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. Crime: 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!

Like the crime genre itself, criminal activity in cult movies runs the gamut of human experience. In these movies there's something more compelling than you average hard-boiled detective mystery. It may be a charismatic murderer, possibly based on real life; a heist so perfectly portrayed it becomes legendary, or so badly executed that the consequences are tragic. Often a shocking level of violence is simply enough to catapult a crime movie to cult status. This is where we plumb the depths of depravity and anti-heroism, with brief asides to action and comedy, all the while trying to figure out whether our hero is the detective, the pervert or both.