"Cult" Movies I Don't Get
Submitted by JohnnyW on Wed, 05/02/2001 - 01:15
Tags:
- Barbarella (1968)
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
- Monty Python's The Holy Grail (1975)
- The Stepford Wives (1975)
- Brazil (1985)
- Labyrinth (1986)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- Akira (1988)
- Dead Poets' Society (1989)
- My Own Private Idaho (1991)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Kids (1995)
- Swingers (1996)
- Pi (1998)
Author Comments:
By "cult" movie, I mean movies that aren't all that popular in the wider world, but that have an almost rabid group of fans that love them and defend them. I don't necessarily dislike these films (although in some cases I do), but I just don't like them enough to understand where the devotion comes from. One way to tell if a film deserves "cult" status might be how often lines are quoted from it.
Let me know what you think.
One of the few movie lists where I've seen nearly everything (I haven't seen Brazil). Of these, I enjoyed The Holy Grail and The Princess Bride. I don't know many people that go around trying to quote The Holy Grail, so maybe that's why I still like it. I just found The Princess Bride entertaining, especially the characters. As for Faces of Death, we watched some of those in high school and I can't say that we liked them. It was more the shock value, one of those movies you find disgusting but just can't seem to pull your eyes away from for some reason.
I think the retelling of jokes from The Holy Grail irritates me more because, although the movie is funny, I don't think it's funny enough to warrant the obsession lavished on it...
Johnny Waco
I agree with your re-enactment plea. That annoys the piss out of me. Especially when they quote from a comedy. I prefer to be told to check out a comedy without the charades. Brazil is really great. If you don't get it, may I suggest multiple viewings. Thats of course if you can stand to watch it again. It took me three or four times to really fully absorb the contents of that movie. But when I did, I was thouroughly satisfied.
I'm with you on The Holy Grail. It was quoted to death for me before I had a chance to see it. Same thing happened to me for Spinal Tap (which I still haven't seen, but I'm well aware that theirs goes to eleven).
I loved The Princess Bride, but I'm sure it didn't hurt that I think Mandy Patinkin is great. A sweet story, although told in an offbeat fashion. And some marvelous scenes - the entire kidnapping/pursuit by the man in black, Inigo's revenge, the big bluff ("your ears you can keep"), etc. But still, I can see where my enjoyment of it is similar to others enjoyment of The Holy Grail; you're either on board or your not.
I remember my summer reading list for my high school humanities class was lots of dystopian stuff: 1984, Brave New World, Heart of Darkness, Mosquito Coast, and at least two others that escape me at the moment. We watched Brazil in class in September, and it fit in perfectly with the reading list. A lovely nightmare.
jim and jblack, I'm glad we're in agreement on the reenactment thing. If someone thinks a movie is hilarious, tell me to see it, don't reconstruct as though you were some sort of performance artist! I will indeed rewatch Brazil because, as you might have suspected, I only watched it once and never tried again. It may be one that has to sink in...
Johnny Waco
I guess the thing with the Monty Python re-creation thing, is that it's funny to the people doing it with each other, and doesn't need to be funny to anyone else. It's just a sort of fun, childish play-acting kind of thing. I did my share of it back in the day. And I still engage in it sometimes. It's just like an inside joke amongst the people doing it. People trying to put on a display with it are another story, but I think it's fine just doing it for fun among friends.
This is beautiful. Here we are having a discussion about the etiquette of reenactment. Only at listology would we be able to have such deeply threaded topics of discussion.
I understand inside jokes (which should stay inside and not "shown off" to those not in the know), but there are also plenty of people who want to convert you to certain movies by giving you a "sampling" of the hilarious humor contained within. I've heard sooo many people do this kind of stuff that I almost have to leave the room when people get on their "Holy Grail" kicks. Certainly not evryone who loves Holy Grail or who might occasionally emit a line of dialogue is bad, it's just when the MP steamroller gets going, dominating conversations and any sort of get-together...
Johnny Waco
I completely agree with all of your thoughts on the quoting. It's gotten SOOO bad lately. You see, a friend joined my group recently, who quotes absolutely everything, whose entire conversations are basically a string of quotes from everything you can possibly imagine, with absoltely not a single original line uttered by him. He's like a walking TV collage, some of which he tries to pass off as original (ie quoting obscure comedians), some of which he twists into a "quoting conversation" (ie quoting Family Guy - a show he's entirely memorized, as he does nothing but memorize quotes from shows). He's gotten my entire group into doing it too, and thanks to this, I now can't watch a movie or TV show without trying to memorize a few good quotes from it (otherwise I'll end up entirely unable to communicate with any of them for the next 20 minutes, and 10 more minutes every time the movie is brought up again, as everyone rehashes the whole thing after it's watching). It's now considered unaccceptable and impolite to recommend something to someone, without quoting half of the show or movie first, as now everyone does it. For example, the other day I recommended a comedian to said friend (Dane Cook). He then asked if I could hear any of his comedy from me. I said I didn't know any of it, I just laughed on hearing it, and he sighed, rolled his eyes, and gave a lecturing speech on how to recommend things.
So I feel all of your pain. I'm getting very sick of this endless over-quoting.
That's certainly unfortunate; I'd rather know few quotes from something before I saw it.
The other problem is the "inside joke" factor. I don't mind inside jokes if everyone is in on them, but some people use quotes or acting out scenes as barometers of hipness. If someone is around who either doesn't know the source, or doesn't find it hysterical, he is immediately an outsider. Simply unnecessary.
Johnny Waco
i found nice listing of cult films at filmsite.org, so i thought i'd post it here for more juicy discussion.
Thanks for the link. This is a really comprehensive list that actually gives me a lot of ideas for future movies to watch. It's crazy how many of the films on this list are personal favorites: Nosferatu, Sherlock Jr., Night of the Hunter, Touch of Evil, Harold and Maude, American Grafitti, Blow Up, Wild at Heart, Reality Bites, and many more. Seems like a list of "cult" movies I actually do get might be in order...
Johnny Waco
ya i find that i respect a ton of these movies and consider them worth watching once or more: nosferatu, pandora's box, rope, invasion of the body snatchers, clockwork orange, rocky horror, brazil, usual suspects, reality bites, barton fink etc.
however, there are only a few on this list that i have or could bear watching obsessively. they include:
sid and nancy
heathers
harold and maude
hairspray
pee wee's big adventure
yellow submarine
rebel without a cause
and i was surprised not to find either labyrinth or the fifth element listed. but then princess bride isn't on here either and i agree with you that there's a strange following there. i suppose it would be difficult to create a definitive list, but they did do a relatively good job, i think. cool to think about what makes the cut for cult statis. i might have to create/alter some lists on the topic myself.
Labyrinth and Fifth Element do have cult followings, and they are two more films I don't totally understand the attraction to. Fifth Element I enjoyed, but Labyrinth? Maybe I would have needed to see it around the time it came out.
I like all the movies you say you could watch obsessively, especially Harold and Maude. Sid and Nancy is strange because I feel like I should be repulsed by it (especially the way Nancy screams in that phone booth after asking her mom for money), but I can't help being drawn back to it. Maybe that's how cult followings get started?
I haven't seen Pandora's Box, but I definitely want. Louise Brooks is just cool.
Johnny Waco
johnny, i'm totally agree with your thoughts on sid & nancy--my very open-minded father never understood how we could watch it so much... but then i had him read nancy spungen's biography and i don't want to live this life (written by her mother, deborah) and he came around. i highly recommend that book if you're at all intrigued with finding out more about the story. the phone call in the movie was true-to-life, it would seem, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
as for labyrinth, i think it's like the dark crystal in that it was great when i first saw it but did lose some of its sheen over the years. so you might be right, it's more nostalgia than anything else. that, and a penchant for david bowie and tights, must be what keeps people coming back for more. (lol)
I totally agree with you on Barbarella, I found it to be mindless fluff,, but NOT in a fun way. Sid and Nancy facinates me because I love them, but am repulsed by them at the same time, so I definetly think that's a mark of a cult movie, when you feel so strongly about some part of it.
See, now you've made me want to watch Sid and Nancy again, even though I'll be repulsed when I wake up the next morning. And then the whole damn pattern will start all over again...
Johnny Waco
Well, a little repulsion isn't like the flu or something, you can recover easily
At first I did'nt get Brazil either but it is one of those films that you appreciate when you see it more than once.
Well, it has been quite a few years since I've seen it, and there are other films I love that grew on me over time, so that makes sense. Probably most of these films I should give another chance to at some point.
Johnny Waco
I love Swingers, Pi and Redemption.
Well, I don't dislike any of the films you listed, I just don't get the cult adoration they have. Would you consider yourself a cult fan of any of the movies, or do you just like them?
Johnny Waco
I just wanted to thank you for recommending The Sugarland Express. Indeed a great film!
Great! I'm glad you liked it.
Johnny Waco
For me the appeal of Pi is that it's like The Omega Code with an edgier soundtrack, a cooler visual style, smarter dialogue, subtler acting, and a truckload more of ambiguity.
I may rewatch Pi someday, but it seemed to me to be a movie that had no heart, it was just all cleverness or concept.
Johnny Waco
Ive seen all but Barbarella, Idaho, and Akira (of the three, I DO plan to watch Akira at some point, I might eventually watch Idaho, but you couldnt even pay me to watch Barbarella). That said, I agree with a few of your choices; most notably Rocky Horror. Fuck me running, I am so sick of that movie! I dated a guy who was in a local cast, sat through it multiple times, and its just NOT that entertaining! I really dont get it at all and never have!
I also wholeheartedly agree with you on Princess Bride. Now, mind you, I DO find myself quoting it every now and then, but thats because not only have I been subjected to it way more times than I believe healthy for myself, its also been "re-enacted" to death. Its the same as Napolean Dynamite...I hated it and yet I quote it. Some might call that a refusal to admit that I actually liked it. No. I really DO hate it. Trust me. "Im not a witch, Im your wife!". Whatever!
Didnt know anyone ever considered Dead Poets Society or especially Shawshank Redemption (its consistently #2 on the imdb top 250) cult films... I REALLY have to disagreee with you on this 100%. Regardless, I think theyre both better than average movies and I really dont have anything negative nor outstanding to say about them.
Kids....Kids is one of those films that really grossed me out and had a very sour effect on me for a long time. It IS a dramatisation, but at the same time its so true. I knew kids like that and I refused to be a part of that crowd. Something about it rang true for me and I cared about Chloe's character. I probably would never own the movie and if I ever watched it again it would be once more and way off in the future.
The Stepford Wives was kitschy fun. I liked it. Pi I loved when it first came out but I think it was overdone. At the time, I hadnt seen many experimental/independent films so it got me, but once I had a basis for comparison, I realized just how annoying and pointless the whole movie was. I eventually sold my copy.
Brazil is just weird. I like it and I dont at the same time. Technically I rate it an 8, but the film just doesnt attract me to want to watch it for some reason. Once its on, Im pulled in, but I never think highly of it when its not on. There are a few films that I experience this phenomenon with and there is simply no explanation
Swingers was good the first two times and WITH OTHER PEOPLE WITH YOU. Alone, and after the third or so viewing, its just incredibly boring, and Vince Vaughn just gets exponentially annoying.
Finally, I must give you the virtual "finger".... Labyrinth is a masterpiece. Its simply beautiful and wonderful and.....perfect. Monty Python & The Holy Grail. THE best comedy ever made regardless of its status or how many people unnecessarily quote it. I will say that not everyone gets Pythonesque humour though. I know I, for the most part, dont either actually. Grail and Life Of Brian are really the only ones I love and Meaning Of Life is mediocre IMO.
You just didnt like 1975 did you? I wonder what you think of Salo or One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest...
Oh, and by the way...Barbarella? Theyre remaking it...
Thanks for the long post! This list is several years old, so things could change a little, plus I should update it. I also don't necessarily hate these movies; I just don't get the adoration they inspire.
As far as Dead Poets Society and The Shawshank Redemption go, I consider them cult films because of a couple of things: the zealous devotion of their fans and the fact they don't usually get discussed as critics' darlings. Obviously, The Shawshank Redemption is pretty respected, so I won't argue if you don't consider it a cult film, but I do think Dead Poets Society fits the criteria well (even the quoting that used to go on from that film).
Kids I get irritated with because of all the hoopla about how it was just depicting the way "kids" really act, when I think Harmony Korine is just a fraud pretending to be edgy.
Brazil is one I would like to watch again. The only time I saw it was over ten years ago.
And I don't mind you giving me the virtual finger, but I was so totally soured on Monty Python and the Holy Grail by the legions of quoters and reenactors that I simply can't watch it anymore. Perhaps fans shouldn't make me feel disgusted by a movie, but they have. I'm sorry...
Johnny Waco