 As far back as the 1970s , Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ( 1978 ) was designed specifically to be a cult film , and The Rocky Horror Picture Show was produced by 20th Century Fox , a major Hollywood studio . Over its decades @-@ long release , Rocky Horror became the seventh highest grossing R @-@ rated film when adjusted for inflation ; Journalist Matt Singer has questioned whether Rocky Horror 's popularity invalidates its cult status . Founded in 1974 , Troma Entertainment , an independent studio , would become known for both its cult following and cult films . In the 1980s , Danny Peary 's Cult Movies ( 1981 ) would influence director Edgar Wright and film critic Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club . The rise of home video would have a mainstreaming effect on cult films and cultish behavior , though some collectors would be unlikely to self @-@ identify as cult film fans . Film critic Joe Bob Briggs began reviewing drive @-@ in theater and cult films , though he faced much criticism as an early advocate of exploitation and cult films . Briggs highlights the mainstreaming of cult films by pointing out the respectful obituaries that cult directors have received from formerly hostile publications and acceptance of politically incorrect films at mainstream film festivals . This acceptance is not universal , though , and some critics have resisted this mainstreaming of paracinema . Beginning in the 1990s , director Quentin Tarantino would have the greatest success in turning cult films mainstream . Tarantino later used his fame to champion obscure cult films that had influenced him and set up the short @-@ lived Rolling Thunder Pictures , which distributed several of his favorite cult films . Tarantino 's clout led Phil Hoad of The Guardian to call Tarantino the world 's most influential director . 
