Most films that find their way into multiplexes or onto the shelves of video stores can be simply classified as "popular," "unpopular" or "kinda popular." For example, "Spider-Man 2" falls into the popular category, the infamous 2003 bomb "Gigli" is an easy fit into the unpopular category and a film like Michael Keaton's "White Noise" would be most at home in the category of the kinda popular. However, not all films can be as easily classified based on their popularity. What exactly is the classification of a film that has little or no mainstream appeal, yet is incredibly popular within a small group of devoted followers? It doesn't have a fan base large enough to appropriately classify it as popular, yet it is far too beloved to be given a title like "unpopular." These oddities defy the conventional measures of popularity that so easily describe most other Hollywood movies. Get ready to step out of the mainstream for a quick crash course on cult cinema.
You may be wondering just what it is that makes a movie a cult film. One telltale sign is extremely low ticket sales at the box office coupled with astronomically high DVD sales. This indicates the select few people who saw the film at the theater liked it enough to push its DVD sales through the roof. "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" earned a paltry $21 million at the box office and never rose higher than sixth place on the box-office charts, yet its DVD sales totaled over 1 million units sold, which is a very high number for the home-video market. Another, much more obvious sign of a movie's cult status is a year-round midnight showing of the movie with fans dressed as characters in attendance. Every single moviegoer who shows up to a screening of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" dressed as Dr. Frank-N-Furter cements the film's status as a cult classic.
However, you still may be wondering just what it is that makes a cult film a cult film. According to Ball State telecommunications professor and author of multiple books about film Wes Gehring, there are three types of cult films. The first type includes films that have become popular because they are so bad they are entertaining. Ed Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and the infamous anti-marijuana film "Reefer Madness" fall into this category. The second type consists of films that aim to be high art but, instead, come off as over-the-top and pretentious. The Joan Crawford biopic "Mommie Dearest" and the Michael Cimino bomb "Heaven's Gate" are two of the most well-known examples of this trend. The third type is made up of films that offer a refreshingly different look at a subject or a non-traditional lifestyle. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" and "Being John Malkovich" are prime examples of this type of film. There are literally thousands of films that have cult followings both big and small, and here are ten of the greatest examples:
1. The "Evil Dead" trilogy (1979, 1987, 1993). These three wildly inventive low-budget films, directed by Sam Raimi and starring cult icon Bruce Campbell, have found a way into the hearts of horror fans everywhere. The first two films, which depict absurdly gory happenings in a secluded cabin, display groundbreaking low-budget special effects and a wonderfully twisted sense of humor. The third film eschews horror in favor of an action-adventure slant and remains one of the most oft-quoted films of its type. Raimi has since gone on to make the "Spider-Man" films, but cult fans will always know him as the guy behind this seminal trilogy of horror flicks.
2. "Scarface" (1983). This Al Pacino vehicle, directed by Brian de Palma, shows the actor in top manic form as a morally twisted and completely insane Cuban refugee who shoots his way to the top of the Miami drug trade. The story of a character who rises from nothing and falls spectacularly has garnered a huge cult following over the last twenty years, particularly in the hip-hop community. Some call it a B-movie version of The Godfather, while others call it the definitive film about the American dream. Still, pretty much everyone agrees that Michelle Pfeiffer gives a terrible performance.
3. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959). Edward D. Wood Jr. was always a director with a passionate love of film but absolutely no discernible talent at making it. This film has been known as his "crapnum opus" and has won the distinction of "Worst film of all time" from multiple organizations. Strings are visible in a battle between UFOs and tanks; concrete clearly makes up the ground of the graveyard; and there is no continuity between day and night from scene to scene. The cult following for "Plan 9" cannot be attributed to its quality; it has received its status, instead, because it is ineptly made on every level imaginable.
4.? "The Big Lebowski" (1998). The Coen brothers have never made a movie any sane person would describe as normal. This film, a hilarious mess of a movie, is one of the most bizarre Hollywood comedies of the decade. Starring Jeff Bridges as the greatest stoner in cinema history (sorry Cheech) with positively hilarious supporting turns by John Goodman as a mentally unstable Vietnam vet, Steve Buscemi as a meek moron, John Turturro as a bowler and convicted sex offender and Julianne Moore as the sexually frank daughter of a millionaire. The humor is bizarre, at times surreal and hilarious even though it isn't really about anything at all.
5. "Clerks" (1994). Kevin Smith's ultra-low-budget tale of two twenty-something slackers whiling away their hours behind a counter at a convenience store is so bitingly hilarious because it feels so real -- these lovable losers feel like people we could meet in real life. They're bitter; their lives are unglamorous; and they curse like sailors as they discuss the minutiae of pop culture. Shot on black-and-white, 16mm film, Kevin Smith's script is more than hilarious enough to make up for the grainy film quality, subpar acting, and pedestrian direction. This movie rings true for bitter, ambitionless, twenty-something wage slaves everywhere.
6. "Donnie Darko" (2000). Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this film about a teenager suffering from several emotional problems. What sets "Donnie Darko" apart from all other similarly themed movies is that in the other movies, the protagonist doesn't do the bidding of a six-foot rabbit wearing an insect mask. This film gained almost no attention during its first theatrical run and did not succeed in gaining attention until more than a year after the original theatrical release. With a newly released director's cut DVD, fans can now enjoy all of the weirdness of the way that the director originally intended it to be seen.
7. "Harold and Maude" (1971). This film, which details the nonplatonic romance between a 23-year-old rich kid and a 75-year-old woman, crosses lines that would be found downright unthinkable today. The film's iconoclastic worldview spoke volumes to the generation of the early 1970s, though many were made uneasy by the film's black humor, not limited to the protagonist's tendency to stage elaborate suicide attempts. Though the ending mixes tragedy with a certain level of hope, dark comedies cannot possibly come much darker than this one.
8. "This is Spinal Tap" (1984). Directed by Rob Reiner, this film is the precursor to the series of excellent mockumentaries directed by Christopher Guest, including "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." This films shows a filmmaker's encounters with a washed-up British heavy metal band on its American comeback tour that never quite gets off the ground. Classic moments include the famous line "these go to eleven" and a Stonehenge prop that is no more than two feet tall. This cult classic practically invented the mockumentary format and remains one of the best comedies of the 1980s.
9. "Freaks" (1932). Tod Browning's film, with its simultaneously fascinating, repulsive and touching portrayal of real-life circus freaks was seen as mean-spirited and horrific at the time of its release seventy-three years ago and did not gain any respect until decades after its release. Most likely, critics completely missed the sympathetic human emotions because of the film's advertising campaign that sold the movie like some sort of Jerry Springer episode, but years later the film finally gained notoriety as the unusual, yet heartfelt, drama that it is.
10. " The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975). No list of cult films is complete without "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Starring Tim Curry as the transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter, this good-natured send-up of B-movie horror and sci-fi films has quite possibly the biggest and most devoted cult following of all films. Like many films, reaction to this film was almost nonexistent upon its release, but over time it garnered a hugely devoted following. It tells the story of a virginal boyfriend and girlfriend who blow a tire and find themselves at a strange mansion. By the end of the movie, they are dressed in kinky leather and taking part in all sorts of sexual fantasies. This is a clever and bizarre exploration of alternative lifestyles that caught on like wildfire when it finally gained attention.
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