The tradition of the midnight movie is a peculiar one, highlighting the intersection between commercial and arthouse exhibitionist cinema. Typically, what starts out as a countercultural product eventually gets adopted, appropriated, and normalized by the mainstream markets. The excitement, fervor, and idiosyncrasies of the underground craze become appealing to masses, marketed to them, and become “played out”. Rarely can the two versions, independent or commercial, exist simultaneously. The midnight arthouse movement is very much alive and well decades upon decades after its arrival on the scene, despite tentpole studios having their day with midnight blockbuster releases.

Beginning in the 1950s, with the advent of the television and the need to fill air-time with late-night programming, the midnight movie started with local broadcasts of low-budget genre pictures that were too niche and suggestive to be played in prime-time slots. The intended audiences for these films were teenagers and other young people, making their airings either a pastime or a total event you had to see to believe. From these showings, subgenres, such as the creature-feature or science fiction horror, gained prominence and sizable followings.

When some of these teens evolved into filmmakers, they took these inspirations with them in the 1970s: when the midnight movie became a legitimate theater experience. Films like David Lynch’s Eraserhead, John Carpenter’s Halloween, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show all have elements of pastiche in their relationships to eras of film prior. Eraserhead and The Rocky Horror Picture Show even became cult-films of their own, with film and art lovers flocking to the cinemas, very specifically, at midnight.

Now, why do we as moviegoers have an attraction to the idea of seeing something at so late an hour? It is well past the traditional operating hours of a local theater. Could theexclusivity of the event be a driving factor in why so many crowds turn out to see movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Room, even today?

The essence of community in the most desolate hours of the early morning when emerging from a cinema at around 2:00 am might be a reason for the late-night viewing’s continued success. As someone who frequented the independent theaters of Los Angeles, the crowd standing beneath the lit marquee, rattling off favorite moments or jokes, if the screening calls for audience participation, coupled with the nighttime daze compares to no other moviegoing experience.

This communal gathering based on a shared love of something, whether that be genre, cult cinema or a specific film, is a piece of the midnight movie experience that has been lifted and applied to commercial releases. Starting in the early 2000s, only select blockbuster films had Thursday midnight openings. These would be incredibly sought after, due to the exclusivity and anticipation for the event film. Ticket sales would begin at a certain time, and if you were not waiting in line or even camping out, you were not getting into the showing.

Franchises like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter dominated the popular film market at the time, with die-hard fans anxiously awaiting the late-night premiere. These openings would involve elaborate costumes, trivia games, mock play-by-plays of famous sequences, and more to stimulate fan excitement. When the film would finally play, these audiences would have the guarantee of knowing they were some of the first people in the world to view the film and know its secrets. 

As this type of spectatorship became an increasingly desirable affair, the midnight release strategy was adopted by all major studio films. They became the expectation for super-fans of whatever property they were held for. Eventually, theaters and studios could no longer facilitate the demand for people trying to get into the exclusive first showings, and extended these premiere hours back into Thursday evening.

Now, buying tickets for a blockbuster movie on the day before its publicized release, at more reasonable hours like 7:00 pm, is far more commonplace. This switch has certainly thrown a wrench in the midnight movie atmosphere of it all, but if releases like Spider-Man: No Way Home are any indication, the audience participation is still at play.

No Way Home being the culmination of the MCU Spider-Man trilogy and a serendipitous justification for the previously maligned string of reboots to the franchise, has created the excitement for the film to break box-office records left and right. The anticipation was palpable and called for fans to be there opening night.

While not engaging in Rocky Horror or The Room-esque audience participation, bootleg videos circulating the internet have proved that the Thursday night screening environment is for fans who cannot contain their joy when experiencing some of the film’s greatest moments. The energetic response from audience members during these showings create an exclusivity that separates a hard-core fan from a casual viewer. If you do not wish to hear fellow spectators screaming and cheering during the climactic moments and reveals, these showings are not for you.

Despite the appropriation of certain spectator rituals, the midnight movie scene is still empowered today. Showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Room still sell out and create endless enthusiasm upon the opening titles and credits. Genre films like Eraserhead, El Topo, Freaks, and Night of the Living Dead all still make occasional appearances at independent theaters, but their hey-days have indeed passed.

The midnight movie scene has diminished since the 1970s but still has undeniable appeal that will inspire communities of film-goers towards expression and nocturnal exhibition.