The screening of non-mainstream pictures at midnight was aimed at building a cult film audience, encouraging repeat viewing and social interaction in what was originally a countercultural setting. As a cinematic phenomenon, the midnight screening of offbeat movies began in the early 1970s in a few urban centers, particularly in New York City with screenings of El Topo at the Elgin Theater, eventually spreading across the country. The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides.
Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) can be considered an example of the sort of (then) obscure horror film shown on late-night TV beginning in the 1950s in the 1970s and early 1980s it was a staple of midnight screenings at theaters around the U.S.
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