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Filmsite: written by Tim Dirks
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CULT FILMS


Part 1



Cult Films
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Examples



Cult Films have limited but very special appeal. Cult films are usually strange,
quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, or surreal, with outrageous, weird, unique
and cartoony characters or plots, and garish sets. They are often considered
controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical
conventions. They can be very stylized, and they are often flawed or unusual in
some striking way.

Most cult films cut across many film genres (science fiction, horror, melodrama,
etc.), although some film genres are also more prone to being cultish, such as
the horror or sci-fi genres. Teen comedies are also more often rated as cult
films, such as American Graffiti (1973), (National Lampoon's) Animal House
(1978), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Dazed and Confused (1993), with
quotable lines of dialogue, and memorable characters and scenes. A sampling of
the wide range of film genres (and sub-genres) covered by cult films includes:

 * Cult Road films: Easy Rider (1969), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
 * Cult Musicals: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975),Tommy (1975), Pink Floyd:
   The Wall (1982), The Sound of Music (1965) (the 'sing-along' version)
 * Cult Blaxploitation: Shaft (1971)
 * Cult Westerns: Johnny Guitar (1954)
 * Cult Teen 'Chick-Flicks': Heathers (1989), Clueless (1995)
 * Cult Sci-Fi: Blade Runner (1982), Repo Man (1984)
 * Cult Comedy: Harold and Maude (1971), Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
 * Cult Documentary or Exploitation/Sexploitation Films: Reefer Madness (1936),
   Showgirls (1995)

Many cult films feature or effectively showcase the performance of newcomers or
other unknown talented actors/actresses. Sometimes, they were revolutionary,
brilliant films 'before their time' (i.e., Fantasia (1940)) and not bound by the
conventions of their day. Most often, obscure and cheesy cult films are made by
maverick, highly individualistic film-makers with low-budget resources and
little commercial marketing. And cult films are rarely, if ever, sequels, since
then they would have attained mainstream appeal and widespread success. Some
directors/producers are more prone to making cult films, such as Roger Corman,
John Waters, Ed Wood, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and David Lynch,
especially early in their careers, because of their individualistic perspective
and style, although they can often make a conventional 'mainstream' film too
(such as David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999)).

More about Cult Films:

Many cult films fared poorly at the box office when first shown, but then
achieved cult-film status, developing an enduring loyalty and following among
fans over time, often through word-of-mouth recommendations. Cult movie
worshippers persuasively argue about the merits of their choices, without regard
for standard newspaper or movie reviews from critics. There's no hard-and-fast
rule or checklist to gauge what makes a cult film. A cult film is often
designated as such "in the eye of the beholder" without fufilling any
definition. It's often a matter of opinion. One viewer's cult film may not be
judged the same by another viewer.

They elicit a fiery and intense passion in devoted fans, and may cause cultists
to enthusiastically champion and become devoted to these films, leading to
audience participation, fan club membership, and repetitive viewings and
showings at repertory cinemas. Cult films have tremendous followings with
certain groups, e.g., college campuses, 'midnight movie' crowds, independent
film lovers, etc. The first 'official' midnight movie was Alexandro Jodorosky's
strange El Topo (1970, Mex.) (aka The Mole) - a mystical 'spaghetti western'
about a black-clad rogue gunfighter on a quest to defeat the 'four masters of
the gun.' It premiered at midnight in a rundown NYC theatre (on lower Eighth
Avenue) and ran seven nights a week for many months. The concept of
long-playing, taboo-breaking, eccentric midnight movies designed to appeal to
urban film fans was thereby born.

But just because a segment of devoted viewers (pre-teen girls) repeatedly watch
a film - such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) -
to view its star Johnny Depp, or Titanic (1997) (to see Leonardo Di Caprio), or
to view the latest George Lucas Star Wars film, doesn't make a film a cult film.
However, there are the most popular cult films, such as The Rocky Horror Picture
Show (1975) and any of the Star Trek films, that have developed cult followings
with all the trappings.

One of the biggest, best-known cult films was not intended to become so popular.
It was a low-budget, government 'documentary' propaganda film from the mid-30s
created to exploit or dramatize the dangers of marijuana use and demon weed -
Reefer Madness (1936). However, Tod Browning's grotesque Freaks (1932), was
deliberately advertised as "the strangest...most startling human story ever
screened," and had alternate titles including Forbidden Love, The Monster Show,
and Nature's Mistakes. It used real-life dwarfs, pinheads, and other human
freaks (portraying sideshow circus performers) to present a jolting story of
revenge.

When first released, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Almost Famous
(2000) were almost instantly pronounced as cult films, but as time progressed,
they didn't really fit the category. They were highly-acclaimed, award-winning
films that were prominently shown in the mainstream, and it had been too early
to judge them as cult films. The media often labels an unusual film as a 'cult
film' when it really shouldn't. It takes time for a film to reach cult status.

Camp films are cult-type films, but they are often poorly made or ludicrous, yet
still enjoyable and appreciated. Cult films follow no rules or pattern - some
cult films are popular only among certain limited groups of audiences or
friends.

Music-Based Cult Films:

Some cult films are music-based, such as director Rob Reiner's This is Spinal
Tap (1984), a tongue-in-cheek spoof of rock documentaries, following a faux
British heavy metal band's disastrous US tour. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982) was a
bizarre film based on the popular rock album, and Ken Russell's Tommy (1975) was
the Who's rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who sure plays a 'mean
pinball." Many cultists enjoyed the soundtrack of The Blues Brothers (1980), a
farcical musical comedy involving two loser musicians who resurrected their old
blues band.

The first of two other quintessential rock musical cult films included the
transgender The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - notable for inspiring the
craze of interactive 'midnight movie' screenings. The iconic film was
essentially a trashy tale set in a mysterious Gothic castle with kinky
extraterrestrial Transylvanian transvestites, two stranded young people
(including a mostly underwear-clad Susan Sarandon), and a mad scientist. Fans of
the film would line up wearing costumes and bearing props to be unleashed during
the midnight showings. The second was a rebellious teenage musical comedy titled
Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979) that featured a rock band named The Ramones.
Perry Henzell's urban-crime drama The Harder They Come (1973) with musical star
Jimmy Cliff, featured a reggae soundtrack and a seamy look at poverty and crime
in Jamaica.

Well-Regarded Cult Films:

A number of cult films are well-regarded, such as Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful
Life (1946), that became popular many years after its initial release due to
repeated television showings. Likewise, the classic weeper An Affair to Remember
(1957) has developed a loyal following (it was a remake of Love Affair (1939),
was paid homage in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and remade as Love Affair (1994)
with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening).

Others include the science fiction classic Forbidden Planet (1956) that has
developed wide cult appeal, Kubrick's intriguing A Clockwork Orange (1971) - a
surrealistic tale of an ultra-violent future and the danger of psychological
reconditioning, Coppola's anti-Vietnam war epic of a terrifying journey into
hell in Apocalypse Now (1979), or another Kubrick classic, Dr. Strangelove Or:
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb (1964).

Frank Darabont's subversive, allegorical, and life-affirming prison story about
two life-sentenced prisoners, The Shawshank Redemption (1994), based upon a
Stephen King story, didn't find its audience and failed at the box-office during
its original release, but established a strong cult following its video
release/sales and widespread word-of-mouth recommendations. [This became the new
pattern of promoting cult films when midnight movie showings had died down.]
George Roy Hill, the director of such Oscar-winning hits such as The Sting
(1973) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), also helmed the
comedy-drama Slap Shot (1977) with Paul Newman - noted as one of the raunchiest,
most foul-mouthed, macho sports films ever made. Another highly-regarded cult
film was Monte Hellman's low-budget Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) - a late 60s to
early 70s entry in the road film genre - that was both an existential character
study and a car-chase/race film.

A visually rich Philip-Marlowe style detective film, director Ridley Scott's
Blade Runner (1982), set in futuristic, proto-punk Los Angeles in 2019, told
about an ex-cop (Harrison Ford) who hunted down renegade human replicants - it
has developed a wide cultish following. An early 70s big-cult favorite was
director Hal Ashby's dark, eccentric and macabre Harold and Maude (1971) about a
strange taboo romance between a 20 year-old boy (Bud Cort) and a fun-loving,
joie-de-vivre 79 year-old woman (Ruth Gordon) to the tune of a Cat Stevens
soundtrack - with ingenious scenes of the spoiled rich boy's mock suicide
attempts staged to upset his mother. A year earlier, Bud Cort had starred in
Robert Altman's quirky and satirical fairy tale Brewster McCloud (1970) as a
bespectacled boy living in the Houston Astrodome where he was building a machine
to escape and fly away. The Sound of Music (1965) when re-released in the late
20th century was presented as a sing-along version (with subtitles) along the
lines of the participatory Rocky Horror, with fans dressing up as nuns, lonely
goatherds and Nazis.

Conversely, some of the most praised films have pornographic origins, such as
the ground-breaking Behind the Green Door (1972) due to its star Marilyn
Chambers appearing in her first adult role (she was a former All-American Girl
and Ivory Snow detergent model). Also in the early 70s during the height of a
sexual revolution, the X-rated Deep Throat (1972) became one of the most
influential (and successful) porn films of all time, attended by middle-class
whites - it featured an unlikely plot about a sexually-dissatisfied young woman
(Linda Lovelace) with a misplaced sex organ who required 'deep throat' fellatio
for fulfillment.




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