There are several books dedicated to cult cinema and, if they all agree on one thing, its that there is no single definition of what constitutes a cult movie. If you mean a film admired by a minority, its that. Or if you mean a film that inspires a near obsessive passion amongst certain people, its that too. But it may also refer to foreign-language curiosities, films so bad they really are worth watching and such bizarre time capsules as 1950s public information films. For our purposes, though, its a film whose audience is bigger now than when it was first released. Whether a film is good or bad, posterity is the only real judge of its merits. Who wouldve believed that Citizen Kane, a miserable flop when first released, could top Sight & Sounds Best Film list while How Green Was My Valley, which won Best Picture, would be forgotten? If even a box office washout like Silent Night Deadly Night (1984) can inspire sequels and a remake, then theres no telling which films will eventually find their audience. Given time, even Josh Tranks Fantastic Four might be embraced as a misunderstood classic (okay, perhaps not). If any of the following films are playing at your local arts centre, you should cancel your plans and attend that is, if you dont already own them on DVD.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
