Contemporary Cult: Maddie's Secret (2025)

I didn't grow up reading Danny Peary's Cult Movies books and I'm not of the following generation who created podcasts inspired by them - though I listen to and love those podcasts. Folks of my half-generation need our own canon of contemporary cult cinema. It's time for us to define our "classics, sleepers, weird and wonderful," as Peary puts it. We'll debate the definition of a "cult movie" by stretching the boundaries, make predictions about a film's future cultability, and honor a new generation of artists in this new, on-going series called Contemporary Cult. 

Some editions of Contemporary Cult will be for paid subscribers, while others will be unlocked for all. Make sure to sign up here to receive all editions as they come out. 

I saw Maddie’s Secret a few weeks ago at a screening introduced by the film’s writer/director/star John Early. Before the movie’s VOD release just last week, it seemed like these Early-presented shows were the only way to see the film for almost a year. That’s how you build a cult fandom, word of mouth after quick stops at one-night-only screenings. When he brought the film to Baltimore’s historic Charles Theatre, the initially planned screening sold out right away, and they had to add another one. I attended that more sparsely attended second showing, and that was okay with me — when Early ran around the theatre spritzing Maddie’s signature scent, the perfume he designed in collaboration with film perfumer Marissa Zappas, I actually got a really strong whiff.