jungle, also known as The Rundown
06:50and not to be mistaken with his Jumanji sequel outing, offered yet another early glimpse at the
06:54movie star potential within this one-time WWE sensation. But even with that being the case,
06:59and the story of a bounty hunter named Beck trying to get his hands on Sean William Scott's Travis,
07:04showing off some unexpectedly tremendous chemistry between the starring duo,
07:08this particularly bombastic action explosion just hasn't quite grown into a home video and streaming
07:13cult favourite in the way you might have expected on the back of an unquestionably poor box office
07:17performance. Absolutely crazy fight sequences, just the right amount of cheese-stuffed quotes,
07:22and brilliant supporting performances courtesy of Rosario Dawson, and a Christopher Walken going
07:28full ham. The rundown absolutely deserves to be talked about as one of the most enjoyable,
07:32dumb chunks of action one could ever hope to consume when on the lookout for a quick hit of
07:36a shotgun-wielding Johnson. And who knows, if a much-discussed sequel does actually become a thing
07:41down the road, perhaps the first rundown will finally be given the cult classic action reappraisal
07:46the surreal visual of the rock being attacked by a monkey deserves. Evolution. Another Sean William Scott
07:51outing that often slips through the cracks when discussing those pictures that contain all the
07:55ingredients necessary to potentially cement themselves as eventual cult classics, 2001's
08:00evolution is honestly one of the early 2000's greatest overlooked comedy gems. This is a film
08:05that spits out what should have been instantly iconic exchanges such as Orlando Jones' Harry
08:09requesting some ice cream for his ass after a particularly nasty extraterrestrial insect,
08:15uh, invasion. And yet the Ivan Reitman flick about a meteor crashing into earth and the inhabitants
08:20within quickly and hilariously evolving to our atmosphere still hasn't managed to evolve into a
08:25genuine cult comedy classic over the last 20 years. Sure, the CGI is a bit dated and not every
08:30laugh lands as well as the last, but there's still a lot of fun to be had in this David
08:33Duchovny and
08:34Julianne Moore starring monster movie, even if it's not quite as adored as Reitman's Ghostbuster
08:39Tales. Simply put, any film boasting William Scott caught cawing into a microphone to an alien
08:44dragon terrorising a shopping mall deserves its flowers, damn it. Mystery Men. The real superhero movie
08:50that started it all. Long before the Avengers were trying to keep Thanos from snapping his purple
08:54sausages, or the Justice League did whatever the hell that was back in 2017, a super ensemble epic
09:00for the ages was unleashed onto the scene back in 1999 by the name of Mystery Men. There were no
09:05pitiful Captain Americas or Supermen to be found here, folks. Instead it was down to the likes of
09:09Ben Stiller's Mr. Furious, Hank Azaria's Blue Raja, and William H. Macy's The Shoveler to save the day.
09:15And the end result is the most ridiculous of times. Though it's justifiably classed as something of a box office
09:21dud, the Mystery Men's farcical mission to take down Casanova Frankenstein would eventually go on to become
09:26a household favourite for some. However, utter that title to the average film fan, and it's not uncommon to be
09:31met with a rather puzzled look. Trust me, I've been there. And said confusion only increases with the unleashing
09:36of a few shiny forks, and immortal pieces of wisdom such as I don't need a compass to tell me
09:41which way the wind shines.
09:42And so, Mystery Men unfortunately finds itself in that frustrating middle ground of not quite being
09:47popular enough within a corner of the movie fandom to earn the title of cult classic, but still being a
09:51largely ignored super spoof by much of the mainstream audience. And what a damn shame that is, eh?
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