As much as I wish it was, today’s subject is not a famous comedian’s 2007 vanity project in which he plays an animated bumblebee trying to get with a human woman. We’re talking, instead, about the B movie, a ubiquitous type of motion picture with less prestige but just as much import to the industry.
These low-budget, high-thrills features are often incredibly entertaining or strange, and they historically have given some of your favorite artists their starting points. The formal definition of a B movie may not be the same as it once was, but the spirit is alive and well. Let’s dig in!
From the 1920s through the 1970s, the predominant way of going to see movies was going to see two of them. Double features offered paying viewers a double bill—the A movie in the first slot and the B movie in the second.
The A movie was the primary appeal for the audience—the reason they got out of the house and put their butts in the seats. It likely had an elevated sense of craft, a reasonable budget, stars you’d recognize, and a genre, such as drama or romance, that you wouldn’t be ashamed to take a date to.
Slasher Movies 101: Carve Your Way Through These 9 Defining Films Then, for whoever stuck around, the B movie began. It would’ve had less professionalism in its craft, a symptom of a much smaller budget. The actors might have looked vaguely like movie stars, but the name recognition wasn’t there. And, most importantly, the genre element was heightened to downright nasty degrees. Horrors, thrillers, sex comedies—all of the “lowbrow” subgenres were presented without apology or sheen, removing any pretense from the audience and what they might desire from a motion picture.
The days of the double feature are behind us (save for certain repertory houses in film-friendly cities), but B movies still exist in the form of anything that champions low-budget, DIY creativity and a love for camp, schlock, or any other of the more vulgar corners of storytelling.
From a financial perspective, B movies (a term we’ll now primarily use to mean “a lower-budget, lower-class genre film”) give studios some breathing room to spend a lot less money to get a similar return on their investment.
The powers that be can’t make only $200 million blockbusters—unless they pad them out with, say, a few $5 million B movies programmed in very specific ways. (That idea breeds the term “programmer,” which is basically a synonym for “B movie.”) Here’s the mindset: People love blood and guts, so let’s spend less money on a movie filled with blood and guts that is almost guaranteed to hit a certain box office benchmark. There’s a reason, for example, that Lionsgate released a modestly budgeted “Saw” movie every single October from 2004 to 2010.
From a creative perspective, B movies have a lot less pressure baked into them, which gives their creators a lot more room to explore and experiment. That’s why the format has served as a launching pad for so many of our most iconic filmmakers, such as Francis Ford Coppola starting with “Dementia 13,” James Cameron with “Piranha II: The Spawning,” and Steven Spielberg with “Duel.” They used their limited resources and guaranteed audience to flex their skills, and the market responded in kind.
“Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954)
This 1954 creature feature has an obviously fake monster suit, cheesy 3D effects, and some stilted actors doing their best to sell what’s going on. It is a charming classic.
“Plan 9 From Outer Space” (1957)
Ed Wood is one of the best-known B movie auteurs of all time. In his case, however, we may downgrade it to an F movie, because his works are widely considered some of the worst ever made. Nevertheless, the sheer enthusiasm behind clunky works such as “Plan 9 From Outer Space” has turned them into midnight screening favorites.
“The Raven” (1963)
Prolific B-movie producer Roger Corman directed this take on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” using a trio of notable actors past their prime—Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff—to deliver some of the nuttiest, silliest thrills you’ll ever see. (Eagle-eyed viewers will also catch a 26-year-old Jack Nicholson, six years before his first Oscar nomination for “Easy Rider.”)
“Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” (1965)
Russ Meyer made a litany of sexploitation B movies, offering the cheap thrills of buxom women committing violence while looking hot. But if you look past the superficial pleasures of his work, you’ll often find some pretty radical, ahead-of-their time ideas—even feminist ones.
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968)
George A. Romero made this lower-than-low-budget zombie flick full of wonky makeup and nasty gore. In doing so, he invented an entire subgenre.
“The Evil Dead” (1981)
Sam Raimi, who went on to become mega-famous for directing all manner of elevated B movies, such as the original “Spider-Man” trilogy, got his start bringing his Michigan friends into a cabin in the woods to splatter blood all over them. It’s a perverse work of startling vision.
“Grindhouse” (2007)
Two contemporary auteurs who love the golden age of B movies so, so much, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, joined forces in 2007 to replicate the double feature experience—although in this case, it was more like two B movies.
“Sharknado” (2013)
From the 1980s through today, the B movie spirit transitioned into the home market, popping up in video stores, late-night made-for-TV programmers, and, eventually, streaming sites such as Tubi. That impulse may have reached its cultural zenith in Anthony C. Ferrante’s “Sharknado,” from B movie mega-studio the Asylum. As you may imagine, it’s about a bunch of sharks in a tornado—and it rules.
“Abigail” (2024)
Here’s an example of a recent studio picture that feels like a classic B movie thrill ride: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s “Abigail,” about a group of criminals who contend with a kidnapping victim that’s actually a dang vampire.
What’s the last movie you saw in a theater? My guess is it was either a superhero action movie or an experimental horror movie from the likes of A24 or Neon. Not too long ago, both of those subgenres were relegated to the looked-down-upon B movie slot.
B movies are now so elevated and attractive that they’ve become, in many ways, the A movies themselves. If the differences between acting in a low-budget indie about aliens and Jordan Peele’s “Nope” is name recognition and money, why not get in on the ground floor of someone else’s journey to becoming Jordan Peele?
There is, however, one litmus test we’d recommend before saying yes to a B movie. “Exploitation” is another word thrown around in the B movie landscape, and not necessarily one to be afraid of. That often just means the project is dealing with topical, controversial themes in a sensationalist way. If you’re cool with art pushing the boundaries of good taste (for noble reasons), go ahead.
There is, however, a fine line to walk when dealing with loaded material. Imagine, for example, a slasher that portrays a mentally ill character as a villain simply because of their mental illness. Make sure to carefully weigh the sensitivity and purpose behind the project before diving in.
