For fervid or feverish film professionals and buffs, there is a term—“Kitchen Sink movies”—referring to films that take severe-angle turns at unexpected moments, where a filmmaker will borrow from across the artistic spectrum to create a wild, disorienting ride. They are what this book is about. Throwing marketing reports and box-office projections to the wind, the writer-director-producers conjure a whirl of ideas, of images, of themes or plots, that inexplicably come together despite conventional reason. Almost always cult films, these movies rarely succeed in their first run. Indeed, some of the very best remain unknown to mainstream audiences. This volume provides in-depth examinations of 66 of these cultural oddities, from such disparate films as La Morte en direct, The Final Programme, and Head to lesser known independents like The Prodigy, Land of College Prophets, and Scrapbook. Putting these unusual films into a cultural context promotes an under appreciated but fascinating facet of movie-making.

本書は、興行成績やマーケティングを度外視し、過剰な情熱を注ぎ込まれたキッチン・シンク映画の深淵へ読者を誘います。マイク・ワットは、既存の枠組みを嘲笑うかのようにジャンルを越境し、混沌としたアイデアを一つの異形な作品へと結晶させる映画人たちの、狂気にも似た創作の源泉を鮮やかに紐解いていきます。 カルト映画という文化的な異物が持つ真の価値を浮き彫りにする著者の批評眼は、実に鮮烈です。主流から外れた不条理な映像群が、実は人間の剥き出しの欲望や表現の自由を映し出す鏡であることを情熱的に証明しています。未知の傑作を渇望する全てのシネフィルに捧げられた、魂を揺さぶる一冊です。