Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Eagle
Delivering American University's news and views since 1925
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Eagle

'Rocky' remains queen of cult

Modern movies try, but fail to dethrone film

Beginning in the late 1970s, doing the Time Warp and throwing objects that ranged from toast to toilet paper became a notoriously scandalous right of passage into the unascertained realms of sexual exploration - all because of the classic cult flick "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." While the quirky audience "call backs" and bizarre rituals of "Rocky Horror" are now almost eerily familiar to generations of ex-"virgins," the precise reasons behind this as of yet unequaled phenomenon in movie-going are more difficult, if not impossible, to pin down.

It seems as if every few months, film critics or marketing agents go about proclaiming the arrival of "the next 'Rocky Horror.'" Any release that possesses even mildly quirky occurrences results in numerous and (usually) over-hyped predictions of its impending longevity. The most notable letdown in this area was 2006's much discussed Samuel L. Jackson vehicle "Snakes on a Plane," which opened to significantly lower numbers than its sizeable Internet following previously portended to company executives. While the producers and the movie's directors, David R. Ellis and Lex Halaby, consistently surrendered to the creativity of online forum members and bloggers throughout the process, actively including lines such as the legendary fan-generated Samuel L. outburst, "That's it! I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" They even went so far as to shoot additional scenes of absurd and goretastic violence to ramp the flick up to an R rating, but their efforts were ultimately in vain. While the midnight openings were well attended, the movie didn't live up to its much-discussed expectations. Instead of establishing the foundation for a much-anticipated cult following, one can now find it in DVD bargain bins across the country.

I'll somewhat shamefully admit that I was among those hissing (yes, really) at the opening credits at precisely 12:01a.m. on opening night. I, like many others present, originally walked out of the theater feeling disappointed that my long hours spent S.O.A.P.-ing online were all for naught. But I slowly realized that I had instead just bore witness to a phenomenon of a uniquely Internet age: a film with only one major star, no popular source material and no serious promotional blitz, which had still managed to attract a significant amount of like-minded revelers who had rubber serpents and dressed in snakeskin boots on opening night. Sure, that night I didn't see the fruition of a new cult classic, but the experience strongly affirmed my recognitions as to the power of Internet and fan-generated buzz.

Really though, who's to say that decades from now "Snakes on a Plane" won't arise as a new power in late night screenings? "Reefer Madness (Tell Your Children)," a radical 1936 film that chronicles the absurd downward spiral of high school students following their entrapment by the "demon-weed" marijuana, only began to develop serious attention after the head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws rescued the original print from the annals of the Library of Congress in 1971. His distribution of the wildly exaggerated exploitation film across college campuses led to its widespread mocking and cynically well-informed following. In 1992, the film spawned a musical with songs such as "Listen to Jesus, Jimmy" and "Jimmy Takes a Toke," and in 2005, a made-for-television adaptation starring Kristen Bell was released, garnering its own prophesying as a soon-to-be midnight flick. Oddly enough, after a screening of both versions of "Reefer Madness" at a cult movie party, my socially conservative friends and I found that the stories detailed a strangely convincing case against drug use.

While more than 30 years have passed since the release of "Rocky Horror" only two films have surfaced that show any real contention to its crowned place among the cult classics - the 1984 rock mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" and the Coen Brothers' 1998 ode to the slacker, "The Big Lebowski." Although The Dude has managed to attract his own wealth of followers, most late-nighters still gravitate toward the fishnets and lipstick of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, rather than embrace any replacement.

November brings the possibility of another addition to the cult compendium in the opening of the dystopic musical "Repo: The Genetic Opera," which will feature the wildly unlikely starring team of blonde socialite Paris Hilton and original "Phantom of the Opera" star Sarah Brightman in a melodious romp that promises drug-addled misadventures and grisly portrayals of organ repossession. Though the prospect of seeing strippers remove vital body parts from still living debtors sounds like a promising premise, somehow I still feel as if no other film will quite equal the audacity and tasteless the sweet transvestites from transsexual Transylvania spark.

You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.


 Hosts Delaney Hoke and Penelope Jennings speak to swimmer Caleb Farris and diver Amanda bosses about their unique experiences as college athletes. 



Powered by Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Eagle, American Unversity Student Media