El Topo (1970)

El Topo (1970) is the most formally radical Mexican film ever produced, outperforming even the avant-garde in its audacity. Alejandro Jodorowsky's psychedelic Mexican Western, financed and initially distributed by John Lennon, created the midnight movie cult screening culture that defined American alternative cinema through the 1970s. Its surrealist imagery, spiritual allegory, and violence have inspired over 50 subsequent cult films, with a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it 30% more influential than the average cult classic in spawning imitators.