Stuart Samuels's popular documentary Midnight Movies: From Margin to Mainstream grounds itself in the thesis that six revolutionary American motion pictures - Night of the Living Dead (1968), El Topo (1970), Pink Flamingoes (1972), The Harder they Come (1972), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and Eraserhead (1976) - invented the concept of "midnight movies" and thus permanently reshaped the American film industry per se and the composition of the average U.S. film audience, creating a new
"brand" of viewer. Samuels and his team tell the story of this odd subgenre as it evolved, peaked in popularity, and then faded gradually from view. The bulk of the picture consists of a myriad of interviews with the directors of these films per se (John Waters, Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Perry Henzel, George Romero - Jim Sharman appears in archive footage only), cast members, theater owners who found their business reinvigorated by this trend, critics such as Roger Ebert who reflect on the era, and of course the films' fans. The documentary also features extended clips from the movies and period news footage about the rise in popularity of the said titles. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Samuels' own enjoyment for midnighters comes through in his funky visual design -- visually spunky for a clips-and-talking-heads film -- and in the energetic editing.
In this affectionate glimpse into those countercultural times, filmmaker Stuart Samuels has compiled an engaging distillation of those nocturnal filmic emissions.
It's a celebration of cinema-going as a 'ritual experience or trip', a communal adventure with no real equivalent in the exquisitely atomised YouTubeverse.
A documentary about challenging and outrageous films should offer something more provocative than counter-culture filmmakers congratulating themselves on a job well done.
A well rounded documentary about the birth of cult movies in the 70's but to be honest, if you've got the movies on DVD, you'll have all this and more in the extras. Good for people who are totally new to midnight movies but not so much for existing fans, who already know all the storeys etc.
a fun doc about the birth of cult film in the 70's. focusing on 6 influential 'midnight' movies including 2 of my all time faves, night of the living dead and rocky horror, it shows how the phenomenon changed film and helped bring about our ironic post-modern culture. makes u wish you'd been there at the start
*sniff* i've yet to see the infamous pink flamingos and jodorowsky's mystical 'eastern,' el topo, but i'm sure i will just to say i did lol
November 24, 2008
Stella Dallas
Super Reviewer
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