The Cult Cinema Companion: Routledge Media and Cultural Studies

The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema provides an overview of the field of cult cinema, which consists of films that exist on the fringes of popular culture and art. These films have gained exceptional cultural visibility and status due to their ability to break rules, offend, and challenge traditional notions of success. Some are so bad that they become good, while others are so good that they remain inaccessible.

Cult cinema is no longer limited to just midnight movies or extreme genre films. Its scope has broadened, and the issues it addresses have become central in cultural debates of the twenty-first century. The book introduces sections with the major theoretical frameworks, philosophical inspirations, and methodologies for studying cult films. Individual chapters delve into the most significant criticisms of how the field impacts cultural discourse at large.

Case studies included in the book cover the worst films ever made, exploitation films, genre cinema, the various media formats through which cult cinema is expressed, cultural, national, and gender representations, elements of the production culture of cult cinema, and the aesthetics of cult cinema - its genre, style, look, impact, and ability to push viewers out of their comfort zones.

The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema expands beyond the traditional focus on Anglophone and North American cinema by including case studies from East and South Asia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. This makes it an innovative and essential resource for researchers and students alike.

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