Happy Black History Month. No doubt many of us are using this time to visit/revisit classic films from Black filmmakers and/or concerning Black culture. Assuming more eloquent and educated cinema experts are suggesting important canon entries, I'm here to inform you about films that fall under the "cult" label. Obviously, this will be limited by what is available to stream as of the first week of February, 2021, as well as the films I'm personally aware of. If anyone has additional suggestions, I'll be happy to add things through the rest of the month.
As per usual, I'm including as many movies as I can per each category as I scour Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, HBO Max, Peacock, Fandor, Shudder, Tubi, Midnight Pulp (a "+" will be included wherever subscription fees apply), VUDU’s free selections, The Roku Channel, Popcorn Flix, Crackle, Dark Matter TV, Night Flight, Pluto TV, Shout Factory TV (though most of their titles can also be watched via Amazon Prime). I've included a couple of links to my reviews, as well. Also, please note I'm using the term "Blaxploitation" as a marker, not as a statement of quality judgement. Some of these films were designed as exploitations, many were not.
Blaxploitation Era Crime Films
Cotton Comes to Harlem (Ossie Davis, 1970) – Criterion Channel and Pluto TV
Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971) – Fandor
Across 110th Street (Barry Shear, 1972) – Pluto TV
Bone (Larry Cohen, 1972) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Top of the Heap (Christopher St. John, 1972) – Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, and Tubi
Coffy (Jack Hill, 1973) – The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Pluto TV
The Black Godfather (John Evans, 1974) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
TNT Jackson (Cirio H. Santiago, 1974) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Lady Cocoa (Matt Cimber, 1975) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Dolemite (D’Urville Martin, 1975) – Fandor, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, and Tubi
The Human Tornado (Cliff Roquemore, 1976) – Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, and Tubi
Black Shampoo (Greydon Clark, 1976) – Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Night Flight
Death Journey (Fred Williamson, 1976) – Amazon Prime
Velvet Smooth (Michael Fink, 1976) – Amazon Prime
The Baron (Phillip Fenty, 1977) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
The Guy From Harlem (Rene Martinez Jr., 1977) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Black Fist (Timothy Galfas & Richard Kaye, 1977) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Disco Godfather (J. Robert Wagoner, 1979) – Amazon Prime, Fandor, VUDU Free, and Tubi
One Down, Two to Go (Fred Williamson, 1982) – Tubi
Vigilante (William Lustig, 1983) – Amazon Prime, Tubi, and VUDU Free
Original Gangstas (Larry Cohen, 1996) – Tubi
Blaxploitation Era Action
Bamboo Gods and Iron Men (Cesar Gallardo, 1974) – Amazon Prime
The Arena (Steve Carver, 1974) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Black Dragon’s Revenge (Tony Lou Chun-Ku, 1975) – Amazon Prime
Black Force (Michael Fink, 1975) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Mean Johnny Barrows (Fred Williamson, 1976) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Devil’s Express (Barry Rosen, 1976) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (Hua Shan, 1977) – Amazon Prime
Death Dimension (Al Adamson, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
The Tattoo Connection (Lee Tso-Nam, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Death Force (Cirio H. Santiago, 1978) – Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Pluto TV
Way of the Black Dragon (Chih Chen, 1978) – Amazon Prime
Penitentiary (Jamaa Fanaka, 1979) – VUDU Free and Tubi
Sun Dragon (Yi-Jung Hua, 1979) – Tubi
The Messenger (Fred Williamson, 1986) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
The Black Cobra (Stelvio Massi, 1987) – Tubi
Black Cobra II (Edoardo Margheriti, 1989) – Amazon Prime
Black Cobra 3 (Edoardo Margheriti, 1990) – Tubi
Black-led Westerns
The Bronze Buckaroo (Richard C. Kahn, 1939) – Criterion Channel
Lola Colt (aka: Black Tigress; Siro Marcellini, 1967) – YouTube
Buck and the Preacher (Sidney Poitier, 1972) – Criterion Channel
Thomasine & Bushrod (Gordon Parks Jr., 1974) – Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, Tubi, and Pluto TV
Boss Ni**er (aka: Boss and Black Bounty Killer; Jack Arnold,1974) – YouTube
Take a Hard Ride (1975) – YouTube
Joshua (Larry G. Spangler, 1976) – Amazon Prime
Kid Vengeance (Joseph Manduke, 1977) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Posse 1993 Directed by Mario Van Peebles – Amazon Prime
Classic Black-made/led Horror
Son of Ingagi (Richard C. Kahn, 1940) – Amazon Prime
The Blood of Jesus (Spencer Williams, 1941) – Amazon Prime and Criterion Channel
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) – HBO Max & Criterion Channel (best transfers), Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel, Tubi, VUDU Free, Popcorn Flix, and Dark Matter TV
Blaxploitation Era Horror
Blacula (William Crain, 1972) – Pluto TV
Night of the Strangler (Joy N. Houck Jr., 1972) – VUDU Free and Tubi
Blackenstein (William A. Levey, 1973) – Amazon Prime, VUDU Free, and Tubi
Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973) – Shudder and Popcorn Flix
The Beast Must Die (Paul Annett, 1974) – Amazon Prime, Shudder, Fandor, Tubi, and Pluto TV
The House on Skull Mountain (Ron Honthaner, 1974) – Pluto TV
Lord Shango (Ray Marsh, 1975) – Amazon Prime
J.D.’s Revenge (Arthur Marks,1976) – Amazon Prime
Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (William Crain, 1976) – Fandor
Black Devil Doll from Hell (Shot-on-Video; Chester Novell Turner, 1984) – YouTube
Tales from the Quadead Zone (Shot-on-Video; Chester Novell Turner, 1987) – YouTube
Modern Black Horror
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (Bill Condon, 1994) – Amazon Prime, Crackle, Popcorn Flix (no, the original film is not currently streaming unless you want to pay for it)
Vampire in Brooklyn (Wes Craven,1995) – Amazon Prime, HULU, and Popcorn Flix
Eve's Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997) – Amazon Prime and HULU
Spirit Lost (Neema Barnette, 1997) – Amazon Prime
Bones (Ernest R. Dickerson, 2001) – Tubi
Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998), Blade II (Guillermo del Toro, 2002), Blade Trinity (David S. Goyer, 2004) – HBO Max
The Bloodettes (French: Les Saignantes; Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005) – Criterion Channel
The Girl with All the Gifts (Colm McCarthy, 2016) – HBO Max
The Alchemist Cookbook (Joel Potrykus, 2016) – Amazon Prime and HULU
The Transfiguration (Michael O’Shea, 2016) – Shudder
Kuso (Flying Lotus, 2017) – Shudder
Us (Jordon Peele, 2019) – HBO Max
Sweetheart (J.D. Dillard, 2019) – Netflix
Bad Hair (Justin Simien, 2020) – HULU
His House (Remi Weekes, 2020) – Netflix
Black-made/led Science Fiction/Fantasy/Afrofuturism
Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1968) – HBO Max and Criterion Channel
Space Is the Place (John Coney, 1974) – Criterion Channel
Abar, the First Black Superman (Frank Packard, 1977) – The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, and Tubi
Warriors of the Year 2072 (Italian: I guerrieri dell'anno 2072; aka: The New Gladiators; Lucio Fulci, 1984) – Amazon Prime
Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983) – Criterion Channel and Fandor
The Brother from Another Planet (John Sayles, 1984) – Criterion Channel, The Roku Channel, and Tubi
Ornette: Made in America (Shirley Clarke, 1985) – Criterion Channel
Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé, 1987) – Criterion Channel
Welcome II the Terrordome (Ngozi Onwurah, 1995) – Criterion Channel
The Last Angel of History (John Akomfrah, 1996) – Criterion Channel
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (Terence Nance, 2012) – Criterion Channel
White Out, Black In (Adirley Queirós, 2014) – Criterion Channel
Crumbs (Miguel Llansó, 2015) – Criterion Channel
Once There was Basilia (Adirley Queirós, 2017) – Criterion Channel
Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011) – The Roku Channel, Crackle, and Tubi
Fast Color (Julia Hart, 2018) – Amazon Prime and HULU
See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol, 2019) – Netflix
Jamaican Indie Cinema
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972) – Fandor (there's also a nice HD bootleg on YouTube)
Rockers (Ted Bafaloukos, 1978) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Shottas (Cess Silvera, Lyndale V. Pettus & Adam Doench, 2002) – Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Pluto TV
Other "Cult" Black-made/led Titles
Black Jesus (Italian: Seduto alla sua destra; Valerio Zurlini, 1968) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
The Story of a Three-Day Pass (Melvin Van Peebles, 1968) – Fandor
Uptight (Jules Dassin, 1968) – Criterion Channel
Putney Swope (Robert Downey Sr., 1969) – Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, VUDU Free, Tubi, and Night Flight
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (William Wyler, 1970) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Watermelon Man (Melvin Van Peebles, 1970) – Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, and Pluto TV
Black Gunn (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1972) – Tubi
The Final Comedown (Oscar Williams, 1972) – Amazon Prime and Tubi
Don’t Play Us Cheap (Melvin Van Peebles, 1973) – Fandor
Petey Wheatstraw (Cliff Roquemore, 1977) – Fandor, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, and Tubi
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Fred Schepisi, 1978) – Amazon Prime, Criterion Channel, and Tubi
Personal Problems (Bill Gunn, 1980) – Criterion Channel
Kirikou and the Sorceress (Michel Ocelot, 1998) – Amazon Prime and Criterion Channel
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999) – Criterion Channel
Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, 2018) – HULU