September 28, 2025 • 27 mins
The source provides an extensive list and detailed descriptions of ten essential cult classic movies, defining them as films that were initially overlooked but gained devoted followings due to their unconventional storytelling or quirky characteristics. Each entry explains why the movie achieved cult status, noting factors like midnight screenings, dedicated fan bases, unique themes, or financial failure followed by critical rediscovery, such as The Big Lebowski and Donnie Darko. The overview also includes specific reasons why viewers should watch the movies sooner, highlighting the films' quotability, iconic twists, or status as communal viewing experiences, particularly for interactive films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Room. Ultimately, the text argues that cult classics matter because they take risks and foster deep connections among specific audiences.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever been, you know, hanging out with a
friend and they drop a movie line you just you
just don't get, uh huh. Maybe it's a reference to
some like really bizarre, low budget scene, or maybe a
song lyric, or even some philosophical quote from a comedy
you didn't know was supposed to be deep.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You know that feeling like you just missed a cinematic
secret handshake, That feeling.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Right of being sort of on the outside of this
this cultural thing, That moment where you realize there's this
huge group of people sharing this intense, almost private language
built around a film exactly well, that's exactly where we're
diving today. We are peeling back the curtain on the
cult classic. You know, those films that weren't necessarily big hits,
maybe not blockbusters, but they created this resonance, this deep
(00:47):
connection that made them foundational pieces of pop.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Culture, right, And our mission today really is to crack
the core DNA of these movies. We're working from a
pretty comprehensive list of essential cult classics, films that span
different genres, different decades. We want to figure out exactly
why these specific films were often you know, initially overlooked,
maybe even bombed at.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The box office, goal flops sometimes yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
But then they somehow transformed into these cultural touchstones. They
get devoted fan bases, viewing rituals that are sometimes even
more famous than the movie itself.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And the source material we looked at. Gives us two
defining characteristics right away, two things that make a cult
classic different from just, you know, a regular hit movie. Okay, First,
they usually start as an under the radar release. They
get overlooked by mainstream audiences, often don't even make their
money back in the first run.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Right The initial reaction is often kind of eh.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Or worse exactly. And second, they gain this devoted, almost
religious following over time, and that's usually because of something
unconventional about them, maybe quirky characters, really bold stylistic choices,
or storytelling that just fundamentally bucks tradition.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So that initial rejection and that sort of failure to
play by the mainstream rules, that's the key difference, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It really seems to.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Be they stick with you because they actively reject the
mainstream formula. So the value proposition here, what you get
out of understanding these films is pretty simple. Understanding these
movies is kind of a shortcut to understanding cinematic risk
taking and also the undercurrents of modern humor, modern philosophy.
Even watching them isn't just like watching a movie. It
(02:27):
really does feel like joining a secret club. You're immediately
part of this niche community.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's the difference between just passively consuming something and actively
participating in it. And we're going to start our deep
dive by looking at a specific group of films, the
ones that really defined the intellectual landscape of the late
nineties and early two thousands. Ah Okay, these were movies
heavy on philosophy, maybe existential anxiety, and dialogue that fans
could just quote endlessly, using those quotes almost like you know,
(02:55):
cultural currency.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay, yeah, let's unpack that this shift in the cult lands.
These weren't just genre pictures, right, These were films that
almost demanded conversation. They fueled these intense fan discussions because
the themes were complex, often wrapped up in this sort
of philosophical slackerism or maybe a really sharp critique of
like American consumer society exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And the prime example, maybe the most mellow example of
that philosophical slackerrism, has got to be the big Lebowski
from nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh yeah, this is thee.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Comb Brothers, right. They created this incredibly intricate blend. It's
part slacker comedy, part noir detective story, and then it
has these moments of just outright surreal humor.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
But it wasn't a hit at first, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
No, not at all when it was first released. Our
sources say it was seen as too rambling, maybe too
Niche definitely didn't make a big splash of the box
office kind of came and went.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But its status today is just legendary. So what's the
mechanism there? How did that happen?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
The core appeal According to the source material, it isn't
really the plot, which is famously, almost liberately convoluted.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Oh yeah, famously, But it's the fact that it is
endlessly quotable and it's anchored by Jeff Bridges giving this
iconic portrayal of the dude.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Absolutely, the convoluted plot is almost beside the point for
the cultural phenomenon side of this. I mean, it's about
him being mistaken for a millionaire with the same name,
and that just spirals into this absurd chain of events.
Involving kidnapping, extortion, German nihilistic skulling, bowling, Yeah, lots of bowling.
And what ties the whole chaotic mess together, almost literally,
(04:33):
is the importance of a rug.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Rug.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
A rug that, as the dialogue constantly reminds us, really
tied the room together.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And what's fascinating about that that simple object is how
it becomes the starting point for a film that. Yeah,
on the surface it's pure comedy, but underneath it offers
this weirdly profound philosophical comfort.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Absolutely, its legacy lies almost entirely in those philosophical undertones. Yeah,
the dude himself, he embodies this kind of zen approach
to chaos. He is comple deletely unmotivated, He's always bowling,
and he just sort of lets the tidal wave of
absurdity wash over him. And that attitude that refusaled to
engage with the frantic modern world. It resonated really deeply
(05:13):
with audiences, especially folks tired of that late nineties hustle culture.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's so influential spiritually in a weird way that the
sources actually detail how it's inspired these massive fan festivals
Lebowski fests. Yeah, the fest dedicated drinking games White Russians obviously,
and even a kind of mock religion called Dudaism, which
is apparently centered on spreading the dude's easygoing philosophy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's a serious cultural impact for a movie about a
guy who mostly just wants his rugback.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It really is. It's like the ultimate cinematic guy to
just relaxing man and the counterculture currency. It's all centered
on those perfect pithy lines that just encapsulate that worldview.
Forget complex theological text. We have the ultimate cinematic rebuttal
in what six words, that's just like your opinion, man.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, it's conversational gold ends any arguments pretty much. So
if Lebowski was about embracing chaos and relaxation, the next
film we should talk about, nineteen ninety nine s Fight
Club was kind of about violently rejecting society altogether.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Right, fight Club it's arguably one of the most culturally
significant films of that whole decade. Yet, like Lebowski, it
had mixed reviews initially and a pretty lukewarm box office debut.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So another paradox, a classic paradox.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah, initial reception versus its lasting impact. It just
exploded in popularity once it hit home video and DVD
really found its audience there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And the sources suggest its success was driven by how
provocative the themes were. Right, It's based on the Chuck
Planac novel and the film is just this blistering critique
of consumerism, you know, that constant need to acquire stuff
to define who you are, and also societal alienation. It
really tapped into this deep pervasive sense of dissatisfaction, especially
among young middle class men in late nineties society.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Absolutely, we follow Edward Norton's character, the Unnamed Narrator, and
we watch him spiral into this anarchic rebellion, and it's
led by the magnetic and frankly terrifyingly charismatic Tyler Dirdin
played by Brad Pitt. Yeah, the dark humor, the sheer
boldness of the message, it made it intensely cortable and
instantly attractive to a certain kind of cult following.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
But here's where the deep dieve gets crucial. I think
the sources spend a good amount of time noting that
some fans seem to actively misinterpret its core message. It's
satirical message that's a huge point. The film uses irony
sarcasm to critique the very violence and destructive impulse it's
showing us. Yet a lot of viewers seem to seize
on the anarchic bits as like an endorsement of rebellion.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Precisely, it's really meant as a cautionary tale, but it's
often consumed almost like a how to guide, And this nuance,
or maybe this fundamental misunderstanding, is actually part of what
keeps the film perpetually relevant.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
It keeps people arguing about it exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It fuels this perpetual debate. Is the movie celebrating toxic
masculinity and violence or is it savagely satirizing it? And
that ongoing friction ensures the film remains this kind of
intellectual juggernaut. People keep coming back to it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And the ultimate fuel for that cycle of debate, of course,
is that iconic twist ending, Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, can't talk about Fight Club without the twist.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That revelation is the narrative anchor, right. It forces you
to immediately want to rewatch it. You go back trying
to spot the clues you missed, turning the film into
this complex puzzle to be solved and discussed endlessly with friends.
It demands active engagement from the viewer.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Right now, A different kind of puzzle, maybe one steep
more in ambiguity and dread is Donnie Darko from two
thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ah, Donnie Darko.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, this film really struggled initially. It's complex, pretty dark
narrative combined with well, really unfortunate release timing shortly after
nine eleven.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Which there's a plane crash.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right it features a plane engine crashing into the house. Yeah,
so terrible timing. It meant it flopped theatrically big time.
But like so many cult films, it found this vital
second life on DVD. DVD is just critical for these
kinds of movies in the early two thousands.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, And Donny Darko's hook is just pure weirdness, isn't it.
It centers on Jake Gillenhall as this troubled teenager who
gets warned about the world ending by Frank, who is
a creepy, gigantic man in a rabbit suit.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Chuckles. Yeah. If any logline screams cult classic potential, that
one probably does. Totally. The film's genius, I think, is
in how it synthesizes these seemingly disparate elements. It weaves
together incredibly heavy themes. You've got time travel, fate, critiques
of religious fundamentalism, existential dread, all the big ones, all
the big ones. Yeah, but it cloaks it in this
(09:41):
deeply stylized look and feel and crucially a killer, really
evocative soundtrack. It draws heavily on nineteen eighties new wave
bands like Tears or Fears, Echo on the Bunnymen.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh, the soundtrack is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mad World exactly. The music is absolutely central to setting
that haunting, mysterious atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Okay, but the time travel where the source is clear
on whether the director, Richard Kelly, intended for there to
be like one definitive interpretation, or was the ambiguity itself
the whole point, because the plot is dense enough you
could support dozens of conflicting theories.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's the thing. The ambiguity is the point. Yeah, Kelly
intentionally created this narrative that resists easy answers. And because
the plot is so layered, so open to interpretation, the
fan engagement is just astronomical. The sources point out, it's
fueled endless online forums. You know Late Night dorm Room debates,
deep dive articles just dedicated to dissecting its complicated time
(10:38):
travel mechanics. It demands that communal analysis and theory building.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, it's one of those films that leaves you thinking
about it, pondering its meaning for days afterwards, not just minutes.
So these three films Lebowski, Fight Club, Donnie Darko, they
really show that the initial cult phenomenon often starts intellectually
right by giving the audience something complex, something quotable, and
definitely something debatable to chew on long after the credits roll.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely, and if these first films captured that sort of
intellectual anxiety and philosophical slackrism of the late nineties, the
next group we should look at captured something entirely different.
A visual landscape so intense, so groundbreaking. They literally changed
how we think about the future of cinema visually.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay, visual pioneers. You cannot talk about groundbreaking aesthetics without
starting with nineteen eighty two's Blade Runner.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Nope, gotta start there.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
This film, directed by Ridley Scott, was initially a major
box office disappointment, like a genuine flop, it really was,
But it gained its massive following through home video releases
later on and critically different director's cuts of the film.
It became just a fundamental sci fi landmark.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
What's fascinating here is that Blade Runner didn't just influence
other movies. It influenced the entire cultural visual lexicon for
decades to come. It basically created the definitive cyberpunk aesthetic totally,
that perpetually dark dystopian twenty one nineteen setting which felt
futuristic then, right, the neon soaked visuals, the towering vertical architecture,
(12:06):
the constant reflective rain.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And we have to talk about the sound design and
the score. It's this immersive, haunting world and it's backed
by Evangelis's atmospheric synthetic score that just perfectly balances that
feeling of ancient, smoky urban decay with the sleek, high
tech oppression of the technology.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, the score is iconic.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You can practically feel the humidity just hearing that music.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Absolutely. And the film, you know, it focuses on Rick
Deckard Harrison Ford, a blade Runner whose job is hunting
rogue androids called replicants. But what transforms it into a
cult classic isn't really the action or the effects, even
though they were stunning for the time, right, it's the
deep philosophical questions that ask about what it means to
be human, about memory, about empathy. The film just explores
(12:53):
that line between human and machine until the line basically disappears.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And because the film has multiple cuts, specifically the direct
cut and then the final cut years later, it has
fueled these endless, intense fan debates about Deckerd's true nature.
Is he a replicant? The inclusion or exclusion of just
one single scene, that Unicorn dream sequence, it changes the
entire meaning of the film for a.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Lot of people, and that ambiguity it's a gift to
the cult audience. It means there is no single definitive answer.
There's only debate, and that debate provides perpetual entry points
for new fans. When you're arguing about whether the hero
himself is a replicant, you are fully immersed in the
world in the philosophy of the film.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay, so if Blade Runner is maybe the pinnacle of
that polished, expensive dystopian vision, we kind of have to
look at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. With
nineteen seventy seven's Eraserhead.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh yeah, Eraserhead David Lynch's debut feature, incredibly low budget
black and white nightmare fuel basically, and it quickly became
a staple of midnight movie culture.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It just completely defies conventional storytelling, doesn't it. It's like
an experience in pure sensory overload, almost psychological horror.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It is. It focuses on Henry Spencer navigating this bleak
industrial world. It's all steam, shadows, grading machine resounds. His
life is defined by isolation, this bizarre relationship, and then
the truly unsettling, almost grotesque mutant baby.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
The baby.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah. The source materials really emphasize the sound design here again,
but in a totally different way than Blade Runner. It's
not atmospheric music. It's this incessant, low frequency humming, clicking,
scraping sound.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Is this real noise?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah? It contributes to this overwhelming sense of dread and
industrial isolation. It's actively uncomfortable to watch and listen to,
which is probably why it resonates so powerfully with a
certain niche audience.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Lynch's willingness just to present this raw, unvarnished nightmare on screen,
completely unexplained and often horrifying That's why it endures in
the Colt cannon. It's polarizing, for sure, lots of people
hate it, but its influence on experimental cinema is just undeniable.
It really established that midnight movie audience's crave challenging hypnotic
weirdness that Hollywood wouldn't touch.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
That willingness to risk alienating the mainstream audience seems absolutely
a defining trait. Okay, take nineteen eighty nine's Heathers.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Ah Heather's great example. This was a pitch black teen comedy,
and in the nineteen eighties the teen genre was mostly
expected to be you know, light, maybe moralizing, pretty upbeat
like John Hughes films. Heathers was just way too cynical
and too dark for mainstream success back then.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's savage. It's completely unapologetic satire. If all is Veronica
played by Winona Ryder as she's dealing with this powerful
click of really cruel girls who are all named Heather,
of course, and then Christian Slater shows up as this rebellious,
maybe slightly psychotic outsider GD and it tackles really heavy
themes teen suicide, bullying, even mass violence. But with this
(15:52):
completely dark unsettling humor.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Was the initial failure just about marketing, or did the
sources suggest it was more fundamentally miss understood because the
film's critique of high school social structures, it feels pretty
timeless now.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It feels timeless now, but it was definitely ahead of
its time. Then, the sources suggest audiences just weren't ready
for a comedy that treated murder with such nonchalants, especially
filtered through the lens of high school angst. The sharpness
of the width, though, that's what created the cult following.
It gave audiences permission to look at high school clicks
through this really cynical, almost anti establishment lens.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
And like Lebowski, the dialogue is just relentlessly quotable. It
didn't just have catchphrases, It had this entire invented language
that perfectly satirized high school jargon of the time.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Exactly when you hear someone say what's your damage or
did you have a brain tumor for breakfast these bizarre lines,
you immediately signal that you understand the tone, the satire,
the specific cultural moment of that film's a very specific,
very dark form of initiation into its brand of cynical humor.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And its legacy lives on right, not just influencing later
dark sapires like Mean Girls, but in the fact that
it continues to be performed as a pretty popular stage musical.
The thematic boldness of Heathers really carved out a niche
that eventually became much more culturally dominant.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah. Absolutely, so we see that these visionaries, they aren't
always successful commercially, not right away, but their visual or
thematic boldness carves out this niche. But these films Blade Runner,
eraser Head, Heathers, while important, they're often watched alone, maybe
in small groups. The final set of cult classics we
(17:29):
need to discuss are defined by something else. The audience
participation itself becomes.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
The main event, okay, the shared experience. This section really
highlights films where the community around the viewing experience is
often just as important, maybe even more important, than the
film itself. If you know when to throw the rice
or what lines to shout back at the screen, you're initiated.
And you absolutely have to start with the quote poster
child for cult films, which is the Rocky Horror Picture
(17:56):
Show from nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, absolutely, Rocky Horror is the deaf mission of a
communal cinematic rite of passage. The viewing experience is entirely
defined by those interactive midnight strainings. Fans stress up in costume,
they shut these pre planned callback lines at the screen.
They throw props, rice at the wedding toast during the
dinner scene, water pistols when it rains, water pistols. Exactly.
It's just this chaotic, joyous energy, and it celebrates individuality
(18:21):
and sexuality in a way that very few films did
at the time or even do now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And the film itself is this wild mix, right. It's
a campy musical, it's a sci fi parody, it's glam
rock extravagance all rolled into one. You have Tim Curry
as doctor Frankenfurter, which is just a completely gender bending,
absolutely career defining role and subversive humor that was definitely
ahead of its time. Plus those songs like the iconic TimewARP.
(18:49):
You can't escape the TimewARP, No you can't.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's a film that basically encouraged you to be weird,
to be loud, and to dance along. It's much less
about analyzing the plot's intricacies and way more about participating
in this decade long theatrical tradition. When you go to
a screening, you're not just watching the movie. You're watching
the shadow cast performers acting it out live in front
of the screen, and you're engaging in this shared script
of audience responses. It's often specific to that particular theater
(19:14):
or city.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It's a fantastic example of a film whose longevity is
entirely dependent on that physical, shared communal experience. But okay,
on the completely opposite end of the quality spectrum, but
somehow achieving a similar kind of communal engagement. We have
two thousand and three's The Room Ah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The Room Yes, often called the Citizen Kane of bad movies,
which is maybe the highest compliment a certain kind of
cult classic can receive.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It is described in our sources accurately, I think, as
a magnificent, glorious train wreck of sincerity.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It is the fully realized, entirely incomprehensible brainchild of Tommy Whizzo,
who famously wrote it, directed it, produced it, and starred
in it.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Did everything.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's supposed to be this melodram about love and betrayal,
but it's just filled with these completely nonsensical subplots that
go nowhere, bizarre dialogue that sounds like it was translated
badly and just wouldn't intensely earnest acting.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
What's fascinating is that sociology behind its success. Fans embrace
its earnest awfulness, I think, because the intent was so
clearly sincere, yet the execution was just so profoundly flawed
on every level. Right, that bizarre appeal is infectious, And
why Zou himself He actively supported and even capitalized on
the so bad it's good interpretation, which kind of legitimized
(20:31):
the communal mocking viewing experience, and.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Fans know the lines by heart, that sudden, inexplicable rage
of You're tearing me apart Lisa classic and the completely
random rooftok reading Oh hi Mark yep. The viewing experience
now is this communal, hilarious, completely surreal event, and it's
complete with audience participation, most famously the spoon throwing chaos
(20:55):
that happens during screenings. This spoon yeah, referencing these random
framed photos of spoons in the background of the apartment set.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It's just a testament to the fact that technical quality
is completely irrelevant to cult status if the film provides
a unique shared experience, it creates its own internal logic
and its own rituals. Okay. Moving back to films that
successfully captured a specific cultural moment, we have Clerks from
nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Clerks, Yeah, the ultimate low budget success story. It launched
Kevin Smith's career, shot on a ridiculously shoestring budget of
what twenty seven thousand dollars something like that, yeah, ty,
and it became a real touchstone for nineteen nineties indie cinema.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And the low budget aesthetic actually ended up maximizing its
cult appeal. It had to be shot in black and white,
apparently because they couldn't afford proper lighting for color film
in the convenience store.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Setting at night ah okay, and.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It was entirely dialogue driven. That constraint forced the film
to rely on its raw, authentic humor, which just resonated
so deeply with the slacker culture of that era.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
It captured the daily grind of dead end jobs perfectly.
We just follow Dante and Randall through this incredibly mundane
work day filled with absurd customer interactions and these classic
rambling debates like the famous, deeply analytical argument about the
ethics of the independent contractors working on the second Death
Star in Return of the Jedi.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Chuckles. Yeah. That debate, which is entirely tangential to anything
resembling a plot, is really the heart of the firm's
cult appeal. It's this recognition that even in the most
boring retail job, your inner life is filled with these rich,
absurd philosophical questions about pop culture and morality. It just
gave voice to that universal complaint about working retail.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
And it provided the definitive, ultimate relatable line for anyone
who's ever felt overworked or underappreciated in an entry level job,
Dante's existential ement, I'm not even supposed to be here today.
Perfect That line just sums up the existential dread of
entry level employment perfectly, and it immediately signals solidarity among
anyone who shares that feeling absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And Finally, in this section on shared experience, let's look
at a film that achieved cult status through sheerness, stalgic authenticity.
Dazed and Confused from nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Ah Yeah, another slow burn right flopped initially but gained
its following because the vibe was just undeniable. Richard linklater
sets the scenes so perfectly the last day of school
in nineteen seventy six, capturing that hazy late seventies aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What makes it a cult classic is how effectively it
uses this large ensemble cast to just capture the essence
of youth. It's all about partying, cruising in cars, navigating
those tricky high school social hierarchies, but without imposing a
complex plot or any heavy moralizing. She sort of documents
a moment in time, and it's backed by this flawless
classic rock soundtrack.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, the soundtrack is killer. The sources credit its slow
rise to that powerful, authentic sense of nostalgia it evokes.
It creates this yearning, whether it's real or imagined, for
that specific time in.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Place, And of course it gave us the breakout moment
for Matthew mcconoey, all right exactly, whose performance deliver that iconic,
laconic line. All right, all right, all right. The film's
charm just makes audiences wish they had been cruising with
those teens back in seventy six. It's about a yearning
for a shared past, and the film's authenticity makes you
the viewer feel like you're somehow sharing in that memory.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Okay, Wow, we've covered quite a range here, everything from
a philosophical stoner comedy to surreal nightmare fuel and accidentally
glorious train wrecks. We've seen films defined by their profound
visual influence and those defined by people literally shouting at
the screen in theaters. So let's try and wrap this up.
What is the common DNA here? Why do these specific
films stick yshack tech.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Asks rep Well, when we look across all ten of
these examples, you know, from the existential angst of Donnie
Darko to the anarchic celebration of Rocky Horror, the common
thread really seems to be that cult classics take risks.
They take risks that mainstream films fundamentally avoid. Right, They
embrace bold storytelling or unconventional humor or really provocative ideas,
(25:01):
and they often do it on a shoestring budget, which
maybe forces creativity.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
And crucially, they seem to allow a specific audience, maybe
a marginalized group or an intellectual crowd, to see themselves
reflected and the characters and the themes they speak to,
the outsiders, the weirdos, the people who felt like the
big budget blockbusters didn't represent their unique worldview or their anxieties. Yeah,
they offer permission to think differently, or sometimes just permission
to relax and abide like the dude.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
That's exactly why the value of discovery is so high
with these films. The sources reiterate that watching them truly
feels like joining a secret club. You get initiated into
this shared language, a set of inside jokes, a deep
connection to the movie specific world, whether that world is
the bleak industrial landscape of Eraserhead or the mundane convenience
(25:47):
store and clerks. It's an experience that's really best enjoyed
with an open mind because you rarely know what bizarre
turn you're about.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
To take next, and that leads us, I think, to
the final maybe provocative thought something for you. The listener
Tom all over. The core condition the starting point for
nearly every single cult success we talked about today is
that they were initially overlooked. They failed commercially.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Mm hmm. That initial failure seems key.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So if the Big Lebowski or Fight Club or Blade
Runner had been massive, you know, two hundred million dollar
opening weekend successes celebrated by every critic embraced by every
mall theater from day one. Would they have achieved such
a unique, lasting cultural connection. Would fans have felt that
same sense of ownership over them.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It's a great question. If a film is designed perfectly
for the mainstream, can it truly offer that feeling of
being in a secret club. Maybe commercial failure, that initial
rejection by the masses is sometimes the necessary ingredient for true, lasting,
and often wonderfully weird cultural success.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah. Maybe that initial barrier to entry, the fact that
you had to seek it out, maybe through midnight screenings
or obscure video rentals back in the day, Maybe that
makes the discovery feel earned
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Right, reinforces that community bond, the feeling that we found this,
we understood it when others didn't, and that bond is
what keeps the film alive and kicking for decades
Have you ever been, you know, hanging out with a
friend and they drop a movie line you just you
just don't get, uh huh. Maybe it's a reference to
some like really bizarre, low budget scene, or maybe a
song lyric, or even some philosophical quote from a comedy
you didn't know was supposed to be deep.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You know that feeling like you just missed a cinematic
secret handshake, That feeling.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Right of being sort of on the outside of this
this cultural thing, That moment where you realize there's this
huge group of people sharing this intense, almost private language
built around a film exactly well, that's exactly where we're
diving today. We are peeling back the curtain on the
cult classic. You know, those films that weren't necessarily big hits,
maybe not blockbusters, but they created this resonance, this deep
(00:47):
connection that made them foundational pieces of pop.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Culture, right, And our mission today really is to crack
the core DNA of these movies. We're working from a
pretty comprehensive list of essential cult classics, films that span
different genres, different decades. We want to figure out exactly
why these specific films were often you know, initially overlooked,
maybe even bombed at.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The box office, goal flops sometimes yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
But then they somehow transformed into these cultural touchstones. They
get devoted fan bases, viewing rituals that are sometimes even
more famous than the movie itself.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And the source material we looked at. Gives us two
defining characteristics right away, two things that make a cult
classic different from just, you know, a regular hit movie. Okay, First,
they usually start as an under the radar release. They
get overlooked by mainstream audiences, often don't even make their
money back in the first run.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Right The initial reaction is often kind of eh.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Or worse exactly. And second, they gain this devoted, almost
religious following over time, and that's usually because of something
unconventional about them, maybe quirky characters, really bold stylistic choices,
or storytelling that just fundamentally bucks tradition.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So that initial rejection and that sort of failure to
play by the mainstream rules, that's the key difference, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It really seems to.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Be they stick with you because they actively reject the
mainstream formula. So the value proposition here, what you get
out of understanding these films is pretty simple. Understanding these
movies is kind of a shortcut to understanding cinematic risk
taking and also the undercurrents of modern humor, modern philosophy.
Even watching them isn't just like watching a movie. It
(02:27):
really does feel like joining a secret club. You're immediately
part of this niche community.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's the difference between just passively consuming something and actively
participating in it. And we're going to start our deep
dive by looking at a specific group of films, the
ones that really defined the intellectual landscape of the late
nineties and early two thousands. Ah Okay, these were movies
heavy on philosophy, maybe existential anxiety, and dialogue that fans
could just quote endlessly, using those quotes almost like you know,
(02:55):
cultural currency.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay, yeah, let's unpack that this shift in the cult lands.
These weren't just genre pictures, right, These were films that
almost demanded conversation. They fueled these intense fan discussions because
the themes were complex, often wrapped up in this sort
of philosophical slackerism or maybe a really sharp critique of
like American consumer society exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And the prime example, maybe the most mellow example of
that philosophical slackerrism, has got to be the big Lebowski
from nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh yeah, this is thee.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Comb Brothers, right. They created this incredibly intricate blend. It's
part slacker comedy, part noir detective story, and then it
has these moments of just outright surreal humor.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
But it wasn't a hit at first, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
No, not at all when it was first released. Our
sources say it was seen as too rambling, maybe too
Niche definitely didn't make a big splash of the box
office kind of came and went.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But its status today is just legendary. So what's the
mechanism there? How did that happen?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
The core appeal According to the source material, it isn't
really the plot, which is famously, almost liberately convoluted.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Oh yeah, famously, But it's the fact that it is
endlessly quotable and it's anchored by Jeff Bridges giving this
iconic portrayal of the dude.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Absolutely, the convoluted plot is almost beside the point for
the cultural phenomenon side of this. I mean, it's about
him being mistaken for a millionaire with the same name,
and that just spirals into this absurd chain of events.
Involving kidnapping, extortion, German nihilistic skulling, bowling, Yeah, lots of bowling.
And what ties the whole chaotic mess together, almost literally,
(04:33):
is the importance of a rug.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Rug.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
A rug that, as the dialogue constantly reminds us, really
tied the room together.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And what's fascinating about that that simple object is how
it becomes the starting point for a film that. Yeah,
on the surface it's pure comedy, but underneath it offers
this weirdly profound philosophical comfort.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Absolutely, its legacy lies almost entirely in those philosophical undertones. Yeah,
the dude himself, he embodies this kind of zen approach
to chaos. He is comple deletely unmotivated, He's always bowling,
and he just sort of lets the tidal wave of
absurdity wash over him. And that attitude that refusaled to
engage with the frantic modern world. It resonated really deeply
(05:13):
with audiences, especially folks tired of that late nineties hustle culture.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It's so influential spiritually in a weird way that the
sources actually detail how it's inspired these massive fan festivals
Lebowski fests. Yeah, the fest dedicated drinking games White Russians obviously,
and even a kind of mock religion called Dudaism, which
is apparently centered on spreading the dude's easygoing philosophy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's a serious cultural impact for a movie about a
guy who mostly just wants his rugback.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It really is. It's like the ultimate cinematic guy to
just relaxing man and the counterculture currency. It's all centered
on those perfect pithy lines that just encapsulate that worldview.
Forget complex theological text. We have the ultimate cinematic rebuttal
in what six words, that's just like your opinion, man.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, it's conversational gold ends any arguments pretty much. So
if Lebowski was about embracing chaos and relaxation, the next
film we should talk about, nineteen ninety nine s Fight
Club was kind of about violently rejecting society altogether.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Right, fight Club it's arguably one of the most culturally
significant films of that whole decade. Yet, like Lebowski, it
had mixed reviews initially and a pretty lukewarm box office debut.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So another paradox, a classic paradox.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, yeah, initial reception versus its lasting impact. It just
exploded in popularity once it hit home video and DVD
really found its audience there.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And the sources suggest its success was driven by how
provocative the themes were. Right, It's based on the Chuck
Planac novel and the film is just this blistering critique
of consumerism, you know, that constant need to acquire stuff
to define who you are, and also societal alienation. It
really tapped into this deep pervasive sense of dissatisfaction, especially
among young middle class men in late nineties society.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Absolutely, we follow Edward Norton's character, the Unnamed Narrator, and
we watch him spiral into this anarchic rebellion, and it's
led by the magnetic and frankly terrifyingly charismatic Tyler Dirdin
played by Brad Pitt. Yeah, the dark humor, the sheer
boldness of the message, it made it intensely cortable and
instantly attractive to a certain kind of cult following.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
But here's where the deep dieve gets crucial. I think
the sources spend a good amount of time noting that
some fans seem to actively misinterpret its core message. It's
satirical message that's a huge point. The film uses irony
sarcasm to critique the very violence and destructive impulse it's
showing us. Yet a lot of viewers seem to seize
on the anarchic bits as like an endorsement of rebellion.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Precisely, it's really meant as a cautionary tale, but it's
often consumed almost like a how to guide, And this nuance,
or maybe this fundamental misunderstanding, is actually part of what
keeps the film perpetually relevant.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
It keeps people arguing about it exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It fuels this perpetual debate. Is the movie celebrating toxic
masculinity and violence or is it savagely satirizing it? And
that ongoing friction ensures the film remains this kind of
intellectual juggernaut. People keep coming back to it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And the ultimate fuel for that cycle of debate, of course,
is that iconic twist ending, Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, can't talk about Fight Club without the twist.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That revelation is the narrative anchor, right. It forces you
to immediately want to rewatch it. You go back trying
to spot the clues you missed, turning the film into
this complex puzzle to be solved and discussed endlessly with friends.
It demands active engagement from the viewer.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Right now, A different kind of puzzle, maybe one steep
more in ambiguity and dread is Donnie Darko from two
thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Ah, Donnie Darko.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, this film really struggled initially. It's complex, pretty dark
narrative combined with well, really unfortunate release timing shortly after
nine eleven.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Which there's a plane crash.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right it features a plane engine crashing into the house. Yeah,
so terrible timing. It meant it flopped theatrically big time.
But like so many cult films, it found this vital
second life on DVD. DVD is just critical for these
kinds of movies in the early two thousands.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, And Donny Darko's hook is just pure weirdness, isn't it.
It centers on Jake Gillenhall as this troubled teenager who
gets warned about the world ending by Frank, who is
a creepy, gigantic man in a rabbit suit.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Chuckles. Yeah. If any logline screams cult classic potential, that
one probably does. Totally. The film's genius, I think, is
in how it synthesizes these seemingly disparate elements. It weaves
together incredibly heavy themes. You've got time travel, fate, critiques
of religious fundamentalism, existential dread, all the big ones, all
the big ones. Yeah, but it cloaks it in this
(09:41):
deeply stylized look and feel and crucially a killer, really
evocative soundtrack. It draws heavily on nineteen eighties new wave
bands like Tears or Fears, Echo on the Bunnymen.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Oh, the soundtrack is amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Mad World exactly. The music is absolutely central to setting
that haunting, mysterious atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Okay, but the time travel where the source is clear
on whether the director, Richard Kelly, intended for there to
be like one definitive interpretation, or was the ambiguity itself
the whole point, because the plot is dense enough you
could support dozens of conflicting theories.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That's the thing. The ambiguity is the point. Yeah, Kelly
intentionally created this narrative that resists easy answers. And because
the plot is so layered, so open to interpretation, the
fan engagement is just astronomical. The sources point out, it's
fueled endless online forums. You know Late Night dorm Room debates,
deep dive articles just dedicated to dissecting its complicated time
(10:38):
travel mechanics. It demands that communal analysis and theory building.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, it's one of those films that leaves you thinking
about it, pondering its meaning for days afterwards, not just minutes.
So these three films Lebowski, Fight Club, Donnie Darko, they
really show that the initial cult phenomenon often starts intellectually
right by giving the audience something complex, something quotable, and
definitely something debatable to chew on long after the credits roll.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Absolutely, and if these first films captured that sort of
intellectual anxiety and philosophical slackrism of the late nineties, the
next group we should look at captured something entirely different.
A visual landscape so intense, so groundbreaking. They literally changed
how we think about the future of cinema visually.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Okay, visual pioneers. You cannot talk about groundbreaking aesthetics without
starting with nineteen eighty two's Blade Runner.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Nope, gotta start there.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
This film, directed by Ridley Scott, was initially a major
box office disappointment, like a genuine flop, it really was,
But it gained its massive following through home video releases
later on and critically different director's cuts of the film.
It became just a fundamental sci fi landmark.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
What's fascinating here is that Blade Runner didn't just influence
other movies. It influenced the entire cultural visual lexicon for
decades to come. It basically created the definitive cyberpunk aesthetic totally,
that perpetually dark dystopian twenty one nineteen setting which felt
futuristic then, right, the neon soaked visuals, the towering vertical architecture,
(12:06):
the constant reflective rain.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And we have to talk about the sound design and
the score. It's this immersive, haunting world and it's backed
by Evangelis's atmospheric synthetic score that just perfectly balances that
feeling of ancient, smoky urban decay with the sleek, high
tech oppression of the technology.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, the score is iconic.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
You can practically feel the humidity just hearing that music.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Absolutely. And the film, you know, it focuses on Rick
Deckard Harrison Ford, a blade Runner whose job is hunting
rogue androids called replicants. But what transforms it into a
cult classic isn't really the action or the effects, even
though they were stunning for the time, right, it's the
deep philosophical questions that ask about what it means to
be human, about memory, about empathy. The film just explores
(12:53):
that line between human and machine until the line basically disappears.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And because the film has multiple cuts, specifically the direct
cut and then the final cut years later, it has
fueled these endless, intense fan debates about Deckerd's true nature.
Is he a replicant? The inclusion or exclusion of just
one single scene, that Unicorn dream sequence, it changes the
entire meaning of the film for a.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Lot of people, and that ambiguity it's a gift to
the cult audience. It means there is no single definitive answer.
There's only debate, and that debate provides perpetual entry points
for new fans. When you're arguing about whether the hero
himself is a replicant, you are fully immersed in the
world in the philosophy of the film.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay, so if Blade Runner is maybe the pinnacle of
that polished, expensive dystopian vision, we kind of have to
look at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. With
nineteen seventy seven's Eraserhead.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Oh yeah, Eraserhead David Lynch's debut feature, incredibly low budget
black and white nightmare fuel basically, and it quickly became
a staple of midnight movie culture.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It just completely defies conventional storytelling, doesn't it. It's like
an experience in pure sensory overload, almost psychological horror.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It is. It focuses on Henry Spencer navigating this bleak
industrial world. It's all steam, shadows, grading machine resounds. His
life is defined by isolation, this bizarre relationship, and then
the truly unsettling, almost grotesque mutant baby.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
The baby.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah. The source materials really emphasize the sound design here again,
but in a totally different way than Blade Runner. It's
not atmospheric music. It's this incessant, low frequency humming, clicking,
scraping sound.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Is this real noise?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah? It contributes to this overwhelming sense of dread and
industrial isolation. It's actively uncomfortable to watch and listen to,
which is probably why it resonates so powerfully with a
certain niche audience.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Lynch's willingness just to present this raw, unvarnished nightmare on screen,
completely unexplained and often horrifying That's why it endures in
the Colt cannon. It's polarizing, for sure, lots of people
hate it, but its influence on experimental cinema is just undeniable.
It really established that midnight movie audience's crave challenging hypnotic
weirdness that Hollywood wouldn't touch.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
That willingness to risk alienating the mainstream audience seems absolutely
a defining trait. Okay, take nineteen eighty nine's Heathers.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Ah Heather's great example. This was a pitch black teen comedy,
and in the nineteen eighties the teen genre was mostly
expected to be you know, light, maybe moralizing, pretty upbeat
like John Hughes films. Heathers was just way too cynical
and too dark for mainstream success back then.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's savage. It's completely unapologetic satire. If all is Veronica
played by Winona Ryder as she's dealing with this powerful
click of really cruel girls who are all named Heather,
of course, and then Christian Slater shows up as this rebellious,
maybe slightly psychotic outsider GD and it tackles really heavy
themes teen suicide, bullying, even mass violence. But with this
(15:52):
completely dark unsettling humor.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Was the initial failure just about marketing, or did the
sources suggest it was more fundamentally miss understood because the
film's critique of high school social structures, it feels pretty
timeless now.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It feels timeless now, but it was definitely ahead of
its time. Then, the sources suggest audiences just weren't ready
for a comedy that treated murder with such nonchalants, especially
filtered through the lens of high school angst. The sharpness
of the width, though, that's what created the cult following.
It gave audiences permission to look at high school clicks
through this really cynical, almost anti establishment lens.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
And like Lebowski, the dialogue is just relentlessly quotable. It
didn't just have catchphrases, It had this entire invented language
that perfectly satirized high school jargon of the time.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Exactly when you hear someone say what's your damage or
did you have a brain tumor for breakfast these bizarre lines,
you immediately signal that you understand the tone, the satire,
the specific cultural moment of that film's a very specific,
very dark form of initiation into its brand of cynical humor.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And its legacy lives on right, not just influencing later
dark sapires like Mean Girls, but in the fact that
it continues to be performed as a pretty popular stage musical.
The thematic boldness of Heathers really carved out a niche
that eventually became much more culturally dominant.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yeah. Absolutely, so we see that these visionaries, they aren't
always successful commercially, not right away, but their visual or
thematic boldness carves out this niche. But these films Blade Runner,
eraser Head, Heathers, while important, they're often watched alone, maybe
in small groups. The final set of cult classics we
(17:29):
need to discuss are defined by something else. The audience
participation itself becomes.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
The main event, okay, the shared experience. This section really
highlights films where the community around the viewing experience is
often just as important, maybe even more important, than the
film itself. If you know when to throw the rice
or what lines to shout back at the screen, you're initiated.
And you absolutely have to start with the quote poster
child for cult films, which is the Rocky Horror Picture
(17:56):
Show from nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, absolutely, Rocky Horror is the deaf mission of a
communal cinematic rite of passage. The viewing experience is entirely
defined by those interactive midnight strainings. Fans stress up in costume,
they shut these pre planned callback lines at the screen.
They throw props, rice at the wedding toast during the
dinner scene, water pistols when it rains, water pistols. Exactly.
It's just this chaotic, joyous energy, and it celebrates individuality
(18:21):
and sexuality in a way that very few films did
at the time or even do now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And the film itself is this wild mix, right. It's
a campy musical, it's a sci fi parody, it's glam
rock extravagance all rolled into one. You have Tim Curry
as doctor Frankenfurter, which is just a completely gender bending,
absolutely career defining role and subversive humor that was definitely
ahead of its time. Plus those songs like the iconic TimewARP.
(18:49):
You can't escape the TimewARP, No you can't.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's a film that basically encouraged you to be weird,
to be loud, and to dance along. It's much less
about analyzing the plot's intricacies and way more about participating
in this decade long theatrical tradition. When you go to
a screening, you're not just watching the movie. You're watching
the shadow cast performers acting it out live in front
of the screen, and you're engaging in this shared script
of audience responses. It's often specific to that particular theater
(19:14):
or city.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It's a fantastic example of a film whose longevity is
entirely dependent on that physical, shared communal experience. But okay,
on the completely opposite end of the quality spectrum, but
somehow achieving a similar kind of communal engagement. We have
two thousand and three's The Room Ah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The Room Yes, often called the Citizen Kane of bad movies,
which is maybe the highest compliment a certain kind of
cult classic can receive.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It is described in our sources accurately, I think, as
a magnificent, glorious train wreck of sincerity.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It is the fully realized, entirely incomprehensible brainchild of Tommy Whizzo,
who famously wrote it, directed it, produced it, and starred
in it.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Did everything.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
It's supposed to be this melodram about love and betrayal,
but it's just filled with these completely nonsensical subplots that
go nowhere, bizarre dialogue that sounds like it was translated
badly and just wouldn't intensely earnest acting.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
What's fascinating is that sociology behind its success. Fans embrace
its earnest awfulness, I think, because the intent was so
clearly sincere, yet the execution was just so profoundly flawed
on every level. Right, that bizarre appeal is infectious, And
why Zou himself He actively supported and even capitalized on
the so bad it's good interpretation, which kind of legitimized
(20:31):
the communal mocking viewing experience, and.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Fans know the lines by heart, that sudden, inexplicable rage
of You're tearing me apart Lisa classic and the completely
random rooftok reading Oh hi Mark yep. The viewing experience
now is this communal, hilarious, completely surreal event, and it's
complete with audience participation, most famously the spoon throwing chaos
(20:55):
that happens during screenings. This spoon yeah, referencing these random
framed photos of spoons in the background of the apartment set.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
It's just a testament to the fact that technical quality
is completely irrelevant to cult status if the film provides
a unique shared experience, it creates its own internal logic
and its own rituals. Okay. Moving back to films that
successfully captured a specific cultural moment, we have Clerks from
nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Clerks, Yeah, the ultimate low budget success story. It launched
Kevin Smith's career, shot on a ridiculously shoestring budget of
what twenty seven thousand dollars something like that, yeah, ty,
and it became a real touchstone for nineteen nineties indie cinema.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And the low budget aesthetic actually ended up maximizing its
cult appeal. It had to be shot in black and white,
apparently because they couldn't afford proper lighting for color film
in the convenience store.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Setting at night ah okay, and.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It was entirely dialogue driven. That constraint forced the film
to rely on its raw, authentic humor, which just resonated
so deeply with the slacker culture of that era.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
It captured the daily grind of dead end jobs perfectly.
We just follow Dante and Randall through this incredibly mundane
work day filled with absurd customer interactions and these classic
rambling debates like the famous, deeply analytical argument about the
ethics of the independent contractors working on the second Death
Star in Return of the Jedi.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Chuckles. Yeah. That debate, which is entirely tangential to anything
resembling a plot, is really the heart of the firm's
cult appeal. It's this recognition that even in the most
boring retail job, your inner life is filled with these rich,
absurd philosophical questions about pop culture and morality. It just
gave voice to that universal complaint about working retail.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
And it provided the definitive, ultimate relatable line for anyone
who's ever felt overworked or underappreciated in an entry level job,
Dante's existential ement, I'm not even supposed to be here today.
Perfect That line just sums up the existential dread of
entry level employment perfectly, and it immediately signals solidarity among
anyone who shares that feeling absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And Finally, in this section on shared experience, let's look
at a film that achieved cult status through sheerness, stalgic authenticity.
Dazed and Confused from nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Ah Yeah, another slow burn right flopped initially but gained
its following because the vibe was just undeniable. Richard linklater
sets the scenes so perfectly the last day of school
in nineteen seventy six, capturing that hazy late seventies aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What makes it a cult classic is how effectively it
uses this large ensemble cast to just capture the essence
of youth. It's all about partying, cruising in cars, navigating
those tricky high school social hierarchies, but without imposing a
complex plot or any heavy moralizing. She sort of documents
a moment in time, and it's backed by this flawless
classic rock soundtrack.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, the soundtrack is killer. The sources credit its slow
rise to that powerful, authentic sense of nostalgia it evokes.
It creates this yearning, whether it's real or imagined, for
that specific time in.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Place, And of course it gave us the breakout moment
for Matthew mcconoey, all right exactly, whose performance deliver that iconic,
laconic line. All right, all right, all right. The film's
charm just makes audiences wish they had been cruising with
those teens back in seventy six. It's about a yearning
for a shared past, and the film's authenticity makes you
the viewer feel like you're somehow sharing in that memory.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Okay, Wow, we've covered quite a range here, everything from
a philosophical stoner comedy to surreal nightmare fuel and accidentally
glorious train wrecks. We've seen films defined by their profound
visual influence and those defined by people literally shouting at
the screen in theaters. So let's try and wrap this up.
What is the common DNA here? Why do these specific
films stick yshack tech.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Asks rep Well, when we look across all ten of
these examples, you know, from the existential angst of Donnie
Darko to the anarchic celebration of Rocky Horror, the common
thread really seems to be that cult classics take risks.
They take risks that mainstream films fundamentally avoid. Right, They
embrace bold storytelling or unconventional humor or really provocative ideas,
(25:01):
and they often do it on a shoestring budget, which
maybe forces creativity.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
And crucially, they seem to allow a specific audience, maybe
a marginalized group or an intellectual crowd, to see themselves
reflected and the characters and the themes they speak to,
the outsiders, the weirdos, the people who felt like the
big budget blockbusters didn't represent their unique worldview or their anxieties. Yeah,
they offer permission to think differently, or sometimes just permission
to relax and abide like the dude.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
That's exactly why the value of discovery is so high
with these films. The sources reiterate that watching them truly
feels like joining a secret club. You get initiated into
this shared language, a set of inside jokes, a deep
connection to the movie specific world, whether that world is
the bleak industrial landscape of Eraserhead or the mundane convenience
(25:47):
store and clerks. It's an experience that's really best enjoyed
with an open mind because you rarely know what bizarre
turn you're about.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
To take next, and that leads us, I think, to
the final maybe provocative thought something for you. The listener
Tom all over. The core condition the starting point for
nearly every single cult success we talked about today is
that they were initially overlooked. They failed commercially.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Mm hmm. That initial failure seems key.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So if the Big Lebowski or Fight Club or Blade
Runner had been massive, you know, two hundred million dollar
opening weekend successes celebrated by every critic embraced by every
mall theater from day one. Would they have achieved such
a unique, lasting cultural connection. Would fans have felt that
same sense of ownership over them.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It's a great question. If a film is designed perfectly
for the mainstream, can it truly offer that feeling of
being in a secret club. Maybe commercial failure, that initial
rejection by the masses is sometimes the necessary ingredient for true, lasting,
and often wonderfully weird cultural success.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah. Maybe that initial barrier to entry, the fact that
you had to seek it out, maybe through midnight screenings
or obscure video rentals back in the day, Maybe that
makes the discovery feel earned
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Right, reinforces that community bond, the feeling that we found this,
we understood it when others didn't, and that bond is
what keeps the film alive and kicking for decades
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