Released just after Thanksgiving, the film had a dismal run at the box office and barely made over $250,000 dollars. However, it found a second life as a late-night staple on HBO, which was in the process of becoming a force in home cable. The movie was shown in such heavy rotation that watching it on HBO became a rite-of-passage for many adolescents in the late 1980s, leading to it developing a cult following.