For many fans of cult cinema, there is a certain dismal point where they feel like they’ve seen it all. It’s a singular desperate moment, yearning for a new midnight movie in the same fashion that a crack whore craves some rock, uncertain if you’ll score anything that will satiate your hunger. Talking to your friends won’t help, they just keep bringing up the same old films that you’ve seen a hundred times, and you need some fresh trash coursing through your veins. However, there is no need to fear withdrawal. There’s still a world of cinema out there waiting for you, and Peaches Christ has sent me to help you discover its glories.
The wonderful thing about cult, horror, & exploitation cinema is that it is a never ending realm of the obscure. For every John Waters or Wes Craven, there is likely a filmmaker out there you didn’t even know existed, waiting to be discovered by eager children of the popcorn.
Because of this, I’m proud to announce a new series of articles here on peacheschrist.com titled Cult Filmmakers You Should Know, wherein I periodically introduce you to some of the greatest masters of scares and sleaze the world of renegade cinema has to offer.
For our inaugural adventure, I’d like to introduce a writer/director who is very near and dear to my heart: Rick Sloane. As the title suggests, he is certainly a cult filmmaker you should know.
For many, Rick Sloane is most well known for a 1988 film called Hobgoblins, a low-budget Gremlins-esque affair that was lambasted in a rather notorious episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Whereas most filmmakers might take umbrage at the fact that their film was being mocked on such a grand scale, Sloane embraced the MST3K ribbing in a rather good-natured way. Sloane realized that the show, in its backward fashion, was generating interest in his film all over again, bringing it to a whole new audience.
That is not to say that the sole merit of Hobgoblins is this ability to be self-effacing. Like most true cult films, the movie is hugely entertaining on its own, even with some of its obvious budgetary constraints. However, it cannot be denied that through its roasting on the popular comedy series, Hobgoblins found new life. In fact, it was the fan following that Hobgoblins gained from its MST3K screening that prompted Sloane to create a sequel to the film over two decades later.
As with the most notorious of cult cinema, sometimes the circumstances of a film’s life and acceptance into the cult canon is as fascinating as the content of the film itself. To be sure, the journey of Hobgoblins is a unique one, but for Sloane it is indicative of a self-deprecating style that gives his work a rare sense of earnest heart that is so often lacking in cult movies.
I first discovered Rick Sloane thanks to my devotion to USA Up All Night in the early-90s. In addition to the aforementioned Hobgoblins, Sloane had a film called Vice Academy that aired on the show, and I instantly knew this guy’s flicks were for me. Vice Academy became the first in a franchise of six films (all written and directed by Sloane), and was sexploitation comedy at its finest. Starring scream queen Linnea Quigley, porn star Ginger Lynn Allen, and B-movie vixen Elizabeth Kaitan (who replaced Quigley after her departure from the franchise), the films concerned themselves with a team of over-sexed bimbos trying to earn a spot on a city’s vice squad. Problematically, the crimes and villains faced by the girls were never run of the mill. From over-sexed super villains to a nefarious virtual reality hooker, the films’ plots skewed the line of comedy, sci-fi, and grindhouse cinema, creating a viewing experience wholly unique and devilishly delicious.
Looking back to Sloane’s earlier films, this sleazy sense of cross genre appeal reveals itself to be the hallmark of his work. Equally gritty and playful, Sloane has admittedly always sought to make movies like the ones he loved as a teenager, and he succeeds with much aplomb. These are horror and cult films with a teenage sensibility, and a devotion to the subversive that only the young at heart could really celebrate. But really, who wants trash cinema that appeals to the stuffed shirts?
Consider Blood Theater, an early film of Sloane’s starring cult icon Mary Woronov. The film’s plot about a movie house with a bloody history (which should appeal to All About Evil fans) seems tailor-made for the grindhouse audience. Similarly, Sloane’s send-up of 1950s drive-in flicks, The Visitants, is made with such an audacious and loving spirit, the movie becomes exactly the kind of film to which it pays homage.
In short, Sloane may not ever be called an auteur by the Hollywood elite, but he makes exactly the kind of films for which cult fans yearn. Even more so, he does all this with a reverence and care for the genre that filmmakers far more famous can’t seem to be bothered to impart on their own work.
Of course, I could pay lip-service all day, but this is the point at which I think I should let the movies do the talking. I’ve done what I’ve set out to do and introduced you to this wonderful filmmaker, and now the rest is in your hands.
Luckily, most of Sloane’s films are readily available to purchase or rent, leaving a good slice of his oeuvre at your fingertips. If you’re not sure where you’d like to begin, use this article as a guide, remembering that it is merely a primer to an even richer filmography. Hobgoblins, for its notoriety, is as good a point to begin as any. See if the film, sans the MST3K commentary, appeals to you. Perhaps if scream queens float your boat, then joining Linnea Quigley as she turns some tricks in Vice Academy should be your entry to the party. Or, if you just want some good old fashioned murderous mayhem, Blood Theater and the devilish Ms. Woronov can be your gateway into the world of Rick Sloane.
Regardless of how you start, Sloane’s work offers a little something for every kind of cult fan and provides a great alternative to the same old midnight movies that have, in their way, become so usual. Take this moment to discover Rick Sloane’s body of work and remember what it was like to discover that cult film that you love so much for the very first time.
Until next time, dear children of the popcorn, start watching those movies…and thanks for joining us on our inaugural installment of Cult Filmmakers You Should Know!
