“Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 1: Midnight Madness” Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 1: Midnight Madness is the first installment in a three-part documentary series exploring exactly what the title says: some of the best and most beloved cult films from the earlier days of cinema history to the present time. This first volume considers the question “What makes a movie a cult film?” and then dives straight into many fine examples, with a focus on action, comedy, and horror.
Director Danny Wolf does a splendid job setting the tone and pace. The film examines 14 movies in detail with a few others mentioned more quickly, but each entry is given enough time to be either lovingly remembered by ardent fans or tantalizingly previewed for the as-yet-uninitiated.
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 1: Midnight Madness is not meant to give an exhaustive look at each of the movies it tackles, but it does give intriguing insight from actors, filmmakers, writers, critics, scholars, and others. Hosts Joe Dante, Illeana Douglas, John Waters, and Kevin Pollak pop in and out of the documentary somewhat randomly, giving the documentary an occasionally disjointed feeling, but otherwise editor Steven L. Austin does a fine job of interspersing talking head interviews with clips from the movies being discussed.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show kicks things off, and quite deservedly so, as it is arguably the most popular and longest-running cult movie of all time. Stars Patricia Quinn (Magenta), Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors), and Little Nell/Nell Campbell (Columbia) reflect back on the making of the film and discuss its longevity and why it is such a beloved slice of cinema. Jeff Bridges weighs in on The Big Lebowski, while Pam Grier, Sid Haig, Fred Williamson, and director Jack Hill look back fondly at the grindhouse actioners Coffy and Foxy Brown.
Freaks, the still-shocking horror movie starring real sideshow performers that basically ruined Dracula director Tod Browning’s career, gets its well-earned due, while David Lynch’s debut feature Eraserhead gets respect from Jeff Goldblum, among others.
The classic rock and roll mockumentary that goes to 11, This Is Spinal Tap, gets a well-deserved reflection from some of its stars — Fred Willard, Fran Drescher, and Michael McKean — along with director Rob Reiner. Pink Flamingos director John Waters discusses going to court and simply paying fines for obscenity charges against his movie because it was less expensive than hiring lawyers.
Russ Meyer’s mind-blowing, jaw-dropping Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is represented by star Lorie Williams and director Meyer, while drive-in classic The Warriors’ stars Apache Ramos, Michael Beck, and David Patrick Kelly reflect on the making of the film and how popular it still is today. Garey Busey is at his Busey-est as he discusses Point Break.
Some of the industry experts and creators are comedy writer and actor Bruce Vilanch; Allan Arkush, director of Rock and Roll High School; Gene Seymour, former Newsday film critic; and independent filmmaker Andrew Repasky McElhinney.
I won’t name-check all the films here, because part of the fun of Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 1: Midnight Madness are the surprises it holds in store regarding what films are covered in this initial volume. Suffice it to say that each film discussed is truly worthy of being considered a cult classic, and Wolf and his interview subjects — along with a bevy of mouth-watering clips — do a marvelous job of letting viewers know why.
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 1: Midnight Madness, from Quiver Distributions, is available on demand and on digital from April 21.
Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 2: Horror and SciFi will be released on May 19, and Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Volume 3: Comedy and Camp will be released on June 23.
My Uphill Both Ways podcast co-host Mike Imboden and I plan to cover all three volumes of this series on upcoming episodes, so please check back at When It Was Cool for the podcast announcements and release dates.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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