A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated viewings, dialogue-quoting, and audience participation. Inclusive definitions allow for major studio productions, especially box-office bombs, while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure, transgressive films shunned by the mainstream. The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art. The term cult film itself was first used in the 1970s to describe the culture that surrounded underground films and midnight movies, though cult was in common use in film analysis for decades prior to that.
A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, poorly made commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, somewhat similar to B-sides in recorded music. However, the production of such films as "second features" in the United States largely declined by the end of the 1950s. This shift was due to the rise of commercial television, which prompted film studio B movie production departments to transition into television film production divisions. These divisions continued to create content similar to B movies, albeit in the form of low-budget films and series.
John Irving Bloom, known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is an American syndicated film critic, writer, actor, comic performer, and horror host. He is known for having hosted Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater on The Movie Channel from 1986 to 1996, the TNT television series MonsterVision from 1996 to 2000, and The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder beginning in 2018. In 2019, he was named the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid of the Year, and in 2023 was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
The Warriors is a 1979 American action thriller film directed by Walter Hill. Based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name, the film centers on a fictitious New York City street gang who must travel 30 miles (48 km), from the north end of the Bronx to their home turf on Coney Island in southern Brooklyn, after they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader. The film was theatrically released in the United States on February 9, 1979, by Paramount Pictures.
The Creeping Terror is a 1964 horror–science fiction film directed and produced by, and starring, Vic Savage. The plot is centered upon an extraterrestrial, slug-like creature that attacks and eats people whole in a small American town. Widely considered to be one of the worst films of all time, The Creeping Terror has become a cult film.
The Exterminator is a 1980 American vigilante action film written and directed by James Glickenhaus. It stars Robert Ginty as Vietnam War veteran John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator". When a group of thugs paralyze his friend, Eastland becomes a vigilante, embarking on a mission to cleanse New York of organized crime. The film also stars Samantha Eggar, Christopher George and Steve James. It has gained a cult following since its release.
Tom Atkins is an American actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is known for his work in the horror and thriller film genres, having worked with writers and directors such as Shane Black, William Peter Blatty, John Carpenter, Fred Dekker, Richard Donner, Stephen King, and George A. Romero. He is also a familiar face to mainstream viewers, often playing police officers and tough authority figures and is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Alex Diel in The Rockford Files (1974–1977).
Attack of the Crab Monsters is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced and directed by Roger Corman, that stars Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, and Russell Johnson. The film was distributed by Allied Artists as a double feature showing with Corman's Not of This Earth.
The Incredible Melting Man is a 1977 American science fiction body horror film directed and written by William Sachs. The plot concerns an astronaut whose body begins to melt after he is exposed to radiation during a space flight to Saturn, driving him to commit murders and consume human flesh to survive. During post-production, the producers reshot scenes without Sachs' participation. The film starred Alex Rebar as the main character, alongside Burr DeBenning as a scientist trying to help him and Myron Healey as a United States Air Force general seeking to capture him. While writing and shooting, Sachs was influenced by Night of the Living Dead. With the changes by the producers, the final film has been described as a remake of First Man into Space (1959), which in turn was directly influenced by The Quatermass Xperiment, even though Sachs had never seen either of those films.
Luigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television.
James Glickenhaus is an American film director and producer, financier, and automotive entrepreneur.
I Drink Your Blood is a 1971 American hippie exploitation horror film written and directed by David E. Durston, produced by Jerry Gross, and starring Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, and Lynn Lowry. The film centers on a small town that is overrun by rabies-infected members of a Satanic hippie cult after a revenge plot goes horribly wrong.
The Phantom of the Movies' Videoscope is an American movie magazine devoted to cult cinema and genre movies and exploitation films that was released four times a year through end its end with issue #115, after the death of its primary founder and editor, Joe Kane. Sometimes, though not on the cover, the last word in the magazine's title is spelled VideoScope.
I Eat Your Skin is a 1971 American horror film written, produced and directed by Del Tenney. It stars William Joyce, Heather Hewitt and Walter Coy. The film was shot entirely in Florida in 1964 under the title Caribbean Adventure to disguise from potential investors the fact that it was a zombie film.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show cult following is the cultural phenomenon surrounding the large fan base of enthusiastic participants of the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, generally credited as being the best-known cinematic "midnight movie".
Psychotronic Video was an American film magazine founded by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City, covering what he dubbed "psychotronic movies", which he defined as "the ones traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics at the time of their release: horror, exploitation, action, science fiction, and movies that used to play in drive-ins or inner city grindhouses." It was published through 2006. Most of the magazine's hundreds of reviews were written by Weldon himself. Other contributors provided career histories/interviews with cult filmmakers and actors such as Radley Metzger, Larry Cohen, Jack Hill, William Rotsler, David Carradine, Sid Haig, Karen Black, and Timothy Carey. Regular features included "Record Reviews" by Art Black, "Spare Parts" by Dale Ashmun, and "Never To Be Forgotten", an obituary column.
David Del Valle is a journalist, columnist, film historian, and radio and television commentator on horror, science-fiction, cult and fantasy films. Described by Entertainment Weekly as "Something of a cult celebrity himself," he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame in 2016.
Jerry Warren was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in small parts in a few 1940s films such as Ghost Catchers, Anchors Aweigh, and Unconquered.
Corona Zombies is a 2020 American comedy horror film directed by Charles Band, and produced and distributed by Full Moon Features. The film stars Cody Renee Cameron, Russell Coker and Robin Sydney. It is the first installment of the Barbie & Kendra film series.
Art horror or arthouse horror is a sub-genre of both horror films and art-films. It explores and experiments with the artistic uses of horror.
