Tag: cult classic
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Cult Classics: Grindhouse
The lurid exploitation films of the 60s, 70s, and 80s gave cheap thrills to filmgoing audiences looking to make out in the back seats of the theater or their cars, see a few gross kill-shots and grungy effects, or else enjoy the well-tread tropes and hackneyed cinematography that these films promised. Their enjoyment by cinephiles […]
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Cult Classics: Big Trouble in Little China
“You know what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like this?” “Who?” “Jack Burton. Me!” Jack Burton and his truck, The Pork Chop Express, barrel into San Francisco’s Chinatown with a delivery while he gives a monologue over the CB airwaves that summarizes his character and general attitude: “When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac […]
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Great TV: The Addams Family
Let’s play a word association game. If I used the words creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and ooky, my guess is that you would snap your fingers twice and say The Addams Family. And it’s amazing at just how deeply the TV show has permeated popular culture at this point: running from 1964 to 1966 and […]
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Cult Classics: Fateful Findings
Why do we like terrible movies? Not just bad or mediocre movies-those are depressingly common and a distressing amount are released each year from major and independent studios alike. Those are then shuffled off into the catacombs of daytime airings on Showtime and the dregs of streaming services, never reaching over two stars in their […]
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Awesome Garbage: Mac and Me
True story: I saw Mac and Me in theaters when I was 6 years old. I was visiting my grandparents in Virginia Beach and spending the day with my grandma, mom, and sisters, and since everything else out in the theater was definitely not kid-friendly (the weekend it opened, August 12, 1988, here were the […]
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Cult Classics: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Upon its release, a movie about a rock star-surgeon-physicist-adventurer battling aliens from the 8th dimension, was a gigantic hit. Of course, that’s a lie: the rather insane film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is a film with an extremely narrow built-in appeal. But its approach to sci-fi–creating an outrageous protagonist that lives […]
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Sleepaway Camp
I never went to camp as a kid. Growing up in Missouri, there was plenty of available open space and fresh air right where I lived, and besides that, my folks were never the type to want to ship their kids off for extended periods (also, I was a real sweety pie). After watching Sleepaway […]
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Great TV: The Prisoner
Who is Number 1? If you are Number 6 this is a serious question, since Number 6 asks Number 2 this at the opening of every episode of The Prisoner. First airing in Canada in 1967, this spy-sci fi-mystery-thriller was unlike anything ever seen before at the time. a sort of 1960s version of Twin […]
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Cult Classics: The History of Future Folk
People with passion tend to come across as a little, well, odd to the normies of the world. You know what I mean: the devout Star Trek fan or dedicated KISS fan that attends every convention and concert and happening tangentially related to their fervent focus may come across to most people as strange or […]
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Cult Classics: Jesus’ Son
Over the course of a lifetime, you may often find yourself in the company of a strange coterie of people—weird frenemies and loose associates you don’t fully trust but often rely on for one thing or another. More so, your association with these people can find you in odd situations, ones you could have never […]
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Cult Classics: Forbidden Zone
One of the central tenets that defines a cult film is its inaccessibility to a general audience. Great cult films have gained their notoriety for being exceedingly difficult works for many people to understand or appreciate. Meanwhile, they are also films that obviously strike a chord in many viewers, particularly those who have become somewhat […]
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Cult Classics: Cabin Boy
Chris Elliott’s comedic schtick is not for everybody. Having first launched his career as a writer and performer on David Letterman’s old late night show in the 80’s as an absurdist figure who would do bits playing odd characters with names like “The Panicky Guy” and “The Guy Under The Seats,” usually ineffectual characters who […]
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