Review: Kings of Cult (2015)

img2406a0a9

Kings of Cult

Full Moon Pictures

www.fullmoondirect.com

Icons of independent entertainment, Roger Corman and Charles Band star as the titular royalty and while their films may be first rate cult, this is little more than bargain bin fodder that would have been better served as a supplement to a deluxe edition or padded out with additional content to maximize the value.

capture

While certainly not the bottom rung of documentaries, this also isn’t top tier like 1428 Films or Red Shirt Pictures. The problem isn’t content; Corman and Band have great rapport as they banter about the history of their respective monoliths, American International and Empire Pictures and the partnership they’ve had the last 40 odd years. There are no earth shattering revelations or incredible insights but it’s a fun conversation between two filmmakers, though anyone with more than a passing knowledge of either isn’t likely to learn anything new here. Probably the stand out sections are discussion of their influences and reflections on the Golden Years of both their careers and how they’ve adapted to the modern world and tastes of horror, sci fi and cult cinema.

Kings-of-Cult-Promo-2

The factor that drags the whole effort down is production; they might have been going for an “Inside the Actors Studio” feel but wound up “Between Two Ferns.” Largely solitary camera, mediocre sound, dry questions and drab furnishings don’t help and if Corman and Band didn’t have a viable synergy, this would be a painful watch. Add to that a short running time and sparse to non-existent extras and as mentioned earlier, it’s really difficult to understand why the producers felt this warranted a stand alone release. Much like the big pictures on low budgets ethos both of these titans espouse, it would be best to wait until this is substantially discounted or a better investment would be the extremely fun Trailers From Hell series or for some more scratch, the incredible Empire of the 80s book (whose documentary adaptation is what I truly salivate for) – until then, this is little more than a meager morsel.

Ridge_TFH_POSTER_grande

 

Kings of Cult trailer: https://vimeo.com/136151190