What Good B-Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Arkadin]

Even though I'm obsessed with older films that are critically acclaimed, I'm also always on the lookout for really good b movies.
so I'm trying to get some good tips from making this thread.
Yesterday I watched "Empire of the Ants" from 1977 with Joan Collins.
it was hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing at the way they did the special effects with the ants.
what a classic!

[repete66211]

The last B-movie I saw was Clash of the Titans (2010). It sucked.

I honestly can't think of a really good B-movie I've seen in a while. Escape from New York and The Gods Must Be Crazy are the only classic B-movies that come to mind and those are as old as the hills.

P.S. You may want to define "B-movie". It can mean different things to different people.

[Mahatma]

From what I've heard,the expendables looks like a classic b-movie.Got some mixed reviews,but maybe check it out

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by repete66211

The last B-movie I saw was Clash of the Titans (2010). It sucked.

I honestly can't think of a really good B-movie I've seen in a while. Escape from New York and The Gods Must Be Crazy are the only classic B-movies that come to mind and those are as old as the hills.

P.S. You may want to define "B-movie". It can mean different things to different people.

(ahem) Apparently so.

Here's what "B-movie" MEANS:
In the 50's and 60's (continuing big-studios' tradition since the 40's), American International would often distribute their radioactive monsters, teen deliquents, and Vincent Price epics in double-features at theaters and drive-in's--The cheaper and more generic picture would play second, as the "B" feature.
Later in the 70's, cheaper studios like Amer. Int'l, Crown and Avco would usually aim their theaters at a lower tier of theater--Sometimes the "Grindhouse" theater in the disreputable part of town, and sometimes the $1.98 "Second-run" theater in the back-road strip-malls, which became the "B" theaters for not having the prestige of the "A" theaters.

While EFNY did come out from Avco Embassy, Gods was a foreign film that played arthouses, and safe to say, the Clash remake was NOT a B-movie. (Oh, boy was it not--That was one privileged studio son that made bad.)
If you want a real B-movie, rent any Blu with Shout's "Roger Corman" label on it (Death Race 2K, Piranha, Rock 'n Roll High School)
Take my old-fogey word for it, they didn't play the prime theaters back then.

[Scooby Blu]

KILLER CLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE !!!! Saw it on MGM HD! Looked Great and was just pure campy fun !!!

[repete66211]

I call Clash of the Titans a B-movie because it a.) doesn't star any A-list actors and b.) as poorly made and uninspired remake, it isn't far from exploitational fare. I realize that doesn't follow the traditional definition but I'm comfortable with it.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by repete66211

I call Clash of the Titans a B-movie because it a.) doesn't star any A-list actors and b.) as poorly made and uninspired remake, it isn't far from exploitational fare. I realize that doesn't follow the traditional definition but I'm comfortable with it.

But it's got a very big budget, B movies always have minuscule budgets

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by Foggy

But it's got a very big budget, B movies always have minuscule budgets

It had a big budget? Coulda fooled me.

[CZAR]

Calling Clash a B-movie is pure rediculous. It has stars in it as well. Sam Worthington & Liam Neeson. I really dont think u know what a B-movie is actually. Got Em!!

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by repete66211

It had a big budget? Coulda fooled me.

CGI is very expensive so how where you fooled about the budget of Clash Of The Titans. You may not have liked it but it's not a B movies for sure.

[Dreemworx]

Originally Posted by CZAR

Calling Clash a B-movie is pure rediculous. It has stars in it as well. Sam Worthington & Liam Neeson. I really dont think u know what a B-movie is actually. Got Em!!

Seriously.

Calling ANY movie a 'B movie' because one didn't like it is foolish.

[repete66211]

Jesus, relax guys. Clash of the Titans is a bad movie, but that's not why I called it a B-movie. I say it's a B-movie because it has the same cheesy, exploitative feel as the old B-movies--do the overgrown scorpions remind you of any B-movies from the 60s & 70s?--complete with a B-list stars (Sam Worthington, Jason Flemyng) and A-list has-beens (Liam Neeson). And as I said, this isn't the traditional definition of B-movie. Technically I'm wrong, but I stand by what I've said.

[Adrock]

Originally Posted by CZAR

Calling Clash a B-movie is pure rediculous. It has stars in it as well. Sam Worthington & Liam Neeson. I really dont think u know what a B-movie is actually. Got Em!!

Originally Posted by repete66211

I call Clash of the Titans a B-movie because it a.) doesn't star any A-list actors and b.) as poorly made and uninspired remake, it isn't far from exploitational fare. I realize that doesn't follow the traditional definition but I'm comfortable with it.

+1. Clash of the Titans (2010) is hardly a B Movie. Also, how do you not classify Sam Worthington, or Liam Neeson as A List actors?

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Dreemworx

Seriously.
Calling ANY movie a 'B movie' because one didn't like it is foolish.

Exactly: "B-movie", like "Anime", "Film noir" or "Virtual reality", starts becoming one of those "cool" all-purpose adjectives by people who've never seen it in their lives, and start making up their own definitions to mean "I liked it. "
(Back on the Anime boards a few years ago, we were ready to strangle one idiot who kept posting that "The Matrix"--the live-action movie--was "the coolest anime ever", despite the fact that it was not drawn, and did not come from Japan. Why?--Well, like, it had ACTION in it! )

B-Movie definition:
- Not produced by a major studio
- Not intended to be played at A-list theaters
- Often generic example of exploitation genre (and usually that's what's good about it)

(Warner's Clash was intended by the studio to be as UN-B-movie as you can get...Like calling Iron Man 2 a B-movie. Clash was the big studio-tentpole for responsible theaters in "geek-week" March, and was intended to get those faux-300 dollars rolling in.
Real B-movies don't have the Rich Sugar-Daddies to give them the 3000-screen 3-D openings, and have to make their own grungy hard-thrills way in the world.)

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by repete66211

Jesus, relax guys. Clash of the Titans is a bad movie, but that's not why I called it a B-movie. I say it's a B-movie because it has the same cheesy, exploitative feel as the old B-movies--do the overgrown scorpions remind you of any B-movies from the 60s & 70s?--complete with a B-list stars (Sam Worthington, Jason Flemyng) and A-list has-beens (Liam Neeson). And as I said, this isn't the traditional definition of B-movie. Technically I'm wrong, but I stand by what I've said.

Wow for a B list star Sam Worthington sure can get major roles in movies like Avatar, Terminator, Clash Of The Titans, Quartermain, Dan Dare, etc...

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by EricJ

B-Movie definition:
- Not produced by a major studio
- Not intended to be played at A-list theaters
- Often generic example of exploitation genre (and usually that's what's good about it)

Not A-list theaters (Are there any other kind?) so much as second billing in a double feature. If you go by that definition a B-movie hasn't been made in 30 years. I suppose you could call straight-to-video movies "B-movies", but that too would be stretching the strict definition.

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Wow for a B list star Sam Worthington sure can get major roles in movies like Avatar, Terminator, Clash Of The Titans, Quartermain, Dan Dare, etc...

So Zoe Saldana is on the A-list? She was the female lead voice in Avatar so she must be, right? Look, I'm sure Worthington is a really nice guy, but he has about as much charisma as a beige sofa.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by repete66211

Not A-list theaters--Are there any other kind?
--so much as second billing in a double feature. If you go by that definition a B-movie hasn't been made in over 25 years.

There WERE, and there haven't.
Back before the invention of the VCR wiped them off the map circa '84, there were discount theaters that played movies for $.99-$1.50 (when regular theaters were charging $4-5), that usually showed movies that had already left the "A"-theaters and had one last stop out the door..
Unless AI had some "Empire of the Ants", Crown Pictures had "The Van", Compass Pictures had a "Roller Boogie" or some little John Carpenter horror quickie, or Sunn Classic Pictures had an "In Search of Noah's Ark", in which case the "reputable" theaters wouldn't touch it. That was for cheap one-weekend business, and the cheap theaters handled that.
(There were few chains back then, and most local theaters chose the movies they showed.)

I suppose you could call straight-to-video movies "B-movies", but that too would be stretching the strict definition.

Considering that the real Roger Corman and Charles Band both retired to doing cheesy movies for SyFy, it's closer than yours, pal.

[CZAR]

Originally Posted by repete66211

Jesus, relax guys. Clash of the Titans is a bad movie, but that's not why I called it a B-movie. I say it's a B-movie because it has the same cheesy, exploitative feel as the old B-movies--do the overgrown scorpions remind you of any B-movies from the 60s & 70s?--complete with a B-list stars (Sam Worthington, Jason Flemyng) and A-list has-beens (Liam Neeson). And as I said, this isn't the traditional definition of B-movie. Technically I'm wrong, but I stand by what I've said.

U forgot to add in your opinion because not all of us agree with u. I think its a great movie and prefer it over the original which I loved back in the day. Got Em!!

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Versus!