When overviewing cult films, as a viewer I definitely lean and understand more low budget, artsy, whatever films as a part of cult film. Movies like Dazed and Confused, Matinee, and etc., were not ones I enjoyed or connect with as a cult movie viewer. I do though understand after the readings how they fit into cult film. For example, with Matinee I was so bored, but it makes sense how it has cult film status as it is a homage to movie and movie theater experiences, specifically the use of gimmicks. When it comes to my opinion on the best cult films we watched this semester, The Devils and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders are on top. Both totally weird in their own ways, with great shots, and an obviously strong artistic direction. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a beautiful and confusing as hell exploration of girlhood and coming of age. After her pearl earrings are stolen and then returned she is faced with various monsters including vampires and creepy pedophilic priests. It's a plot that beyond that, isn't really clear or easy to follow and I'm here for it. It's a film that came out of the Czechoslovakian new wave movement of the 1960's to early 1970's. The most brilliant part of this movie is that lesbianism cure vampirism, of course. It's my favorite part when Valerie kisses and sleeps next her best friend and just ends up curing her vampire bite mark like that. It definitely makes logical sense. The Devils was maybe my favorite and in my opinion best, it had everything and served it on a silver plater. From the real history it's derived from to the naked nuns and gay king, it knew what it needed to be and gave us that like a punch to the face. It is insane. It is the film that has stuck with me and close to my heart. The sexual repression that women in religion, in this case, nuns face and the anger that comes with it, to me, is shot almost perfectly by this film. It felt real and that it didn't just having women naked and sexual on screen for the sake of it. It had a point and it got that point across. In addition, this film never felt accusatory to the anger and sexuality the nuns acted upon, it never muddled it down to female hysteria or such. Sure, some of the characters in it blamed Satan and whatever they could, but as viewers of the film we are shown that women were just sexual beings that when repressed has great draw backs. A cult movie is based on what any cult is, the following. It has to have some aspect that is usually transgressive or just uncommon that speaks to a specific group of people that create community out of it. When a movie is cult it is the way the group of fans interact and continue to create new things around that movie. Whether that's just a group of fans talking and analyzing the movie together or someone making zines and fanart. It creates what any human needs, a community.