B-movie

The term B-movie originally referred to a Hollywood motion picture designed to be distributed as the "lower half" of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters, or horror. In the days of the major film studios, this was official terminology that also gave rise to the practice of referring to "A-list" or "B-list" stars. (For example, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, made a career out of acting in B-movies.) The major studios had "B-units" that made their B-movies, but there were also small studios?such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures?which specialized in making B-movies.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - Motion picture - Double feature - Genre film - Ronald Reagan - President of the United States - Republic Pictures - Monogram Pictures

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"B-movie" has gradually come to refer to any low-budget movie with lesser-known (and generally considered inferior) actors (B-actors). Usually the films are formulaic and campy, with cheap special effects, uninspired dialogue, and gratuitous nudity, sexuality, and/or violence. B-movies of the horror movie genre are especially popular. B-movies today are often not even released in theaters, instead going direct-to-video.

Related Topics:
B-actor - Camp - Special effects - Nudity - Sexuality - Violence - Horror movie - Direct-to-video

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In the 1980s, with the advent of cable television, B-movies were used as a source for a type of late night television programming in some major cities where they are shown back-to-back until the early hours of the morning. The 1990s television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 used B-movies in its episodes, where they were shown in toto (although often edited for time) while being subjected to sarcastic commentary by the program's stars. David A. Prior and Mario Bava are prominent figures in the B-movie industry, and Ed Wood has been credited by some as a master of the form (although the term better applicable to his work would be "Z-movies"). Roger Corman specialized in producing and/or directing the kind of films which typify B-movies of the 1950s.

Related Topics:
Cable television - Mystery Science Theater 3000 - David A. Prior - Mario Bava - Ed Wood - Z-movie - Roger Corman

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Currently, certain production companies such as Troma specialize in producing large quantities of low quality B-movies. One of the classic producers of these films was the U.S. company American International Pictures (AIP), founded in 1956 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. Its films include works by Roger Corman, Vincent Price, Herman Cohen and the early efforts of then-unknown figures such as Francis Ford Coppola, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson. In the 1970s, such houses as Independent-International Pictures, Film Ventures International, Charles Band Productions, Cannon Films, New Line Cinema, Golan-Globus, and others leapt up to create a new generation of B-movies; most of these films died away as budgets soared in the early 1980s and even a comparatively low-budget, low-quality picture would cost millions of dollars given the public's expectations of color filmstock, original music scores, and contemporary special effects techniques. Outside of the so-called "adult" film marketplace, B-movie techniques and characteristics became largely confined to direct-to-video outfits.

Related Topics:
Troma - American International Pictures - 1956 - James H. Nicholson - Samuel Z. Arkoff - Roger Corman - Vincent Price - Herman Cohen - Francis Ford Coppola - Jennifer Aniston - Robert De Niro - Jack Nicholson - Independent-International Pictures - Film Ventures International - Charles Band Productions - Cannon Films - New Line Cinema - Golan-Globus - Direct-to-video

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