A cult film (also known as a cult movie/picture or a cult classic) is a film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a story conveyed with moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for something. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They often show their enthusiasm by starting a fan club, holding fan conventions, creating fanzines, writing fan mail, or promoting.^[1] Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences. Many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics; others are of the "so bad it's good" variety and are destined to remain in obscurity. Cult films often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong, for example, if a particular subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, it may be described as a counterculture of fandom Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part, hence the analogy to cults The word cult pejoratively refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are reasonably considered strange. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices. The narrower, derogatory sense of the word is a product of the 20th century, especially since the 1980s, and is considered subjective, and is a result of the anti-cult movement, which. However, not every film with a rabid fanbase is necessarily a cult film. Usually, cult films have limited but very special, noted appeal. Cult films are often known to be eccentric and do not follow traditional standards of mainstream cinema and usually explore topics not considered in any way mainstream Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct. It is a term most often applied in the arts . This includes:—yet there are examples that are relatively normal. They are often considered controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical conventions known.^[2]

General overview

What are the requirements for transforming a book or movie into a cult object? The work must be loved, obviously, but this is not enough. It must provide a completely furnished world so that its fans can quote characters and episodes as if they were aspects of the fan’s private sectarian world, a world about which one can make up quizzes and play trivia games so that the adepts of the sect recognize through each other a shared expertise.

A cult film is a movie that attracts a devoted group of followers or obsessive fans, despite having failed commercially on its initial release. The term also describes films that have remained popular over a long period of time amongst a small group of followers. In many cases, cult films may have failed to achieve mainstream success on original release although this is definitely not always the case. Whilst they may only have a short cinema release cult films often enjoy ongoing popularity due to myriad VHS The Video Home System is a consumer-level video standard developed by Japanese company, JVC, and launched in 1976, LaserDisc The LaserDisc is a home video disc format, and was the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially marketed as Discovision in 1978, the technology was licensed and sold as Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Videodisc, Laservision, Disco-Vision, DiscoVision, and MCA DiscoVision until Pioneer Electronics purchased the majority stake in and DVD DVD, also known as Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc, is an optical disc storage media format, and was invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Time Warner in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage. DVDs are of the same dimensions as compact discs , but are capable of storing more than six times as much data releases. In some cases, these films tend to enjoy long runs on video Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The first company to duplicate and distribute home video was Magnetic Video, established in 1968, thus being issued in video "runs" with more copies than other movies. The movie Office Space Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs. The film's sympathetic portrayal of ordinary IT workers garnered it a cult following among those in that profession, but the film also (1999), which lost money during its box office run, managed to turn significant profits when word-of-mouth Word of mouth is a reference to the passing of information from person to person. Originally the term referred specifically to oral communication , but now includes any type of human communication, such as face-to-face, telephone, email, and text messaging made it a popular video rental and purchase. Harold and Maude (1971) was not successful financially at the time of its original release, but has since earned a cult following and has become successful following its video and DVD releases. This has also happened with The Big Lebowski The Big Lebowski is a 1998 American comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to and also refers to himself as "The Dude" (1998), among others. Many cult films were independent films An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced mostly outside of a major film studio. The term also refers to art films which differ markedly from most mass marketed films. In addition to being produced by independent production companies, independent films are often produced and/or distributed by subsidiaries of major studios. In and were not expected by their creators to have mainstream success. Carnival of Souls Carnival of Souls is a low budget 1962 horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. Produced and directed by Herk Harvey for an estimated $33,000, the movie never gained widespread public attention when it was originally released as it was intended as a B film and today, has become somewhat of a cult classic. Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, (1962), Night of the Living Dead Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 independent black-and-white zombie film directed by George A. Romero. Ben and Barbra (Judith O'Dea) are the protagonists of a story about the mysterious reanimation of the recently dead, and their efforts, along with five other people, to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse (1968), Pink Flamingos Pink Flamingos is a 1972 American transgressive comedy directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star of the flamboyant female impersonator, Divine. The film also stars David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, (1972), Eraserhead Eraserhead is a surreal horror film written and directed by David Lynch, and released in 1977. In 1971, Lynch moved to Los Angeles to pursue an MFA degree at the AFI Conservatory. At the Conservatory, Lynch began working on his first feature-length film, Eraserhead, using a $10,000 grant from the AFI. The grant was not sufficient to complete the (1977), Basket Case (1982), The Evil Dead The Evil Dead is a 1981 American horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss and Betsy Baker. The film tells the story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in the woods. Their vacation turns into a nightmare when they find an audiotape that is the key to unlocking evil spirits (1981) and its sequels, and Napoleon Dynamite Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 American indie comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess's first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca, the first MTV Film rated PG (2004) could all be considered cult films.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes the audience response to a cult film is somewhat different than what was intended by the film makers. Cult films usually offer something different or innovative in comparison to mainstream films, but cult films can also be popular across a wide audience.

A film can be both a major studio release and a cult film, particularly if despite its affiliation with a major studio, it failed to achieve broad success on either the theatrical or home video markets but was championed by a small number of dedicated film fanatics who seek out lesser-known offerings. It is also true that the content of certain films (such as dark subjects, alienation, transgressive content, or other controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus - "turned in an opposite direction," from contra - "against" - and vertere - to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn against." subject matter) can also decide whether or not a film is a "cult film", regardless of the film's budget or studio affiliations. An example may be Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpʌul vərˈɦuvə]; born July 18, 1938) is a Dutch film director, screenwriter, and film producer who has made movies in both the Netherlands and the United States. Explicitly violent and/or sexual content are trademarks of both his drama and science fiction films. He is best known for directing the's big budgeted, highly sexualized Showgirls Showgirls is a 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon. The film centres on a drifter who ventures to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy hierarchy from stripper to showgirl (1995), initially intended to be a drama film about the rise of a Las Vegas The Las Vegas metropolitan area, also known as the Las Vegas-Paradise-Henderson Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, consisting of Clark County. A central part of the metropolitan area is the Las Vegas Valley, a 600 sq mi basin in which is located the metropolitan area's largest stripper, that flopped both critically and commercially when released theatrically; afterward, it enjoyed success on the home video Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The first company to duplicate and distribute home video was Magnetic Video, established in 1968 market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals.^[4] Today, it is a favorite of gay audiences and audiences in general have considered it to be a comedy Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was thanks to frequent midnight movie The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, showings. According to activist writer Naomi Klein Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization, ironic Irony is a situation, literary technique, or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance that goes strikingly beyond the most simple and evident meaning of words or actions. Verbal and situational irony is often intentionally used as emphasis in an assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, irony used in sarcasm, and enjoyment of the film initially arose among those with the video before MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures, the film's chief marketer, capitalized on the idea. MGM noticed the video was performing all right, since "trendy twenty-somethings were throwing Showgirls irony parties, laughing sardonically at the implausibly poor screenplay and shrieking with horror at the aerobic sexual encounters."^[5]

History

Early period: 1959-1970s

Plan 9 from Outer Space Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction/horror film written, and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The film bills Béla Lugosi posthumously as a star, although footage of the actor had been shot by Wood for another film just before Lugosi's (1959) and other films by Edward D. Wood, Jr. Edward Davis Wood, Jr. , better known as Ed Wood, was an American screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author, and editor, who often performed many of these functions simultaneously. In the 1950s, Wood made a run of cheap and poorly produced genre films, now humorously celebrated for their technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, were considered cult classics, attracting devotees who reveled in his incompetence. Other low-budget science fiction and horror films of the 1950s (for example Robot Monster), along with exploitation films Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter.[citation needed] The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex, violence, of the 1930s, which resurfaced in the home video Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The first company to duplicate and distribute home video was Magnetic Video, established in 1968 market of the 1980s (including the infamous Reefer Madness), were accorded that status.

The low budget horror film Night of the Living Dead Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 independent black-and-white zombie film directed by George A. Romero. Ben and Barbra (Judith O'Dea) are the protagonists of a story about the mysterious reanimation of the recently dead, and their efforts, along with five other people, to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse (1968) directed by George A. Romero George Andrew Romero is an American film director, screenwriter, editor and occasional actor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse earned moderate box office takings but was critically polarized at the time. However, the culture of Vietnam-era The Vietnam War [A 2] was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 [A 1], to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States had a tremendous impact on the film and the film was given a cult status after playing frequently at midnight movie The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, circuits. It is so thoroughly laden with critiques of late-1960s American society that one historian described the film as "subversive Subversion refers to an attempt to overthrow the established order of a society, its structures of power, authority, exploitation, servitude, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the state.[citation needed] It is an overturning or uprooting. A subversive is something or someone carrying the potential for some degree of subversion on many levels."^[6] While not the first zombie film made, Night of the Living Dead influenced countless films and is perhaps the defining influence on the modern pop-culture zombie archetype.^[7] The film is the first of five Dead Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo films (completed or pending) directed by Romero.

John Waters John Samuel Waters. is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, journalist, visual artist and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films. Waters's 1970s and early '80s trash films feature his regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders—among them Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and' Pink Flamingos Pink Flamingos is a 1972 American transgressive comedy directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star of the flamboyant female impersonator, Divine. The film also stars David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, (1972), was wildly controversial (being an exercise in "poor taste") featuring incest and coprophagia Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek κόπρος copros and φαγεῖν phagein ("to eat"). Many animal species practice coprophagia as a matter of course; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Coprophagy refers to many kind of feces eating including eating feces of, became the best known of a group of campy midnight films focusing on sexual perversions and fetishism.^[8] Filmed on weekends in Waters's hometown of Baltimore, with a mile-long extension cord as a power conduit, it was also crucial in inspiring the growth of the independent film An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced mostly outside of a major film studio. The term also refers to art films which differ markedly from most mass marketed films. In addition to being produced by independent production companies, independent films are often produced and/or distributed by subsidiaries of major studios. In movement.^[9] In 1973, the Elgin Theater started midnight screenings of both Pink Flamingos and a crime drama from Jamaica with a remarkable soundtrack. In its mainstream release, The Harder They Come The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell (1972) had been a flop, panned by critics after its U.S. distributor, Roger Corman Roger William Corman is an American film producer and director. Sometimes nicknamed "King of the B-movies" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this as inaccurate), Corman has mostly worked on low-budget films. Some of his work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films derived from the tales of's New World Pictures New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. News Corporation became a major investor in 1994 and purchased the company outright in 1997; the alliance with News Corporation helped to cement the Fox network as the, marketed it as a blaxploitation Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made specifically for an audience of urban black people; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation." Blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul picture. Re-released as a midnight film, it screened around the country for six years, helping spur the popularity of reggae Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady in the United States. While the midnight-movie potential of certain films was recognized only some time after they opened, a number during this period were distributed to take advantage of the market from the beginning—in 1973, for instance, Broken Goddess, Dragula, The White Whore and the Bit Player, and Elevator Girls in Bondage (as well as Pink Flamingos) had their New York premieres at midnight screenings.^[10] In 1974, midnight opener Flesh Gordon evidenced how the phenomenon lent itself to flirtations with pornography.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show satirizes conventions of science fiction and horror films of its time, and includes elements of transvestism, incest and homosexuality — all within the context of a musical film. The film received little critical attention or mainstream cinema exhibition when first released in 1975, but built up a base of fans who repeatedly showed up at midnight screenings at inexpensive neighborhood cinemas, dressed in costume and "participating" in the film by doing such things as throwing rice during its wedding scene.^[11] In this case, the film intentionally ridiculed its own subject matter, thereby entering into the spirit of sarcastic fun often surrounding the attainment of cult status. Much of the attention has stemmed from the fanbase, rather than the film itself.^[12] Network television, cable television and pay-per-view stations have also changed the nature of cult films. David Lynch's experimental Eraserhead (1977), an example of shoe-string surrealism was a flop both critically and commercially, yet was saved from obscurity thanks to home video in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Comedy films have also been cult classics. In 1979, Steven Spielberg, after two blockbuster hits (Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind), decided to try the comedy genre with 1941, set days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film, spoofing popular film genres of the 1940s (and World War II in general), is considered by critics as Spielberg's first flop, although it made a small profit for Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios compared to Spielberg's earlier (and later) blockbuster hits. Whatever the case, it gained a cult following after it aired in an extended version on the U.S. ABC network, and years after on Laserdisc and DVD.

Other cult films from this period are those of director and actor Tom Laughlin, including the Billy Jack series.

Later period: 1980s to present

The commercial viability of the sort of big-city arthouses that launched outsider pictures for the midnight movie circuit began to decline in the late 1970s as broad social and economic shifts weakened their countercultural base. Leading midnight movie venues were beginning to fold as early as 1977 — that year, New York's Bijou switched back permanently to the live entertainment for which it had been built, and the Elgin, after a brief run with gay porn, shut down completely.^[13] In succeeding years, the popularization of the VCR and the expansion of movie-viewing possibilities on cable television meant the death of many additional independent theaters, which as a result, developed a stream of newer cult films. Possibly the first of these was the biographical Mommie Dearest (1981), which details the life of Joan Crawford and her alleged abusive relationship with her adopted daughter. The over-acting by Faye Dunaway as Crawford gave the film a campy tone, and critics were very negative towards the film. While Dunaway garnered some critical acclaim for her astonishing physical metamorphosis and her portrayal of Crawford (finishing a narrow second in the voting for the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress of the Year), she also received a Razzie Award for Worst Actress and caused considerable damage to her career. It did manage to develop a cult classic status, especially with gay audiences and became famous for Dunaway's emphasis on the line "No wire hangers, ever!", when urging her daughter not to use them in her closet.

While Rocky Horror soldiered on, by then a phenomenon unto itself, and new films like The Warriors (1979), The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980), The Evil Dead (1981), Heavy Metal (1981), and Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)—all from mainstream distributors—were picked up by the midnight movie circuit, the core of exhibitors that energized the movement was disappearing. Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) was financially unsuccessful upon its initial release. The film was, however, re-released in 1992 and achieved cult status. It has since become a leading example of the science fiction genre.

In 1984, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, starring Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, whose latest experiment opens the door to the 8th dimension and unwittingly starts an interstellar battle for the world. Directed by W.D. Richter the film has since received cult status. Entertainment Weekly ranked Buckaroo Banzai as #43 in their Top 50 Cult Movies.^[14]

Also in 1984, Dino DeLaurentiis released Dune, based on Frank Herbert's best-selling sci-fi novel. Directed by David Lynch, the film was a big-budget flop, partially due to the fact that the movie had already been edited from an intended three-to-four hours to 137 minutes, leaving the story incomprehensible. Knowing that a great deal of footage had been deleted, Universal Studios took it upon themselves to release a longer version for syndicated television and thereby, return some of the cohesiveness to the story. Thus, Dune became a cult classic, albeit too late, as David Lynch had removed his name from the credits of the television cut. Both major versions have been successful thanks to a recent DVD release.

1985 saw the making of two Arnon Milchan films that were, like Dune before it, substantially altered by Universal Studios in an attempt to find a mainstream audience. Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985), an Orwellian science fiction film about a man's relationship with the woman of his dreams became a huge failure (largely because of the difficulties involved in marketing the film), yet was critically acclaimed and subsequently revitalized by video releases. Then, by the time Legend, directed by Ridley Scott, opened in European theatres, it had already been edited by 20 minutes by Universal. Having failed at the U.K. box office, it was further edited by five minutes for U.S. release a year later and Jerry Goldsmith's original orchestral score replaced by a rock score by Tangerine Dream. Interest in the missing footage and score helped to build the film's cult status, which paid off when in 2002, DVD audiences finally saw Legend in a version closer to director Scott's intent.

A year later, David Lynch's highly influential neo-noir thriller Blue Velvet (1986), having initially failed at the box office (because of its limited release in theatres), was revitalized with video releases in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The film became hugely controversial and well-known because of its bizarre, often graphic depiction of small town America and male-female relationships featuring a psychotic Dennis Hopper and his drug-fueled sexual relationship with Dorothy Vallens, played by Isabella Rossellini. Lynch continued his career with various other cult films: Wild at Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997) and the critically acclaimed Mulholland Dr. (2001) as well as his short lived cult phenomenon television series Twin Peaks (90-91), and its subsequent movie adaptation: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). Another cult item is the Jim Jarmusch film from 1989 Mystery Train, which includes Joe Strummer and Tom Waits.

Alan Parker's hybrid mystery/horror film, Angel Heart (1987), starring Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro, fared poorly at the box office, only just breaking even.^[15] Despite this, the film became a hit once released on VHS, and has become a cult classic since, known for its spooky tone, Michael Seresin's cinematography, the sad and spooky score by Trevor Jones, and an unusual but effective blend of genres. Two of the movie's producers, Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar, also produced the cult film Jacob's Ladder which had a similar narrative structure, as well as a twist ending.

Michael Lehmann's satirical teenage comedy Heathers (1989), starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, was intended to take on the John Hughes teenage films (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles) and give them a much darker, realistic and comedic approach. However, the film was a failure at the box office (mainly because of its limited release). Despite this, it was hugely popular on VHS in the early 1990s and launched cutting-edge dialogue spoken by its characters ('What's your damage?', 'I love my dead, gay son!') into mainstream popular culture. In 1993, the comedy horror Army of Darkness, a sequel to the Evil Dead series, was released. The movie had a considerably higher budget than the prior two Evil Dead films. The budget was estimated to be around $11 million; while Evil Dead II had a budget of $3.5 million and The Evil Dead a budget of $350,000. At the box office, Army of Darkness was not a big success as hoped, only grossing $11,501,093 domestically. After its video release, however, it has obtained an ever-growing cult following, along with the other two films in the trilogy. One of the most successful of the 1990s generation of cult films was the Australian drag queen road saga The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). One of the theaters to show it regularly at midnight was New York's Waverly (also now closed), where Rocky Horror had played for a house record ninety-five weeks. Writer/director Todd Solondz, a favorite cult director, had his first major success with the black comedy Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), a brutally-honest look at the persecution of a young junior high student by her classmates. His next film was the challenging, controversial dark comedy of sex and perversion in American suburbia—titled Happiness (1998). The Big Lebowski (1998) was a flop on its initial release, yet became a cult classic and has been called "the first cult film of the Internet era."^[16]

Since the turn of the millennium, notable successes among cult and midnight movies have been Donnie Darko (2001), the 2001 comedy Wet Hot American Summer, an absurdist parody of the pre-MTV summer camp genre, and the comic book adaptation Ghost World.

Older films are also popular on the circuit, appreciated largely in an imposed camp fashion—a midnight movie tradition that goes back to the 1972 revival of the hectoring anti-drug movie Reefer Madness (1938).^[17] (Tod Browning's 1932 horror classic Freaks, the original midnight movie revival, is both too dark and too sociologically acute to readily consume as camp.) Where the irony with which Reefer Madness was adopted as a midnight favorite had its roots in a countercultural sensibility, in the latter's place there is now the paradoxical element of nostalgia: the leading revivals currently on the circuit ironically include clearly non-cult films like John Hughes oeuvre—The Breakfast Club (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), which were major studio productions and popular and financially successful during their original releases, and the teen adventure film The Goonies (1985).^[18]

Cult films within a particular culture

Occasionally, a film can become the object of a cult following within a particular region or culture if it has some unusual significance to that region or culture. An example is the cult status of British comedic actor Norman Wisdom's films in Albania. Wisdom's films, in which he usually played a family man worker who outsmarts his boss, were some of the few Western films considered acceptable by the country's communist rulers, thus Albanians grew familiar and attached to Wisdom. Curiously, he and his films are now acquiring nostalgic cult status in Britain. Another example is the place of The Wizard of Oz (1939) in American homosexual culture, although a widely viewed and historically important film in greater American culture. Male homosexuals sometimes refer to themselves as "friends of Dorothy". Singin' in the Rain is another film adopted by the American homosexual subculture which used to regularly be shown during the 1980s and early 1990s for extended runs. Slaves of New York, released in 1989, has also found a cult audience in the homosexual community.

In the world of anime, the MTV spoof series Ultracity 6060 created by Beavis and Butt-Head director Mike deSeve has become a hard-to-acquire cult classic among American anime fans. DeSeve's gory send-up When Animated Animals Attack is also a cult hit among animation festival fans in North America, as are the works of Don Hertzfeldt (Billy's Balloon, Rejected, The Meaning of Life) and Robert Smigel.

The 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness has become a cult film within the stoner subculture due to its humorously sensationalized, outdated and inaccurate descriptions of the effects of marijuana. 20th Century Fox and Legend Films released a colorized version of the film on DVD on April 20, 2004, an obvious reference to its ironic appeal (see 420 (cannabis culture)). The World War II-era Department of Agriculture film Hemp for Victory, encouraging the growing of hemp for war uses, has achieved a similar cult status. Lower IT workers and white-collar American workers alike have given Mike Judge's 1999 comedy film Office Space a cult following because of its heroic portrayal of ordinary office employees who become fed up with their jobs, make a stand, and try to overthrow the very corporation for which they work. A Clockwork Orange is a film that is a cult film in the punk community. Belgian cult movie Man Bites Dog with Benoit Poelvoorde and the surrealist movie Camping Cosmos starring cult figures like Lolo Ferrari, Noël Godin and Arno Hintjens, are an element of the Belgian visual landscape with reminiscences to Belgian Surrealism.

International cult cinema

Asian cinema, particularly Hong Kong martial arts films, such as wuxia, and Japanese tokusatsu, primarily from the Daikaiju Eiga, and anime, also has a cult following in the Western hemisphere. The Kaiju genre of films, most famously the Godzilla films, while enjoying much mainstream popularity in Japan, has a large following in the U.S.. Battle Royale has gained cult status in Britain due to the resonance the film has with the disaffected youth of that country. The action film Red Heat (1988) has found a cult audience amongst fluent Russian speakers because of the movie's weak portrayal of the Russian language and stereotypes.

So-bad-they're-good cult films and camp classics

Many films enjoy cult status because they are seen^{[by whom?]} as ridiculously awful, for example Plan 9 from Outer Space (1958) and The Room (2003).^{[citation needed]} The Room in particular^{[citation needed]} revels in audience participation, in the same vein of Rocky Horror Picture Show. The critic Michael Medved characterized examples of the "so bad it's good" class of low-budget cult film through books such as The Golden Turkey Awards. These films include such financially fruitless and critically scorned films as The Lonely Lady, Mommie Dearest, Cool as Ice, Boxing Helena, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Fatal Deviation, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, and Troll 2, which have become inadvertent comedies to film buffs. Movies have even achieved cult status by successfully imitating the awfulnesses of so-bad-it's-good movies (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and Amazon Women on the Moon being just two examples.)

In other cases, little-known or forgotten films from the past are revived as cult films, largely because they are considered goofy and senseless by modern standards, with laughable special effects and corny plotlines. These include Super Mario Bros., Howard the Duck, Breakin', The Beastmaster, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, The Creeping Terror, Robot Monster, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Man Who Saves the World and the works of Edward D. Wood, Jr. The Beastmaster is an example of the strange vectors which can lead to cult filmdom, as its reputation stems as much from ubiquitous cable-TV overplay as anything in the film itself.^{[citation needed]}

These films should not be confused with comedic cult movies like The Toxic Avenger, Bad Taste, Army of Darkness, Gayniggers from Outer Space, Spaceballs and the films of John Waters, which purposely utilize elements from films "so bad they're good" for comedic effect. This can be seen as related to the artistic style known as "camp".

See also

• B-movie
• Cult following
• Exploitation film
• Midnight movie
• Underground film

References

1. ^ All Movie Guide glossary
2. ^ Cult films at Film site; accessed October 5, 2007
3. ^ Dissertations on His Dudeness by Dwight Garner, The New York Times, December 29, 2009
4. ^ Wiser, Paige. "The beauty of 'Showgirls'", Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 2004
5. ^ Naomi Klein, No Logo, Vintage Canada Edition, 2000, p. 79.
6. ^ Adam Rockoff, Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002), p. 35, ISBN 0-7864-1227-5.
7. ^ "Zombie Movies" in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, ed. John Clute and John Grant (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), p. 1048, ISBN 0-312-19869-8
8. ^ Waters (2006).
9. ^ Pink Flamingos Production Notes. Retrieved 11/15/06.
10. ^ Hoberman and Rosenbaum (1983), p. 13.
11. ^ See History of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Rocky Horror Timeline. Retrieved 11/14/06.
12. ^ Henkin, Bill (1979). The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book. Dutton Adult. pp. 36. ISBN 978-0801564369.
13. ^ Bijou Theatre; Elgin Theatre. Retrieved 11/15/06.
14. ^ "EW's Top Cult Movies". Entertainment Weekly. May 23, 2003. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,452193_7,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
15. ^ Angel Heart (1987) - Box office / business
16. ^ Russell, Will (August 15, 2007). "Hey Dude: The Lebowski Festival". The Independent. http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article2864617.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
17. ^ See Hoberman and Rosenbaum (1983), pp. 261–262. For their consideration of Freaks as part of the early midnight movie phenomenon, see pp. 3, 95, 99, 295–297.
18. ^ Beale (2005)

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