Dignan
05-15-2003, 11:27 PM
Alright, this is something that has been bugging me a lot lately. It seems like everytime I turn around I see somebody labeling a rather popular mainstream( or pseudo mainstream) film a film with a "CULT STATUS". Let me just say: Films such as The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, The Crow, Halloween, SE7EN, and Fight Club are not films I would consider "cult" or "underground". Sure a lot of these movies started out pretty low on everybodies radar, but as soon as word was spread of greatness, people flocked to these movies. And they all most of them made back a large of money! How does that qualify them as films with "cult" status?
I don't know about most people here, but I consider a cult film to be a film that did not recieve much widespread, mainstream acclaim. A cult film has usually a large to moderate fan following, but not large enough to crack into mainstream status of success. Most become discarded at the box office(ie, make little money back) and become fairly successful on video, garnering underground acclaim among film aficianados(sp?) and video store working fan boy geeks alike. But they usually are not exactly a hit with average Joe Schlub, a guy who goes to the video store everynight preying that that movie with the rapper and Jet Li/Steven Segal/ Chow Yun Fat/ whoever.
So to generaize my opinion, I would like to set up a few examples:
Basket Case, The Evil Dead trilogy, Troma films, Bad Taste, Dead Alive, Clerks, Mallrats(to a certain extent), Maniac, The Boondock Saints, and Donnie Darko are just a few films I considere to be worthy of cult status. A good way to test this is, go to a place where film fans are easy to find, such as Joblo.com, and ask if they have seen Donnie Darko or Bad Taste or any of the films listed above. See how many people say yes, I saw that movie.
Then, go to you office/ school or whatever place you go to that houses people who are not as obsessed about movies as some of the fine folks on this site are. Ask them if they have seen Donnie Darko/ Bad taste/ etc.
See how many will answer yes.
Then, ask how many have seen The Matrix, or Fight Club, or etc.
Tally up the yes's and compare results.
I once asked 10 different people at my school if the had seen Donnie Darko.
Answer(all together now): Donnie who?!
Is stil get funny looks while walikng down the hall wearing my super cool(imo, of course) Army of Darkness shirt.
SOme people say, "Yeah man, thats a great album."
Others say(mostly inbred redneck subhumanoids, think the fine folks of Deliverance with american eagle outfits on) "Army of Darkness? Whats that, that some kind of goth thing or something.( a faint chuckle will usually make a tremor through the small group at this time). You a darkness boy?" Around this time I'm usually out of there before they threaten to make me "Squeal like a piggy", and then there are the preppy folks(cliched term I know) who just stare at me strangely. Why? Because they do not know what the hell an Army of Darkness is! They are all 'mainstream folk', and while I do not hold that against them by any means, it does get rather frustrating from a film fans point of view.
Phew, end of rant.
PS This rant was not directed towards any schmoe contained herein at this board, all of which have my upmost respect and none of whom I would try to single out to prove a point. I just don't like it when critics and other idiots(Joblo and Arrow excluded, of course) label relatively mainstream films out as "Cult classics".
And Dignan awaits the debaunching to begin.... :)
I don't know about most people here, but I consider a cult film to be a film that did not recieve much widespread, mainstream acclaim. A cult film has usually a large to moderate fan following, but not large enough to crack into mainstream status of success. Most become discarded at the box office(ie, make little money back) and become fairly successful on video, garnering underground acclaim among film aficianados(sp?) and video store working fan boy geeks alike. But they usually are not exactly a hit with average Joe Schlub, a guy who goes to the video store everynight preying that that movie with the rapper and Jet Li/Steven Segal/ Chow Yun Fat/ whoever.
So to generaize my opinion, I would like to set up a few examples:
Basket Case, The Evil Dead trilogy, Troma films, Bad Taste, Dead Alive, Clerks, Mallrats(to a certain extent), Maniac, The Boondock Saints, and Donnie Darko are just a few films I considere to be worthy of cult status. A good way to test this is, go to a place where film fans are easy to find, such as Joblo.com, and ask if they have seen Donnie Darko or Bad Taste or any of the films listed above. See how many people say yes, I saw that movie.
Then, go to you office/ school or whatever place you go to that houses people who are not as obsessed about movies as some of the fine folks on this site are. Ask them if they have seen Donnie Darko/ Bad taste/ etc.
See how many will answer yes.
Then, ask how many have seen The Matrix, or Fight Club, or etc.
Tally up the yes's and compare results.
I once asked 10 different people at my school if the had seen Donnie Darko.
Answer(all together now): Donnie who?!
Is stil get funny looks while walikng down the hall wearing my super cool(imo, of course) Army of Darkness shirt.
SOme people say, "Yeah man, thats a great album."
Others say(mostly inbred redneck subhumanoids, think the fine folks of Deliverance with american eagle outfits on) "Army of Darkness? Whats that, that some kind of goth thing or something.( a faint chuckle will usually make a tremor through the small group at this time). You a darkness boy?" Around this time I'm usually out of there before they threaten to make me "Squeal like a piggy", and then there are the preppy folks(cliched term I know) who just stare at me strangely. Why? Because they do not know what the hell an Army of Darkness is! They are all 'mainstream folk', and while I do not hold that against them by any means, it does get rather frustrating from a film fans point of view.
Phew, end of rant.
PS This rant was not directed towards any schmoe contained herein at this board, all of which have my upmost respect and none of whom I would try to single out to prove a point. I just don't like it when critics and other idiots(Joblo and Arrow excluded, of course) label relatively mainstream films out as "Cult classics".
And Dignan awaits the debaunching to begin.... :)