2017年武鸣“壮族三月三”歌圩暨骆越文化旅游节
Article content
RIP: We barely noticed when it happened but it is now appropriate to announce the death of cult movies. We are just not producing any more, which is sad for cinephiles. The glory days of celebrating the awful and/or absurd are over. Bad movies are still being released, but without generating a cult following.
So we must cherish each cult classic we already love from earlier decades, whether it is Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Mommie Dearest or Showgirls. By "cult movies" I include several categories:
My definition includes trash elevated to cult status because we love incompetence and weirdness on an epic level: Plan 9 counts along with everything else Ed Wood Jr. directed, from Glen or Glenda to Necromania; Reefer Madness is the infamous 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda flick which because a cause celebre for 1960s potheads; Troll 2 and The Wicker Man count, too.
My definition includes smart if cheap films that use sarcasm and irony while invoking subversive themes and throwing in perversions and fetishes: John Waters' Pink Flamingos is the epitome; sneaky good flicks such as the horror fantasy Army of Darkness send up their genres while simultaneously revelling in them; count the original Tobe Hooper version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in this group, along with another influential horror flick, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.
My definition also includes mainstream movies that morphed into a mutant version of original intensions: Mommie Dearest, the sicko story of Joan Crawford's mothering skills, is legendary; so is the bloated Showgirls, a sex comedy that started off as a "serious" study of a Las Vegas stripper's life; fans admire the lurid extremes of exploitation such as Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
My definition also includes boxoffice failures that cults re-discovered at rep cinemas or on TV, video, DVD or Blu-ray: Examples are The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Heathers, Brazil, Blue Velvet and Donnie Darko.
I just don't see any new candidates emerging. Instead, really bad movies are just ignored or consumed and thrown away as garbage. We no longer seem to be recycling them into cult classics. Rep cinemas have almost disappeared. Plus subversive indie movies are now rare.
It is even difficult to find fresh so-bad-it's-good material. The dregs of 2013 -- so far -- do not invite cult status: Texas Chainsaw 3D, The Host, The Last Exorcism: Part II, Movie 43, InAPPropriate Comedy and the forthcoming The Colony.
One problem is that fare such as Texas Chainsaw 3D (an updated sequel to the original), The Host and The Colony are well-made -- from a technical point of view. Special effects, even in lower budget Hollywood movies, are light years beyond what directors could do in the past. So no one will ever again suspend aluminum pie plates by wires and call them flying saucers. Not like Wood did in Plan 9 from Outer Space in 1959. Even schoolkids can do better on home computers.
At the same time, we are a society of mass disposal: Less and less is being retained for future generations. Sigh!
CULT FILMS ON HOME VIDEO:
In honour of the cult of cult movies, I took a look at recent and forthcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases that quality in the cult category. In most cases, the movies have a particular and sometimes small but always vociferous following.
WESTWORLD
Michael Crichton's Westworld (1973) makes its Blu-ray debut. Long before he collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park, Crichton was writing and directing his own movies, including this futuristic thriller about a theme park where the robot attractions go berserk and start killing the guests.
FUTUREWORLD
Richard T. Heffron took over as director of Futureworld, the 1976 sequel to Westworld. The future shock theme park has reopened but not everything is as it seems. The sequel, also new to Blu-ray, may be obviously inferior but it is cheesy fun. Especially with Peter Fonda as the crusading journalist who sports a '70s mullet.
SAMSON AND DELILAH
Cecil B. DeMille's overwrought sword-and-sandal movie from 1949 finally debuts on DVD. The handsome movie was plucked from The Bible and co-stars Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders and even Angela Lansbury. As the box cover says, this is "an epic tale of strength and seduction."
H.P. LOVECRAFT'S FROM BEYOND
Stuart Gordon's 1986 sci-fi horror movie has been gussied up for a Collector's Edition combo pack. The two-disc release combines DVD and Blu-ray and comes with a wonderfully lurid cover that trumpets: "Humans are such easy prey."
PHANTASM II
The Tall Man, along with the horrifying wrecking ball are both back in Don Coscarelli's 1988 sequel to the 1979 original. The new single-disc Collector's Edition on Blu-ray looks great.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Cult movies are all but dead Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
