The premise of “Cult” feels like a new age serial version of John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness.” Wherein the former title examined the rabid fandom of literary fans with author Sutter Cane who was an amalgamation of HP Lovecraft and Stephen King, the new “Cult” examines the sheer lunacy that can arise from the fandom of television shows. The series so far isn’t an indictment on the dangers of fandom, but it does explore how passionate fans can be, and how they can often breed a cult-like following that’ll do anything to honor the spirit of their favorite series.
What’s interesting is that much of the pilot of “Cult” is constructed like the aforementioned Carpenter horror film, where the episode is so absolutely meta and self-contained, that we can never be sure what is reality, nor can we be certain what is a clue for our audience, or what is merely a red herring. What we think is the prologue of the show is something else entirely, the dialogue is often cryptic in delivery, and there are many subtle subliminal clues peppered throughout the episode that could lead the fictional and actual audience to decode the mystery of “Cult.”
Turner Classic Movies, the best cinema based channel on US cable television, has so far remained one of the go to channels for rare and wonderful classic films that cineastes can explore, and while they have yet to really sully their reputation in exchange for original programming, they are being wise to include original shows that explore film in the spirit of the channel. Celebrating his newest live action film “Flight,” director Rober Zemeckis and frequent collaborator cinematographer Don Burgess sit down to discuss their filmmaking careers and the techniques used through some of their films that they found most notable and entertaining. The discussion never quite touches on Zemeckis’ motion capture animated films, and there isn’t so much explanation as to why he chose motion capture as a medium upon which to tell stories.