Archive for March 31st, 2010
Why Cult Films Are Called So
‘Cult films’ have become a specific category of films. When a filmmaker makes a film, s/he is not always sure of the fate of the film at the box office. Most importantly, no film-maker makes a film with the intention of making it a cult film. And after the initial release of the film they do not even release for quite some time that it may turn out to be a cult film. This may sound a bit confusing. Let us first understand the meaning of the term cult.
The word ‘cult’ has many different meanings. Here, the word means something that has become very popular with a group of people. So, cult films are those films that are liked by a group of people for a very long time to come. The fan base of specific cult films may keep on increasing with the coming of new generations and these films keep gathering publicity through word of mouth, DVD rentals and some other mediums. These are also talked about in the media quite often for their particular characteristics, not good ones though which these films hardly have.
In fact, cult films achieve popularity for very different reasons that include poor quality of these films that people find hard to resist. They may watch it over and over again for poor acting, incompetent direction and production, bad dialogues and campy special effects of the movie. These factors influence some viewers mind in such a way that they start liking the film for being outrageously bad in almost every aspect. The actors who play important characters in cult films also generally become cult figures and have tough time dealing with the films publicity that does not go down well with many others.
Typically, cult films fail to generate any heat at the ticket window when these are initially released. However, some people find their critical reviews very interesting and become devoted fans of these films. This way cult films, although bad in performance, start getting undue attention. In fact, many times cult films stay in the minds of people much longer than major blockbusters. Also, through continued DVD rental and sales cult films generate a lot of money later on. Due to this, cult films are said to have legs.