Emerging amidst the collapse of classic Hollywood studios in the late 1960s, midnight movies were programmed as a way for theatrical exhibitors to make money off of non-mainstream, independent titles. These films ranged from low-budget horror titles with graphic violence; unconventional experimental and foreign-language films; and movies with transgressive sexuality that eagerly defied the heteronormative order. Many filmmakers and creatives were able to pursue difficult and controversial subject matter through these works, sometimes launching themselves into the mainstream through an auspicious and provocative breakthrough feature film. Some of those directors included George Romero, John Waters, and David Lynch. Since it is October with Halloween approaching in a couple weeks, we’ve decided to take a closer look at the phenomenon of midnight movies.
One such midnight movie is Eraserhead. Upon its release in 1977, maverick independent filmmaker David Lynch’s debut feature film Eraserhead initially received almost no fanfare. The film had spent years in production, and had been made for less than $100,000 with the help of the American Film Institute. Filled with disturbing imagery and a bare-bones narrative structure, Eraserhead was largely received poorly by critics: Variety, for example, called it “a sickening bad-taste exercise.” Luckily, exhibitor Ben Barenholtz saw potential in the film and helped establish the film as a midnight movie, keeping it running in various arthouse theaters for years after its initial release. Years of midnight screenings not only helped Eraserhead become immensely profitable from its low budget, but established its status as a cult classic and brought Lynch mainstream attention.
The format of midnight movies also proved to be an enduring format for theatrical audiences. More audiences flocked to these movies because they were shown at such a late hour, and wanted to be shocked, scared, and surprised at what was onscreen. Because of their status as midnight movies, films from Night of the Living Dead to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Donnie Darko transformed into cult favorites and eventually canonized classics that audiences would return to see years after their initial release. Additionally, these titles – often made for meager budgets – were able to become financially successful over a longer period of time. Though their role has greatly diminished since the 1970s, midnight movies remain a critical part of the film industry and continue to be a popular screening format for audiences today.
The Road to Midnight Movies
A few weeks ago, we discussed the history and importance of independent distributors in the film industry. Studios like Republic Pictures or Roger Corman’s American International Pictures were able to achieve modest success by making cheap genre films that would screen as B-features in a double bill. Corman’s films in particular were key precursors to the midnight movie phenomenon that emerged in the 1970s, where he had the creative freedom to explore transgressive or controversial subjects. For example, his 1959 film A Bucket of Blood, starred Dick Miller as a beatnik artist turned serial killer who preserves his victims in clay as sculptures. A couple years later, William Shatner starred in Corman’s The Intruder as a stranger who incites racial violence in a small Southern town, capitalizing on the political issue of desegregation at the time.
Importantly, midnight movies were not relegated solely to theatrical screenings. The Universal horror films of the 1930s like Dracula and Frankenstein – along with hundreds of other B-genre films – found new life decades later by being shown late at night on TV. By the mid-1950s, many local stations had their own late-night hosts to introduce and comment on the films before they were played. The popularity of these shows both created an association between late night and the types of films screened, and also influenced a generation of filmmakers who would go on to make horror movies in the 1970s and 1980s, from Joe Dante to John Carpenter.
The New Generation of Horror Filmmakers
George Romero’s directorial debut Night of the Living Dead is often cited as one of the earliest and most important midnight movies. Made on a slim budget in the Pittsburgh area, the film revitalized and redefined the zombie genre through its depiction of a group of strangers trapped in an abandoned country house surrounded by the undead. Released in 1968, Night also carried a sharp political subtext. The final survivor is an African American man who is mistaken by a group of white vigilantes as a zombie and brutally murdered, with imagery shockingly similar to the civil rights protests and police crackdowns occurring across the country at the time. Night of the Living Dead enormously benefitted from years of midnight screenings, grossing $12 million domestically over the span of a decade, and is well-regarded today as one of the greatest horror movies of all time.
Romero was only the first of many filmmakers who broke through to the mainstream with a low-budget horror film that became a huge hit with midnight movie audiences. In 1974, Tobe Hooper’s slasher classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre made upwards of $30 million at the domestic box office off a budget of less than $150,000. The movie – about a group of teenagers mercilessly targeted by a backwoods family of cannibals – and its random, absurd acts of violence have often been commented on in the context of the 1970s, where most Americans were disillusioned by their country due to the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, and growing violence and crime. Other examples of this kind include Wes Craven’s home invasion movie The Last House on the Left; Brian De Palma’s psychological thriller Sisters; and John Carpenter’s slasher Halloween.
Other Midnight Movie Genres
Though horror films were some of the most common and popular midnight movies, they were hardly the only ones. An experimental film with bizarre imagery like Lynch’s Eraserhead also thrived through years of repeat midnight screenings. Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s acid western El Topo also was one of the first midnight movie hits when it came out in 1970; figures of the New York counterculture like John Lennon went to several screenings and prompted the film to get a massive re-release a year later. Other foreign films also found significant success on the midnight movie circuit, like the 1972 Jamaican crime film The Harder They Come. Marketed as a blaxploitation title by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, the soundtrack from The Harder They Come also helped popularize reggae music in the United States for the next several years.
The midnight movie format was also ideal for movies that contained crude, provocative, and transgressive sexual material. John Waters’s Pink Flamingos starred his muse, the drag queen Divine, and was notable for covering a range of “bad-taste” topics – infamously ending with its star eating real dog feces on-camera to the song “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window.” Despite the film’s explicit material, Pink Flamingos has gone on to become a cult classic and helped establish both Waters and Divine as cultural icons. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is another example of this trend: a parody of classic horror movies, it follows a straight-laced couple who wind up in a castle owned by an alien transvestite who seeks to bring to life a muscular Frankenstein to be their partner. Rocky Horror drew in a mass participation where audiences felt free to dance and cheer at the screen as a large group, and quickly became the definitive midnight movie. Almost 50 years after its release, Rocky Horror is still a cult classic and one of the most popular films in repertory theaters around the world.
”Midnight movies were all about trying to figure out how to reach a strong but very narrow audience economically… The successful ones are very few, actually… you can’t make a midnight movie; the audiences make a midnight movie.”
– Ben Barenholtz, former owner of the Elgin Theater in New York, on midnight movies
The Midnight Movie Today
Though midnight movie screenings are still popular today, the format has altogether changed since its peak in the 1970s. Midnight movies emerged at a time when the studio system was in a point of crisis, and unconventional independent films could be just as impactful and popular as high-budget studio fare. By the 1980s, studios had regained their footing in the industry with blockbusters like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. However, the legacy of midnight movies still endures. Several film festivals have specific sections dedicated to midnight movies, including the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness selection (this year’s selection featured the slasher Pearl and the queer superhero parody The People’s Joker). Sundance’s Midnight premieres have included The Blair Witch Project, Mandy, and many more films that have gone on to be cult classics and midnight movie favorites. One of the most popular midnight movies in recent years is Tommy Wiseau’s infamous The Room, widely regarded as “the worst movie ever” and that has brought in excited audiences ready to throw spoons and jeer loudly at the screen.
More than creating and capitalizing on a new time of screening films, midnight movies remain important for a number of reasons. Several filmmakers started their careers through the unexpected success of an early low-budget work, and the practice continues today – albeit to a lesser extent than in the 1970s. The screening format of midnight movies gave audiences a chance to see films with startling and strange images that dealt with strongly controversial and provocative topics that were and remain largely taboo in most mainstream films. Most importantly, these types of screenings have and continue to keep movie theaters alive, in a time where ticket prices have risen and the Covid-19 pandemic and streaming services have encouraged audiences to stay at home. Only at a midnight movie screening can you see something new, original, and transgressive with a passionate audience that’s willing and eager to respond.
Check out the iGEMS Midnight Madness Collection, including classic horror films like Night of the Living Dead and A Bucket of Blood alongside audience favorites such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, here!
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