Over the weekend, I was battling a serious bout of depression. All I kept doing was sitting on the couch, with my cat, and watched mindless YouTube videos. Precisely, YouTube first time reaction videos. I have a bit of a liking for some of them. This is where I discovered a kink for Canadian women like Cassie from Popcorn in Bed, Simone from CineBinge, Kaiielle from Movies with KL, and Chandra from Maplenuts React just to name a few. I guess you could say I have a type.
I pretty much burn through their content since I have followed them for a couple of years now. So, I check out other channels through a movie search. I came across another channel that was reacting to Back to the Future for the first time. A husband and wife duo born in 1984 and 1982, respectively, and they knew nothing about the film.
I didn’t believe it. I still don’t believe it. As I was watching their reaction, I found their reaction a bit lacking. They sounded like that couple that talk during a movie. Not like some channels do to prevent from getting that “strike”, but just nonsensical things that prevent you from watching the film.
I saw a reaction from a guy that was viewing the new Superman trailer. He talked so much that he was confused if Lois knew that Clark was Superman. Which caused me to shout at the TV, “if you shut up for a three-minute trailer, you would’ve figured it out.”
It was sad to say that I stopped watching that couple’s video when she said that she could see why this movie is a “cult classic”.
My mouth dropped
A ‘cult classic’? They are older millennials. I don’t know any millennial that never saw or even recognized anything of the movie. Their only saving grace is that they knew (at least, she did) that a DeLorean was involved.
I had been posting random thoughts about some content creators on my Threads account. So, I posted: “Notes to YouTubers that don’t know how words work:
Back to the Future is not a ‘cult classic’.”
This has been an annoying trend I’ve seen in this “movie space”. People referring to some films or topics that are completely wrong. Of course, the internet being as it is, people double down or use the whole ‘language evolves’. Which it does, but no definition found can be used to back up one’s concept of what is flawed in their idea.
What has been annoying for me prior to this was the use of “plot hole”. A plot whole is something that usually happens in the editing/pick-ups process of production. It is a thing when something happens to a character or event that was never touched upon prior to its use within a film. It is commonly misused in regards to Star Wars. The weakness in the Death Star, people refer to that as a ‘plot hole’. It isn’t. For it to be a plot hole, Luke would’ve had to make the shot, not knowing that the shot would destroy the Death Star. As well as the rest of the cast accept it without question.
I have come to learn that when people, with no cinema background, use ‘plot hole’ as a catch all for something they don’t understand. It wasn’t because the movie didn’t provide any background, it was because the viewer was distracted. This is commonly seen in reaction videos when people are talking over the movie (usually trying to get ahead of the plot), and they miss that detail that would’ve answered the questions.
As of this writing, I have over 3.2K likes with just under 600 comments. I understand these are rookie numbers, but for someone like me, this is a lot. A good majority agree with me and given me examples of true ‘cult classics’.
What is a ‘cult classic’?
A ‘cult classic’ refers to a movie/book/television show that is either poorly reviewed, a flop – or both, but has a dedicated following of fans. It generally excludes movies that have mass appeal, such as Star Wars, Back to the Future, ET, or the Indiana Jones trilogy.
One that immediately comes to mind was Flash Gordon. The movie starred Sam Jones and came out in 1980. It was made to capitalize on the sci-fi craze of Star Wars. The old comic property was made for $20 million and only made $27 million. It flopped in the United States but did well in the United Kingdom and Italy. I loved that movie. As a kid, I ate it up but no one else saw it.
Seth MacFarland was a huge fan of it and incorporated it into his film, Ted. A reference no one watching the movie really understood. I bumped into the star, Jones, at the Los Angeles Comic-Con one year and he was truly nice to me, as was Eric Roberts when I sat next to him at a Galifrey One convention.
That film has a cult following. I went to a anniversary showing in Los Angeles for the film in 2010. Those people were insane. I had a great time, but it was so cool to see it with like-minded people.
Clue is another cult classic. Based on the boardgame, it starred some of the funniest comedic actors of the time. It was killed in the reviews and it was made for $15 million and only made $14.5 million in its release. Many critics hated the multiple endings aspect, calling it a ‘gimmick’.
The ‘gimmick’ was that your local theater had one of the three endings. You were given, from the box office, a sheet to keep track of who you think did the murder, where, and with what. My brother and I even went to a further away theater to see if they had one of the different endings. I only saw two of the three, but when the VHS came out it contained all three endings.
I’ve seen more people watching it on YouTube than have seen it in my own circle of friends. It is still one of my favorite movies. The energetic Tim Curry at the end, and Madeline Kahn’s infamous “flames” improved line.
Most movies of John Carpenter are on the ‘cult classic’ list. Some of his hits like Escape from New York made $26 million on a $6 million budget. However, his film They Live from 1988 wasn’t a huge hit for the director like his earlier films. It made three times its budget, but $13 million box office against a $4 million budget was a bit of a disappointment.
The reviews were mixed. Many of whom didn’t like the writing and the messaging about consumerism didn’t tickle their social commentary. However, there were very few people that saw the film when I saw it. To be honest, I didn’t see it until it was out on VHS. That was because a friend had rented it when I was over and watched it. Immediately loved the movie and that ten minute fight scene was awesome. The messaging resonates more, in my opinion, now more than ever.
What isn’t a ‘cult classic’?
Many people in the comments said things like “if it had a ride at Universal Studios”, “merch”, or “a Saturday morning cartoon” it is not a cult classic.
I’ll go further than that. If the film had a sequel within a few years of its initial release, it isn’t a cult classic. If the movie is the highest grossing movie of the year of its release, it is not a cult classic.
Some would say Tron is a cult classic but it did have a sequel. It was a cult classic, which is what inspired Disney to make a sequel in the 2010s. The original was released in 1982 and bombed. Had the movie been a hit, CG would have been pushed up further and we could’ve had the Star Wars prequels earlier, as well as Jurassic Park. Set CGI back nearly a decade.
Some people use the definition that “any movie with a rabid fanbase” is a ‘cult classic’. So, but that logic the Marvel or DC movies are ‘cult classics’? The Twilight films were ‘cult classics’? The Star Wars films are ‘cult classics’? Even though many non-fans hate The Last Jedi, it will never be a ‘cult classic’. It could be ‘under appreciated’ at the time, but never a cult classic.
I’m guessing that someone will call The Karate Kid a ‘cult classic’, even though it had three movies within a few years time, a spin-off movie, and a streaming series.
The more I think about this topic, the more I believe I should make this a main discussion topic for The Lazy Geeks podcast. Now, I didn’t link the channel that I saw this insane take was because I didn’t want to have those creators harassed because people are so passionate about shit these days. I brought it up because I see this misuse of words constantly on social media.
In the end, if you are going to discuss film, television, or storytelling, you better have more than a pedestrian concept of the field. Just because you watch movies doesn’t mean you understand movies. For example, when podcasts bash movies they don’t like because of the “writing” or bash a series because they have no concept where the story is going, they never write anything for people to read. Easier to destroy than to create.
Oh, and for those that complain that an episode of a series doesn’t go anywhere – it’s called character development, douchecanoe.