Despite its emergence as one of the most popular and debated areas of cinema research, there is no systematic discussion of cult cinema available. Cult Cinema aims to fill this gap by being the first academic textbook devoted to the subject.

At once subversive, strange, and wondrous, the world of cult cinema is a wildly popular film culture that blurs genres, crosses boundaries, and defies easy categorization. Cult Cinema: An Introduction presents the first in-depth academic examination of all aspects of the field of cult cinema, including its primary audiences, myriad genres, and the theoretical perspectives that inform a film's "cult" status. After addressing the well-known aspects of cult cinema -- midnight movies, exploitation films, fans of various cult subgenres, issues of censorship, cult-film festivals, and fanzines -- the authors unravel many of cult cinema's deeper mysteries, tackling such issues as representations of gender, transgression, subcultures, and meta-cults (cult movies about cult movies).

Topics are presented in sections that are organized thematically around issues relating to reception, aesthetics, and theories. Individual chapters are accompanied by insightful analysis of notable films, including such cult classics as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Donnie Darko, Blade Runner, Plan 9 From Outer Space, El Topo, Eraserhead, Suspiria, and many others. For cinephiles and scholars alike, Cult Cinema: An Introduction is the ticket to the most complete source of information about a fascinating phenomenon in the history of film.