[BattleMonkey]

Yeah, that's been said like 5 times already, but everyone refuses to make a solid definition.

Budget is part of it, but not the only thing. A movie like Rocky which was low budget is not a B Movie which won many awards and got well supported by the studios. B Movies used to be the crappier 2nd film that no one cared about during double features. B Movies generally are just the movies that studios often ignore, their low budget offerings that gets little to no marketing behind unlike their A efforts. Science fiction and horror movies often were always considered B movies. Stuff like Roger Corman films, drive in exploitation flicks etc were mostly B movies. B movie concept was mainly from the 50-60's and it became harder to identify compared to Z grade offerings in the 60-70's.

The whole notion of B movies has changed greatly over time and some will say that during the 80's and 90's the whole concept dissapeared. Low budget horror got major theater play, decent marketing, and they grossed far more than what B movies normally would have in the past. Lot of higher budget sci fi also became more common and more acceptable. Direct to video offerings probably is more closer to the definition of B movies during this time. Course grindhouse/drive in era was packed with Z grade stuff as well, the movies that often were forgotten after their short runs and often became hard or next to impossible to find even on video later on.

Nowadays though what counts as B movies is really hard to say with huge amounts of direct to video pure crap being peddled that makes B movies look classy in comparison. You also have lot of movies that are intentionally being made bad on purpose, along with tons of tiny distributors putting out anything anyone films it seems. Market is flooded with Z grade crap now.

[LemonGremlin]

Black Dynamite!!

It even has the best trailer.

[PoweredBySoy]

Condorman

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

[Dany M]

Speed

[Concept17]

Blade for sure.

[Menelaus]

[FnordChan]

Man, all this B-movie talk and not nearly enough time has been spent celebrating Roger Corman, King of the B's. If he produced it, it's not only a B-Movie, but it's probably a pretty damn entertaining one. And, of all the Corman flicks, my personal favorite is a serious contender for the B-Movie title:



Death Race 2000 is practically the perfect B-movie. You've got David Carradine fresh off of Kung-Fu as our hero Frankenstein, Sylvester Stallone chewing the hell out of the scenery a year before Rocky made him a household name, Mary Woronov in her second finest role (just behind Rock 'N' Roll High School), Roberta Collins as Matilda the Hun ("BLITZKRIEG!"), bloodsport color commentary from The Real Don Steele, vehicular mayhem, gratuitous everything, and, of course, special appearances by Mr. President, a dear friend of mine. It kicks ass. It does not waste time and just fits into the B-movie defition "any movie less than 80 minutes". I love this flick unconditionally and you should, too.

That said, if we're talking about this objectively, well, it's like Joe Bob Briggs said: the Saw is king.



The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was made for nothing by total unknowns and turned out a visceral horror film like nothing before it, and frankly not much since. Tobe Hooper turns the limitations of his budget into a gritty, verite aesthetic and then uses careful editing to create a film that, while showing virtually no actual violence, sent people out of the theaters convinced they'd sat through a complete gore fest. Like Death Race 2000, it does not have time to screw around, and comes in at 83 terrifying minutes. It was banned outright in many countries. In short, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre completely rules. Read Joe Bob Briggs' comprehensive history of the making and release of the film and it becomes even more of an achievement. There are other masterful no-budget, independent horror films that I'd put right up there in contention for the B-movie title - The Night of the Living Dead and Halloween are both legendary - but for sheer visceral impact, it's hard to beat the Saw.

FnordChan

[HiResDes]

Evil Dead 2

.

Edit: Maybe Detour if it counts.

[ExplosiveShuriken]

Chained Heat. It has an amazing NSFW trailer too.

[EvilMario]

Evil Dead 2

Very impressed, SalsaShark.

Also some people don't know what a B movie is. Big Trouble in Little China, while an entertaining 'bad movie', had a budget of $25,000,000. Not exactly a B movie.
Maybe I'm the only one that considers B movies must have low budgets though. :(

[ExplosiveShuriken]

I don't know if that counts as a b-movie, but it sure is a guilty pleasure.

[Melchiah]

Evil Dead 2

The original is better.

[Shadow of the BEAST]

lol @ robocop and starship troopers being b movie.

[legacyzero]

Yall got my vote for Starship Troopers as well. I'm doin my part!

I'm gonna get blasted for this, but

I only recently discovered this movie and DAMN. I hate myself for never seeing it sooner.

[Firemind]

Does Monty Python and the Holy Grail count?

[Draft]

Man, all this B-movie talk and not nearly enough time has been spent celebrating Roger Corman, King of the B's. If he produced it, it's not only a B-Movie, but it's probably a pretty damn entertaining one. And, of all the Corman flicks, my personal favorite is a serious contender for the B-Movie title: Death Race 2000 is practically the perfect B-movie. You've got David Carradine fresh off of Kung-Fu as our hero Frankenstein, Sylvester Stallone chewing the hell out of the scenery a year before Rocky made him a household name, Mary Woronov in her second finest role (just behind Rock 'N' Roll High School), Roberta Collins as Matilda the Hun ("BLITZKRIEG!"), bloodsport color commentary from The Real Don Steele, vehicular mayhem, gratuitous everything, and, of course, special appearances by Mr. President, a dear friend of mine. It kicks ass. It does not waste time and just fits into the B-movie defition "any movie less than 80 minutes". I love this flick unconditionally and you should, too. That said, if we're talking about this objectively, well, it's like Joe Bob Briggs said: the Saw is king. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was made for nothing by total unknowns and turned out a visceral horror film like nothing before it, and frankly not much since. Tobe Hooper turns the limitations of his budget into a gritty, verite aesthetic and then uses careful editing to create a film that, while showing virtually no actual violence, sent people out of the theaters convinced they'd sat through a complete gore fest. Like Death Race 2000, it does not have time to screw around, and comes in at 83 terrifying minutes. It was banned outright in many countries. In short, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre completely rules. Read Joe Bob Briggs' comprehensive history of the making and release of the film and it becomes even more of an achievement. There are other masterful no-budget, independent horror films that I'd put right up there in contention for the B-movie title - The Night of the Living Dead and Halloween are both legendary - but for sheer visceral impact, it's hard to beat the Saw. FnordChan

Death Race is a great pull. I was familiar with it as a cultural curiousity but had never actually watched the movie. A few months ago it popped up on Netflix in one of the bizarre categories it builds based your watching preferences (violent sci-fi racing with big old 70s style torpedo titties or something.) I decided it was important to my personal development to see the movie and not just vaguely understand the concepts, and man, what a terrific movie. Just 90 minutes of fun.

[quickwhips]

if you could see it in a movie theater chances are its not a b movie really.

[Air]

Demons

[revolverjgw]

Everything by Mario Bava. Although they've got so much style they kind of transcend their budgets...

[btkadams]

CRANK

this is definitely my favourite b-movie. it's one of my favourite movies actually. pure action with some interesting audio-visual stuff.

[Kusagari]

Zombie Nightmare just for the Coroner talking like the Penguin.

[Purkake4]

Still holds up.

Yes

[Cheddahz]

[Insane Metal]

Independence Day The freakshow scene with all the typical characters seals the B-movie qualification. It was disguised with great actors and a top-notch production value.

This x 1000

Love ID4.

[Count Dookkake]

Budget is part of it, but not the only thing. A movie like Rocky which was low budget is not a B Movie which won many awards and got well supported by the studios. B Movies used to be the crappier 2nd film that no one cared about during double features. B Movies generally are just the movies that studios often ignore, their low budget offerings that gets little to no marketing behind unlike their A efforts. Science fiction and horror movies often were always considered B movies. Stuff like Roger Corman films, drive in exploitation flicks etc were mostly B movies. B movie concept was mainly from the 50-60's and it became harder to identify compared to Z grade offerings in the 60-70's. The whole notion of B movies has changed greatly over time and some will say that during the 80's and 90's the whole concept dissapeared. Low budget horror got major theater play, decent marketing, and they grossed far more than what B movies normally would have in the past. Lot of higher budget sci fi also became more common and more acceptable. Direct to video offerings probably is more closer to the definition of B movies during this time. Course grindhouse/drive in era was packed with Z grade stuff as well, the movies that often were forgotten after their short runs and often became hard or next to impossible to find even on video later on. Nowadays though what counts as B movies is really hard to say with huge amounts of direct to video pure crap being peddled that makes B movies look classy in comparison. You also have lot of movies that are intentionally being made bad on purpose, along with tons of tiny distributors putting out anything anyone films it seems. Market is flooded with Z grade crap now.

This is a pretty good explanation of my problem with this kind of thread.

[hoos30]

The Terminator

[Joni]

It is a movie about man-eating sheep.

[Insane Metal]

The Terminator

Uh...

[ScraftyDevil]

Take a gander.

[Blastoise]

So Good.

[Bay Maximus]

If you don't know, you betta ask somebody.

[Adol]

Would Val Lewton movies count? If so Ghost Ship or the Body Snatcher would get my vote.

[ViewtifulJC]

Uh...

The Terminator is 100% B-movie

[Count Dookkake]

If you don't know, you betta ask somebody.

"Don't worry. You'll get the shit. You'll be knee-deep in the shit. I've got it hid. There's so much... I couldn't even lift it all myself."

Such a fun little movie.

[zon]

Surf Nazis Must Die





































Seriously though, Braindead/Dead Alive.

[Bitmap Frogs]

Either Evil Dead 2 or The Toxic Avenger.

Hard to pick.

[Collider]

[neos]

[Gaborn]

Revenge of the killer Tomatoes

You mean RETURN of the Killer Tomatoes

One of George Clooney's first film roles.

[charsace]

Robocop isn't a B movie.

[legacyzero]

Still love this movie :P

I didn't know it was a David Twohy joint! It all makes sense now.

[RSP]

[Seraphinianus]

I can go with Street Fighter. It knows what it is, and revels in it.

Dr. Dhalsim

[SenEXunk]

Don't mind me just subscribing to this thread.

Also Frankenhooker. It's pure madness and thoroughly entertaining

[joe2187]

How...How


How can you have this topic and have no mention of the one greatest films of all time

[Log4Girlz]

Everything by Mario Bava. Although they've got so much style they kind of transcend their budgets...

Amazing art.

[hertog]

Street fighter is one of the most fun movies I've ever seen, and it's as cheesy as the material it's based on.