The 22 Best Cult Movies of the ’90s Inline

  • empire records
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    Photo: Everett Collection
    1/22

    Empire Records

    "I thought Liv Tyler was the coolest person ever at the time."

    —Brooke Ely Danielson, Vogue.com Accessories Editor

  • Dazed and Confused
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    2/22

    Dazed and Confused

    "Dazed and Confused began as a cult film, but I think at this point it has transcended that moniker. I started watching this movie as a kid and felt decidedly more grown-up when I had finished. Perhaps that's an overstatement, but not much. And I continue to love the film, even though it led to a deep disappointment with the reality of my high school experience."

    —Virginia Van Zanten, Vogue.com Living Editor

  • The Matrix
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    3/22

    The Matrix

    "I have to give the decade to The Matrix, which really blew my tween mind. I can’t tell you how many times I stood alone in my kitchen and tried to bend the spoon—or I guess, bend myself as the line goes. My generation owes this film a great debt of gratitude for making us incredibly skilled at backbends."

    —Mackenzie Wagoner, Vogue.com Beauty Editor

  • Titanic
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    4/22

    Titanic

    "In what world would anyone actually let go of a young Leo?"

    —Christina Liao, Vogue.com Senior Producer

  • Metropolitan
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    5/22

    Metropolitan

    "I’ll never forget the scene when they hailed a taxi to the Hamptons. These were pre-Uber days, and I was then a nondriver living in the city and could totally relate to that. To me, it was a gesture as offhand as a glamour girl only keeping champagne and maraschino cherries in the refrigerator."

    —Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue.com Archive Editor

  • Romy and Micheles High School Reunion
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    6/22

    Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

    "No matter how hard I try, I can’t resist the charm of the wacky fashion in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. The gaudy plastic earrings, the teetering platforms, the sexy businesswoman ensembles, and those unforgettable metallic and marabou-trimmed dance dresses—what’s not to love? Not to be forgotten, either, is Justin Theroux as an all-black-wearing, cigarette-smoking bad boy."

    —Steff Yotka, Vogue.com Fashion News Writer

  • Austin Powers
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    7/22

    Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

    "Growing up, Austin Powers was a favorite cult movie of mine. The British accents, **Mike Myers’**s quirkiness, **Elizabeth Hurley’**s beauty, the Fembots, you name it. I was quite amused by all of it and still am to this day. And let’s not forget the mod dresses and go-go boots! Groovy, baby!"

    —Elizabeth Taufield, Vogue.com Market Assistant

  • True Romance
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    8/22

    True Romance

    "For so many reasons, but not least among them Gary Oldman."

    —Alessandra Codinha, Vogue.com Fashion News Editor

  • The Pillow Book
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    9/22

    The Pillow Book

    "One of my best nineties moments involved my local library getting a copy of **Peter Greenaway’**s The Pillow Book (1996), which I rented and watched in my parent’s living room with all my school friends. I felt incredibly sophisticated and very grown-up until my parents returned home and grounded me for the next month."

    —Janelle Okwodu, Vogue.com Contributing Fashion News Writer

  • Welcome to the Dollhouse
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    Photo: Alamy
    10/22

    Welcome to the Dollhouse

    "Oh, the wretchedness of seventh grade, the horrors of suburbia."

    —Lynn Yaeger, Vogue Contributing Editor

  • Great Expectations
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    Photo: Alamy
    11/22

    Great Expectations

    "Back in high school we had to read Dickens’s Great Expectations, and while the story of Pip and Estella was compelling, it paled in comparison to the slick, Manhattan-set version starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. From the Francesco Clemente art to dining at Kelley and Ping, the film perfectly modernized the characters through the yuppie bourgeoisie of the nineties. Add in kelly green attire by Donna Karan—including mules—and it was visual poetry."

    —Edward Barsamian, Vogue.com Style Editor

  • Night on Earth
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    12/22

    Night on Earth

    "It’s hard to think back to nineties film without envisioning a certain bright white, sky-high pompadour from behind the camera. He came in like a lamb with Night on Earth (1991), brought us Dead Man (1995), the Neil Young doc Year of the Horse (1997), and then went out like a lion with Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). Jim Jarmusch loomed enigmatically large over the entire decade."

    —Rebecca Bengal, Vogue.com Contributing Editor

  • Spice World
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    13/22

    Spice World

    "There were so many amazing films in the nineties, especially teen comedies, but really I think Spice World gets past a lot of radars somehow. It's comedic genius, and I've never seen anything like it since. Plus, this is peak Posh Spice: 'This dress is dry-clean only, Melanie!' "

    —Tyler McCall, Vogue.com Associate Social Media Manager

  • Dont Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead
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    Photo: Alamy
    14/22

    To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

    "Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo absolutely kill it in To Wong Foo as three drag queens who become stranded in a small town while on a cross-country trip. I used to watch it religiously with my mom when I was a kid, and it still makes me laugh out loud. The fashion is also incredible!"

    —Ruben Ramos, Vogue.com Assistant Photo Editor

  • dont tell mom the babysitters dead
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    15/22

    Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead

    "Hackers for its bananas fantasy of what the Internet could look like and **Angelina Jolie’**s crazy elf pixie. Bottle Rocket because it was Wes Anderson before he became so committed to his Wes Anderson–hood. Clerks because to prepubescent me there was nothing funnier than Kevin Smith. But if you had asked me at the outset of the decade, it would have absolutely been Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead."

    —Julia Felsenthal, Vogue.com Senior Culture Writer

  • Stealing Beauty
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    16/22

    Stealing Beauty

    "Stealing Beauty at the time seemed like everything turning sixteen should be: a summer in Tuscany, a life-changing romance, a party in a big chateau, supernaturally great hair, and a teenage awkwardness that was actually charming. None of which, in suburban Scottsdale, Arizona, I even kind of hoped to possess."

    —Catherine Piercy, Vogue.com Beauty Director

  • Hocus Pocus
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    Photo: Courtesy of YouTube
    17/22

    Hocus Pocus

    "It isn’t Halloween until the Sanderson sisters make their dramatic entrance in Hocus Pocus. Perhaps one of the most formidable and quotable movies of my childhood (even year round), it didn’t even need to be Halloween for me to have an excuse to sing and dance my way around the house à la Bette Midler, putting a spell on everything in sight."

    —Cameron Bird, Vogue.com Photo Assistant

  • The Parent Trap
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    18/22

    The Parent Trap

    "I probably could still recite about 90 percent of The Parent Trap. As a child learning that Lindsay Lohan wasn’t truly a twin was slightly akin to the Santa Claus revelation. I still get excited whenever I see the movie playing on ABC Family—Oreos with peanut butter, anyone?"

    —Meghan Hoffman, Vogue.com Editorial Producer

  • Romeo and Juliet
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    19/22

    Romeo + Juliet

    "There is nothing better than a young Leo reciting Shakespeare to Claire Danes."

    —Kelly Connor, Vogue.com Market Editor

  • The Night at the Roxbury
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    20/22

    A Night at the Roxbury

    "I’d wait all night to get into the Roxbury (or any club for that matter) if it meant witnessing Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Molly Shannon strutting around to tunes like “Be My Lover,” and I'd be head banging right along with them."

    —Maria Ward, Vogue.com Producer

  • 10 Things I Hate About You
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    21/22

    10 Things I Hate About You

    "I think I could watch 10 Things I Hate About You every weekend and still find at least ten things to love about it. What’s better than Heath Ledger and teen angst?! My eight-year-old self also felt quite sophisticated when I found out it was based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew."

    —Emily Farra, Vogue.com Fashion News Associate

  • Crumb
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    22/22

    Crumb

    "While Ghost World spoke to an adolescent me in a way few movies ever have, for me, Terry Zwigoff is at his best is Crumb, a documentary about the legendary counterculture illustrator Robert Crumb. It’s weird, unapologetic, and looks at family in a way that always leaves me crying."

    —Kristin Anderson, Vogue.com Fashion News Writer