Paul Simpson (1) (1961–)

The Rough Guide to Cult Movies (2001) by Rough Guide. I love movies. Good movies mostly, but there are some stinkers in my collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays. But this book is a wonderful guide to those “good, bad and very weird indeed” films that may have slipped by unnoticed by our collective knowledge. But here in one pocket sized edition (it is small in shape, but an inch thick and has very small print) are the flicks you might not have heard of but which might satisfy your itch for that next film you HAVE to see.
The films are broken into categories ranging from action/adventure to zombies. If your taste runs to sci-fi, serial killers, musicals, 3-D, kitsch, buddy movies or block busters, there is a category for you. I will not start listing the names of the films included, just keep in mind this guide is 20 years old now so newer flicks will not be included. That being said, most of the films thought of as “Cult” would by necessity have to be twenty years or more in the public realm so as to have proved their status. Rocky Horror, included here, being one very notable exception, although it did take a while for even that classic to gain traction among the viewing public.
This is a nice easy to use guide for many well known films and some obscure titles (Oblomov anyone?) that will make your day. In a good or bad way I can’t say, but you will be amused. Each entry also lists the director, top actors in the film, year of release and a short blurb on why this film should be considered a cult classic.
This book has been indispensable to me during the past year of the pandemic and it will remain by my remote controls for a long time to come. And this is just the first of two Cult Movie books by Rough Guide!… (més)