ok, so when did this movie become a cult movie? - Sleepaway Camp (1983) Discussion

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

What was it before then?

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

an unknown movie

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Definitely not unknown considering it spawned 2 sequels in the 80s. Pretty sure it was a cult movie well before 2000 (there was just no internet to discuss). But this was one my friends and I always talked about in the 90s and I’m guessing this was popular among other groups of friends back then as well.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It IS an unknown movie. Just because a few nerds obsessed over it doesn't mean it's a cult film or that it's "known". A cult movie is any movie that started out as unknown but then became popular enough to where most people have heard of it. That doesn't mean they've seen it but that they're at least aware that it exists. For example, my sister doesn't know squat about movies but if I mentioned The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Night of the Living Dead, she'd go, "Oh, yeah, I've heard of those movies."

No one except a few people who've seen Sleepaway Camp know or care about it. The only reason why I know about it is that I think Red Letter Media did some kind of play through that was based on the movie. That was the first time I'd ever heard of the movie, yet I'd heard of everything from I Spit on Your Grave to Last House on the Left.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

According to Wikipedia:

A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, an elaborate subculture that engage in repeated viewings, quoting dialogue, and audience participation.

Personally I think Sleepaway Camp fits the definition. If it was unknown it wouldn’t have spawned 1 sequel in the 80s, let alone 2 (and a never completed 4th from the early 90s). Sorry you consider me and my friends nerds for being aware of this movie but as I said, this was before the internet and I’m pretty sure there were many other groups of friends that may not be up to your standards of coolness that also enjoyed the film.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

just because they made 2 sequels in the '80s doesnt mean it was a cult movie in the '80s. i mean do you know the puppet master series is apparently the most successful cult horror movie series of all time? but yet it's not that popular or loved.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I didn't say the sequels meant it a was a cult movie, I said they meant it was not unknown. As for it being a cult film I was speaking from personal experience in the 90s that me and friends watched and laughed at this one repeatedly and I'm willing to bet there were similar groups of people doing the same. I feel it was a cult movie then but people are free to feel differently. Since we have no real measuring stick on this film prior to wide spread internet usage our opinions are largely subjective.

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[–] McQualude (4231) 5 years ago

If you search usenet for old discussions about Sleepaway Camp, you might be able to figure it out. Not sure how to do that these days.

This guy might know:
https://sleepawaycampfilms.com/shes-a-boy-custom-naked-angela-model/

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

I would say it was pretty cultish when it was released. It was pretty well known in the 80s and has always had a following.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

if that's true then how come felissa rose the biggest star to come out of this movie only just since the early 2000s has been a star in cult horror movies?

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

I'm not really sure what one has to do with another. Cult movies don't always produce stars. Movies take time to become "classics" but from my experience SC had a reputation and a following in the 80s for sure and it certainly wasn't mainstream.

As for why Felissa Rose didn't become a 'star' right away, I can only guess that it might have had something to do with her age. I think she was only 13 when the movie was filmed. Let's also be honest, the acting in SC is pretty bad by everyone.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

they have everything to do with another. but maybe in her case it was different because it's hard to cast someone so young in horror movies so maybe she had to grow up a few years before she could be in more horror movies. yeah they take time but not 17 years for felissa rose to become a star. not by her though and also has that ever stopped actors from slasher movies becoming cult stars before?

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

Okay, if that's the case why are the stars of The Room starring in other cult films? Where is Mitch Cohen's career? Just because you star in a popular movie, cult or otherwise is no guarantee of a career.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

no, i'm not saying that. i'm saying if felissa rose became a star because of sleepaway camp which she did that means that she would become a star when it became a cult movie unless she was too young at the time which i think is what happened, so then though why wasn't she a star in the early '90s in cult movies?

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

how do you know it was pretty well known in the '80s? back then the internet wasn't around, so how could you tell a movie was a cult movie back then?

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

I guess the same way we knew anything, because believe it or not, we did have ways to communicate with each other before the internet. I can tell you that it was certainly talked about, and in a way more shocking because you couldn't just look up the ending.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

but who talked about it back in the '80s? i'm just saying i never knew of it being talked about back then and also how do you calculate if a movie is a cult movie? how many people loving a film does it take for it to be this?

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

Were you around back in the 80's, and did you like horror movies? What defines a cult movie for you?

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

yes and yes, this is my favorite kind of movie. a movie that is really small, small budget and is not loved by a lot of people when it first comes out unless it gets really popular and really loved after it's a cult movie ala ferris bueller's day off and top gun. reservoir dogs, pulp fiction, johnny suede, ghostdog: the way of the samurai are all cult classics.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The Wikipedia entry on cult films shows how little agreement there is on definition. It really is a subjective thing not worth arguing over (which I now realize sounds stupid considering that's what I've been doing lol) . Ironically the more mainstream and well known a film becomes, the less worthy of cult status it becomes according to some.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_film

A cult film is any film that has a cult following, although the term is not easily defined and can be applied to a wide variety of films. Some definitions exclude films that have been released by major studios or have big budgets, that try specifically to become cult films, or become accepted by mainstream audiences and critics. Cult films are defined by audience reaction as much as by their content. This may take the form of elaborate and ritualized audience participation, film festivals, or cosplay. Over time, the definition has become more vague and inclusive as it drifts away from earlier, stricter views.Increasing use of the term by mainstream publications has resulted in controversy, as cinephiles argue that the term has become meaningless or "elastic, a catchall for anything slightly maverick or strange". Academic Mark Shiel has criticized the term itself as being a weak concept, reliant on subjectivity; different groups can interpret films in their own terms. According to feminist scholar Joanne Hollows, this subjectivity causes films with large female cult followings to be perceived as too mainstream and not transgressive enough to qualify as a cult film. Academic Mike Chopra‑Gant says that cult films become decontextualized when studied as a group,and Shiel criticizes this recontextualization as cultural commodification.

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

Google brings it up when you google 80's cult horror movies.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I don't think Luke is debating its status as a cult film now, rather he doesn't believe it was a cult film back in the 80s or 90s. Personally i feel it was but I'm basing that on my friends and I watching this one and laughing and quoting it numerous times back in the day.

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

I agree with it being a cult film in the 80s as well. I don't think that cult films are supposed to be popular. They are the ones that are whispered about in the halls at school, or the guy at the video store recommended it with a wink type thing. We used to have watching parties of it.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

exactly. i mean i never knew about it beyond seeing it's video box cover in video rental stores as well as the two sequels video box covers back in the '80s and '90s.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

here's something you probably don't know top gun and ferris bueller's day off are both cult movies. they weren't well reviewed and loved when they first came out which is weird considering how big of films that they are now. which makes me think a cult movie should become not a cult movie if it becomes huge, like these films are now. these films should grow out of being just cult classics and become classics.

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[–] sslssg (27421) 5 years ago

I agree with you on this. I don't think that Top Gun, or Ferris Bueller , or even Rocky Horror should still be considered cult classics.

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[–] lukejbarnett (1869) 5 years ago

good i'm glad you agree with me on this. i mean it's pretty simple logic to make a film being too well known and loved to be a cult film at a certain point because the very logic of cult films is they are only loved by a select crowd of people. you know? if the same films were mainstream when they came out then that would mean they aren't cult films.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Didn't know that and I wouldn't have had those on my list of what I'd consider cult films. I wouldn't have known what the reviews were (since I was 12ish when they came out) but I remember them being wildly popular with fans. I saw Ferris Bueller on a sneak preview before the official release and my friends and I all loved it, and it seeemed to be a hit with most young people at the time. Same for Top Gun...extremely popular, particularly with girls. To me something being a box office hit should disqualify it from cult status.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

According to Wikipedia on Ferris Bueller:

Released by Paramount Pictures on June 11, 1986, the film became one of the top-grossing films of the year, receiving $70.1 million over a $5.8 million budget, and was enthusiastically acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.

I don't see how this could be considered a cult film in any way, shape or form lol

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It is not and never has been a cult movie, no matter how many of its fans would like to think it is.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Lol I love that your post acknowledges it has a large group of devoted fans all the while saying it's not a cult movie. What you don't seem to get is that it's the fact that it has this group of hardcore fans that actually makes it a cult film. The fact that you aren't among those fans or may not have been aware of this film up until a certain point is irrelevant. You see there are people other than you that watch movies and your individual relation to a particular film doesn't determine its status. There are still people who have no idea what The Room is despite The Disaster Artist having been released.

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