Cult Films

Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has accrued a small but devoted group of fans,
having failed to achieve fame outside that group.
Sometimes, the group is bound to the film by a shared sense of ridicule for it, rather than artistic merit.

The term itself came into usage during the late 1970s -
perhaps among fans of cheap horror films dealing with devil cults -
and popularized in a series of three books by Danny Peary, beginning in 1981 with Cult Movies.

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) and other films by Ed Wood, Jr.
were among the earliest to attract devotees who revelled in their incompetence.
Other low-budget science fiction and horror films of the 1950s (Robot Monster),
along with exploitation films of the 1930s,
which resurfaced in the home video market of the 1980s (Reefer Madness), were added to the collection.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is possibly the best-known and longest-running cult film in the U.S.
The movie 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.

Rocky Horror (as its fans casually refer to it) received little critical attention
or mainstream cinema exhibition when first released in 1975 but, in short order,
found 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.
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.
Many significant cult films are independently made and were not expected by their creators to have much mainstream success.

Night of the Living Dead, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, The Hills Have Eyes, Gattaca,
The Evil Dead and Eraserhead have all been commonly acknowledged as having become cult films.

The 1992 Disney musical Newsies, a box-office flop, gained a passionate cult following,
largely based online in the form of electronic mailing lists, fan fiction,
and complex historically-inspired role play websites known as "lodging houses".
This following may have been a factor in the eventual release of the movie's DVD version and soundtrack.

Network television, cable television and pay-per-view stations have also changed the nature of cult films.
Despite failing to meet box office expectations, Blade Runner was a favorite of early pay-per-view and HBO.
Repeated showings on Comedy Central helped popularize Office Space and Half Baked.

In most cases, these films tend to enjoy long runs on video,
thus being issued in video "runs" with more copies than other movies.

The box office bomb Office Space managed to financially redeem itself
when word-of-mouth made it a popular video rental.

Fight Club and Mulholland Drive have likewise earned
considerably more in DVD sales than in movie theaters.
Also, cult movies are more likely to be issued on newer video technology
in the technology's early days than other films.
Although films of all genres and plot conventions may become cult films,
the horror and science fiction and experimental film genres have become the focus
of those wanting to identify a film as a cult film, perhaps due to
the relatively young and cynical nature of these genres' fan bases.

The identification of a film as having cult status is particularly dependent upon Generation X,
whose members are most interested in the concept and its films.
Some contend that, in rare cases, a film can be both a huge, major studio release and a cult film,
because a small, devoted following exists within the film’s larger audience
(i.e., 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Taxi Driver and the Star Wars series.)

With advances in web-based film distribution,
films such as Jon Simpkins's Life of a Tennis Ball
can develop a cult following even without being commercially distributed.

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