By popular definition, a cult film is a movie that has gained most of its popularity through word of mouth rather than by mass marketing or box office success. They are films that have limited, but specific and special appeal, and while more often than not they flopped at the box office, over time they develop a fiercely devoted fan base.

But what exactly constitutes a cult movie? Certain images often come to mind when people think of such films: strange, quirky, and oddball movies in the genres of sci-fi, campy horror, or the generally bizarre; films that garner midnight screenings and encourage grown men to dress in fishnet stockings and unitards (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in case you didn’t get that). But the world of cult films is actually much wider. They cut across a variety of genres and cover a plethora of different subjects. But no matter what the genre or type of movie, they all were thought to be failures upon their initial release, only to develop an enduring and loyal following at a later time. Some movies that fall into this category are comedies like Dazed and Confused (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), and Office Space (1999). Each one has quietly made their mark on popular culture: Dazed and Confused with it’s many quotable lines of dialogue (another hallmark of the cult film), Office Space with its infamous TPS reports, and The Big Lebowski which gave us one of the best cult film characters of all time, the Dude. Yet each of these films fared poorly at the box office. Their success came later when they were discovered on DVD. Since then, each has developed a fiercely loyal following.

So how does a film gain a cult following instead of simply disappearing into the black hole of movie history? How did Showgirls (1995), for example, go from being the biggest box office disaster since Ishtar (1987) only to become a hugely successful camp classic? Obviously, word-of-mouth is key. A viewer must first decide that a movie is special in some hard-to-describe way. (In the case of Showgirls it seemed to be the unintentional hilarity of it.) Then he or she needs to be sufficiently impressed or wowed in some way to want people to know about it. It’s then up to this person to tell people about it, drag them to showings, and get started on spreading the word. The cult success of Showgirls seemed to be built purely on the strength of its crappiness. A select group of audience members had so much fun laughing at what was supposed to be serious, that they kept coming back for more, and dragging their friends along for the ride. Thus, a cult classic was born.

The characteristics of cult films and what makes them “good” are usually somewhat baffling to the larger, mass audience. In fact, most average moviegoers confronted with a cult film will either reject it completely, or watch it with a certain degree of bewilderment. (Let’s face it; a lot of people don’t get Napoleon Dynamite (2004), but those who do think it’s freakin’ hilarious.) For a movie to reach cult film status, it’s pretty much a prerequisite that it be a box office failure (or at least disappointment). Unfortunately, most cult film success stories are financial failures for the original producers and distributors.

There’s a certain snobbery that exists within the devoted group of followers when it comes to cult films, and fans of these movies love the fact that the masses “just don’t get it.” People like to be in on something special – something that not everybody understands. The fact that the masses don’t necessarily see the brilliance of a particular film makes it appealing. It gives fans something special that they have in common, and the films often become the source of a thriving, and even obsessive subculture of fandom, hence the analogy to cults. Because of this attitude, cult movies often lose their appeal when and if they ever become more popular. (This is why cult films are rarely, if ever, sequels. The original film would have had to be successful in order to warrant a sequel, thus negating its cult status.) That said, many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics. Look at a film like Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. The 1946 classic was virtually ignored by audiences when it was released. Its success didn’t come until years later when people realized that the copyright had lapsed and it was cheap to air on television. Over the years it has become a classic. Other cult films are of the “so bad it’s good” variety and are destined to remain in obscurity (think Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) and They Live (1988)).

So while the quirky, oddball movies with dark subject matter might still come to mind when the subject of cult films comes up, remember that there’s no hard and fast check list to determine what falls into the category of cult cinema and what doesn’t. They’re not as easy to define as we would like to think, and what determines a cult film, ultimately might just be in the eye of the beholder.

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