Cult movie lovers rejoice as there's a new three-part documentary series set to scratch every conceivable itch you've got! Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time was a true passion project for producer Paul Fishbein, whose credits include Showtime's Submission, Sex with Sunny Megatron, and the two-parterX-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Timeand X-Rated 2: The Greatest Adult Stars of All Time. This new three-part series features—to crib from Louis B. Mayer—more stars than there are in the heavens talking about some of the greatest, weirdest, most hilarious, most heartwarming, and most infamous movies ever made.
Volume One of the project is available to stream starting today (Amazon Prime Video,iTunes, Vudu, FandangoNow) and carries the subtitle "Midnight Madness." All of the usual suspects are here from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Big Lebowski, Eraserhead, This is Spinal Tap, Point Break, Pink Flamingos, and all of the heavy hitters of the cult movie canon. The series goes a bit deeper, however, for the more diehard cult movie fans, dipping its toes into Blaxploitation flicks like CoffyandFoxy Brown, Documentaries like The Decline of Western Civilization, the work of Russ Meyer and Samuel Fuller, and just plain old exploitation with Tod Browning's haunting 1932 film Freaks.
The talking heads featured throughout pack a ton of star power into the project. Yes, it'll be wonderful for cult fans to see Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn talking Rocky Horror, Pam Grier still looking gorgeous while she discusses her career, or Gary Busey delivering his philosophy while also mentioning Point Break.However, Fishbein and team were savvy to assemble an impressive group ofA-listersto talk about these movies as well, appealing not only to theperpetually unimpressed group of film nerds that love these movies, but alsoyour average moviegoer,who can be given a new appreciation for movies they may have dismissed or never even have heard of before now.
The whole series is guided by a four-person panel including John Waters, Kevin Pollak, Illeana Douglas, and Joe Dante, introducing some of the concepts to the audience and just riffing on the films. It's just one more indication that this series is going beyond what we already know about these movies and going a little bit deeper on things. This is what separates this series from some of the other documentaries of this ilk, it has broad appeal while also trusting the audience enough to go beyond what we all already know about these films.
I got an early look at the first part of the series, Midnight Madness, and I can attest to the fact that it's an impressive piece of work that's sure to appeal to diehards and virgins alike. I chatted with producer Paul Fishbein about the series and what it was like to finally see it come together after three years of work. We'll be talking about parts two and three—Horror Sci-FiandComedy Camp—over the next few weeks as they'll be released every other week. Paul assures me, however, that one doesn't need to start with Midnight Madness, the three parts can be watched in any order.
Thrustin Hoffman: It’s very savvy the way you open with Malcolm McDowell because every nerd, including myself, immediately says, “Ah, I’m in good hands.” Then it’s just an absolute litany of names who reinforce that first impulse. How intentional was that on your part and how did you pick the order?
Paul Fishbein:Everybody who wasinterviewed, upwards of 150 people for the series, wasasked to define a cult film. Wepicked an array of answers froman array of people and our brilliant editor, Steven Austin, put it together. Malcom was a natural choice because he was one of the first peopleinterviewed forthe series and he gave such a cogent response, itstuck with us the whole production.
TH: The panel feels like first choices, across the board, so I’m assuming it was every bit as electric to be in the room with John, Kevin, Illeana, and Joe as it comes across on film.
PF: Four big talents, all film buffs, it could not haveworked better. Joe Dante was the ring leader but theotherthree flowedperfectly. Norehearsal, did it all in one day, andthey all saidthey could go on for hours. Kevin Pollak liked it so much he said,“hey let’s do this all again next year.” Fine, if parts 1-3 aresuccessful, we'll do more!!
TH: As a longtime Rocky Horror devotee, it never gets old to see everyone from the film talking about it, yet at the same time i’s so hard to bring something new to the table. How did you manage that balance between appealing to the fans who’ve seen it all a hundred times and those who only vaguely know about it?
PF: Well if you’re doing anything on cult films, especially calling something“the greatest,” it starts with thestandard bearer which is Rocky Horror. I think we didsomething different thanotherpeople because the goal was to explain to anaudience,“why is this one of the greatest cult films of all-time,” and if you stay onmessage, you get a cohesive story. I think fans will be happy it’s there, but for anaudience thatdoesn’t know anything, maybe hasn't heard of it and hasn’t seen it or it’s newinformation, we sort of explain in the context of the birth of the midnight movie. Even though El Topo is really the first midnight movie.
TH: How on earth did Peter Farrelly resist the urge to have his Oscars sitting behind him while you interviewed him?
PF: Weinterviewed Peter before Green Book came out. In fact he told usabout it and said it was a little buddy film set inthe south and kind of underplayed it. He was so happy that we wanted to talk to him about Kingpinbecause everyone only wants to talk about There’s Something About Mary. He loves Kingpinand was happy that we did as well. It’s sort of an unknown cult film that has an amazing following, mostly though home video.
TH: There are plenty of stories in here that even die hard fans of the films may not know. Do you have one or two favorites?
PF: Without givinganything away, I love RobReiner’s story about meeting Elon Musk, and Rob’s story about Black Sabbath. So actually everything RobReiner says. But every movie hasits own stories and that’swhat makes this series so much fun.
TH: In reference to Rob Reiner’s comment about 90% of what he was saying eventually getting cut, are there any great bits or stories you really liked that just had to get cut for time?
PF: Yes about 90% of what we shot. Weare talkingto our distributor, Quiver Distributors about maybe doing a blu-ray boxed set and we can include some entire great interviews as extras.
TH: I let out an audible “Awww” when Sid Haig came on screen. It’s so wonderful to see him again knowing that he’s gone, but I imagine you must’ve spoken with him close to the end?
PF: I feel bad about this, since we started shooting nearly three years ago, we lost George Romero (Night of the Living Dead), Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), and Sid. That’s a horror movie Mount Rushmore. We have Tobe Hooper’s lastinterview, Sid Haig’s final interview, we believe Stuart Gordon’s last interview and we were scheduled multiple times to interview George Romero and they kept cancellingbecause he was sick. But we licensed a really goodinterview with Romero where he talks aboutNight of theLiving Dead andDawn of the Dead so he’s there. I guess we can say thatbecause of that, Part 2 of the series on Horror Sci-Fi is a bit of a collector’s item for horror enthusiasts.
TH: I was particularly enamored with section on Tod Browning’s Freaks which is a movie that still haunts me. Did the idea of editing together the “One of Us” chant among the talking heads come before or after they presumably all did it during their interview?
PF: Sometimes you get lucky. The director Amy Heckerling and the Variety critic Amy Nicholson both spontaneously did the“one of us” chant. So that brilliant editor I mentioned came up with that sequence. It is an essential,iconic moment inFreaks, which by the way still haunts me as well.
TH: Jeff Goldblum talking about Eraserhead, Spinal Tap, and Harold Maude was masterful. Did you know he was a fan of those films or did that spring up through happenstance?
PF: Jeff Goldblum started talking to our director Danny Wolf in the make-upchair about cult films and they just kept talking. Theytalked onto set and we just rolled camera and the first half hour of his actualinterview was Jeff riffing on his favorite cult films. He was there for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, but was soeloquent and funny we used him anywhere we could. Youdon’t get tointerview a nationaltreasure every day.
TH: In that same vein, how did you pair up various critics and celebrities with films they may not have been overtly associated with?
PF: Once weculled our list from about 250 films to the 50 or so we were going to cover, we showed everyone the movies andaskedthem what they wantedto talk about.
TH: Perhaps the greatest thing about this endeavor in this time of social distancing and isolation, this is sort of the perfect celebration and hopefully introduction to some great movies to stay inside and watch. How many of the films covered here have you revisited since completing the doc or are you over some of them?
PF: Between myself,the director Danny, Kristine Augustyn, our supervising producer and of course, our editor Steve and post-productionsupervisor Eric Mittleman, we’ve all seen each of these moviesmultiple times since we started production.The good news is that anyone watching the doc who wants to see any of thesefilms can get them digitally onAmazon or iTunes or Apple TV or on DVD. And Liquid Skyis only 99 cents to rent on Amazon Prime.
Absolutely check out Liquid Sky, it's actually free for Prime members, but also check out Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time Vol. 1: Midnight Madness available now to stream onAmazon Prime Video,iTunes,Vudu,FandangoNow, and via Cable VOD providers like Charter, Comcast, Spectrum, and more!
**All press photos courtesy of Quiver Distribution**
