10 Awesome Films That Never Got The Cult Following They Deserved 

The Film:

Four Lions was the directorial debut of controversial British filmmaker Chris Morris, a dark comedy that follows the training of five inept British jihadists in Sheffield, England. The charismatic leader of the group Omar manages to arrange a visit to a militant camp in Pakistan, though the trip ends in disaster when he fires an RPG in the wrong direction and accidentally kills Osama Bin Laden.

After fleeing back to Britain, Omar lies about his blunder and tells his group that he has been given permission to lead an attack of his own on English soil; his plan is for them to wear fancy-dress to conceal homemade explosives and blow themselves up while running the London Marathon. This brilliantly dark film walks a nail-biting tight rope between comedy and tragedy from start to finish.

Why It Never Got The Cult Following It Deserved:

Chris Morris first made a name for himself with his satirical news shows The Day Today and Brass Eye, the latter becoming one of the most complained about shows in British history. After an episode on the moral panic surrounding paedophilia caused outrage, English newspaper the Daily Mail named him the most loathed man on TV.

As was obvious from the content of his shows, Morris was never a fan of the media, and the public reaction to his work did not lead him to shy away from controversy. Four Lions pokes fun at an issue that was, and still is a very sensitive one, though it does it wisely. Morris doesn't try to explore the roots of Islamist extremism, he simply accepts the world as it is and focuses on how ridiculous it can be.

The problem with Four Lions is that the subject matter, no matter how it is approached, is simply too close to the bone for a lot of people. Making light of suicide bombing just isn't funny to the vast majority, and the film's diversive subject matter will always stop it from gaining the amount of followers it truly deserves.