KINGS OF CULT review

2015

Roger Corman and Charles Band

Soapbox time... Its the middle of the summer and grandpa is cranky.

Something happens when you get older, when you get married, have kids, slow down and in many ways start your life... you look back at your youth with reverence and want to give your kids all the things you once loved. One of the problems with being a film fan who discovered movies in the 80's is that world no longer exists. Independent theaters and video stores (staples of my youth) are all but erased from our cultural and physical landscape. I'm fortunate to live in a town that has one remaining video store and one revival house, both of whom are kept open with support of the retirees and college hipsters.

My kids will never know a world without Netflix, Hulu and The Pirate Bay. Born into a world where television is more synonymous with quality than film, something that was unthinkable a little more than a decade ago. But as far as I can tell what they have inherited is an endless supply of repackaged reality television. I get why most people don't give a shit about film anymore. The tent pole garbage that fills the multiplexes is serialized men in costumes. Nothing more than novelas with capes. Mainstream film currently has more in common with DAYS OF OUR LIVES than DAYS OF HEAVEN.

Yes, it's hard to find quality stuff outside the studio system, but it is there, you just have to know where to look for it.

I know this has very little to do with KINGS OF CULT but watching the men responsible for PIT AND THE PENDULUM, DEATH RACE 2000, GRAND THEFT AUTO, THE GHOULIES, PUPPETMASTER and RE-ANIMATOR have an intimate conversation about how the film industry has changed in the last 30 years really struck a chord with me. Roger Corman and Charles Band sit with a moderator off camera while they have a chat about movies. This is in no way a stylish documentary just two two immensely influential filmmakers exchanging stories. I'm not sure but I think the film was shot in one take with two cameras. A fitting "stylistic" nod. Afterall these are two men known for doing things on the cheap. None of the films listed above are considered classics but they represent something depressingly scarce these days. They were original stories and perhaps more importantly none of them were safe.

I won't spoil the story of how the image above became a movie poster with the tagline "THEY'LL GET YOU IN THE END" because its one of the highlights of the film.

So yeah this is a movie for the genre fans of a certain age. Not unlike DePalma from earlier this year, some films aren't made for everyone and that's perfectly ok.

You can purchase KINGS OF CULT from FULL MOON DIRECT or you can sign up for their streaming site and get up to 6 free dvd's or blu rays and a $50 gift card. The streaming site is described as Netflix for lunatics. Well worth the $6 a month.

Kings of Cult Trailer from Full Moon Features on Vimeo.

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