 Modern cult films grew from 1960s counterculture and underground films , popular among those who rejected mainstream Hollywood films . These underground film festivals led to the creation of midnight movies , which attracted cult followings . The term cult film itself was an outgrowth of this movement and was first used in the 1970s , though cult had been in use for decades in film analysis with both positive and negative connotations . These films were more concerned with cultural significance than the social justice sought by earlier avant @-@ garde films . Midnight movies became more popular and mainstream , peaking with the release of The Rocky Horror Picture Show ( 1975 ) , which finally found its audience several years after its release . Eventually , the rise of home video would marginalize midnight movies once again , after which many directors joined the burgeoning independent film scene or went back underground . Home video would give a second life to box office flops , as positive word @-@ of @-@ mouth or excessive replay on cable television led these films to develop an appreciative audience , as well as obsessive replay and study . For example , The Beastmaster ( 1982 ) , despite its failure at the box office , became one of the most played movies on American cable television and developed into a cult film . Home video and television broadcasts of cult films were initially greeted with hostility . Joanne Hollows states that they were seen as turning cult films mainstream – in effect , feminizing them by opening them to distracted , passive audiences . 
