Top 25 B movies ever
POSTED BY: hughff
UPDATED: Saturday, November 18, 2006 21:13
VIEWED: 4396
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Empire - an Australian movie review mag with populist leanings - nominated the above in June this year. (If this has already been posted, my apologies. I haven't mentioned it before because I don't get the mag. However I was looking at a copy in the waiting room...)
Their criteria were:
1. Genre film
2. No A-list names at time of release
3. Well below average budget
4. Ironic/knowing B movie spirit
Bonus points for cult appeal, cult hero cameos and influence on later B movies.
This is the list (How many do you love?):
25 Land that time forgot 1975
24 It came from outer space 1953
23 Eskimo Nell 1975
22 7th Voyage of Sinbad 1958
21 Braindead 1992 (Go Kiwi!)
20 Gun Crazy 1949
19 Disney's True Life Adventures 1949-60
18 Open Water 2003
17 I was a teen age werewolf 1957
16 Alligator 1980
15 Flash Gordon serials 1936-40
14 Cube 1997
13 Duel 1971
12 Detour 1945
11 Frogs 1972
10 A bucket of blood 1959 (I LOVE this one!)
9 Q - Winged Serpent 1982 (the only one that I actually saw at the cinema)
8 SERENITY
7 Future cop 1985
6 Repo man 1984
5 Piranha 1978
4 Adventures of buckaroo banzai across the 8th dimension 1984
3 Evil Dead 1981
2 Kiss me deadly 1955
1 Assault on precinct 13 1976
They also nominated A movies with B movie pretentions: A bout de Souffle; Tremors; Pitch Black; 8 legged freaks; Sky captain and the world of complete tedium starring the patron saint of dull Jude Law.
The full Serenity entry reads:
Serenity (2005)
B-Team: Joss Whedon (director), Nathan Fillon, Summer Glau, Gina Torres
Sure, Serenity may seem like an A-flick but look closer: its best known cast member is a low key British thespian (Chiwetel Ejiofor) - playing the bad guy. It's a sci-fi western with horror tinges. And it was made on a budget that would cover most A-films' sandwiches, with a no-name cast from a failed TV series. Cut through the witty dialogue and well-rounded characters and you'll see the letter B. Whedon's adoptable catch-phrases and expert stroytelling largely make up for the lack of truly awe-inspiring space spectacle and the cult of Browncoat fans provides the final proof that this is a superior B-movie rather than a true A-list blockbuster.
Apologies for any typos made transcribing that.
www.cpfc.org - my life
www.nbhs.school.nz - my work
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Only a few arguments:
Duel doesn't count, it was a Steven Speilberg movie (technically), and Dennis Weaver was an A-list actor at the time.
Assault on Precinct 13 was a John Carpenter movie (A-list movie maker).
i loved Alligator, especially when the kid jumped off the diving board!
My list would be largely populated with the names Godzilla and Gamera, though.
Simon: "Were there any Feds?"
mal: "No, no Feds, just an honest brawl between folk."
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Duel and Assault were both first movies by their directors, as was Braindead (Peter Jackson!!!! clear a-lister). Helen Hunt was in Future Cop (aka Trancers in the US). The criterion was no-name at the time of release.
Denis Weaver is trickier but he was a tv actor rather than a true A-lister, I suspect is the reasoning.
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ahhh, time of release.....got me there.....I'm still gonna hold out on the Dennis Weaver thing!
Simon: "Were there any Feds?"
mal: "No, no Feds, just an honest brawl between folk."
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I'm trying to decide if I should be insulted by the description or glad it made number eight...
---
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone."
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Well of course I'm a Flash Gordon fan. Would not call those seriels "B" movies. More like "C-". But Buster Crabbe got his start there and moved on to Tarzan. Now were really talking epic.
Traveler
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Yes on this web site you do have 1st amendment rights even if your from the land down under. But I do have to respectivily disagree. On this so called B movie list I do not see the names Boris Karloff or Old no 40 President Ronald Reagan. You cannot be taken seriously as a B movie without them starring in it. And god forbid you leave Mothra and Godzilla out of it.
Excuse me what would Walker Texas Ranger say. I think this list is actually drive in movies not the same class. Let me tell about Serenity this my friends is to movies as the Beatles White Album is to music it will change everthing. Bedtime for Bonzo is true B movie classic.
Yes try not to faint I've read a poem.
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Not my list. However, by their criteria, I do think Serenity qualifies.
I have two issues with what you say:
I do not believe it is the White Album of cinema - it will not change the world in any way and it's not as good as the brillliant tv series it sprung from. Which, as they pointed out, did fail to draw the punters (I know - Fox to blame.)
And I DO NOT (and have never) felt that being a B movie meant being a bad movie. I can name you 101 A movies that were absolute crap. Serenity's a good movie and a B movie. I like that.
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No Russ Meyer or Roger Corman films? This list has absolutely no credibility.
Edit: Sorry there is a Corman but still no Russ shows a distinct lack of B movie knowledge.
David
"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de
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Before I start yattering about whether Serenity's an A-movie or a B-movie, I want to know what the accepted definition for a B-movie is. I've heard everything from "a god-awful movie" (Eight-Legged Freaks) to "a flick with no budget" (Saw) to "a movie with a cast of no-name actors" (Hard Candy) to "something really campy" (Batman and Robin) to "a combination of any two, three, or all of the above".
So what's the definition being used here?
"And you can't stop me by gettin' all...bendy..."
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