B Movies Get A New Lease On Life
Exhibit Number One: Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated film “Django Unchained” is done in the style of the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s and ’70s. The majority of Tarantino’s films pay homage to the film industry’s rich history of traditional “B” movies, exploitation…
Gun Hey Fat Choy Baby
There is no cinema more underappreciated than that of Chinese cinema. So often, Chinese cinema, here meaning that of Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan, has been associated with cheesy B-movie icons that people like Quentin Tarantino revere. And there…
I Am Curious Piranha
Joe Dante’s cult horror classic Piranha has finally received the bluray treatment. It tells the story of a group of people in a summer resort who encounter a group of mutant piranhas ready to nibble them to death. In true…
John Dies At The End
If cult movies were treated the way some religious cults are, Don Coscarelli probably wouldn’t have to pay another dime in taxes for the rest of his life. Coscarelli’s not the most prolific of filmmakers, with only ten features under…
The Amazing Beverly Gray
Beverly Gray has spent her career fluctuating between the world of the intellect and show biz. As she was completing her doctorate in Contemporary American Fiction at UCLA, she surprised everyone (including herself) by taking a job with B-movie maven…
Drive-in Theaters Get Help For Digital Conversion
Drive-in theaters threatened with extinction by the digital revolution are getting a helping hand. The National Assn. of Theatre Owners and the private company Cinedigm, which supplies digital equipment and content to the exhibition industry, said they will help drive-in…
Ant-Man
Ant-Man will be an origin tale with a difference, according to director Edgar Wright. The Scott Pilgrim vs the World filmmaker said that the movie will be special effects-heavy and tie in with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while also working…
World War Z’ Super Bowl’s Zombie Apocalypse
The Super Bowl trailer for the Brad Pitt flick World War Z gives moviegoers a quick look at all sorts of zombie apocalypse-related mayhem. Although the clip shows a number of horrifying scenarios, viewers really don’t get a good look…
Renny Harlin Directing ‘Hercules 3D
THR reports that Hercules 3D has been developing since 2007, with screenwriter Hanna Weg and Sean Hood (Conan the Barbarian) crafting a “revisionist tale of the classic Greek myth.” Renny Harlin is directing, with casting for the film’s leading roles…
Experiment in Terror
The Golden Gate Bridge, trolley cars, Candlestick Park… why, Experiment in Terror is only a pot of Rice-A-Roni away from being the ultimate San Francisco treat. Corny jokes aside, this picture was the opening salvo of a powerhouse year for…
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff had already reached middle age by the time James Whale’s Frankenstein made him an international horror icon in 1931. His filmography contained dozens of entries at that point, so it’s not surprising that he continued to make non-horror…
Francis The Talking Mule
Francis the Talking Mule was a mule celebrity, featured in seven movie comedies in the 1950s. The character originated in a novel by writer David Stern, and Universal Studios bought the rights for a film series, with Stern adapting his…
Vanessa Angel
British-born Vanessa Angel began her career at age 14 as a model, when she was discovered by world-renowned agent, Eileen Ford. She gained much life experience by traveling the world, relocating to New York and appearing on many magazine covers,…
They Love Them B’s
B-movies, those low-budget, low-prestige genre films that were fan favorites for decades, have an enduring place in Hollywood history. Some of the screen’s greatest actors and directors cut their teeth on B-westerns (John Wayne, for example) or B-horror flicks (director…
Showcase Cinemas brings ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ to the big screen
“Manos: The Hands of Fate” is a 1966 horror B-movie written, produced, directed by and starring Harold P. Warren, an insurance and fertilizer salesman from Texas, about a family that stumbles upon a mysterious house while vacationing in the Texas…
The Stuff
As a writer and writer-director, Larry Cohen has often had trouble bridging the distance between brilliant concepts and not-so-masterful execution—though movies like Q: The Winged Serpent and the It’s Alive trilogy are about as close to true B-movie paradise as…
Big Trouble in Little China
Jack Burton is nobody special. He’s just your average red-blooded American—a loudmouth truckdriver with a gambling habit and a knack for getting into trouble. When his friend Wang’s fiancée Miao Yin is kidnapped by sex traffickers, Jack agrees to help…
Academy Scores B Movie Posters
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has received a gift of 1,088 original film posters, many of them “B movies” from Hollywood’s golden age, the organization announced Tuesday. The donated posters, from Chicago real estate developer Dwight Cleveland,…
Amazon Women On The Moon
One of the first R-rated comedies I saw when I learned how to watch them on the sly (thanks mid-’80s HBO!), Amazon Women was juvenile, smutty and profoundly stupid. Needless to say, I loved it. It’s one of those proudly…
Piranha
Producer Roger Corman’s modus operandi was to take guys who wanted to be the next Godard and get them to make a 90-minute low budget exploitation film, so they could learn their craft and become more disciplined filmmakers. From Martin…