Abstract Both "Rosemary's Baby" and "I Walked with a Zombie" are movies that have explicit elements of what we might more commonly think of as "horror" films. On the other hand, however, both rely so heavily on atmospheric tension and are so laden with strange ambiguity and "arty" moments that they seem to transcend the genre. This paper explains why, given the large following for both movies, they are often just as likely to be described as "cult films" as horror movies.
From the Paper "Indeed, it is in these oddball and controversial moments where cult films typically find both the elements that connect with fans and where their most interesting moments lay. It is also in these controversial and strange aspects that the argument for cult films as genre becomes coherent; cult films are a genre precisely because of their tendency to mix genres in strange ways and to explore unusual and difficult themes that most "mainstream" films would not touch with a proverbial ten-foot pole. It is in these aspects of the cult film that both Rosemary's Baby and I Walked with a Zombie find their sympathetic resonance."
