Cult Movies: The Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird, and the Wonderful by Danny Peary

Cult Movies: The Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird, and the Wonderful Reviews

• 
  Muzzlehatch

  From fall 2010 reading, originally published on Amazon
  
  "Cult Movies" was one of the first film books I devoured, when I was first getting serious about the medium in the late 1980s. It's probably the book I first learned about such then-obscure oddities as EL TOPO, PEEPING TOM, PERFORMANCE and TWO-LANE BLACKTOP; they all went on my to-see-someday list; little did I dream that video would bring them all to me, to anybody, someday. I never owned a copy of the book until recently though - friends, libraries, and at least one ex-girlfriend all provided the hours I spent reading it up through the 90s - and after a long absence, I find that it's every bit as good as I remembered it, and maybe more so. It's one of the very best film "encyclopedias" or guidebooks around, and if anything the almost 30 years since original publication make it seem prescient, rather than dated.
  
  I'll get a few minor quibbles out of the way first. I wish Peary had put together a bit longer and more explanatory introduction; though I don't think most people will disagree that just about everything in the book qualifies as a "cult" movie, Peary doesn't really go into any detail as to why HE thinks they are, or as to the method to his madness in picking these particular 100. CITIZEN KANE rubbing shoulders with TRASH is a bit weird, isn't it? I'd have liked a bit of personal history as well, a bit about how and why he came to be doing this book - though some of that comes out in the individual film descriptions. He does try to define what a cult film is, and why only a few films make it to such status, but as to why he includes THE MALTESE FALCON but not THE BIG SLEEP, FANTASIA but not SNOW WHITE, we're in the dark. Peary does a good job in integrating the well-chosen photographs with the text; it's a shame that they're all black and white.
  
  This is insignificant stuff though. The 100 films are all fascinating choices; there are very few that strike me as poor ones - even something like LAND OF THE PHARAOHS, which has probably dropped farther off the radar than most, is interesting for what it tells us about Peary's aesthetic, and about the Hollywood obsession with spectacle in the 50s and 60s. Peary is uncannily prescient - sure, ROCKY HORROR was probably an obvious choice to pick even in 1981, but some of the other more recent picks like ERASERHEAD, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, THE WARRIORS and HALLOWEEN strike me as not entirely predictable to be films that would stand the test of time. They have, and so have nearly all of the other films in the book. And Peary is a terrifically insightful and penetrating critic, and he puts as much into dicussing PLAN 9 as he does CASABLANCA. Like all critics he has his own personality, his own biases - he seems a little conservative when it comes to violence and transgressive material, from my perspective, for example - but he's very fair, and even dealing with films that he personally doesn't get a lot out of, he's quick to point out why the films have developed their odd little audiences.
  
  I haven't read the book straight through, I'd imagine few people do with a book like this, but I've read most of the pieces on films I'm fairly familiar with (about half of them). One element I really like is that Peary separates his detailed and spoiler-filled plot synopses from the bulk of his analysis, so you can avoid the former if you want and still get something out of the critical essays. If I had to pick favorites right now they would be his essays on Anthony Mann's MAN OF THE WEST (1958) and Budd Boetticher's THE TALL T (1957), two westerns with marked similarities to each other that I have to admit I didn't really catch until reading Peary. His work on MAN OF THE WEST in particular is excellent, with a much fuller appreciation of the way Mann deals with the role of women, and with his nods to the theater of tragedy, than we usually see.
  
  All in all this is an excellent volume with wide-ranging sympathies. One might wish for more non-American films, some silent films, perhaps a blaxploitation film, but in 100 films we can't have everything. Peary's book, and it's two sequels, remain among the best of their kind, and should be on every serious fanatic's shelves, alongside J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum's very different but complementary Midnight Movies.
• 
  S. Wilson

  Danny Peary's Cult Movies (as well as its two following volumes) is one of the books that helped my expand my teenage love of film beyond horror movies. while I was already aware of some of the films in this volume as a child beforehand - Rock and Roll High School, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Harold and Maude, Duck Soup - others I wouldn't have normally been exposed to were introduced to me for the first time, and piqued my curiosity about them and other films withing those genres. Films like El Topo and Shock Corridor weren't bound to show up on HBO or Showtime in the 90s. If it weren't for Cult Movies, it would have probably been another decade or so before I was even aware of films like The Long Goodbye and Two-Lane Blacktop.
  
  Peary's selection of what he classifies as 'cult movies' covers a wide range of films, from cultural mainstays like Casablanca and The Wizard of Oz, to art house favorites like La Cage aux Folles and Andy Warhol's Bad, to more obscure films outside of the mainstream like Petulia and Where's Poppa. This is probably one of the few film guides you will read that devotes equal time and attention to both Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and John Waters' Pink Flamingos. Whether the films are known for their excellence (Citizen Kane) or their lack thereof (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), Peary examines not just the films themselves, but the making of them, and the attention they've garnered, good or bad.
  
  Spoiler Alert: Peary's essays on the films in this book are preceded by detailed synopses that basically reveal the entire film, including plot-twists and endings, and the majority of his essays are written under the presumption that the reader has already seen the film. Cult Movies is a great book for exposing you to new cinematic treasures, but tread lightly if you aren't a fan of knowing the story before you see it.
• 
  Mark

  I don’t always agree with his assessments (he seems to hate The Wild Bunch and I think he saw a completely different movie than I did when he watched Last House On The Left), But his views are always well thought out and defended. Some of the best movie reviews I’ve read in a long time. This book is one of THE movie books and I understand why. I can’t wait to check out the other two volumes.
• 
  Piper Gee

  I received a digital copy to review from netgalley. This is my honest opinion.
  
  I read this along with Danny Peary's Cult horror films book. I really enjoyed both of them! He chooses films from a wide variety of time periods. Each film listed includes release information, photos, an in depth synopsis an essay from the author. Most are films I already enjoy, so his essays were a lot of fun for me to read. I was happy to find and be reminded in some cases, of movies I have yet to watch. For me personally, it was too also nice to read about the films I still need to see, but some may prefer to use it as a guide and read after they've watched.
  
  Color photos would have been nice when possible, but that didn't deter my enjoyment.
  
  I would recommend this book to cinephiles, cult fans and people looking for movies that are different from the usual blockbusters.
• 
  TrumanCoyote

  The main reason I bought this was for the synopses (of lots of films I've never seen); but instead of heaps o' Fascinating Film Fax all I get is One Man's Opinion. The usual critical bushwa combined with trendy sanctimonious folderol re women and minorities. The world is full of sensitive souls--sensitive except to anyone who doesn't want to toe their line. His thoughts on sex are particularly dumb; he's one of these guys who can go and see any piece of trash as long as he talks himself into how important and significant it is. At least he does seem to have some idea that these are just his opinions (so he's not a complete idiot); anyway, now I'm probably going to have to wade my way through his sequel.
• 
  Roy

  loved this book , still have it . Good large format with lots of pictures and interesting sypnosies .Some movies I had seen , some not , but that doesn't matter . Also got the volume 2 and 3 later .