10 Midnight Movies You Need To Watch

Do you remember doing the Time Warp?

When American cinemas began midnight programming in the 1970s, they typically scheduled films that were either too weird for the mainstream or so bad they really were worth watching. In those pre-internet, pre-VCR days, a midnight movie was something illicit, a chance to watch something you might never see again. Matinee screenings might€™ve featured Charlton Heston saving a stricken airliner or surviving a Los Angeles earthquake, but the night belonged to El Topo, Alejandro Jodorowsky€™s weird Western, and Night Of The Living Dead, which ushered in the era of grim, downbeat horror pictures. Decades later, despite the competition from home entertainment, the midnight movie was alive and well and playing at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, where James Nguyen€™s Birdemic was revelling in its newly-acquired status as one of the worst films ever made. The movie proved so popular during its limited theatrical run that a sequel, Birdemic 2: The Resurrection, was released in April 2013. The illicit had given way to the joy of a good train wreck. Whether you€™re watching a guilty pleasure or a bizarre cult item, though, midnight movies are a communal experience. In an era of YouTube and Netflix, we need them more than ever so if you€™re interested in below-the-radar cinema, here€™s where you start.

Contributor

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.'