The Summer I Discovered Cult....

 My discovery and love for Cult Films started in the summer of 2000.....

Being a child of divorce, I spent most of my summers at my mom's. I kinda hated it because I was away from my Dad and my friends. I kinda enjoyed it because my mom lived in the suburbs, had high speed internet, cable television, the mall was a block away, the movie theater was a few more blocks away and my mother paid me some nice cash for chores. She paid the most for mowing the lawn and babysitting my little brothers. Both tasks were guaranteed 10 or more dollars. Growing up in households that didn't hand out allowances, that was a godsend.

At some point that summer, I had babysat my brothers. Real easy task: throw 'em in front of the TV and feed them every so often for 2-3 hours. My Mom paid me 15 bucks for the whole ordeal.  After I received payment, I begged my Mom to take me to the mall. It just so happen she needed to go that day. SCORE !

While my Mom was busy being child wrangler, I roamed the mall freely. With 15 bucks in my pocket, the sky was the limit.  Do I buy an expensive McFarlane figure from Spencer's ? A cheaply printed shirt from the Gags N Gifts ? Or find some CD or VHS for cheap at FYE ? I am going with the last option. It had been awhile since I bought a CD or VHS.

And what did I end up getting with my hard earned babysitting money ?

I had kind of became fond of Mr. Kid Rock's music during my pre-teen years. My parents weren't too thrilled with it. My mom wasn't too thrilled with this purchase. To this day, I still remember the look she shot me when I showed her this. It could have been worse ? Right ? Had I reached my lowest at this point ?

The appropriate thing to do: wait until everyone went to bed to watch this. Instead, I waited till everyone was out of the room. The video opens with all these strippers moaning "Kid Rock". This is great but were's the live footage or the music videos at ? During the moan session, the TV happen to be loud enough for my Mom to hear. She walked in and took one look at the strippers on the TV screen. Immediately, she sends me out of the room. I go to the kitchen. 

A few minutes later, she walks into the kitchen and hands me the videotape. 

 "Do you have the receipt ?" she says. 

"Yeah, why ?" I reply back.

 "You're taking this back tomorrow."

"Why ? They where just saying his name. What's the big deal ?"

"They took off their clothes."

"Oh." Followed by an awkward silence.

"Did you know there was strippers in this ?"

"No ?". Innocently enough, I didn't know. Then again, Kid Rock's name is on the fucking thing. I should have known there would've been at least one stripper in this.

The next day, my Mom and I went back to FYE. After my Mom berates the sales person for selling this to her 13 year old; I get my money back. Despite embarrassing the living fuck out of me, she's cool enough to take me across the overpass where a  Best Buy was located to buy something else. 

So I don't make the same mistake again, I opt for buying a cheap movie that I know she's never heard of or would watch with me. As I stroll through the VHS aisle, one VHS in particular caught my attention.

I remember looking at the cover, it really didn't reveal too much. This movie could be the best or worst thing I would ever seen. Then again, I remember my uncle telling me how awesome this movie was. My uncle is an awesome guy that would never lie to me. And for 8 bucks, what did I have to lose ? When we got home, everyone but me retreated to the backyard. I popped the tape in and immersed myself into the world of George Romero. 

For 139 minutes, I watched four people take a news station helicopter to escape the "zombie" epidemic until they end up taking refuge in a shopping mall ? It instantly became my favorite movie of all time. The film was simple, brilliant, and fun to watch. I needed to see more movies like this.

I did my research and found out two things. One, "Dawn" was a part of a trilogy that was referred to as George A. Romero's "Dead Trilogy" (Remember, we still had 4 years to go until "Land Of The Dead" was released"). Instantly, I remember doing some chores so I could buy the other 2 films. By the time school started that August, I owned both "Night" & "Day".

Two, "Dawn Of The Dead" was considered a "cult movie". From that point on, I was all about watching/collecting cult films. Cult movies became my favorite type of movie. My parents had no idea about these movies. They usually sold for cheap. And last but not least, they stood out. Years later, I am still watching and enjoy them. 

In closing, I would like to thank my Mom. If it weren't for her being a Mom and being grossly offended by Kid Rock; I would've never discovered "Dawn Of The Dead" and the cinematic joys of cult films. Sometimes, even the smallest things happen for a reason.

Discovered On VHS: Ghost World (2001)

Shit, was this really released 13 years ago........

I was 14 years old and my film obsession was in full swing. I had skewed away from the mainstream films at that point. Wasn't old enough to see the good stuff and the stuff I was allowed to see went from bad to worse. At this point, this was when I started getting into cult movies. Armed with my own 13' TV/VCR combo, I had bought Alex Cox's "Repo Man", Romero's "Dawn Of The Dead", and "National Lampoon's Vacation" on video that summer. Needless to say I didn't need to waste my time with my local theater had to offer.

One quick funny story about a movie experience I had in '01. My father took my brother and I to see Tim Burton's "Planet Of The Apes". On the way home, my father asked me what I thought. "The only thing I enjoyed about the movie was the Jay and Silent Bob trailer in the beginning" was my response. I can safely say that was the last time my Dad asked me my thoughts on anything.....

I vaguely remember "Ghost World". I remember watching the trailer and thinking "what the fuck ?". Back in those days, I don't think too many people researched a new movie before seeing it. In those days if the trailer looked awesome or interesting; that meant the entire movie followed suit. All I knew the movie was based off a weird, non super hero comic book and the main characters where 2 girls.  How good could this movie be ? Not that great considering there where no zombies, family vacations, or Emilio Estevez in this movie.

Fast forward 12 years later. I was rummaging through videos at a thrift store and I came across this:

The cover looks cool, I am finding Thora Birch strangely attractive, it's rated R, it's a screener copy, and it's only 99 cents: what do I have to lose ?

I bought a pile of videos that haul and I watched it this first. From start to finish, I was glued. The humor was dark, dry, and different. For a low budgeted studio film, it looked like a indie picture. The cast was diverse and great. All in all, it was a very unique film and I enjoyed it immensely. I fell in love with this film. Aside from the reasons above I can't tell you why I enjoy this film so much.

When I watch a movie from around my time, I tend to think about the year the movie was released. This was 2001, comedies where either from the gross out or PG-13 equation. "Ghost World" wasn't either, it was in a league of it's own. It definitely stood out from all the other comedies of the day.  Judging from the fads in '01, I can see why it wasn't it hit. No one had interest outside of seeing someone fucking a pie or a big screen adaptation of a 70's TV show.

Definitely one of the last batch of films to be christened with the "cult film" label. Not too long after this film, Hollywood only concentrated on pictures that would make money. You don't see too many cult films anymore. You see films that have that potential but to see an actual cult film is rare. I've only seen three in the theater in recent years: "Grindhouse", "Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny", and "The Lords Of Salem". Sad that "cult" is becoming a thing of the past. Then again, I enjoy the films that already are cult films.