Am I alone in that I tend to ignore or avoid new films that have hype poured on them, and words such as "cult" or "masterpiece" used about them?
You can't create a "cult" movie - they tend to be ones that the viewers favour over critical reviews. You might be able to try to make a "masterpiece", as in ticks all the relevant boxes, but this doesn't make it good, or enjoyable.
It's like being told something is fantastic. Critics might disagree, viewers might disagree. It's all down to personal taste. That's the core of reviews - they are opinions. And opinions are down to personal interests.
I don't like musicals. However, I enjoy The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment, The Great Race, and Bugsy Malone. There's two bits of Carousel I enjoy but, on the whole, don't ask me to review a Hollywood musical. The Rocky Horror Picture Show can be considered "cult", as is Shock Treatment. The Great Race has musical numbers in but I think it's more a (dated) action comedy; it's fun but my own love of it is for one scene - the duel between The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Baron von Stuppe (Ross Martin). This is a breathtaking sword fight scene. Bugsy Malone has three musical numbers I like ... but that's about all. Fun to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Thing is, I can declare suchandsuch is a terrible movie but I'd have to back it up with evidence, in the same way I've declared the above musicals (they all have musical numbers) have some great music.
My point?
I suppose it's asking us to declare the "worst movie ever" but we have to quantify what makes it bad. Attached to this is the very idea that some films are said (by popular opinion) to be sacrosanct or above criticism. As I said, reviews and criticism is based on personal view. If however a lot of people, from all ages and tastes, say it's crap then no amount of studio 'puff' will make a purse out of this herd of porcine beings:
1) Battlefield Earth.
2) Ghosts Can't Do it.
3) Pink Flamingos
4) Mazes and Monsters*
I admit there is always a category for films "so bad they're good" but, really, some are irredeemable.
* Mazes and Monsters is so shite that Hanks' wikipedia entry completely ignores this rubbish, even though it cashed in on the moral panic of the '80s.