Review of Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2006) by Nick C — 05 Apr 2010

Anyone who has read Stuart Samuel's book MIDNIGHT MOVIES won't find much new here, but those looking to see what the 70s' cultural phenomenon known as midnight movies were all about will find plenty of information within these 90 minutes.

Every director interviewed is one of a kind, and it was interestng to see a couple of them pay respects to David Lynch's ERASERHEAD more than any other film (including their own). George Romero tells a few things even some seasoned NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD fans hadn't heard before, John Waters is as cool as ever giving his account on how PINK FLAMINGO'S was sold to a distributor, and the opening section with Alejandro Jodorowsky expressing his surprise of the American success of EL TOPO is a lot of fun.

While the film is quite accurate, I disagree with one statement made. ERASERHEAD (1977) is called the "last of the real midnight movies," and thanks to the early 80s rising of the VCR, midnight movies did drop in popularity. However, 1982's LIQUID SKY is one film that has that unexplainable "thing" that made all the films covered in this documentary a genuine midnight cult film (it even screened at the same NY theater several of the 70s classics did). It had a decent midnight run in NY circa 1982-3, and I wish they'd update this film to include it. It is truly the "last" of the midnight movies...and if this documentary makes one point clear, it's that a genuine cult film isn't something that can be MADEe, but is simply something that HAPPENS.

MIDNIGHT MOVIES is a fun (and for some, educational) documentary.