Punk rock cult films: 7 movies punker than you (and way better than SLC Punk!)

While the music and fashion industries have acknowledged the existence of (and capitalized endlessly upon) the punk demographic, the movie biz has been slow to catch up: if pressed for a punk movie recommendation, your nerdy "indie" friends will probably come up with "SLC Punk!" and maybe "Sid And Nancy" if they aren't sticklers for historical accuracy. This leaves punk rock cinephiles to our own devices when it comes to the TV party tonight. Fortunately, there are a handful of good ones out there, and here are seven of them, in no particular order - now you can namedrop them around those indie movie geek friends of yours.

For all the terrible genuine punk documentaries, here's an awesome fake one. This faux documentary follows fictional punk rock band Hard Core Logo on a reunion tour through Canada. It follows the stresses of touring in general, particularly the strained relationship between front men Joe Dick (the hardline, never-sell-out type) and Billy Tallent (who is preparing to join a more mainstream act and likely achieve some musical success and fame). While it's often presented as a comedy a la This Is Spinal Tap, this flick has a lot more to offer: it examines the strengths and weaknesses of friendships, personal values, and people in general, all in a fairly convincing punk context. Bonus: Hard Core Logo's "songs" are all covers of punk classics like "Sonic Reducer" by the Dead Boys.

This classic, "starring" real-life low-lifes, was directed by Penelope Spheeris, who also gave us The Decline of Western Civilization (which doesn't qualify for this list because it's a documentary with no actors, but if you haven't seen it, go torrent yourself a copy, punk!), so you know it's the real deal. It's a profile of the kids in '80s southern California suburbia, and the way they see life growing up unwanted. Bonus: contains some great performances of bands from the era, including D.I. and T.S.O.L.

Okay, so there aren't any punks in this movie per se, but it has kids fighting cops, the Ramones in the soundtrack, and the attitude to make up for it. Company town La Granada's disenchanted youth rebel against their conservative, bourgeoisie parents and overbearing local sheriff after getting hassled one too many times. Bonus: stars a lanky Matt Dillon in his acting debut, playing his standard rebel-without-a-cause before he ran it into the ground.

A new music teacher arrives at inner-city Lincoln High School and quickly makes an enemy of the leader of the school's punk-crime gang in this trash flick that saw light of day in 1982, a big year for punks in general. The teacher's idealistic, if naive, refusal to accept the delinquency and blunt disregard for law and order displayed by the punks - represented here like all punks were in early 80's media, as neon-mohawked, chain-wielding thugs (see the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons, or countless side-scrolling beat-'em-up video games from the time) - escalates into a hostage situation and eventually deteriorates into a blood-and-guts battle to the death between teacher and student with a lot of municipal property damage along the way. Sweet. Bonus: a performance by Teenage Head (and a portly young Michael J. Fox getting bullied by the punks).

Emilio Estevez plays Otto, your average, go-nowhere, suburban wasted youth, in this utterly unique work of punk rock science fiction. Our antihero wanders into a gig repossessing cars from debtors, which brings him plenty of grief on its own, then gets mixed up in an extraterrestrial conspiracy theory, then... well, there's a lot going on in this one. While under the tutelage of his speed-ingesting boss, veteran repo man Bud, Otto experiences car chases, evades government spooks, falls in and out of punk rock puppy love, and gets shot at and beat up a lot, occasionally receiving a nugget of meaningless (or is it?) wisdom from the old burnout who apparently burns garbage in the repo lot for a living. Repo Man doesn't forget to include the standard punk-as-criminal gang, who pop up every now and then to "do some crimes." I blame society! Bonus: the soundtrack includes Fear, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, and Iggy Pop, and if you're paying attention, the film is riddled with punk rock references - for instance, the letters of the license plate on the car everyone is trying to track down spell GBH.

Check your taste at the door for this over-the-top Troma title. Full to the brim with violence, cheesy quotables and ridiculous punk stereotypes, this film's loose plot starts with our now-too-familiar gang of punky criminals forcibly selling marijuana contaminated with runoff from the nuclear power plant - conveniently located adjacent to Tromaville High School - to their fellow students (promising an "atomic high"), continues with the students taking over and destroying the school, and ends with a radioactive, mutant monster wreaking havoc. Other notable scenes include the gang leader faking a seizure in order to rob an old lady, a square girl giving birth to a monster baby after smoking the aforementioned atomic weed, and a punk with a bone through his nose brandishing a huge club and riding a motorcycle through the hallways of the school smashing everything in his way. If you're still reading this list, then this movie should probably be required viewing for you. Bonus: there are rumors of a remake, so go see this quick so you can tell everyone how you saw the original before it was cool.

The ultimate punk rock/zombie/horror-comedy masterpiece. In Louisville, Kentucky, a hapless gang of punk rockers who really just wanna party find themselves smack in the middle of an outbreak of invincible, brain-craving zombies when one of their buddies gets a little too curious on his first day on the job at the medical supply warehouse. Featuring loads of gore and goofy-but-excellent special effects, incompetent paramedics and cops, talking corpses ("All you have to do is let me EAT YOUR BRAINS!!"), government cover-ups, an impromptu party in Resurrection Cemetery, split dogs come to life, a naked girl named Trash dancing on a tomb, and a truly punk soundtrack that includes T.S.O.L., 45 Grave and the Cramps, the tag line, "They're Back From The Grave and Ready To Party!" says it all. This is pretty much the punkest flick of all time - if punk movies are what you're looking for, start here.