Scene 16: The Cult Film and I

A couple of days ago, out of curiosity, a wish to expand my film knowledge and because I knew I'd be stuck in a car with nothing to do for an hour, I borrowed a film book from the library called Withnail and Us by Justin Smith. 

The book is about cult films and film cults in British cinema, that is it's actual subtitle, which analyses several cult films  including The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Withnail and I (1987), The Wickerman (1973) Tommy (1975), which I hadn't realised was a cult film and  Performance (1970), which I'd never even heard of - see below for trailers of some of these. 


The book's aim is to try and  define to some degree what a 'cult film' is, and look into the practices of fans of cult films. 

The book turned out to be slightly more challenging than I first thought, because it seems to be written for people who've done film studies. Film studies of course the academic side of film and is rather different from the practical media production course I did at college. 

Nevertheless, I have so far read the introduction and the first chapter, which looks at The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and shall continue to read it, and see what it has to say in answer to the question it poses in its introduction - what is a cult film?

After doing a bit of research online for this post, I think I know what cult films are generally agreed to have in common - they are unusual films, unconventional, eccentric and consist of a mixture of genres. Sometimes  they are "so bad its good" or sometimes they include audience participation, such as The Rocky Horror Show. They have usually done badly at the box office, been panned by critics, or even banned and then grown quietly in popularity through word of mouth.  Most importantly though, cult films appeal to a small but loyal audience of fans. 

However,  Filmsite  points out that there is no hard and fast rules or checklists for cult films.
Whilst in an article from BBC News -  What makes a cult film? -  it is pointed out that films such as The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars have loyal fans that dress-up, like fans of cult films. Does this mean due to that these too are cult films? Or are they too mainstream?

Either way, I do believe that whatever makes a film cult,  happens organically. To attempt to make a cult film may seem like a simple idea - make it quirky, cheap and full of references to other films - but in reality cult films can't be planned, they just happen. Whatever makes them acquire the 'cult' status is not something a film producer can budget in. 




Anyway, check out Total Film's The 34 Greatest Cult Movies of All Time to see what cult films are out - and I'd be really interested to hear anyone else's views on this subject, and find out what films people think are cult and which are not, so please comment! 

Scene 11: The Music Lover, Ken Russell

Yesterday I was writing a post on my other blog A Lady of Literature, about the famous night when Byron challenged his guests to write a ghost story, when I was reminded that several films had been done about the event - including Gothic (1986), by the late director and writer Ken Russell. 

[Warning some trailers may include scenes of nudity and in the case of Gothic, above, fantasy horror.]


I surprisingly know quite a bit about Ken Russell, despite having only seen one of his films, the beautifully shot, The Rainbow (1989). 

I learnt alot about him from a cinematographer friend of mine, and then later through watching a BBC documentary, Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil. 


Ken Russell began his film career  the culture programme Monitor at the BBC back in the early sixties, shooting short documentary films about musicans and poets, where he broke new ground and achieved recognition with his film on musican Edward Elgar. 

Russell was a great lover of music, particularly classical, and music plays a big part in many of his films, much as Mahler (1974), Lisztomania (1975) and Tommy (1975).


However he was also controversial for his nudity, sexual references. In particular his film The Devils (1971) was given an X-rating in Britain, and has only recently that film has been released on DVD by the BFI.  


Russell's most well-known film though is the Oscar-nominated Women in Love (1969), based on the DH Lawrence novel, with the famous scene of Oliver Reed and Alan Bates fighting nude infront of a fire-place. 


He also directed a tribute to the 1920's and musicals called The Boyfriend (1971) starring the model Twiggy, and a music video for Elton John. 

Sadly Ken Russell died last November, just when he had started pre-production on a new musical version of Alice in Wonderland. 


Obviously Ken Russell will not be for everyone, but nonetheless he has made a lasting impact on British film and I look forward to watching more of his movies.


For more on Ken Russell check out the BBC documentary or a rather excellent  short introduction to his films called On Ken Russell.