A cult classic failed on release and then found the audience it was actually for. This tag collects reviews of cult films, midnight movies, and the reasons a picture outlives its box office.
2000sSouthland Tales (2006) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Richard Kelly took an unfinished cut to Cannes because nobody turns down a competition slot, was booed, recut it, and watched it earn under four hundred thousand dollars.…
1960sPoint Blank (1967) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Lee Marvin threw the script in the bin, handed his script and casting approval to a British director who had never worked in Hollywood, and the result is…
1980sRoad House (1989) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A philosophy graduate is hired to clean up a Missouri bar and ends up fighting a monster truck. It took five Razzie nominations, underperformed in cinemas, and became…
1980sSomewhere in Time (1980) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Universal halved the budget, the actors' strike stopped Reeve and Seymour promoting it, the critics were brutal, and it ran three weeks. Cable and video then turned…
1980sLegend (1985) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Ridley Scott built a forest inside a Bond stage at Pinewood, burned it to the ground, and produced the most beautiful fantasy film nobody watched. Tim Curry under three-foot…
1980sFlash Gordon (1980) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Dino De Laurentiis spent a reported twenty million dollars or more on a deliberately camp space opera, hired Queen to score it, and produced something no serious film…
1980sCaddyshack (1980) rates 8.5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The plot was abandoned during production and the film assembled itself out of whatever four comedians did in front of the camera. It should not work. It made sixty…
1970sBlazing Saddles (1974) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Mel Brooks made an anti-racist film by putting the ugliest language available in the mouths of idiots and letting the sheriff outthink them. Made for two point six…
1990sThe Big Lebowski (1998) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A Raymond Chandler plot handed to a man with no interest in solving it. Failed on release, found its people later, and spawned a festival and something…
1970sA Clockwork Orange (1971) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Kubrick makes you enjoy a monster's company, then cures him, then asks whether the cure was worse. Withdrawn from Britain by its own director for nearly thirty…
1980sDonnie Darko (2001) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A time loop film that works better as a portrait of adolescence than as a mechanism. Failed on release for reasons of timing, found its people on DVD,…
1980sBrazil (1985) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A clerical error kills the wrong man and a whole film proceeds from a typo. The most internally consistent world in the genre, and Gilliam fought Universal for most…
Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
Ready to discuss your book?
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATIONNo pitch. No pressure.
© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.
