Cult Films: Making The Grade
Quentin Tarrentino, The Cohen Bros: What Gives a Movie Cult Status?
Jan 15, 2009
Why do some movies, originally slammed by critics and ignored by mainstream audiences, rise from the ashes of B-Grade mediocrity to become highly acclaimed cult films?
And why do some films’ achieve cult status while others, after a successful cinema release, retire meekly to the back shelves of small suburban video stores before passing silently away into obscurity?
Defining a Cult Film:
Without a doubt, some films inspire a devoted following that can only be described as cult. The Cohen Brother’s film The Big Lebowski was not a big hit in 1998 yet four years later the Lebowski Fest made its way across various US cities and over to the UK. In 2007, the book, I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski was published and a documentary about Lebowski fans called The Achiever records ‘the dude’s’ growing popularity.
The term ‘cult film’ was first coined in the early 1980s by the American film critic Danny Peary who reviewed 200 film in his book Cult Movies. Peary’s three volume series delved deep into film archives and emerged with classics such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). After pulling out and dusting down a number of classics, Peary’s reviews managed to revive an interest in these long forgotten titles.
The Great Debate:
According to David Michael Brown,who authors the cult movie section on the Australian movie site Cinephilia, a cult film often features something different - something you would never see in a Hollywood production.
“Pitch-black comedy, outrageous characters, bizarre plot lines and generally pushing the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable as cinematic entertainment, “ he says.
However, Andrew Leavold who owns and manages Australian online film store Trash Video rejects the term ‘cult’ because he says it is incredibly limiting.
“There is no such answer to the question, ‘what is a cult movie?’,” he says.
“Everyone has a definition of what a cult film is but by using those kind of limiting standards cult movies can only be bad movies or cult films can only be eccentric films and, while that’s true, it also excludes all those other films that qualify as cult films because of their particular core following.
”A cult is a really fervent following of a particular film after it’s had its cinema run or initial video run so any film in theory could be a cult movie.”
And, according to Mr Leavold, the whole cult movie notion is actually cultural.
“When old movies from the 50s and 60s are watched in a different context 10 or 20 years removed from their economic and cultural context they suddenly take on a new life,” he said.
“Films like Plan 9 From Out of Space became touted as one of these great cult films and back in the 50s and 60s you wouldn’t have even talked about Plan 9.
“Now people are starting to write books about them like ‘The 50 Worst Films Of All Time and these books have certainly spearheaded a revival but also a reinterpretation of these films.”
Mr Leavold says this tendency to reinterpret old films has inspired film maker’s like Quentin Tarrentino to pick the best bits of old great films and regurgitate them.
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