ABSTRACT
What is the sound of cult cinema? Can we speak meaningfully of such a thing, given the widely discussed conceptual slippages at play in any definition of cult? Writings on cult cinema, both popular and academic, lack much engagement with cult cinema’s sonic elements. It is difficult to conceive of the ‘sound’ of cult cinema without initially thinking of music, given that some cult cinema scores have simultaneously a cult following for the musicians alongside a cult following for the film or film’s director (examples include the Italian progressive rock band Goblin and their association with Italian horror, or the funk and soul soundtracks of Blaxploitation). However, music in cult cinema is discussed elsewhere in this volume by James Wierzbicki. This chapter therefore provides an opportunity to consider other elements of the sound of cult cinema, including dialogue, sound effects, and non-narrative/non-semantic aspects such as noise.
