B-Movies - what's the appeal?

Jon Starr

Jon Starr

Veteran
Recently with the thread about the Asylum films in the cafe, it made me think, what is the big appeal for B-Movies?

Sure, some of them are fun to watch, and sometimes they're fun to laugh at. However entire companies build themselves around B-Movies. They seem to try and create something like hollywood, but without the budget, talent, or know-how. They seem to know it's a B-Movie and they just sell it like that. So this is creating an over-abundance of b-movies. It's fun maybe once in a blue moon to watch with your friends, but they produce these things like there are people that spend all their breathing moments watching these things.

Now it seems like with the accessibility of digital cameras and equipment, B-Movies are more so these days. Some indy filmmakers have found an audience with B-Movies because it's so easy to make. However, now I mean no offense to anyone here that does this, but I feel like this is a sort of excuse. Sure it's easier to find an audience, but there's no real talent required for a B-Movie. Just a drive and a camera.

For me, when I see a B-Movie I'm just turned off by it. For me a film is first and foremost a storytelling tool, it's a visual story. It's like a book. I'm not going to pick up a bad book just to laugh at it. I'll read a few pages and just be turned off by the horrible writing. I'll feel let down and bored. For me that's no different than a film. If I turn on the TV and see a film about a glacier coming to destroy a city with horrible effects and even worse writing and acting, I won't sit there and watch it. I'll change the channel. Yet they seem to make it in abundance as though there's an audience.

So what's the appeal?
 
For a producer: You don´t need the skills, crew, gear, time, talents and money - but still can get away with it.
For a viewer: I don´t know - they never appeal to me.
 
but with that said... every QT movie has B-movie feel to it but its not a B movie. So I guess there's room for improvement.
 
...Lots of A-List movies are actually just B-Movies with a big budget. ( I always think of Hollywood's never ending fixation on big budget CGI remakes )

For me B-Movie usually means idiotic story, cheezy acting, and often really bad art direction.

The best B-Movies fall in to the "So Bad They're Good", which are a lot of fun to see with the right crowd.
 
What's the appeal of A-movies?

I've always preferred B-movies (and art films). The hit to miss ratio of the film 'having something' is about the same. There's a lot of rubbish B-movies and a lot of rubbish A-movies. I resent the rubbish A-movies more because what a waste of money. B-movies generally have more fun, less recognisable actors and more creative freedom (but may lack the resources to fully realise it). A good B-movie invites, no requires suspension of disbelief. A-movies tend to rely on name actors (whose offscreen hierachy make plot points obvious well in advance of the scripted revelation), marketing power and focus group derived revisions because they have to put bums on seats just to break even. The compromises are as evident as the (lack of) budget is in a B-movie. A B-movie can play to a niche audience and to hell with mainstream audiences, they'll make it back on DVD. So I guess key is you have to be part of the niche to enjoy them.

My love of B-movies probably stems from my love of genres that used to be ignored or ruined by hollywood. You had to settle for what you could get and just appreciate that at least someone was trying to make the movies you wanted to see. From that position you could forgive a lot. As a kid in the 80s the only place I could see the stories I read on the screen was the B-movie. It then grew to be a refuge from the tired hollywood plots (of course B-movies have their own tired cliches). I consider late 70s - early 90s to be the golden age, drive-ins probably the driving factor (pardon the pun), VHS rentals the other. And there's some real classics to be found. Things have gotten mixed up in the B-movie world since this time, major studios finally recognising the size of the fanboy market. With advances in SFX (or as it turned out just CGI) they increasingly began to throw major budgets at the B-movie bread and butter - genre films, making it hard if not impossible for the B-movie to compete. Now the mainstream has blanded out my favourite genres maybe now is the time for the B-movie to return (I've been waiting patiently for years).

As you mention democratisation of the filmmaking resources has had a negative impact as well, not to mention the glut of availability made possible by the internet. Good B-movies used to require tracking down and I think that was part of the fun. And they are social films which are as you mention best watched with friends (which you can then spin endless quotes with). Any effort to deliberately make such a cult film is doomed to fail and I think a lot of the B-movies in the last decade have fallen into this trap. Cult films just happen, they can't be made. There have been a couple of recent retro/revisionist homages that came pretty close...the key to any good B-movie it seems is Rutger Hauer! There seems to be something of a resurgence of the qualities that I think make for a good B-movie of late so I'm feeling hopeful for the future of them now the changed dynamics of the filmmaking world are settling down again. Looking forward to Iron Sky!

Maybe everything I've just said is wrong but that's how it went down in my viewing experience. Of course the category can also be divided into B-movie and low-budget movie, as many of the highest grossing films of all time are B-movies (can anyone say star wars...).
 
I feel like there aren't enough B movies out there.

As people have stated, the majority of movies made are 'terrible' they just have the budget to try and make up for it.

Personally I'm also tired to people green screening, doing things in post.

I miss the cheese in the B movies, it seems to be pretty much all Horror movies, which I get, but there aren't any cool cheesey movies anymore.

Where are the nightmare on elm streets(I know they weren't B movies, but the campiness was there)
 
It all depends on how you define a B movie. If you're referring to crap like The Asylum makes, I think you're talking about Z movies, not B movies. B movies, as the term was originally coined, were lower budgeted films made by the studios, featuring up and coming talent that played as the 2nd film on a double bill. They still aspired to a certain level of quality, and often were great movies in their own right, but were smaller scale genre fare. I wish the studios still made B movies, but I guess it's not worth it to them.
 
Batutta said:
It all depends on how you define a B movie. If you're referring to crap like The Asylum makes, I think you're talking about Z movies, not B movies. B movies, as the term was originally coined, were lower budgeted films made by the studios, featuring up and coming talent that played as the 2nd film on a double bill. They still aspired to a certain level of quality, and often were great movies in their own right, but were smaller scale genre fare. I wish the studios still made B movies, but I guess it's not worth it to them.
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I wasn't aware of that. If that's the case then yes I'm talking about z-movies, not b-movies.
 
Jon Starr said:
I wasn't aware of that. If that's the case then yes I'm talking about z-movies, not b-movies.
Click to expand...

The Wikipedia entry on B-Movies does pretty good of covering the nuances of the definition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

I am going through a Film Noir jag right now and many, many of the films that are now considered classics of Film Noir were originally made as B pictures. I think the appeal for me is that many filmmakers making B pictures were able to make up for the lack of resources with creativity and edgier content and execution. Not all of them, but sometimes you can find a rare jewel of a great film.

I don't have much tolerance for grade Z movies, except for laughs after a few oat sodas maybe, but that is it.
 
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." -Mark Twain

Therein lies the quandary of assessing b-movies. Are these people intelligent, yet having fun in a genre? Or are they morons who have no taste or sensibilities whatsoever?

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a b-movie -- a GREAT b-movie with a lot of laughs and twisted situations. The people behind it have some sense and intelligence. There are numerous other examples where budget was overcome by superior script and ingenuity.

Splatter fests filmed by chimpanzees, I'm not interested in.
 
on average, b movies had better stories, were shot better, and were the most memorable. it's a shame when the public ruins what something stood for.

almost all the recognized and remembered titles and all the cult classics are b movies. and most if not all were decent and there was so much effort put into the story and the cinematography. if you look the top movies section of imdb, they are mostly b movies.

A titles - drama/crime/thriller/war/period peace/action, usually slower paced narrative, sometimes an action film
B titles - action/comedy/martial arts/sci-fi/horror
straight to video/dvd
tv movie
asylum


it's a shame we don't have infamous b titles today,

B movie action films (chinese martial arts, films involving ninjas, sly, van dame, arnie films)
B movie action/comedy/western (bud spencer and terence hill)
spaghetti westerns
a jim carrey comedy
a coming of age story
sci-fi films (star wars, back to the future, alien, the last star fighter)
film noir/crime/action films

just saw a trailer for 'high school', have high hopes for that movie, too bad it was delayed from release all that time. i think it's a conspiracy by the studios to remake and re-release titles on bluray, like they are trying to offset the cost of blu-ray transfers or something, and destroying the cult films in the process as collateral damage. and also preventing anyone from release any original work.
 
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