ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR FILM FANS
CULT FILMS
There have always been cult movies. It
is not just a passing trend. The only thing that changes
is the status of movies themselves — some »live long and
prosperously«, some will be instantly forgotten, and some
are undergoing the process of revalorization. »Flops« at
the time of release are now considered classics, extremely
badly done movies are now considered good »trash movies«,
and there are even some that are overdone in every imaginable
aspect — they belong to »camp«. All the compound essays
on individual cult films were aired for two seasons on
the HTV (The Croatian Television) within the television
show Fatamorgana (Mirage), and were backed
by selected clips.
Fifty-eight of them were considered
»cult« items: Andy Warhol’s Flesh, Baby Doll, Bad
Taste, Basket Case, Blacula, Braindead, Bride Of Frankenstein,
Carnival Of Souls, Certain Sacrifice, Contes Immoraux,
Corpse Grinders, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Crimes
Of The Future, Cry Baby, Dawn Of The Dead, Day The Earth
Stood Still, Deep Throat, Eraserhead, Evil Dead 2, Fly,
Forbidden Planet, Freaks, Fritz The Cat, Glen Or Glenda,
Hellraiser, Henry — Portrait Of Serial Killer, Invasion
Of Body Snatchers, It’s Alive 3 — Island Of The Alive,
Man Who Fell To Earth, Meet The Feebles, Mondo Topless,
Naked Kiss, Nanny, Night Of The Hunter, Night Of The Living
Dead, Orgy Of The Dead, Performance, Phantom Of The Paradise,
Phenomena, Pink Flamingos, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Rabid,
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Santa Sangre, Scanners, Tarantula,
Tetsuo — The Iron Man, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Them!,
They Live, Thing (From Another World), Tingler, Toxic Avenger,
Two Thousand Maniacs, Up!, Vampyros Lesbos, Wickerman and Zombie
Flesheaters.
Of course, there are more of them. Restrictions
on showing violence and nudity, or unavailability, or even
poor tape conditions were reasons why some were left uncovered
(for example, Mexican santo films, LSD films, non-commercial
gay & lesbian cinema or cannibal horror from Italy),
but hopefully, their time will come — in Fatamorgana,
or in the upcoming movie guide 101 cult films (by
the same author), or in both. As it is said at the beginning
of article: films are living organisms. Let us not ignore
them.
Željko Luketić |
