10 Great Cult Movies That Are Actually About Cults

Created by Igor_Brynner.

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At the root of the horror genre lies a proclivity towards hyperbole in manifesting our fear of the unknown. For writers like David Cronenberg, domestic dramas about custody battles and marital unrest are simply too inexpressive to represent the dismal reality of dissolving the family unit or falling out of love.

Such emotions, instead, deserve to be treated with shocking visuals depicting bodily decay and irreparable mental defilement centered around the exploitation of an unfamiliar – or monstrous – physicality. These allegorical fables are the filmic equivalent to poetry in their ability to communicate complex feelings despite the severe limitations of their medium.

There are a number of criteria a horror movie can meet to attain “cult” status, and the devisiveness of such multifaceted plots as Cronenberg’s often propels movies initially panned to warrant induction into the cult canon.

Many critics were slow to accept the filmography of David Lynch on the basis of his films’ overwhelming nonsensicality before rediagnosing his abstract thinking as a commendable stab at articulating the unconscious. In the tradition of John Waters and Kenneth Anger, the label “cult” also proves synonymous with “taboo,” as the subjects of these filmmakers’ work dispute the notion of film’s compatibility with television’s ratings-conscious, family-minded hospitality.

But one subject that’s often overlooked in the culture of cult horror, ironically, is religious deviance – or cults. With the exception of Rosemary’s Baby and his Satanic offspring, the horrific glimpse into oppressive theological environs and its resulting disparity in spirituality are rarely considered when taking stock of the pulpy subculture, as the sensational subject matter can easily be read as superficial biography of the nonsecularly-ensnared.

As an exercise in analyzing the inherent terror in novel self-doubt, the following ten movies exemplify the secretion of alternative theologies as the mental virus propelling their hosts towards self-destruction.