A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has

acquired a cult following with a specific group of fans. Often, cult movies
have failed to achieve fame outside small fan bases; however, there are
exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences.
Many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and
have become recognized as classics. Cult films often become the source of
a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture of fandom, hence the
analogy to cults. However, not every film with a devoted fan base is
necessarily a cult film. Usually, cult films have limited but very special,
noted appeal. Cult films are often known to be eccentric, often do not follow
traditional standards of mainstream cinema and usually explore topics not
considered in any way mainstreamyet there are examples that are
relatively normal. Many are often considered controversial because they
step outside standard narrative and technical conventions.

A cult film has a select but eccentrically devoted audience who engage
in repeated screenings, celebratory rituals, and/or ironic reading
strategies (e.g., camp, excess, paracinema). Cult films are often
strange, offbeat, or supposedly transgressive in content, in addition to
sometimes being (intentionally or not) aberrant or challenging in form. In
short, cult films are primarily perceived as different from mainstream
films, and this sense of difference often reflects a resistance to massmarket consumerism, highfalutin artistic elitism, and political correctness.
In looking at a given film, its receptional and textual attributes should
both be taken into account, especially to question whether a films
transgression of esthetic or social norms on a textual level is actually
reinforced by its cult reception (and vice versa). As Chuck Kleinhans and
Jacinda Read have argued, it is hazardous to celebrate, as some cultists
do, the nebulous idea of transgression by ignoring or ironically rejecting
other forms of political consciousness; for example, postclassical
exploitation films like Cannibal Holocaust and Bloodsucking Freaks may
violate the strictures of good taste, but do so through graphic portrayals
of racism, misogyny, ableism, etc. Nevertheless, taking many different
forms and functions, the myriad excesses of cult films (and their viewers)
are what make them such a fascinating phenomenon.

A cult film is characterized by its active and lively communal following.

Highly committed and rebellious in their appreciation, cult audiences are
frequently at odds with cultural conventions they prefer strange topics and
allegorical themes that rub against cultural sensitivities and resist dominant
politics.
Cult films transgress common notions of good and bad taste, and they challenge
genre conventions and coherent storytelling.
Among the techniques cult films use are intertextual references, gore, loose ends
in storylines, or the creation of a sense of nostalgia.
Often, cult films have troublesome production histories, coloured by accidents,
failures, legends and mysteries that involve their stars and directors.
In spite of often-limited accessibility, they have a continuous market value and a
long-lasting public presence