Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Directed by	Stuart Samuels
Written by	Stuart Samuels Victor Kushmaniuk
Starring	John Waters David Lynch[1]
Cinematography	Richard Fox
Production companies	MPix Original Movie Central HD Original Programming[2]
Distributed by	Starz Encore Entertainment
Release date	13 May 2005 (2005-05-13)
Running time	88 minutes
Countries	Canada United States
Language	English

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a 2005 documentary film written and directed by Stuart Samuels, based on his book on the subject.^[3]

Summary

The film chronicles the period between 1970 and 1977 in which six low-budget films shown at midnight transformed the way films are made and watched:^[4] El Topo (1970), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Harder They Come (1973), Pink Flamingos (1972), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Eraserhead (1977).^[5]

Also portrayed in the film are the films Freaks (1932) and Reefer Madness (1936), which gained notoriety and a huge cult following thanks to midnight showings. Providing interviews are filmmakers George A. Romero, Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Waters, Perry Henzell, David Lynch, and Richard O'Brien, as well as film critics Roger Ebert, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and J. Hoberman and Ben Barenholtz.

Release

The film was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.^[6]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an aggregate score of 91% based on 10 positive and 1 negative critic reviews.^[7]

See also

• American Grindhouse-2010 documentary similar in content
• Art film
• Cult film

References

External links

• Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream at IMDb
• MUBI
• Grindhouse Cinema Database