A classic midnight movie in every sense of the term, Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) is the sort of (then) obscure horror film shown on late-night TV beginning in the 1950s; in the 1970s and early 1980s it was a staple of midnight screenings at theaters around the U. Tod Browning ( July 12, 1880 &ndash October 6, 1962) was an American motion picture Actor, director Freaks is a 1932 Horror film about Sideshow performers directed and produced by Tod Browning with a cast mostly composed of S. ^[1]

The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, particularly New York City, eventually spreading across the country. The City of New York The screening of nonmainstream pictures at midnight was aimed at building a cult film audience, encouraging repeat viewing and social interaction in what was originally a countercultural setting. A cult film is a Film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. Counterculture (also " counter-culture " is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a Cultural group, or The national success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the changing economics of the film exhibition industry altered the nature of the midnight movie phenomenon; as its association with broader trends of cultural and political opposition dwindled in the 1980s, the midnight movie became a more purely camp experience—in effect, bringing it closer to the television form that shares its name. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical Comedy film that parodies Science fiction and Horror films. The term midnight movie is now often used in two different, though related, ways: as a synonym for B movie, reflecting the relative cheapness characteristic of late-night movies both theatrically and on TV, and as a synonym for cult film. A B movie is a motion picture made on a low or modest budget Originally the term was used for films intended for distribution as the less-publicized second half of a Double

History

On television

In 1953, the Screen Actors Guild agreed to a residuals payment plan that greatly facilitated the distribution of B movies to television. The Screen Actors Guild ( SAG) is an American labor union representing over 120000 Film and television principal performers and background A residual is a payment made to the creator of performance art (or the performer in the work for subsequent showings or screenings of the (usually filmed work ^[2] A number of local television stations around the United States soon began showing inexpensive genre films in late-night slots. In the spring of 1954, Los Angeles TV station KABC expanded on the concept by having an appropriately offbeat host introduce the films: for a year on Saturday nights, The Vampira Show, with Maila Nurmi in her newly adopted persona of a sexy bloodsucker ("Your pin-down girl"), presented low-budget movies with black humor and a low-cut black dress. The Vampira Show is a 1950s Emmy -nominated television show hosted by Vampira. Maila Nurmi ( December 11, 1922 &ndash January 10, 2008) was a Finnish American Actress, who created the campy The show—which ran at midnight for four weeks before shifting to 11 p. m. and, later, 10:30—aired horror pictures like Devil Bat's Daughter and Strangler of the Swamp and suspense films such as Murder by Invitation, The Charge Is Murder, and Apology for Murder. ^[3] The format was echoed by stations across the country, who began showing their late-night B movies with in-character hosts such as Zacherley and Morgus the Magnificent offering ironic interjections. Horror hosts are a particular type of Television presenter, often tasked with presenting low-grade films to television audiences John Zacherle (born September 26, 1918, he is sometimes credited as John Zacherley) is a U This article is about the television show it is also the name of a Dr John song by " Morgus and the 3 Ghouls " making reference to Mogus' show

Cassandra Peterson brought her Elvira persona to home video in 1990. Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress best known for her on-screen Horror host Persona Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment The Midnight Madness tapes were formatted very much like the Movie Macabre TV package, with mostly grade-Z movies framed by Elvira's commentary. The term Z movie (or grade-Z movie) arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films ^[4] Above, she is seen introducing Eegah (1962). Eegah! (also known as Eegah! The Name Written in Blood) is a 1962 Film starring Arch Hall Jr

A quarter-century later, Cassandra Peterson established a persona that was essentially a ditzier, more amplitudinous version of Vampira. Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress best known for her on-screen Horror host Persona As Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Peterson became the most popular host in the arena of the TV midnight movie. Starting at L. A. 's KHJ-TV in 1981, Elvira's Movie Macabre was soon being syndicated nationally; Peterson presented mostly cut-rate horror films, interrupted on a regular basis for her tongue-in-cheek commentary and other putatively natural talents. ^[5] Some local stations aired the Movie Macabre package in late-night slots. Others showed it during prime time on weekend nights; after a break for the local news, another genre film—a literal midnight movie—might follow, resulting in such virtual double bills as Dr. Prime Time is the major News analysis current affairs and Politics programme broadcast on Radio Telefís Éireann in Ireland Heckyl & Mr. Hype and The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave. ^[6] In 1993, Buffalo's WKBW-TV began airing a late-night hosted mix of low-budget genre movies and foreign art films, Off Beat Cinema, that was picked up by several local stations around the United States and most recently by the Retro Television Network. WKBW-TV, Channel 7 is a Television station in Buffalo New York. Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout North America late at night and features "the Good the Bad the Foreign The Retro Television Network (aka RTN is a system of television stations primarily airing classic television programming from the 1950s through the 1980s such as Leave it to In the 2000s, horror-oriented late-night movie programming has disappeared from many broadcast stations, though B pictures, mostly of a melodramatic nature, are still widely used in post–prime time slots. The small America One broadcast network distributes the Macabre Theatre movie package hosted by Butch Patrick, known for his portrayal of Eddie Munster on the 1960s show The Munsters. America One is an over-the-air Television network in the United States. Patrick Alan Lilley (born August 2, 1953) better known as Butch Patrick, is a former American Child actor best known for his role as Eddie Edward Wolfgang Munster, known as Eddie, is a Fictional character in the CBS Sitcom The Munsters, played by Butch The Munsters is a 1960s American television Sitcom depicting the home life of a family of Monsters. In 2006, Turner Classic Movies began airing cult films as part of its new late-night series, TCM Underground. Turner Classic Movies ( TCM) is a cable television channel featuring commercial -free classic movies mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner TCM Underground is a weekly late-night Cult film showcase airing on Turner Classic Movies. ^[7]

In the cinema

Screenshot from a candidate for first midnight movie, Kenneth Anger's Invocation of My Demon Brother: The figure of Anton LaVey superimposed on a documentary view of Hells Angels at a Rolling Stones concert in July 1969. Kenneth Anger (born February 3, 1927) is an American underground avant-garde film-maker Anton Szandor LaVey, (April 11 1930 &ndash October 24 1997 born Howard Stanton Levey, was the American Founder and High Priest of the The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club ( HAMC) is a world-wide " one-percenter " motorcycle gang whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson The Angels were employed as a security force by the Stones, leading to the disaster at Altamont five months later. The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was an infamous Rock concert held on December 6, 1969, at the then-disused Altamont Speedway in

Since at least as far back as the 1930s, exploitation films had sometimes been presented at midnight screenings, usually as part of independent roadshow operations. Exploitation film is a type of film that eschews the expense of quality productions in favor of making films inexpensively attracting viewers by exciting their more prurient interests ^[8] In 1957, Hammer Films' The Curse of Frankenstein set off a spate of midnight presentations. Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British Horror film by Hammer Film Productions. ^[9] What film qualifies as the first true midnight movie in the sense of the term that emerged in the 1970s remains an open question. Critic Jennifer M. Wood points to the Palace Theater in San Francisco's North Beach district where, in 1968, San Francisco Art Institute graduates Michael Wiese and Steven Arnold, after a sellout screening of their Dalí-esque thesis film Messages, Messages, were invited to program offbeat films at midnight. North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. Founded in 1871 the San Francisco Art Institute ( SFAI) is one of the U Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11 1904 &ndash January 23 1989 was a Spanish Catalan Surrealist ^[10] Author Gary Lachman claims that Kenneth Anger's short Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969), a mélange of occult symbology intercut with and superimposed on images from a Rolling Stones concert, "inaugurat[ed] the midnight movie cult at the Elgin Theatre. Kenneth Anger (born February 3, 1927) is an American underground avant-garde film-maker This article is about the theater in New York For Canadian theatres of that name see Elgin Theatre. "^[11] The Elgin, in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, would soon become famous as a midnight venue when it gave the U. Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City. S. premiere of a very unusual Mexican movie directed and written by a rather Dalí-esque Chilean.

The movie generally recognized as igniting the theatrical midnight film movement is Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist El Topo, which opened in December 1970 at the Elgin. Alejandro Jodorowsky (ɑːlɛˈxɑːndrɒ jɒdɒˈrɒvskiː (born February 7 1929 in Tocopilla, Chile, of a Jewish Russian (Ukranian immigrant family El Topo ( The Mole) is a 1970 allegorical, cult Western movie and Underground film, directed by and Playing with the conventions of the spaghetti Western, the film was described by one newspaper critic as "full of tests and riddles" and "more phony gore than maybe 20 years of The Wild Bunch. Spaghetti Western, also known in some countries in mainland Europe as the Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western The Wild Bunch ( directed by Sam Peckinpah, is a Western film about an aging outlaw gang at the Texas-Mexico border trying to exist in the modern world "^[12] El Topo regularly sold out every night for months, with many fans returning on a weekly basis. It ran at the theater through June 1971, until at the prompting of John Lennon—who was reported to have seen the film at least three times—Beatles manager Allen Klein purchased the film through his ABKCO film company and gave it a relatively orthodox rerelease. John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (born Allen Klein (born December 18, 1931) is a controversial American businessman and record label executive ABKCO Music & Records Inc is the successor company to a business that was founded in 1961 as Allen Klein & Co ^[13] The Elgin soon came up with another midnight hit in Peter Bogdanovich's spree-killer thriller Targets (1968), featuring one of the last performances by horror movie mainstay Boris Karloff and a tale that resonated with the assassinations and other political violence of recent years. Peter Bogdanovich ( Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Богдановић Latin: Petar Bogdanović (born July 30, 1939, is an American Targets ( 1968) is a Film written, produced and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Boris Karloff ( 23 November, &ndash 2 February,) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s By November 1971, four Manhattan theaters beside the Elgin were featuring regularly scheduled midnight movies: the St. Marks (Viva La Muerte, a blast of surrealism in the Franco-Spanish tradition of Luis Buñuel and another Lennon favorite), the Waverly (Equinox, which had just replaced Night of the Living Dead), the Bijou (both Freaks and Night of the Living Dead), and the Olympia (Macunaíma, a Brazilian political black comedy). Luis Buñuel Portolés (22 February 1900 &ndash 29 July 1983 was a Spanish -born Filmmaker and naturalized Mexican who worked mainly in Mexico Equinox is a 1970 American Horror film. Originally made in 1967 under the title The Equinox Night of the Living Dead (1968 directed by George Romero, is an independent Black-and-white Horror film. Freaks is a 1932 Horror film about Sideshow performers directed and produced by Tod Browning with a cast mostly composed of ^[14] Equinox (1970) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), both low-budget horror pictures, demonstrate the ties between the old, TV brand of midnight movie and the newer phenomenon. George Romero's zombie masterpiece, in particular, highlights the differences: produced completely outside of the organized studio system, it has a subversive posture evident throughout and especially in its conclusion, an unmistakable allegory of a racist lynching. George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director writer editor and actor

Billed as a "new kind of musical comedy," Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers, featuring Warhol protegé(e) Holly Woodlawn (left), had a midnight premiere at New York's Waverly Theater in March 1972. For the song by David Bowie, see Andy Warhol (song. Andrew Warhola (August 6 1928 &ndash February 22 1987 known as Andy Warhol Holly Woodlawn (born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl on October 26, 1946) is a Transsexual and former Warhol superstar, who IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. New York Times critic Vincent Canby found it "quietly witless. Vincent Canby ( July 27 1924 &ndash September 15 2000) was an American film critic. "^[15]

Shot over the winter of 1971–72, John Waters's "filth epic" Pink Flamingos, featuring incest and coprophagia, became the best known of a group of campy midnight films focusing on sexual perversions and fetishism. John Samuel Waters Jr (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, Actor, Writer, Celebrity, ---- Pink Flamingos is a 1972 Comedy film directed by John Waters. Coprophagia is the consumption of Feces, from the Greek copros (feces and phagein (eat This article concerns the concept of fetishism in Anthropology. ^[16] Filmed on weekends in Waters's hometown of Baltimore, with a mile-long extension cord as a power conduit, it was also crucial in inspiring the growth of the independent film movement. An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of the Hollywood Studio system, a series of oligopolistic practices by several ^[17] In 1973, the Elgin Theater started midnight screenings of both Pink Flamingos and a crime drama from Jamaica with a remarkable soundtrack. In its mainstream release, The Harder They Come (1972) had been a flop, panned by critics after its U. The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican Crime film directed by Perry Henzell. S. distributor, Roger Corman's New World Pictures, marketed it as a blaxploitation picture. Roger William Corman (born April 5 1926) sometimes nicknamed "King of the Bs" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this as inaccurate New World Communications was an independent motion picture and television production company and later Television station owner in the United States from the Blaxploitation is a Film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many Exploitation films were made that targeted the urban Rereleased as a midnight film, it screened around the country for six years, helping spur the popularity of reggae in the United States. Reggae is a Music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s While the midnight-movie potential of certain films was recognized only some time after they opened, a number during this period were distributed to take advantage of the market from the beginning—in 1973, for instance, Broken Goddess, Dragula, The White Whore and the Bit Player, and Elevator Girls in Bondage (as well as Pink Flamingos) had their New York premieres at midnight screenings. ^[18] In 1974, midnight opener Flesh Gordon evidenced how the phenomenon lent itself to flirtations with pornography. Flesh Gordon is a 1974 science fiction and comedy adventure film Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer Around this time, the black comedy Harold and Maude (1971) became the first major Hollywood studio movie of the era to develop a substantial cult audience of repeat viewers; though apparently it was not picked up by much of the midnight movie circuit during the 1970s, it subsequently became a late show staple as the phenomenon turned more to camp revivals. Harold and Maude is a Cult classic movie directed by Hal Ashby in 1971. ^[19]

Liquid Sky (1982) was one of the last true independent films to become a midnight hit during the movement's most influential years. Liquid Sky is a 1982 Science fiction film produced and directed by Slava Tsukerman that has become a cult classic on the Midnight movie As critic Emanuel Levy describes, like many midnight classics, this "perversely beautiful sci-fi movie. . . appeared out of nowhere. "^[20]

On the midnight following April Fool's Day 1976, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which had flopped on initial release the year before, opened at the Waverly Theater, a leading midnight movie venue in New York's Greenwich Village. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical Comedy film that parodies Science fiction and Horror films. IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan Midnight screenings of the film soon became a national sensation, amassing a cult following all over the United States. Every Friday and Saturday night, audience members would talk back to the screen, dress up as characters in the film, and act out scenes complete with props. ^[21] Where the social aspect had always been a part of the midnight movie's attraction, with Rocky Horror in an exaggerated way it became the attraction. By summer 1979, the film was playing on weekend midnights in twenty-odd suburban theaters in the New York region alone; 20th Century-Fox had approximately two hundred prints of the movie in circulation for midnight shows around the country. ^[22] Beginning in 1978, the Waverly developed another midnight success that was much smaller commercially, but more significant artistically: Eraserhead, originally distributed the previous year. Eraserhead is a 1977 Surrealist Horror film written and directed by David Lynch. David Lynch's feature debut, a model of shoestring surrealism, reaffirmed the midnight movie's most central traditions. David Keith Lynch (born January 20 1946 is an American director, Screenwriter, producer, painter, Cartoonist, Composer

The commercial viability of the sort of big-city arthouses that launched outsider pictures for the midnight movie circuit began to decline in the late 1970s as broad social and economic shifts weakened their countercultural base. Leading midnight movie venues were beginning to fold as early as 1977—that year, New York's Bijou switched back permanently to the live entertainment for which it had been built, and the Elgin, after a brief run with gay porn, shut down completely. ^[23] In succeeding years, the popularization of the VCR and the expansion of movieviewing possibilities on cable television meant the death of many additional independent theaters. PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS A GENERAL ARTICLE ABOUT VCRs/VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDERS While Rocky Horror soldiered on, by then a phenomenon unto itself, and new films like The Warriors (1979), The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980), The Evil Dead (1981), Heavy Metal (1981), and Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)—all from mainstream distributors—were picked up by the midnight movie circuit, the core of exhibitors that energized the movement was disappearing. The Warriors is a 1979 cult classic action / thriller film directed by Walter Hill and based on the 1965 novel The Gods Must Be Crazy is a Film released in 1980 written and directed by Jamie Uys. The Evil Dead (also known as Evil Dead, The Book of the Dead, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian Animated film from executive producer Leonard Mogel who was also the publisher of Heavy Metal Pink Floyd The Wall is a 1982 Musical film by British director Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album By the time the fabled Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shut its doors after a fire in 1986, the days of the theatrical midnight movie as a significant countercultural phenomenon were already past. The Orson Welles Cinema was a Movie theater at 1001 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge Massachusetts that operated from 1969 to 1986

"[A] moody young dreamer trying to figure out the Vonnegutian complexities of the Tangent Universe and how to survive in the arid, psychically toxic suburbs":^[24] Donnie Darko played weekend midnights at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater for 28 straight months. Kurt Vonnegut Jr (November 11 1922 – April 11 2007 (ˈvɒnəgət was a prolific and genre-bending American Novelist known for works blending Satire, Black Donnie Darko is a 2001 cult classic Psychological thriller Film written and directed by Richard Kelly, and starring ^[25]

In 1988, the midnight movie experience was institutionalized in a new manner with the introduction of the Toronto International Film Festival's nightly Midnight Madness section. The Toronto International Film Festival ( TIFF) is a publicly-attended Film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ^[26] In the years since, new or recent films still occasionally emerge as midnight movie "hits" on the circuit of theaters that continue to show them. The most successful of the 1990s generation was the Australian drag queen road saga The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Academy Award -winning Australian Film about three Drag queens One of the theaters to show it regularly at midnight was New York's Waverly (also now closed), where Rocky Horror had played for a house record ninety-five weeks. A celebrated episode of television's The Drew Carey Show features a song-and-dance battle between Rocky Horror fans (led by Drew Carey) and Priscilla fans (led by Mimi Bobeck). The Drew Carey Show is an American Sitcom (set in Cleveland Ohio) that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004 Drew Allison Carey (born May 23 1958 is an American Comedian, Actor and Game show host. Kathy Kinney (born November 3, 1953) is an American actress She is a versatile character actress who gained considerable popularity in the late '90s for playing

Since the turn of the millennium, the most notable success among newly minted midnight movies has been Donnie Darko (2001). Donnie Darko is a 2001 cult classic Psychological thriller Film written and directed by Richard Kelly, and starring Older films are also popular on the circuit, appreciated largely in an imposed camp fashion—a midnight movie tradition that goes back to the 1972 revival of the hectoring anti-drug movie Reefer Madness (1938). Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) is a 1936 Exploitation film revolving around the tragic events that ensue when High school ^[27] (Tod Browning's 1932 horror classic Freaks, the original midnight movie revival, is both too dark and too sociologically acute to readily consume as camp. Tod Browning ( July 12, 1880 &ndash October 6, 1962) was an American motion picture Actor, director Freaks is a 1932 Horror film about Sideshow performers directed and produced by Tod Browning with a cast mostly composed of ) Where the irony with which Reefer Madness was adopted as a midnight favorite had its roots in a countercultural sensibility, in the latter's place there is now the parodoxical element of nostalgia: the leading revivals on the circuit currently include the crème de la crème of the John Hughes oeuvre—The Breakfast Club (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)—and the preteen adventure film The Goonies (1985). The term nostalgia describes a longing for the past often in idealized form The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American Teen film widely considered as the definitive work in the genre Pretty in Pink is an 1986 Film about teenage love and social cliques in 1980s American high schools Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 Comedy film written and directed by John Hughes. "Goonies" redirects here For other uses see Goonies (disambiguation. ^[28] As of late 2006, Rocky Horror itself continues to play on a weekly basis at thirty-two venues around the country, and at least once a month at about two dozen others. ^[29]

Two popular midnight movies made during the phenomenon's heyday have been selected to the National Film Registry: Eraserhead (inducted 2004) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (inducted 2005). The National Film Registry is the registry of Films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Midnight movie staples Freaks (1932) and Night of the Living Dead (1968) were inducted in 1994 and 1997 respectively. Harold and Maude, a cult film before it was adopted as a midnight movie, was also inducted in 1997.

Midnight releases

A distantly related phenomenon is the practice of premiering blockbuster films (e. g. , The Lord of the Rings series, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, the Star Wars prequels, the Spider-Man, Batman, and Harry Potter series) at midnight or 12:01 a. The Lord of the Rings is an epic Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a theme park ride a series of films Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Spider-Man is a Fictional character appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional Comic book Superhero co-created Harry Potter is a series of seven Fantasy novels written by British author J m. of the official release date. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith holds the record for the largest midnight opening of all-time with a $16. Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 Space opera Film written and directed by George Lucas. 5 million take on May 19, 2005. Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[30]

Notes

Sources

Published

• Beale, Lewis (2005). "A New Time for Midnight Movies," International Herald Tribune (June 22) (available online).
• Bryant, Edward (2005). "Fantasy and Horror in the Media: 2004," in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Eighteenth Annual Collection, ed. Ellen Datlow, Gavin J. Grant, and Kelly Link (New York: St. Martin's Griffin), pp. lxxiii–xcii. ISBN 0-312-34194-6
• Cagle, Jess (1990). "Video News: News & Notes," Entertainment Weekly (August 3) (available online).
• Canby, Vincent (1972). "Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers: Holly Woodlawn Cast as Small-Town Girl," New York Times (March 17) (available online).
• Corliss, Richard, and Susan Catto (2007). "The Freaks Come Out at Night," Time (September 12) (available online).
• Greenspun, Roger (1971). "El Topo Emerges: Jodorowsky's Feature Begins Regular Run," New York Times (November 5) (available online).
• Heffernan, Kevin (2004). Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953–1968 (Durham, N. C. , and London: Duke University Press). ISBN 0-8223-3215-9
• Hoberman, J. , and Jonathan Rosenbaum (1983). Midnight Movies (New York: Da Capo Press). ISBN 0-306-80433-6
• Kaufelt, David A. (1979). Midnight Movies (New York: Delacorte). ISBN 0-385-28608-2
• Lachman, Gary (2001). Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius (New York: Disinformation). ISBN 0-88064-278-5
• Levy, Emanuel. Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film (New York and London: New York University Press, 1999). ISBN 0-8147-5123-7
• Patterson, John (2007). "The Weirdo Element," Guardian (March 2) (available online).
• Schaefer, Eric (1999). "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919–1959 (Durham and London: Duke University Press). ISBN 0-8223-2374-5
• Waters, John (2006). "The Kindness of a Stranger," New York Times Book Review (November 19).
• Wood, Jennifer M. (2004). "25 Great Reasons to Stay Up Late," MovieMaker no. 55 (summer) (available online).

Online—Authored

• Burnett, Adam (2004). "Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut: The Strange Afterlife of an Indie Cult Film", indieWIRE (July 22).
• Gibron, Bill (2006). "The Boob Tube: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Movie Macabre", PopMatters (October 31).
• Gray, Brandon (2005). "'Sith' Draws $16.5M at Midnight", Box Office Mojo (May 19).

Online—Archival

• Cinema Treasures essential resource for information on classic movie theaters
• Milwaukee Horror Hosts historical site administered by Dick Nitelinger
• Pink Flamingos! official Fine Line Features site
• RockyHorror.com official Rocky Horror Picture Show fansite
• TCM Underground official Turner Classic Movies site

Film

• Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005) (for credits, see the film's IMDb page)