What exactly is cult sci-fi?

My guess: a sci-fi film, likely low-profile when released, that has - for whatever reason - developed a cult following.

IMHO, it seems about as useful a classification as some of Amazon's "categories" for its movies, like "Feel Good" and "Exciting" and so forth... in other words, rather useless, and occasionally misleading.

Brightdreamer said:

My guess: a sci-fi film, likely low-profile when released, that has - for whatever reason - developed a cult following.

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Yup, that's it. Firefly is a great example of a cult sci-fi TV series.

Brightdreamer said:

IMHO, it seems about as useful a classification as some of Amazon's "categories" for its movies, like "Feel Good" and "Exciting" and so forth... in other words, rather useless, and occasionally misleading.

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I think it's okay. I think it shows what movies/tv shows were found and turned out to be good/popular. Though sometimes it's nostalgia or because it was so goofy.

Where are the mods here? I remember we used to have one here who would point out that this is a subgenre of WRITING genres, and it's about WRITTEN SF (AND FANTASY).

Here we are, a more recent mod's admonishments:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/announcement.php?f=39&a=221

With the mention of the Netflix category, this thread is DEFINITELY about movies. I started to write a response to the topic, but I'll wait for this to get moved somewhere appropriate.

Now for me to report myself ...

FWIW, cult S/F movies are those that are usually low-budget, not mainstream, yet developed a following for some kind of whimsical appeal they had. Here's just one link I found. You don't have to agree with the choices--and not all of them are S/F--but these (to me) are good examples.

http://www.nerve.com/movies/the-fifty-greatest-cult-movies-of-all-time

Cult sci-fi could very well be written rather than filmed. All it takes is to have a small, but very enthusiastic, audience.

Bruce Campbell, Lord of the B Movies, once described mainstream cinema as the sort of movie that a million people watch once, whereas cult cinema is the sort of movie one person will watch a million times.

Anything that garners an enthusiastic, but smallish, following, could be described as cult-like. It's not so much the quality or elements of the thing itself, but the way people react to it.

Firefly = cult.

Star Trek =/= cult.

(Not taking the number of fans of both into the equation)

While both groups are eternally faithful to their source, the numbers are against Firefly. It was canceled after one season, Star Trek survived three, plus gained four spin-offs (not counting the myriad web series that have popped up) and a Saturday morning cartoon. Firefly fans lucked out with an extra movie, Star Trek has 11? 12?, with one more coming next year.

Of course, Star Trek also has the history behind it, first broadcast in 1966, but unless something happens with TPTB, Firefly will probably maintain its cult status for years to come.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is considered a cult classic. It has a small (though growing of late) following that are enthusiastic about it.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Bruce Campbell, Lord of the B Movies...

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How could I forget Army of Darkness!

Cult movies are one of those things that are hard to pin down, but we can generally recognize them when we see them. Many are low budget and campy, but many are not. Generally, none of them are huge commercial successes, though. But I guess even that's not a hard-and-fast rule.

One thing they all have in common is that their "cult following" knows a given film inside and out, can quote most every line from it, and is given to glorifying it whenever given the opportunity.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Anything that garners an enthusiastic, but smallish, following, could be described as cult-like. It's not so much the quality or elements of the thing itself, but the way people react to it.

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I would tend to agree with this. I think a cult film is defined more by its following than by its content.