front cover of The Cult Film Experience
The Cult Film Experience
Beyond All Reason
Edited by J. P. Telotte
University of Texas Press, 1991

"Play it again, Sam" is the motto of cult film enthusiasts, who will watch their favorite movie over and over, "beyond all reason." What is the appeal of cult movies? Why do fans turn up in droves at midnight movies or sit through the same three-hanky classics from Hollywood's golden era? These are some of the questions J. P. Telotte and twelve other noted film scholars consider in this groundbreaking study of the cult film.

The book identifies two basic types of cult films—older Hollywood movies, such as Casablanca, that have developed a cult following and "midnight movies," most notably The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Telotte, Bruce Kawin, and Timothy Corrigan offer thought-provoking discussions about why these two types of movies become cult films, the sort of audience they attract, and the needs they fulfill for that audience. Subsequent essays employ a variety of cultural, feminist, ideological, and poststructural strategies for exploring these films.

In a section on the classical cult film, the movie Casablanca receives extensive treatment. An essay by T. J. Ross considers Beat the Devil as a send-up of cult films, while another essay by Wade Jennings analyzes the cult star phenomenon as personified in Judy Garland.

"Midnight movie madness" is explored in essays on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, movie satires of the 1950s, science fiction double features, and horror thrillers.

Illustrated with scenes from favorite movies and written for both fans and scholars, The Cult Film Experience will appeal to a wider audience than the "usual suspects."

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Fan Phenomena
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Edited by Marisa C. Hayes
Intellect Books, 2015
When The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released in 1975, it initially received an indifferent reception in movie theaters, but it began to gain notoriety after it was embraced by audiences at midnight screenings in New York City and elsewhere. The movie tells of the misadventures of Brad and Janet, newly engaged, whose car breaks down in a rainstorm, forcing them to seek refuge in the castle of the bizarre and flamboyant Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
An homage to campy B-movies, sci-fi, and horror films, the movie was—and still is—more than the sum of its parts. Participatory and party-like, midnight showings attract moviegoers who dress as film characters, sing along with the catchy show tunes, and interact with the action on screen. In the four decades since its release, it has become a cultural phenomenon, not to mention one of the most commercially successful films of all time.
In Fan Phenomena: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Marisa C. Hayes brings together a diverse group of writers who explore the film’s influence on the development of the pastiche tribute film, emerging queer activism of the 1970s, glam rock style, and the creative use of audience dialogue in recreating and interacting with the spoken and sung language of the film.
Spotlighting a cult phenomenon and its fans, many of who count the number of times they’ve seen the movie in the hundreds, this contribution to the Fan Phenomena series covers never-before-explored topics related to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For anyone who has ever done the “Time Warp,” this will be essential reading.
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