Cinema Insomnia, with your Horror Host, Mister Lobo!

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MR. LOBO'S DEFINITION OF CULT MOVIES:

" Even though these films may lack mainstream appeal, they have a developed a devoted following among select groups of film fans and some have become the subject of intellectual obsession or worship."

Public Domain Movies

Land of the royalty-free, home of the Public Domain.

Many cult films have fallen into the Public Domain or are Royalty Free. Because Mr. Lobo is on a tight budget, these are the films we feature (but not always!) on my program Cinema Insomnia.

In many cases the producers have allowed the reproduction rights or copyrights to expire, or never secured them in the first place.

Because of the cheap accessibility to art house managers, video distributors, and TV programmers, many of these public domain films have developed a strong following and some have become legendary classics - even though they have made their creators relatively little in the way of cash.

Examples: "Plan Nine From Outer Space" and "It's A Wonderful Life". Repetition by thrifty content seekers has unknowingly enriched our cultural soup. "It's a Wonderful Life" has had its PD status revoked because of a loophole - it contains copyrighted music. Now it is run by one network each year instead of a multitude... and of course there was no greed involved in this effort to steal this film from us, the American public. They were merely trying to save the film from oversaturation. Right?

Legends are stories that have passed through the generations from family to family, person to person, storyteller to audience. They're "owned" by no one. Where are the legends, the "Plan Nines" and "Wonderful Lifes", of tomorrow?

There may not be any.

White-knuckled corporations, who (of course) are merely protecting the livelihoods of their artists are tightly restricting the public presentation of their films. They are limiting the cultural and artistic impact of their work, in hopes for the big-moolah jackpot... that usually never comes. Many films have disappeared into utter obscurity because of this "protection".

In some cultures the Government, Patrons and Social Groups subsidize the Arts. The artists make a good living, are compensated for their work - and the fruits of their labor belong to the people.

For better or worse, Our culture is driven by capitalism. Financial viability is almost always in mind when art is created here, so it would be nearly impossible to reverse our system as it stands now. We should, however, protect our Public Domain films from corporations who try to revoke what has been given to us. Unfortunately, even if the law is supportive, a big monolith like Disney or Sony could litigate a careful Horror Host into the stone age.

With that said, here is a partial list of cult, sci-fi, and horror films believed to be in the public domain at this time (but may change at any time, thank you US Government!)... Enjoy and share at your own risk!

Titles that appear in orange text have appeared on Cinema Insomnia.

Click on titles for more info or to purchase.

Mr. Lobo's cold list of Public Domain Cult Films(Est. 2001)

Alice Sweet Alice; Holy Terror; Communion (1976) 1 Hour 52 Minutes
Alma (1963) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Amazing Transparent Man (1960) 58 Minutes
Angels As Hard As They Come (1971) 1 Hour 26 Minutes
Assassin Of Youth (1937) 1 Hour 10 Minutes
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul; A Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (1963) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Atom Age Vampire (1961) 1 Hour 11 Minutes
Atomic Brain, The (1964) 1 Hour 12 Minutes
Attack Of The Giant Leeches; The Giant Leeches; She Demons Of The Swamp; Demons Of The Swamp (1959) 1 Hour 2 Minutes

Bad Girls Go to Hell (1964) 1 Hour 38 Minutes
Bad Taste (1988) 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Battle Beyond The Sun (1963) 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Beach Girls And The Monster, The; Monster From The Surf; Surf Terror; Invisible Terror (1965) 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Beast Of Blood; Beast Of The Dead (1970) 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Beast Of Yucca Flats,The (1961) 53 Minutes
Beat Girl; Wild For Kicks (1960) 1 Hour 25 Minutes
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla; The Monster Meets The Gorilla; The Boys From Brooklyn (1952) 1 Hour 14 Minutes
Black Sabbath; The Three Faces Of Fear; I Tre Volti Della Paura (1964) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Black Six, The (1974) 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Boy And His Dog, A (1975) 1 Hour 27 Minutes
Boy In The Plastic Bubble, The (1976) 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Brain From Planet Arous, The (1957) 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Brain That Wouldn't Die; The, The Head That Wouldn't Die (1963) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Bride Of The Monster; Bride Of The Atom (1956) 1 Hour 8 Minutes
Bucket Of Blood, A (1959) 1 Hour 6 Minutes

Black Samurai (1976) Has been removed from this list at the request of the producers son and co-writer Marco Joachim. However, since it is one of Mr. Lobo's favorite movies, I suggest you still seek it out and view it. Jim Kelly fights midgets, warlocks, gangsters, snakes, and flies with a jet pack! A marvelously fun and unusually creative 1970's Blacksploitation Flick. Mr. Lobo apologies for any inconvenience caused by the appearance of the film on this list. Thank You!

Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari; The, Das Kabinett Des Doktor Caligari (1919) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Caligari (1919) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Captain Kidd (1945)
Carnival Of Souls (1962) 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Casablanca Express (1988) 1 Hour 25 Minutes
Castle Of Fu Manchu, The; Assignment Istanbul; Die Folterkammer Des Dr, Fu Manchu (1968) 1 Hour 12 Minutes
Cat Women On The Moon; Rocket To The Moon (1953) 1 Hour 5 Minutes
Chained For Life (1951) 1 Hour 21 Minutes
You Better watch Out, Terror In Toyland (1980) 1 Hour 32 Minutes
Cocaine Fiends; The Pace That Kills (1936) 1 Hour 14 Minutes
Creature From The Haunted Sea (1960) 1 Hour 16 Minutes
Creature Of Destruction (1967) 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Creature Of The Walking Dead; La Marca Del Muerto (1960) 1 hour 14 Minutes

Daughter Of Horror; Dementia (1953) 1 Hour
Day Of The Triffids (1967) 1 Hour 34 Minutes
Deep Red: The hatchet Murders; The Saber Tooth Tiger, Profundo Rosso, Dripping Deep Red (1975) 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, Dick Tracy Meets Boris Karloff (1948) 1 Hour 16 minutes
Dementia 13 (1963) 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Detour (1946) 1 Hour 7 Minutes
Diabolique (1955) 1 Hour 47 Minutes
D.O.A. (1949) 1 Hour 23 Minutes
Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde (1920) 1 Hour 36 Minutes
Dracula Vs. Frankenstein; Revenge Of Dracula; Blood Of Frankenstein; Dracula Contra Frankenstein; They're Coming To Get you; Satan's Bloody Freaks (1971) 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Dripping Deep Red (1975) 1 Hour 40 Minutes

Eegah! (1957) 102 Minutes

First Spaceship on Venus (1959) 1 Hour 18 Minutes
Freakmaker, The (1973) 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Giant Gila Monster, The (1959) 1 Hour 14 Minutes
Gigantis: The Fire Monster (1955) 1 Hour 18 Minutes
Glen Or Glenda?; I Changed My Sex; I Led Two Lives; He Or She; Confessions Of Ed Wood (1953) 1 Hour 10 Minutes
God Told Me To, Demon (1976) 1 Hour 29 Minutes
Gunslinger, The (1956) 1 Hour 23 Minutes