Midnight Movies - From The Margin To The Mainstream

Aroview: Entrenched in the counter-cultural fertility of the seventies, this documentary profiles six seminal underground flicks that transformed the notion of cult cinema, while lamenting the onset of home video that effectively spelt the end of the ‘midnight movie’ experience.

Drawing on commentary from filmmakers and critics rocked by the seismic movements of the decade, dir. Samuels bookends the likes of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and PINK FLAMINGOS with arguably the two greatest cult movies of all time: Alejandro Jodorowsky's acid Western EL TOPO, and David Lynch’s indescribable ERASERHEAD. Perhaps rather simplistic in its insight into the crux of the phenomenon, what’s at least evident is the anarchic legacy passed on the likes of Troma and Takashi Miike (ironically, a key exponent of straight-to-video filmmaking). Particularly as a primer for our cult section, this is an excellent first port-of-call.

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