{"id":11849,"date":"2014-07-14T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11849"},"modified":"2014-07-14T08:00:24","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T14:00:24","slug":"the-15-greatest-b-movie-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11849","title":{"rendered":"The 15 Greatest B-Movie Directors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019re a director, and you\u2019re on this list, then it\u2019s a fairly safe bet that the cumulative output of your film career did not set the critical world ablaze, except perhaps with the light of hastily assembled torches (and pitchforks).<\/p>\n

And yet, as we\u2019ve already discussed at length in Paste<\/i>\u2019s ranking of the 100 Greatest B Movies<\/a>, critical adoration isn\u2019t what\u2019s important when it comes to judging the weird, the unconventional and the exceedingly low-budget. What matters is entertainment. Whether that entertainment is derived from genuine, primal wish-fulfillment or giggling over a film\u2019s obvious flaws is inconsequential. B movies make us happy because they give us something to enjoy, either sincerely or ironically\u2014both are equally valid.<\/p>\n

The greatest B-movie directors, then, are the ones who have produced a legacy of entertainment. These are the directors who have given us some of cinema\u2019s strangest, cheapest\u2014and in some cases, yes, worst\u2014films. They\u2019re the landed elite, B-movie royalty. Make sure to afford them the respect they deserve!<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions: Joe D\u2019Amato, James Nguyen, Tommy Wiseau (Sorry Tommy, but you probably need more than one film to qualify, even if that film is The Room<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

15. Donald G. Jackson<\/big><\/p>\n

\"15-Best-B-Movie-Directors-Donald-G-Jackson.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Easily the most bizarre director on the list, and probably the one to produce the most unwatchable films, but damn if Donald G. Jackson isn\u2019t a fascinating individual. After beginning his career with movies that were almost \u201cconventional\u201d and mainstream, including the Rowdy Roddy Piper vehicle Hell Comes to Frogtown<\/i>, he went off the deep end of his own personal filmmaking philosophy and started cranking out the likes of The Roller Blade Seven<\/i> or Guns of El Chupacabra<\/i>. Alongside frequent collaborator and actor Scott Shaw, he espouses \u201cZen Filmmaking,\u201d which essentially means directing feature films with no script<\/em>. As Shaw explains, this process \u201callows for a spiritually pure source of immediate inspiration to be the only guide in the filmmaking process.\u201d And when you\u2019re casting actors like Joe Estevez, you can imagine how well this works out.<\/p>\n

Notable film:<\/b> The original The Roller Blade Seven<\/i> perfectly encapsulates the look and aesthetic of a Donald G. Jackson film made with zen filmmaking. It\u2019s practically indescribable, a chaotic mess of post-apocalyptic fever dreams and Scott Shaw chopping at things with a katana. Also, Frank Stallone is there.
\n14. Albert Pyun<\/big><\/p>\n

\"14-Best-B-Movie-Directors-Albert-Pyun2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Pyun is one of those guys who makes a dozen films revolving around the same topic, then says \u201cOh, I was never really interested in that topic; it just let me make films.\u201d For Pyun, those sources of \u201cinspiration\u201d have often been cyborgs and post-apocalyptic settings, such as on the \u201cclassic\u201d Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle sporting the Cyborg<\/i> name. He also directed the ill-fated 1990 Captain America<\/i> adaptation that starred Matt Salinger, the son of reclusive author J.D. Salinger, as well as the MST3k film Alien from L.A.<\/i> with an unbearably annoying Kathy Ireland. He\u2019s still making movies today at 61, but his recent films haven\u2019t made quite the impact of his late \u201980s\/early \u201990s output.<\/p>\n

Notable film:<\/b> Dollman<\/i> was one of Pyun\u2019s most ambitious concepts, a sci-fi action picture about an interplanetary alien space cop armed with the most powerful gun in the universe. Only problem\u2014when he crash-lands on Earth, he discovers that compared to the human locals, he\u2019s only 13 inches tall. It\u2019s gory, funny and features a young Jackie Earle Haley as the villain. Everything about it screams \u201cearly 1990s straight-to-video.\u201d
\n13. Jim Wynorski<\/big><\/p>\n

\"13-Best-B-Movie-Directors-Jim-Wynorski.jpg\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a close call, but I\u2019m pretty sure Jim Wynorski is the \u201csleaziest\u201d director on this list. He began his career by cranking out some classics of the B-horror genre such as Chopping Mall<\/i> before moving into horrifying children\u2019s fare such as Munchie<\/i> (Dom DeLuise and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the sequel to a Gremlins<\/i> knockoff!) and action movies like Demolition High<\/i> with Corey Haim. In the last 20 years, he\u2019s specialized in softcore porn mockbusters with hilarious names like Cleavagefield<\/i>, The Bare Wench Project<\/i> and Para-Knockers Activity<\/i>. There was even a documentary<\/a> made about Wynorski that chronicled his attempts to shoot The Witches of Breastwick<\/i> in only three days.<\/p>\n

Notable film:<\/b> Tough choice, but if you really want to see Wynorski at his best opposed to worst, it\u2019s Chopping Mall<\/i>. In some ways it\u2019s the quintessential 1980s B-horror movie, with a hilarious satire on the contemporary teenage mall culture, plus lots of gross effects and rampaging killer guard bots. The original title was Killbots<\/i>, which is actually a lot more accurate but much less awesome-sounding.
\n12. Fred Olen Ray<\/big><\/p>\n

\"12-Best-B-Movie-Directors-Fred-Olen-Ray.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Fred Olen Ray is actually pretty darn similar to Jim Wynorski, although his filmography probably isn\u2019t quite as well known. Like Wynorski, he made his early name in horror with films such as Alien Dead<\/i> before moving into lots and lots of action movies and exploitation flicks of the straight-to-video variety, with titles like Bikini Jones and the Temple of Eros<\/i> or Tarzeena: Jiggle in the Jungle<\/i>. I\u2019m particularly fond of Dinosaur Island<\/i>, which is a hilariously cheap rip-off of Jurassic Park<\/i> with tons and tons of T&A thrown into the mix. Fred Olen Ray is still very active, with three films directed in 2014 already. He\u2019s even done some pro wrestling as \u201cFabulous Freddie Valentine\u201d\u2014how awesome is that?<\/p>\n

Notable film:<\/b> Evil Toons<\/i> is hilariously cheesy stuff, essentially what Who Framed Roger Rabbit?<\/i> would look like if it collided with a softcore horror flick. You\u2019ve got David \u201cKill Bill<\/i>\u201d Carradine and an animated killer wolf stalking a bunch of nubile young ladies, what more could you want?
\n11. David DeCoteau<\/big><\/p>\n

\"11-Best-B-Movie-Directors-David-Decoteau.jpg\"<\/p>\n

David DeCoteau makes magically terrible films. If you\u2019re a B-movie director, you might accidentally make a bad film or two, but you\u2019re never going to luck into making something that is Dr. Alien<\/i> bad\u2014it\u2019s just not going to happen. His career began much like contemporaries Wynorski and Olen Ray, doing some minor classics of the sleazy 1980s horror movie mold, such as Creepazoids<\/i> and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama<\/i>. His most famous contributions\/associations are likely as a director of several films in the Puppet Master<\/i> franchise. He even gets referenced pretty extensively in Greg Sestero\u2019s book about The Room<\/i>, because Sestero starred in 1999\u2019s Retro Puppet Master