All posts tagged: Cult

13 horror movies the box office hated that became cult classics

In recent years, horror has been one of the most robust genres at the global box office – just look at the monumental takings for breakout 2026 hits Obsession and Backrooms this year for one example. But while throughout Hollywood history there have been a myriad of other horror films that became instant success stories – from The Exorcist to IT – not every classic in the canon found its audience right away. This week, we’re looking at some of the films regarded as cult classics that initially struggled to make much of an impression on cinemagoers – whether that was to do with poor marketing, negative reviews or otherwise. Read on for our 13 horror movies the box office hated that became cult classics. Want to see this content? This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose ‘Accept and continue’ to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes. Accept and continue …

Kody Keplinger on YA Cult Stories

Published by Jenni Sidey

Welcome to a new entry into the ongoing series exploring popular YA genres, tropes, and themes as seen through the eyes of those writing them. Each guest piece offers insight into a topic that’s beloved–or deserves more attention–in the world of YA, including hallmarks, highlights, and books that exemplify the theme at hand. Ryan Douglass launched the series with a look at YA retellings and reimaginings. Since then, Carolina Ixta explored activism and hope, Stacey Lee offered up her experiences and insights into Gothic YA, and Diana Ma dove into the popular world of franchise novels (where were Power Rangers YA books like hers when I was a kid?). I’m thrilled to welcome bestselling YA author Kody Keplinger for the latest entry into the series. Keplinger may be best known for The DUFF, but she’s written several books for both young adult and middle grade readers. Following the publication of Poison Ivy: Thorns with illustrator Sara Kipin for DC in 2021, she’s back. Where Lost Girls Go was released on July 10. It’s a cult …

Tulsi Gabbard was in more than one cult

Published by Sam Flores

America has always been a haven for cult leaders. Its commitment to religious freedom, a concept on which the country was originally settled — and which the founders understood to be necessary to avoid the sectarian wars that had consumed Europe for centuries — guaranteed that anyone capable of attracting a following could form one without government interference. The country’s equal commitment to capitalism meant that it was possible to make a tidy profit at it in the process. In other words, cults are as American as McDonald’s apple pie. So the latest revelations about former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s membership in what the Washington Post described as a “breakaway Hare Krishna group” led by a guru who “controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy” — and apparently held major sway over her political career and positions — shouldn’t come as a surprise. Quite a few religions were considered cults in the beginning, Christianity among them, so it does make some sense not to wade too deeply into …

Is Your Culture a Cult?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Spend enough time inside a strong-culture company and someone eventually makes the joke: It’s basically a cult. New hires might float it nervously or veterans deliver it deadpan. Either way, the line lands. The vocabulary expands—cult-like devotion, cult of personality, the cult around the founder—and you can find it stuck to all the usual suspects: Tech founders posting like prophets. Big companies whose CEOs call employees “family” the week before layoffs. Mission-driven startups where doubting the founder reads as heresy. Fitness brands where physical sacrifice is worn like a badge of honor. The joke is a release valve that lets people name something without having to deal with it. So let’s deal with it now. What’s a cult? Cults aren’t a separate category from organizational culture. They’re the extreme end of the same continuum every organization sits on, and the mechanics that produced Jonestown also produce ordinary, unhealthy workplaces, just at different doses. The way to spot a cult is by its mechanics, not by its outcomes. By the time the outcome is visible, it’s …

Join our cult?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Unchosen to your watchlist Dark psychological drama Unchosen, written by Julie Gearey, is set in a religious sect based in the UK called the Fellowship. Shot under brooding skies, it follows Molly Windsor’s troubled Rosie, who struggles with her marriage to Asa Butterfield’s Adam, a rising star in the community, and already marked out by its charismatic leader Mr Phillips (Christopher Eccleston). But when a mysterious stranger called Sam, played by Fra Fee, enters the group, he disrupts both Molly and Adam’s faith and tips the entire group into a crisis. But what’s it really like playing a sect member – and do the show’s lead actors see the appeal? Asa Butterfield plays Adam This seems a very different role from Sex Education… It felt like a real departure from things I’d done before, and what people expect to see me in. It was a conscious decision I’ve been wanting to make over the last few years to show different sides to what I can do. How would you describe Adam? He’s got this …

The Cult of Costco – The Atlantic

Published by Daniella Wilson

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Because every day is Black Friday at Costco, I choose to go on Saturday. I like to get there early. I always park in the same spot (right next to the cart return), and wait with the other die-hards. It has the thrill of a stakeout, absent any crime or danger. When the doors open, we move toward the entrance in an orderly march. There’s a small gasp upon entry—the kind of quiet awe that one feels before the most epic human achievements, as when stepping across the threshold of St. Peter’s or the Chartres Cathedral. But in this place, there is no baroque majesty, no stained glass, just abundance bathed in light. In the sweep of human history generally marked by scarcity and want, here is bounty on an unimaginable scale; here is a year’s supply of mozzarella …

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