This is labeled as a “documentary” on Tubi, but it’s essentially a filmed Q & A with exploitation legends Charles (Puppet Master) Band and Roger (Little Shop of Horrors) Corman sitting in director chairs and fielding softball questions about their careers, their influence, and their legacy. Corman is his usual smooth-talking Zen self and makes no bones about the movies he made. Band is more animated and has some funny stories (he was once babysat by Marilyn Monroe!). If you’re a fan of Corman and have seen him as a talking head in countless other documentaries, some of his stories will be overly familiar. Band, on the other hand, offers some cool insights on the Italian filmmaking process in the ‘60s where his father worked.
While Band and Corman are only one generation removed from one another, they still have a lot in common as they are both mavericks when it comes to working on the fringe of the mainstream. The duo also talk about how they milk their successful films and concepts for all they are worth. (Band is preparing an eleventh Puppet Master while Corman is busy producing yet another shark movie for the SYFY Channel.) If you’re a fan of either director, you’ll probably have as much fun as I did just listening to them sitting around and talking shop. Out of all the anecdotes, my favorite story was how Band came up with the iconic poster for Ghoulies. (Spoiler: Weed was involved.)
That said, I’m not sure how much replay value something like this will have. Still, for what amounts to basically a filmed hour-long chat, it’s quite entertaining. It’s certainly more informative than most genre filmmaking documentaries as this one delves pretty deep into the distribution and marketing aspect of motion pictures, which is something that usually isn’t covered in these sorts of things. That aspect alone makes Kings of Cult worth a look.
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