cult films

[8bit]

It's a forgotten film now, but there was a B movie comedy from 1983 called "Joysticks" which starred Joe Don Baker. It was a good summary of the arcade video game craze. I don't think there is an image of the poster on the net, and I don't think it's even on DVD. Pity.

[Gambit]

Found some pics from it:
http://www.coinitup.com/movies.htm scenes (scroll down)
http://img.yezzz.com/tn2713617.jpeg poster?

[8bit]

Many thx Gambit, and yes that is the poster, having seen the original I can just make it out. Great stuff.

Also the 1983 movie Nightmares, in its collection of four stories there was one about an obsessed gamer played by Emilio Estevez that runs into a bit of trouble when his favorite arcade game becomes real. Another memorable moment for video game fans.

[yak]

I would have to say its a tie for me in beteween Spaceballs,Rocky Horror,Buckaroo Banzai, and the Blob (the origional).

[8bit]

Steven Spielberg's first film, Duel (1971), about a road battle between an 18 wheeler and a travelling salesman in his car, has attained cult status.

[Raiyven]

8bit! Stop disappearin.

My two cents: after taking a class on it in my last year of university, I got to like Russian films a fair bit. I'm a big fan of early Sergei Eisenstein, namely Battleship Potemkin (1925), Strike (1925), and October (1928). Also, Alexander Nevsky (1933)

[yak]

omg... i almost forgot about Zardoz starring Sean Connery.

[8bit]

My two cents: after taking a class on it in my last year of university, I got to like Russian films a fair bit. I'm a big fan of early Sergei Eisenstein, namely Battleship Potemkin (1925), Strike (1925), and October (1928). Also, Alexander Nevsky (1933)

Hi Raiyven! Yes, the silent era, Nosferatu (1922) was a creepy silent movie about Dracula made in Germany. It was the first ever movie about Dracula. It was remade very faithfully by Werner Herzog in 1979, also called Nosferatu (German for Dracula) starring Klaus Kinski and the lovely Isabelle Adjani. Both versions are cult classics.

[Raiyven]

Originally Posted by 8bit

Nosferatu (1922) was a creepy silent movie about Dracula made in Germany.

How could I forget! I saw this in a class I took way back in college that centered on villains in film and literature, and I think this was one of the first films we watched. And yes sir, it was very creepy! I would say it's a testament to its originality and inventiveness in this early era of cinema that its original creepy feel is still able to evoke a 'wooooooo' in wimps like me

On that note, I actually liked the old Dracula movie as well, though well into the sound era (1931), with Bela Lugosi and (I think a very spirited performance by) Dwight Frye as Renfield.

Also, perhaps one of the most entertaining propaganda films I've ever seen: The Circus, directed by Grigori Alexandrov (1936). One of the best Stalinist musicals of the time, alongside Volga, Volga! and Kuban Cossacks (late 1940s, post-war). The whole idea of the musical genre in this political setting was to create patriotic, uplifting songs that the audience would remember outside of the theatre, enough so that they will internalize and remember *them* much more than political rhetoric. This, to me, is really interesting from a political point of view, especially when viewed in light of the fact that sound cinema altogether during this period (in the Soviet case) was viewed as an impressive method by which a political message could be communicated, as it covered more of the senses than silent film.

Educational rant is over My point though? See them if you can. The songs are kinda catchy. And The Circus paints a really nasty image of the US, so it's interesting to see how Soviet Russia had identified itself against the political 'other' even before the Cold War era.

[XRogue]

I've seen Rocky Horror.....kinda liked it. Is LadyHawke considered a cult film?

[Aluscia]

It's interesting, although hardly new right? All you'd have to do is look at the nationalist movements of the late 19th century and associated music, specifically Peer Gynt (an Ibsen novel immortalized by the music of Edvard Grieg), the Bartered Bride by the Bohemian Bedrich Smetana (who also wrote an extremely nationalistic and evocative series of symphonic poems titled Ma Vlast (my Homeland)), or even the works of the mighty Russian Five (most notable of which are Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Modest Mussorgsky) which symbolized the national spirit and sounds of Russian nationalism. I think the Soviets were on to something established long before their rise, but I agree... It's a lot easier to remember a message attached to a catchy piece of music than not... just think of all the advertising jingles from your childhood you can still remember

How about Red Sonja or the original Conan the Barbarian? Hell, even UHF (which is one of the few movies I own on DVD, and watch regularly) is probably underground enough to be considered "cult". I never fell into the whole Rocky Horror thing, which is odd coming from a gay man I suppose. I dated someone who was obsessed and kept singing songs from it... when I didn't react, and saw the look of disbelief on his face, I realized the relationship wasn't going anywhere -_-

Anyways, /cloaking shield back on >_>

[Raiyven]

In the film-specific case, think about the internalized longevity of propagandistic songs laid out alongside with imagery following the Party line and contrasting (and contradicting reality). You get a strong interplay of the ease of memory for those songs and the associated imagery with the end result of misdirecting the audience away from the real economic (usually was economic) situation of the time. Say, for example, memorable songs of Kuban Cossacks played out alongside images of plenty, stock footage of a harvest, women dancing in lush fields and so on when the harsh reality was that the central black earth regions were decimated by the war, and collectivization had done little to bring basic security to the rural regions as well. But! Urban audiences (and some rural) felt optimistic about it; some academic schools of thought interestingly (and I concur, rightly) have attempted to analyse the productive and positivistic impact of musicals during and following collectivization and the war.

Originally Posted by Aluscia

Hell, even UHF (which is one of the few movies I own on DVD, and watch regularly) is probably underground enough to be considered "cult".

You bought that on DVD? Dude, I still remember when you copied the VHS we rented from Blockbuster that one time.

Oh, and Last Starfighter. Maybe not cult, but cheesy as hell in a fun way. And Labyrinth. Not Pan's Labyrinth, though that was also decent, if for nothing else than allowing me to creep the hoo-hah out of Andie by walking around with my hands against my face hissing, pretending to be the albino child-eating dude.

[yak]

lol stuck between zardoz and toxic avenger

[8bit]

The 1983 movie Smokey & The Bandit Part 3. Any day a Trans Am has to share the silver screen with a plastic fish, is not a good one. What is this, if not cult?




V8 Banditmobile

[yak]

ZARDOZ!!!!