 I. Q. Hunter identifies a prefabricated cult film style which includes " deliberately , insulting bad films " , " slick exercises in dysfunction and alienation " , and mainstream films " that sell themselves as worth obsessing over " . Writing for NPR , Scott Tobias states that Don Coscarelli , whose previous films effortlessly attracted cult followings , has drifted into this realm . Tobias criticizes Coscarelli as trying too hard to appeal to cult audiences and sacrificing internal consistency for calculated quirkiness . Influenced by the successful online hype of The Blair Witch Project ( 1999 ) , other films have attempted to draw online cult fandom with the use of prefabricated cult appeal . Snakes on a Plane ( 2006 ) is an example that attracted massive attention from curious fans . Uniquely , its cult following preceded the film 's release and included speculative parodies of what fans imagined the film might be . This reached the point of convergence culture when fan speculation began to impact on the film 's production . Although it was proclaimed a cult film and major game @-@ changer before it was released , it failed to win either mainstream audiences or maintain its cult following . In retrospect , critic Spencer Kornhaber would call it a serendipitous novelty and a footnote to a " more naive era of the Internet " . However , it became influential in both marketing and titling . This trend of " instant cult classics " which are hailed yet fail to attain a lasting following is described by Matt Singer , who states that the phrase is an oxymoron . 
