20 Reasons Why Growing Up in the 80s and Early 90s Was Best Time For Cinema

9. Cult Movies and Cult Moviemakers

One of the entries in Cameron€™s €˜90s-€˜00s article heralded the growth of cult moviemakers like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Wes Anderson rising to prominence during that period and this is a valid point. Whilst they did help bring the dawn of a new age of filmmaker who made films outside of the studio system, there were a whole bunch of guys in the €˜80s that paved the way for them. This isn€™t exactly the same point, but the idea of cult filmmakers that maybe saw things a little differently was rife in the €˜80s. As Cameron points out, these aren€™t films one would have typically seen growing up, but they were an important part of the moviemaking landscape not only at the time but for future filmmakers. The €˜80s and early €˜90s saw David Cronenberg release Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch, while David Lynch released Dune, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me in a similar period. The Coen Brothers€™ career began too, releasing Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller€™s Crossing and Barton Fink whilst a post-Python Terry Gilliam released Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King. The period also saw a number of other, initially cult directors, get going too, heralding the rise to prominence of Spike Lee, Sam Raimi and Wim Wenders, not to mention the release of now cult favourites like They Live, Repo Man, Heathers, Real Genius and River€™s Edge.