Cult films and midnight movies are often interchangeable terms, usually referring to underground pictures that find a devoted following despite failure upon initial release. In the 1970's these movies found their niche, shown in theaters late at night after mainstream viewers had gone home. Young fans would gather together to share the experience of enjoying movies that most people wouldn't understand.

These films were usual very weird and sometimes shocking. Some examples are Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, John Waters' Pink Flamingos, David Lynch's Eraserhead, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and most notably The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which became more performance art than just a movie, with fanatics coming to every showing for years, dressed up in costume as characters from the movie, singing and dancing in front of the screen and mimicking the action, while the audience shouted in unison, responding to specific prompts from the movie, bringing props to throw at the screen, such as rice for the wedding scene, toast for the scene when a glass is raised for a toast, toilet paper, newspapers, etc.

Some older films were also revived for their campiness, intentional or not, like Reefer Madness and Tod Browning's Freaks, both from the 1930's.

With the rise of cable television and the availabilty of VCR's in the 1980's came the end of the era of midnight movies, but independent film making is stronger than ever, despite or perhaps because of ever-emerging technology.