Cult Movies
Danny Peary
1981; Delta Books
A classic in texts devoted to films outside of the mainstream, Danny Peary’s tome collects essays devoted to what he considered to be the top 100 films that had devoted cult followings. It’s hard to imagine that 40 years have passed since this book was published. Back then, the term “cult movie” was still new to most people, and for that matter, had not been misappropriated to its current usage as a loose umbrella term for nearly every quirky genre film ever made. In Peary’s definition, they are: “special films which for one reason or another have been taken to heart by segments of the movie audience, cherished, protected, and most of all, enthusiastically championed …the typical Hollywood product never attains cult status since all viewers perceive these average films in more or less the same way, with no real disagreement as to the film’s quality. (But cult films are) born in controversy, in arguments over quality, theme, talent and other matters. Cultists believe they are among the blessed few who have discovered something in particular that the average moviegoer and critic have missed – the something that makes the pictures extraordinary.”
Each of the 100 essays (arranged alphabetically by film’s title) features credits, a synopsis, plus detailed analysis by the author (excepting Henry Blinder’s very thoughtful piece on Two for the Road). Cult Movies includes such perennial “midnight movie” favourites as (of course) The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Eraserhead and El Topo, and films like acknowledged classics Casablanca and It’s a Wonderful Life that also have rabid “cult” followings. Each piece is refreshingly personal, many with first-person memories of the films or works with their cast or directors. And yet, Peary isn’t afraid to challenge the accepted status of some of these cherished titles, such as his surprisingly negative review of The Wild Bunch. His seriocomic “highbrow appraisal” of Plan 9 from Outer Space is also a highlight. You may be upset if he doesn’t give a hand job to a personal favourite, but can commend him for his fresh and well-rounded analyses. Here are the films in the first volume of Cult Movies. Hyperlinks will be added as films are reviewed on this site.
Andy Warhol’s Bad (1977), Badlands (1973), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), Behind the Green Door (1972), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Billy Jack (1971), Black Sunday (1960), The Brood (1979), Burn! (1969), Caged Heat (1974), Casablanca (1942), Citizen Kane (1941), The Conqueror Worm (1968), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Deep End (1971), Detour (1945), Duck Soup (1933), El Topo (1971), Emmanuelle (1974), Enter the Dragon (1973), Eraserhead (1977), Fantasia (1940), Forbidden Planet (1956), Force of Evil (1948), 42nd Street (1933), Freaks (1932), The Girl Can’t Help It (1956), Greetings (1968), Gun Crazy (1949), Halloween (1978), A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Harder They Come (1973), Harold and Maude (1971), The Honeymoon Killers (1970), House of Wax (1953), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), I Walked With a Zombie (1943), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), It’s a Gift (1934), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Johnny Guitar (1954), The Killing (1956), King Kong (1933), King of Hearts (1967), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), La Cage aux Folles (1979), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), Laura (1944), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Lola Montès (1955), The Long Goodbye (1973), Mad Max (1979), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Man of the West (1958), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Nutty Professor (1963), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Out of the Past (1947), Outrageous! (1977), Pandora’s Box (1929), Peeping Tom (1960), Performance (1970), Petulia (1968), Pink Flamingos (1972), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Pretty Poison (1968), The Producers (1968), The Rain People (1969), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), The Red Shoes (1948), Reefer Madness (1936), Rio Bravo (1959), Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Scarlet Empress (1934), The Searchers (1956), Shock Corridor (1963), The Shooting (1967), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sylvia Scarlett (1936), The Tall T (1957), Targets (1968), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Top Hat (1935), Trash (1970), Two for the Road (1967), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Up in Smoke (1978), Vertigo (1958), The Warriors (1979), Where’s Poppa? (1970), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Wizard of Oz (1939)