10 Awesome Movies Audiences Weren't Ready For

2. Legend

Ridley Scott strikes again, this time with what is undeniably the weirdest film in his pretty damn demented filmography, 1985's Tom Cruise-starring fantasy romp Legend.

It cannot be understated just how much of an effort this film made to alienate critics and audiences alike.

Far from the typical dose of fantasy froth everyone expected, Legend was scuzzy and rough-edged, more unsettling than cute and featured heroes that were anything but squeaky-clean.

That's without mentioning a brilliantly unconventional score from synth legends Tangerine Dream (depending on which cut of the film you watch), deeply disturbing make-up effects from the guy behind The Thing, RoboCop and Total Recall, and a legendary performance from Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness himself.

Unsurprisingly, Legend failed to recoup its $24.5 million budget and tanked with critics despite receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup.

Yet it has lived on as a cult classic, and in an era where envelope-pushing genre pastiche is held in a higher regard than ever, it's easy to see why so many have discovered the film in recent years.

In the mid-1980s, however, when fantasy films were mostly straight-faced and never more weird than The Princess Bride, Legend was just too damn much.