Pop Culture
Hill
Cult flicks offer a different experience, attitude than run-of-the-mill movies
The Crow, Clerks may become cult
By Jon Schlitt
Kansan Correspondent
They are members of a secret society lurking in the shadows of the entertainment industry. They are cult members.
They could be your neighbor, your best friend... or maybe even you are one.
But before you alert the FBI, understand that these cult members do not brandish illegal firearms or threaten people with the wrath of God.
Instead, they watch movies — cult movies.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a classic cult movie, has drawn devoted groups of fans to midnight shows for more than 20 years.
Gretchen Hedrick, spectrum films coordinator for Student Union Activities, said that light fixtures in the Kansas Ballroom had been covered with toast and toilet paper
after past screenings of Rocky Horror, one of the most popular cult films. Audiences have also reacted to the movie by littering the floor and the movie screen, she said.
"Many of the same people come every year to The Rocky Horror PictureShow," she said. "A lot of guys show up in drag or other costumes to represent their favorite characters in the movie."
So what is it about cult movies that make an adult man dress up in drag to go and see it?
"Nine out of ten movies are basically the same thing," said Kevin Frost, assistant manager at the Varsity Theater, 1015 Massachusetts St. "A cult movie is that one movie out of ten that shows the audience something different."
had an explanation to the popularity of cult movies.
"Cult movies are usually movies from
"A lot of guys show up in drag or other costumes to represent their favorite character in the movie."
Gretchen Hedrick coordinator, Student Union Activities spectrumfilms
usually movies from directors who have unique points of view on taboo subjects and people therefore flock to see them," he said.
Toby Stoner, an employee at Hastings Books Music & Video, 2000 W.23rd St., also
Stoner said Hastings had many cult movies that often were rented.
"All of the Cheech and Chong movies, Heathers and Clerks are among the cult titles that are obsessively rented here," he said.
Stoner named From Dusk Till Dawn,
Rumble in the Bronx and the new film Lone Star as films bound for cult status.
Frost said he thought The Crow, a movie the Varsity Theater showed in 1994, could gain cult status.
"In the one month that we showed that movie, there was one woman alone who came in and saw it 14 times," he said.
Stu Corder, Olathe freshman, said he was an obsessive movie watcher.
"I must watch Pulp Fiction at least twice a week," he said. "The reason that I watch it so often is that it was a movie that broke the mold of traditional movie making with unique structure, characters and situations."
Movie Schedule
Upcoming Cult Movies:
Barbarella Sept. 13-14 at Woodruff Auditorium.
SuperflyOct.11-12 at Woodruff Auditorium.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show End of October at Woodruff Auditorium; exact date to be announced.
Source:Student Union Activities
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September 12,1996 The Hill
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