Not the greatest a documentary on this subject that it could have been.But definitely worth watching. The doc lacks the energy of the films it showcases & consistency of story. One minute it's about war & politics in the seventies, the next minute it's about going to a theater with your friends. Sometimes it forgets to Super certain people and then folds back in on itself & goes a different direction with a different movie & different tastes. It seems more like a scrapbook & collection of people in that generation & less a fully realized piece of work. I expected more, got less, & recommend it for anyone studying this subject; but not serious fans of documentary films. The pace once they get to Eraserhead from then on the documentary has a good pace, but before that some of the interviews shots are bland, unmotivated & some gfx are just gaudy. Mediocre at best unless you truly love & want to learn about these films. Also the whole work keeps flashing up shots of the book it's based off of seemingly at random *.* Not my favorite, but if interested in some of the history it touches on the subject but doesn't manage the broad scope in a consistent & complete narrative

The collection of films gathered in this documentary is centered around the cult of the midnight movies, a series of films in the 70s which were not only experimental in form and shocking in content, but also presented a different type of viewing experience in the decade between the flower power 60s and the electronic explosion of the 80s. All these films became cult objects and enjoyed success which was not necessarily, or not only commercial, but also focused on a type of non-mainstream audience. The films themselves were very unequal judged on the art scale, with three of the six being important films, to be remembered in any history of the moving pictures art, and the other three closer to the trash pan. It is however interesting to see the authors of the movies looking back to the time of the making and the critics trying to put them in perspective. At the end it is not so much the documentary material that stays with the viewer but the reflection process that makes us think about the relationship between art, viewing conditions, experiment and success.

An excellent documentary feature on the backgrounds and effects of cult classics from the 1970s when underground movie groups popped into the limelight and in theaters as cinematic accessibility became more pronounced and prevalent. Movie classics (to some, not me) "Night of the Living Dead" (the 1968 original), "El Topo", "Pink Flamingos", "The Harder They Come", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Eraserhead" are the focal points here as we have tons of archive footage and interesting interviews from the films' major directors (John Waters, David Lynch, George Romero and others) and insight from dependable critic Roger Ebert. The picture is made better than the movies that are discussed and quickly becomes a magnet for some that are not familiar with the movies revisited. The only drawback here is that "Midnight Movies" will make some want to see the aforementioned films from the 1970s. Unfortunately, this flick makes its subjects look much more appealing than they actually are. 5 stars out of 5.

Absorbing documentary about midnight movies--how they started, why they existed and did so well and what killed them. It deals with six key movies--El Topo; Night of the Living Dead; The Harder They Come; Pink Flamingoes; Rocky Horror Picture Show and Eraserhead. They interview the directors and distributors of all six films and they discuss how they got them out and the reactions of critics and audiences. It also explains why these movies were only successful as midnight movies (Rocky Horror was a disaster when it came out as a regular movie).I'm old enough to remember midnight movies and how much fun they were. They're gone forever but this wonderful documentary brought it all back to me. Also there's a HUGE amount of footage from each film. Highly recommended.