Despite its emergence as one of the most popular and debated areas of cinema research, there is no systematic discussion of cult cinema available. Cult Cinema aims to fill this gap by being the first academic textbook devoted to the subject.

List of Figures. Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I Receptions and Debates. 1 Cult Reception Contexts. 2 The Cult Cinema Marketplace. 3 Prestige, Awards, and Festivals. 4 Censorship and Criticism. 5 Fandom and Subculture. 6 The Cult Auteur. 7 Cult Stardom. 8 Camp and Paracinema. 9 Transgression and Freakery. 10 Gender and Sexuality. 11 Transnationalism and Orientalism. 12 Religion and Utopia. Part II Themes and Genres. 13 Exploitation and B Movies. 14 Underground and Avant-garde Cinema. 15 Cult Cinema and Drugs. 16 Cult Cinema and Music. 17 Classical Hollywood Cults. 18 Cult Horror Cinema. 19 Cult Science Fiction Cinema. 20 Cult Blockbusters. 21 Intertextuality and Irony. 22 Meta-cult. Filmography. References. Credits and Sources. Index.

At once subversive, strange, and wondrous, the world of cult cinema is a wildly popular film culture that blurs genres, crosses boundaries, and defies easy categorization. Cult Cinema: An Introduction presents the first in-depth academic examination of all aspects of the field of cult cinema, including its primary audiences, myriad genres, and the theoretical perspectives that inform a film's "cult" status. After addressing the well-known aspects of cult cinema -- midnight movies, exploitation films, fans of various cult subgenres, issues of censorship, cult-film festivals, and fanzines -- the authors unravel many of cult cinema's deeper mysteries, tackling such issues as representations of gender, transgression, subcultures, and meta-cults (cult movies about cult movies). Topics are presented in sections that are organized thematically around issues relating to reception, aesthetics, and theories. Individual chapters are accompanied by insightful analysis of notable films, including such cult classics as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Donnie Darko, Blade Runner, Plan 9 From Outer Space, El Topo, Eraserhead, Suspiria, and many others. For cinephiles and scholars alike, Cult Cinema: An Introduction is the ticket to the most complete source of information about a fascinating phenomenon in the history of film.