Cult movies: Going beyond the blockbuster

In high school, my friends and I used to watch "Dazed and Confused" practically every weekend. We weren't '70s retro people, we weren't heavy drug users. It was just our movie, and we could quote practically every line of it.

When I arrived at Princeton, I discovered that my roommate hadn't seen "Dazed and Confused." Amazed at this lack of pop-culture savvy, I sat down at a table in Rocky dining hall and announced, "She hasn't seen 'Dazed and Confused!' Can you believe it?"

"I haven't seen it." "I haven't seen it." So it went, round the table, until I realized that I was the only person sitting there who had seen a movie that I considered to be one of the defining cinematic experiences of my generation.

What makes a cult movie? Whether the cult is as specific as my group of friends in high school, or as encompassing as the millions of people across the world who flock to see "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" each weekend, decked out in the costumes of their favorite characters, there are certain common elements about the movies that draw people together.

In general, a movie that becomes truly "cult" was underappreciated in its original theatrical release. It has some elements of camp. It has its own language, phrases that soon enter the cultural vernacular. It's colorful and funny and a little twisted and somewhat illicit.

With these traits in mind, I would like to present a movie that I personally believe is worthy of cult status. Don't be surprised if you've never heard of it before — part of the joy of a cult is that only a select group is initiated.

In the wasteland of cinema that was this past summer, one movie stands above the rest, fully deserving of cult status — "Psycho Beach Party." Based on a 1987 play by Charles Busch, "Psycho Beach Party" tells the story of a young wannabe surfer named Chicklet (Lauren Ambrose) and her various personalities. Among these are Ann Bowman, dominatrix, and Tylene, Safeway checkout girl. But here's the real question: Is one of Chicklet's personalities the murderer who's been hanging around Malibu, picking off neighborhood teens one by one?

A pitch-perfect parody of both '60s beach party movies and '70s slasher flicks, "Psycho Beach Party" has an unmistakably 21st-century attitude. Mixed in among the candy-colored images and "Golly gee!" expressions are moments that force a modern audience to laugh at themselves. In one scene, Police Captain Monica Stark (Busch) contemplates public reaction to a particularly grisly murder and wonders how people can possibly find this type of violence funny. Of course, the "Psycho Beach Party" theatergoer is watching this particular film expressly because he or she goes into hysterical laughing fits at the cliched absurdity of such gems as the "dead at the drive-in" sequence. The willingness of the film to parody its audience as well as itself brings multiple levels to the needle-sharp humor.

Busch, a noted New York drag performer, adapted his Off-Broadway play for the screen. He worked closely with director Robert Lee King to extend the play — which initially confined its satire to the brightly colored "Gidget" beach genre — into a film that mocks almost every type of teen movie.

Though he has abandoned his original stage role of 16-year-old Chicklet, Busch makes a very convincing woman — with the help of a body double for certain scenes — as the sexy face of authority, Monica Stark, and Stark's investigation into the Malibu killings does much to keep the movie from becoming merely self-indulgent parody. The surfer boys discovering their true sexuality, the B-movie queen on the run from her exploitative studio, the sunny Malibu setting itself — all these elements make "Psycho Beach Party" a bright, diverting, over-the-top hour-and-a-half.

"Psycho Beach Party" may be a little difficult to find. Initially released only in two New York theaters, it soon was showing only in one. And that theater was not of the Dolby-Digital-Surround-Sound variety. If you're lucky, you may find "Psycho Beach Party" on the big screen — if not, then you'll just have to wait for video. But believe me, video is worth the wait. As Chicklet says, albeit about surfing, "It's the ultimate."

Perhaps in time, "Psycho Beach Party" will become a true midnight movie of the "Rocky Horror" variety. Maybe on a not-to-distant day, there will be people lined up at theater doors, wearing their '60s style bathing suits, their conversation littered with "Fantabulous!" and "Swell!" Or perhaps that valued cult position will be taken by some other movie, which has yet to enter the public consciousness. But whatever the case may be, it's always fun to think outside of the blockbuster box. There are movies beyond the box office top 10 for every taste.

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Maybe "Psycho Beach Party" doesn't appeal to you at all. So be it. But share your favorite movie, as esoteric as it may be. There are always people out there who are willing to indulge video-watching whims for at least a short while. And maybe they'll end up being like a woman in the theater where I saw "Psycho Beach Party" — the first time — and leave immediately after the opening credits. But at least you tried to share the brilliance with the rest of the world. If they don't appreciate it, that's their problem.