Cult movies on Netflix are a joy to watch. The word Netflix refers to more than simply a well-known online streaming service.
It has been ingrained in common parlance as a synonym for unwinding in front of the television with a high-end box set or a classic blockbuster film from days gone by.
Although there is a great deal of content intended for prime-time watching on the platform, the titles on our list of the greatest cult movies on Netflix can be found below the fold. These are the top cult movies available on Netflix.
Those movies that may not have made millions of dollars or gained media attention over the years but which nonetheless have something unique going for them tend to slip through the cracks (sometimes due to the service’s less than helpful browsing experience).
We will be discussing movies here that have either achieved cult status or have just been lost to history throughout their production.
1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Will Hunting is the protagonist of Good Will Hunting, one of the most popular cult movies on Netflix. It was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film chronicles the narrative of a revolutionary and a genius named Will Hunting.
Yet, despite his amazing brilliance, he chooses not to continue his education after being born in a poor area in South Boston.
Will has no clear plans for his life, so he and his pals merely wander from one pub to another while they rack up several minor offenses while narrowly avoiding going to jail.
Finally, however, his skill in mathematics causes Dr. Lambeau at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take notice of him.
Dr. Lambeau then contacts his psychiatrist buddy, portrayed by Robin Williams, who received the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1998 for his role in the film.
2. Out of Africa (1985)
Since her marriage was arranged only for practical reasons, Karen (Meryl Streep) is forced to go to British East Africa, where she discovers a newfound love for coffee.
Despite this, she rapidly develops feelings for her buddy Denys, played by Robert Redford, who does all she can to tame his untamed nature.
The masterpiece Sydney Pollack created in 1986 is one of the most stunning and heartbreaking love tales ever told on the big screen. Did someone mention the term classic?
3. American Beauty (1999)
In 2000, American Beauty was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two of them, including the award for Best Film and Best Director for Sam Mendes.
In addition, the film has become an incontestable cult classic due to its brilliant writing and magnificent photography.
A married man in his forties from a middle-class background named Lester (played by Kevin Spacey) falls in love with Angela, an alluring classmate of his daughter Jane.
While this happens, his wife Carolyn (played by Annette Bening) is having an affair with a real estate agent.
In this completely charming social and political comedy, we watch as the traditional nuclear family in the United States slowly falls apart.
4. The Shining (1980)
In a sequence of tragic incidents that have occurred in the past, a family man drives himself mad while chasing after his scared wife and kid through an abandoned hotel that has a labyrinthine layout.
We dare you not to quake at the sight of the twins at the end of the hallway or the insane gaze of Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson.
This legendary movie has kept many people up at night, making it one of the best cult movies on Netflix to watch.
5. Pulp Fiction (1994)
The picture establishing Quentin Tarantino as a director is a stylish journey into a world of gangsters, boxers, and violence. It told the same tale from three distinct perspectives and was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994.
Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman, is a young lady with a penchant for narcotics. The scene in which she shares a joint with Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta, at a bar decorated in the manner of the 1950s will live on in our memories forever.
6. Forrest Gump (1994)
Run Forrest, Run! Simply using the refrain has helped it achieve iconic status. Forrest Gump, the character Tom Hanks portrays in the movie, is a young guy who, despite having a low average IQ, has more charisma, life experience, and generosity than most individuals on the planet.
We get a glimpse of the more recent history of the United States via his eyes, which is a history in which Forrest plays a significant role.
The movie was awarded six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis), and Best Actor (Tom Hanks).
7. Scarface (1983)
Do we even need to introduce Tony Montana, the cult figure from the gangster world created by Brian de Palma? Al Pacino gives one of his greatest performances as a small-time Cuban mobster turned Miami drug lord in this film, which earns him a nomination for a Golden Globe.
Pacino’s portrayal of the character earned him the award. Despite the negative reception it garnered from reviewers at the time, it has now established itself as a fundamental component of the gangster genre. It is still one of the best cult movies on Netflix today.
8. The Truman Show (1998)
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), the protagonist of a forward-thinking movie that foretells the unwanted coming of reality television, lives an everyday existence in a tranquil coastal hamlet…
Until he finds out that his life has been performing since he was a youngster and that he is the protagonist of a television program that millions of people see.
9. Pianist
Wladyslaw Szpilman, known as “The Pianist,” is a young Jewish pianist who lives in Poland during the Second World War. He fights against the oppression of the Nazi dictatorship.
Adrien Brody was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film adaptation of the great narrative of hiding in the congested ruins of the Warsaw ghetto to avoid deportation. The story is based on actual events.
10. The Godfather 11 (1974)
Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando in the film The Godfather, has passed away, and his son Michael, played by Al Pacino, has assumed his place as the leader of the Corleone family.
After narrowly surviving an attempt on his life, Michael travels to Nevada, hoping to find the person who tried to kill him.
His gut feeling tells him that the perpetrator is Hyman Roth, the leader of the Jewish mafia. Godfather II is undoubtedly one of the many cult movies on Netflix.
11. Kill Bill (2003)
Uma Therman plays the role of Beatrix Kiddo, also known as The Bride, in the grindhouse saga directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Beatrix Kiddo is a highly trained martial artist who, after emerging from a coma after several months, is on a mission to assassinate her former collaborators, who were responsible for the deaths of her husband and unborn child.
This cult classic depicts Thurman at the height of her wrath, ready to murder any man or woman who has devastated her life without an ounce of compassion in her heart.
12. Billy Elliot (2000)
In the Britain of the Thatcher era, a young kid from a mining family harbors the secret desire to become a ballet dancer one day, despite the pressure from his hyper-masculine father and domineering elder brother.
In the groundbreaking movie directed by Stephen Daldry, the character Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) defies societal expectations and a tumultuous political scenario with the help of his dancing instructor, portrayed by Julie Walters.
One of the cult movies on Netflix, Billy Elliot, is a joy to watch with your family and friends.
13. Cast Away (2000)
Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), the modern-day equivalent of Robinson Crusoe, is stranded on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the 24th of December when his aircraft crashes.
Unfortunately, the event that was supposed to be an adventure lasts for four years, which is more than enough time for Noland to put his talents in self-sufficiency to the test… and discover what it truly means to be alone.
14. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman appear together in the Robert Benton classic “Meryl Streep and Dustin. In 1980, the two actors were recognized for their outstanding performances and awarded the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Supporting Actress.
15. Queen Margot (2014)
In one of the cult movies on Netflix, Marguerite de Valois, often known as Queen Margot, is one of the most reviled characters in the French royal line.
This is probably because she was responsible for spilling huge volumes of blood while serving as the queen consort of France during the time in question.
Patrice Chéreau retells the narrative of the brutal Saint-Day Bartholomew’s massacre and an illegal love affair between a protestant and the Catholic queen in an adaptation of the classic book Alexandre Dumas.
Patrice Chéreau adapted the novel. Isabelle Adjani will indefinitely be associated with the scandalous role of Margot for those individuals who were there for the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994.
16. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The book Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King served as the basis for the film The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont.
The novella chronicles the tale of two men who are serving life sentences in the Shawshank Penitentiary Centre.
Between the years 1947 and 1965, the two individuals do everything in their power to make it through their incarceration in one of the most dangerous prisons in Maine, but they never give up the hope that one day they will be set free.
17. Good Time (2017)
We strongly recommend that you watch Good Time if the only thing you are familiar with Robert Pattinson from is the Twilight series or the latest report that he is going to wear the Batman cowl.
As a desperate low-level criminal stumbling from one stupid mistake to the next, the gorgeous young English actor is nearly unrecognizable in this role.
The whole movie has a certain anxious energy, and Oneohtrix Point Never’s soundtrack complements this vibe well with its properly tense tone.
But all hinges on Pattinson’s pitiful and repugnant performance as Connie Nikas. Good Time is one of the cult movies on Netflix.
18. NightCrawler (2014)
Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Nightcrawler, leads the cast in this beautifully caustic critique of the contemporary news media.
He plays the role of Louis Bloom, a video journalist with an unsettlingly high level of ambition who begins selling crime footage to a small Los Angeles television network.
Riz Ahmed is cast in the role of the hapless sidekick who is gradually lured into Bloom’s more immoral lifestyle.
As the distinctions between reality and fiction become more difficult to discern and as these recorders of the news begin to fabricate it, the situation becomes increasingly dire.
19. Prisoners (2013)
Before he did an excellent job with the sequel to Blade Runner and before he began putting together Frank Herbert’s epic book collection Dune, Denis Villeneuve created this cult masterpiece that is an object lesson in tension.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman are among the cast, and both of them are A-List actors, yet the tale of a girl who goes missing is anything from a conventional narrative. Masterful thing.
20. Annihilation (2018)
Annihilation Devs may have confirmed Alex Garland as the king of sci-fi, but you can see the blueprint for the who in his earlier work.
The latter is a violent and gorgeous look at monsters and environmental problems; it was one of the cult movies on Netflix at a time when going directly to Netflix was frowned upon.
A phenomenal group of actresses, including Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson, have been recruited for the roles.
The virtually wordless and Kubrickian finale, though, is the one that will stick in your mind the most, despite the fact that the whole thing is quite puzzling.