CULT MOVIES-DISCUSS
I’ve heard popular mainstream films called “cult” movies. Basically, it’s a film that has an extremely devoted fan following. Think “The Blue Brothers” with people turning up to revival screenings in costumes. A cult movie is not necessarily a “bad” film, nor is it always one hardly anyone has seen. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was (and still is) a cult film, but in its time (1956) it was a major hit for a B-grade movie (although it IS A-grade quality). “Pulp Fiction” is a cult film, although I still cannot work out why. “Rocky” is NOT a cult movie: it’s basically a mainstream film that pretty much everyone likes, and if it’s shown at a revival cinema, it will probably draw a different group of people each time. That’s not to say it doesn’t have extremely devoted fans who organise meet-ups to run the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, but it’s more a film that draws its audience from “casual” movie viewers. I hope the above explanation helps.
yes thank you. good explanation. the example of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE was due to my narrow mindedness and not getting it i guess….am i alone in this opinion……clearly i must be.i was just venting that the term CULT was attached to films to give them credence and raise their profile in the eyes of lesser mortals like myself……another example would be ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW……..help me, am i just to shallow or am i deep.
i disagree with pulp fiction being a cult film. i find it to be a highly influential film even though it ripped off so many other movies….i think tarantino tries soooooooooooooooooo hard to make a cult film (ala grindhouse) that he totally misses the point by about 50 miles. the perfect cult film is Eraserhead. no budget. huge following.
thats an interesting thought….using that rational Tarantino actually did successfully create a CULT movie at his very first attempt with RESERVOIR DOGS…..huge following, stylistic,iconic fashion….and with a very limited budget if memory serves me.Harvey kietel agreed to the part for no payment, but rather a percentage of its box office which was a cool thing to do.
i never really considered reservoir dogs to be a cult movie…tarantino was always a considered prodigy and never started out as typical “midnight movie” directors do… tarantino started out and kevin smith both started out in the festival circuit so i don’t even think you could classify clerks as a “cult” film. (keep in mind, IMO)
Sonja, you make some good points, but let’s remember, how a certain filmmaker “started out” has nothing to do with whether a film has “cult” status. Also, “highly influential” films can be still be cult films (again, I harken back to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, one of the most influential films ever, but still very much “cult”). Finally, I don’t think “Eraserhead” has a huge following in the regular sense of the term, and indeed it is (despite what we may like to think) an obscure film. Not obscure among film buffs, but if you’re going to say “Pulp Fiction” is not “cult” because of its mainstream acceptance, then “Eraserhead” must not be huge if you’re using general filmgoers as a barometer. That is to say, ask 100 patrons at the megaplex or arthouse if they’ve heard of “Eraserhead” and you may well get this expression at least 80 times…
But yes, “Eraserhead” is a cult film, but not necessarily for the reasons you’ve stated.
No you won’t. You’ll get, “You mean that Schwartzenegger movie?”
—DiB
wait….im pretty sure someone can come up with a math equation for figuring out a film’s cult status…
@dib…teeehehehehehee
Words, people. Arbitrary. Cult refers to, in general, movies that sustain a core and devoted fanbase no matter what the other forms of success it’s measured, be it box office receipts, critical appraisal, canonical affiliation, or classic status. Movies that for whatever reason, people still keep renting and going to theatres to see a long time after it came out. I actually don’t think Napoleon Dynamite qualifies anymore. That movie isn’t really all that popular anymore, by the time I was leaving Hastings it was sitting just as neglected on the rental shelf as anything else. However, for a while there, it certainly did have a cult following.
Discussing cult movies in terms of whether they fit what cult movies you like is ENTIRELY missing the point. The point is not that cult movies share certain characteristics (though many people attempt to trace them), but simply that the movie still finds devoted and regular viewership after all mainstream consideration of it has died off and the world’s seemed to have moved on. The reasons why canon and classics are not regarded as cult is because they still maintain critical appreciation and a huge mainstream presence. It’s not about the number of fans, it’s about the type of reception; it’s not about genre characteristics, it’s about idiosyncracy made its own reward.
Even if you disagree with it. I think Napoleon Dynamite is terrible, but if it’s still getting the viewership it was getting a coupla years ago, I’ll still call it cult despite my love for other, erm, “better” cult movies out there.
—PolarisDiB
how bout the big lebowski? it’s a mainstream movie that’s definitely reached a “cult” status…now discuss.
No you said it yourself. Big Lebowski came out, did it’s thing, went away, nobody cared, and next thing you know there are books and Dude references and drinking games everywhere, and people still watch it regularly to this day. The industry has moved on and critics may mention it off-hand in comparison to another movie, but a cult interest makes the Dude abide over and over again.
—PolarisDiB
it really is the first cult movie i remember from my generation honestly. i can’t think of another. well maybe the goonies but hot topic really ruined that for everyone.
POLARISDIB……..you make sense and make some valid points.its a much more in depth subject than you miight first imagine once you start turning over some stones.its definately the fan base that sends a film into CULT status with that i must concur………is it possible to take a random movie and turn it into a cult movie through creating your own membership and devoted fan base and following?…….would make an interesting experiment..coz it seems to me that it happens by accident..one minute you have a regular film and the next its a CULT.
No no, Sonja, Hot Topic is one way that things become cult. Like Nightmare before Christmas, another cult classic.
“is it possible to take a random movie and turn it into a cult moive through creating your own membership and devoted fan base and following?”
Of course, but the way cult operates is more along the lines of phenomenon. INdispicably, a movie never expected to be a huge hit in the first place just continues to have its devotees, in a way that goes beyond “forgotten gems” and “underrepresented cinema” and goes straight to continual and elaborate fan circles. You can’t really force people into that, but you can make an argument for a movie deserving of cult status, as well as make a movie with cult followship in mind (usually meaning you’re operating in kitsch, but hey, it works sometimes). Sometimes people can smell an attempt at cult from miles away and are turned off.
Tim Burton was obviously aiming for cult with Sweeney Todd. I didn’t mind the attempt and sold the idea to friends that we should go along with it. The only problem is, it turns out Tim Burton fans are so serious about him, they don’t like people laughing out loud and saying, “HOORAY! THE SPRAY!” everytime a jugular goes snick. It just didn’t work out.
—PolarisDiB
THE EQUINOX
Sometimes I think I enjoy cult movie more than I enjoy real person movies.
Cult, like Punk, is a dead concept that is now just useful to marketing department vultures.
When the cult dissipates, does the film then become a “forgotten gem”? What about films that are gems but were never subjected to ballyhoo and sensation in the first place?
I’ve never seen “Napolean Dynamite”, by the way. Ironically, I think many " hip young cult films" from the past twenty years are going to date badly (ironic because youngsters who detest anything invented before 1991 are suddenly going to be more “Out of Touch” than a Hall and Oates song). Already those “Vote For Pedro” shirts are in danger of becoming to the 2010s what Abba jumpers were in the 1980s (okay, that’s harsh). Science fiction movies from the 1970s don’t date in the same way because (a) visuals are secondary to the actual themes explored in terms of importance and (b) 1970s sci-fi seems to live in a weird world where bell bottoms and safari suits mix with avante garde white plastic furniture and jumbo sized computers with generic green font in a future where it is always sunny and hot. And who says such a world is no longer possible? A lot of my favourite cult “futuristic films” from the 1970s have said look.
Now that’s what I call stylish.
@Mike Spence
Punk is far from dead. I guess some films have been made specifically to be sold as a “cult phenomena”, but I don’t think films like Starship Troopers or Escape From New York had ever been marketed as cult films until way after they received their cult following.
@Mark D Vanselow
Logan’s Run – so good! Did you hear they are remaking it? :o/
mr white
CULT : very popular among a limited group of people……………….
is this another way of saying a terrible film is good or is it an aquired taste?.does it mean the majority are wrong?am i missing a hidden meaning?do people justify an awful film by labelling it a cult movie?is there a bandwagon to jump on to avoid alienation in the movie world? is just a test of ones own beliefs?………………..how does a film achieve cult status?