There are distinct qualities that make a movie a cult: a devoted and niche following, popularity based on word-of-mouth enthusiasm, and a tendency to remain in fans' memories years after release, as well as many other intricacies, often hotly debated by film buffs. Comedy: The Essential Cult Movies sifts through the greatest movies of the genre ever made, to bring together a list of the best cult classics that ever graced the cinema screens or didn't, in some cases!

It's not enough for a cult film to be just funny. It also has to be exceptionally intelligent (or extremely stupid) and if it chronicles the kind of excruciating childhood experiences that make you squirm and giggle uncomfortably, then all the better. Here you'll find the blacker-than-black Ealing Studios' comedies that made grievous acts of murder elegant and hilarious; backstabbing teenage scenarios that can only be laughed at in hindsight; and of course, the Coen brothers.