Tag Archives: cult films

Cult classic: ‘D.E.B.S.’

Leave a reply

debs

The first time I was channel-surfing and went past “D.E.B.S.” I thought it must be some TV show I hadn’t heard of.

Maybe it was some syndicated or cable TV show – which might explain why I’d never heard of it – featuring Michael Clarke Duncan, the actor from “Daredevil,” as the supervisor of a bunch of young female spies, living in a dormitory – and hey, are those two young women flirting and kissing?

It was only later, after a cursory Internet search, that I determined I had stumbled upon a cult movie.

“DEBS” – as I’m going to call it from here forward, omitting the periods just like I do with “Agents of SHIELD” – isn’t a TV show, although it would be a natural fit on a progressive cable channel like Bravo or Logo. It’s a 2004 film written and directed by Angela Robinson.

It’s a lightweight and silly movie that’s become something of a cult classic within the lesbian community for three reasons:

It presents a light-hearted flirtation and romance between two young women without a lot of the heartache and tragedy of earlier movies like “Desert Hearts” and “Personal Best.”

debs jordana brewster

There are some “oh my god I can’t believe you’re kissing another girl” moments, but mostly because the romantic leads are young women at the opposite end of the crime and punishment spectrum: Amy (Sara Foster) is one of the DEBS, a government spy recruited right out of school and Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster, more recently Elena of the “Dallas” reboot) is a criminal, prone to robbing banks and threatening the world with high-tech weapons. Lucy is kind of like Dr. Evil if he was a woman, weighed 100 pounds, had great cheekbones and to-die-for hair. And Lucy has better taste in assistants: Scud (Jimmi Simpson) is funnier and more understanding than Mini Me.

And thirdly, Amy and Lucy get – spoiler – a happy ending.

There’s no doubt there’s some intent to appeal to horny guys here. After all, the movie features the DEBS agents running around in school girl outfits and high heels.

But the movie doesn’t treat Amy and Lucy like pieces of eye candy – at least not solely for men in the audience. Judging by the online outpourings of love for “DEBS,” the movie has a cult following among the lesbian community. There are not only fan sites but fan fiction out there. That’s a sure sign of a cult movie.

An added bonus if you watch “DEBS” is Duncan and Holland Taylor in supporting roles and Brewster and Simpson (who more recently appeared in movies like “White House Down”) in early roles.

If you want to know more about “DEBS,” check out the fan site debsmovie.com.

The essential geek library: ‘Cult Movies’ by Danny Peary

Leave a reply

Back in the old days, everything you wanted to know about movies and TV shows and comic books – their makers, their history, their detractors, their weird variations – wasn’t available for perusal at the click of a mouse.

No, children, we had books back then, and they were wonderful resources.

For a few decades, I amassed a collection of books about movies and TV and comics. They were my encyclopedias, my Bibles. I read and re-read them, memorizing facts and committing the photographs to memory.

So I thought I would occasionally mention some of these books here for you. Maybe you’ve got your own copies. Maybe you can find them in used bookstores or on Amazon. Maybe some will still be in print.

Danny Peary’s “Cult Movies” is a good place to start. Published in 1981 and subtitled “The Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird and the Wonderful,” Peary’s book lives up to its name. The dozens of movies he writes about in the first book (three volumes total were published) range from beloved classics like “The Wizard of Oz” to still-at-the-time controversial films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to “2001” to “Vertigo.”

Peary devotes three or four pages to each movie. He lists the cast and key creative positions and gives a synopsis. He then goes into detail about what made the movies cult films.

Peary tells how director George Romero made “Night of the Living Dead,” from its hardscrabble production to its difficult distribution to its reception by audiences and critics.

He has real insight into the movies he covers.

“Pessimistic and unsentimental, ‘Living Dead’ is so effective because it is totally without pretension,” he notes. “It works on basic fears: unrelenting terror, monsters, darkness, claustrophobia. ‘Aliens’ attack us on American soil; protectors, even blood relations, turn on one another.” He notes how the black and white photography, a side effect of its low budget, made it more effective in some ways (anyone see the recent black-and-white presentation of the pilot for “The Walking Dead?”) but worked against it (Columbia Pictures wouldn’t distribute the film because it wasn’t in color) in others.

Peary, who is still actively writing, although not books about movies, brings the right amounts of reverence and criticism to these great but oddball movies. He and his books are what every modern-day movie and pop culture blogger aspires to be.