Roger Corman: The King of Cult
Roger Corman, the director, producer, and all-around force of nature who died last May at the age of 98, was not only a crackerjack filmmaker in his own right, but could boast, more than any other single individual, of having been the incubator of New Hollywood, opening the door for the “movie brats” who would change American cinema to make their first inroads in the industry. Here you’ll find films by Corman alongside those that he produced by such famous names—or, at the time many of these films were made, soon-to-be-famous—as Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, Penelope Spheeris, and Joe Dante. The King of the Bs is dead… Long live the King!
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Saint Jack
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich | 114 mins | 1979
Nobody could hit a suave groove like Ben Gazzara. In Bogdanovich’s melancholy character study, Gazzara plays an American pimp in Singapore who carves out a charmed space in the red-light underworld. But his luck turns in this ambience-rich Corman-pr... -
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante | 93 mins | 1979
The moptop Ramones liberate a school from killjoy Principal Togar (Mary Woronov) in this sweetly rambunctious romp starring P.J. Soles (Halloween) as lead rebel of the student body. The innocent music-fueled anarchy (directed by a veteran of... -
The Big Doll House
Directed by Jack Hill | 95 mins | 1971
The Corman-produced women-in-prison classic was the breakthrough for action stylist Hill and his future star Pam Grier (later in "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown," here also singing the theme song). A hubby-killing new arrival (Judy Brown) at a Manila prison triggers... -
Suburbia
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 95 mins | 1983
After chronicling the LA punk scene in The Decline of Western Civilization, Spheeris delivers the affecting story of desperate teenagers—who adopt the moniker “The Rejected”—who squat in an abandoned house. Their violent struggles to stay one step ah... -
Caged Heat
Directed by Jonathan Demme | 80 mins | 1974
Among Corman’s hall-of-fame stable of writers and directors was Demme, who offers a more humorous (but still titillating) take on the women-in-prison genre here in his directorial debut. The inmates fend off the abuses by the warden (Barbara Steele) and... -
The Wasp Woman
Directed by Roger Corman | 61 mins | 1959
Corman’s lo-fi corporate twist on "The Fly"–style metamorphosis shifts the focus to the beauty standards inflicted on women with this tale of a cosmetics company executive desperate to stay on top. Susan Cabot plays the steely exec who experiments with a ... -
Galaxy of Terror
Directed by Bruce D. Clark | 81 mins | 1981
The Corman tradition of riffing on genre trends rode strong into the 1980s with this cross between "Alien" and "Solaris" that anticipates "Nightmare on Elm Street". Rescuers sent to the planet Morganthus soon discover that their worst fears are taking p... -
Creature From The Haunted Sea
Directed by Roger Corman | 74 mins | 1961
Billed as a monster movie, Corman’s horror comedy actually begins as a spy caper, starring future Chinatown scribe Robert Towne as Agent XK150. Riffing on Castro’s then-recent revolution in Cuba, the bonkers story reels in a cutthroat mobster (Antony Carb...
