The Top 10 Essential B-Movies #5: Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, Targets, More
Posted by Chad Webb on 07.12.2006
And we're down to 5!
The B-Movie Tidbit
During the 1960s and 1970s, there were several subgenres of films that can be categorized as the "exploitation genre of B-movies." These included films that depicted women being psychologically or physically abused by men, such as the 1961 film "Damaged Goods", a cautionary tale about a young woman whose boyfriend's promiscuity leads to venereal disease. Another type of exploitation film, the "sexploitation film," used footage from nudist camps, which was sometimes loosely intercut with a flimsy plot. In the so-called "blaxploitation" genre from the 1970s, actors such as Isaac Hayes, Ted Lange, and Pam Grier were featured in stereotype-filled films whose stories revolved around drugs, crime, or prostitution.
In the 1970s, film companies such as Independent-International Pictures, Film Ventures International, Charles Band Productions, Cannon Films, New Line Cinema, Golan-Globus, and others created a new generation of B-movies. Most of these companies were unable to continue as budgets soared in the early 1980s and even a comparatively low-budget, low-quality picture would cost millions of dollars, due to the public's increased expectations (e.g. for color filmstock, original music scores, and realistic special effects).
However, the 1980s saw the production of a great deal of low-budget genre films, such as horror and "slasher" movies including "The Fog" and "Slumber Party Massacre" and apocalyptic or futuristic genre films such as "Escape from New York."
The growth of the cable television industry in the 1980s helped fuel this massive surge in B-movie production, as many of these films quickly wound up as late-night "filler" material for 24-hour cable channels. However, as VCRs became more affordable and common, many people became able to select individual A-list films and watch them at any time, which caused a decline in the popularity of B-movies on cable.
5. Plan 9 From Outer Space
Starring: Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, and Duke Moore
Directed By: Edward D. Wood Jr.
1959
Ryan Latimer
I include Ed Wood's "best" work only as a sign of respect to the eccentric, cross dressing filmmaker, as I have yet to actually see a Wood film from front to back excluding the 1994 Tim Burton biopic. A B movie list without Ed Wood is like a homemade pizza without that tangy, bitter, non-commerical sauce we thank God Pizza is too proud to use. And considering what the poor guy had to go through to get it made, and the torture he endured in the aftermath (along with every other movie he made) I'd say he at least deserves a nod. "Plan 9" was the ultimate B movie before the 70s and 80s took care of that title lickity split. As bad as the Ed Wood's classic is, it would later become no match for the badness of the mohawk and Care Bears generation.
5. Targets (1968)
Starring: Tim O' Kelly, Boris Karloff, and Aurthur Peterson
Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich
1968
Leonard Hayhurst
Peter Bogdanovich's first film as a director and one of Boris Karloff's last. Bogdanovich was working for Roger Corman at the time and the producer gave him stock footage from The Terror and Karloff who had two days left on his contract with Corman. What Bogdanvoich constructed was a film of the moment that contrasted the on screen horrors of Karloff's heyday with the real life horrors of everyday life in an increasing ugly and violent world. Half of the film is devoted to fading film star Byron Orlock (Karloff) who wants to retire to his native England. The other half shows a mild mannered man (Tim O'Kelly) who snaps for unknown reasons and goes on a killing spree. The two meet up at a drive-in in a tightly paced and well shot climax.
5. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Starring: David Miller, George Wilson, and Sharon Taylor
Directed By: John De Bello
1978
Matthew Craggs
I remember the first time I saw Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It was late one Friday night on City TV, a Canadian television station that tries to make cheap, lame programming appealing by putting it in the City TV context. For example, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes on any other station is bad, but on City TV at 3AM it's good because when City TV plays bad movies, they're hip because they're bad. Even so, the killer tomato picture is just bad, but at the same time it's enjoyable because it's just so different, so dry, and so irreverent. Attack knows its bad and comments on it in a passive way. And it did it just before Airplane.
5. Automatic
Starring: Olivier Gruner, Daphne Ashbrook, and John Glover
Directed By: John Murlowski
1994
Bryan Kristopowitz
Olivier Gruner is a better actor that he gets credit for. He's an action star, yes, a martial arts master and competent fighter, but he's also capable of emoting and making the audience feel for him. Take "Automatic," the 1994 science fiction action flick that features Gruner as a personal protection robot that goes "haywire" in a corporate high rise after he refuses to follow an order from a company executive and protect a smart blonde secretary (Daphne Ashbrook as Nora) from getting raped. In the ensuing chaos Gruner accidentally kills the executive, which then forces the company head Goddard Marx (John Glover in another great corporate sleazebag turn) to call in a strike team (headed by creepy thug Jeff Kober) to handle the malfunctioning robot. The action never lets up and is done with more brutal flair than movies that cost ten times as much. There are plenty of funny bits, most of them with Dennis Lipscomb as a banker Marx needs to help finance his latest home protection robot series. There's a decent twist ending and a hopeful music score that helps make the movie seem more than it is. Most B-movies wish they were this good (be on the lookout for Annabelle Gurwitch as news reporter Gloria Takamatsu, who did the TBS show "Dinner and a Movie," and Troy Evans of "ER" fame as head of security Buck James).
5. Invasion of the Body-Snatchers
Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, and Larry Gates
Directed By: Don Siegel
1956
Ben Moser
Another classic. Another 1950's movie with a thinly-veiled allusion to the communism-based paranoia that gripped America. "My neighbor could be a commie" was changed to "My neighbor could be a pod person" for this film and the rest is cinematic history. The thing is, even now you can get sucked into the world of this movie and the paranoia the alien duplicates can cause. The message translates just as well today, as we live in a world where we talking heads on political shows tell us that there are only two sides to take on any position. Can you really trust them? There are other, later versions of this flick with bigger stars and bigger budgets(Donald Sutherland is in one, and he's fantastic in it), but nothing still quite captures the mood like the original.
Leprechaun 3
Starring: Warwick Davis, John Gatins, Lee Armstrong
Directed By: Brian Trenchard-Smith
1995
Chad Webb
The first Leprechaun film had Jennifer Aniston, and it was quite lackluster compared to the rest of the series. The second one began the excitement and gore, and was very well executed, but it was the third one that remains the best in this series. I have never laughed so hard at a horror film. In his signature role, Warwick Davis is hilarious as the evil little leprechaun. He put his heart and soul into these movies, and it shows. In Leprechaun 3, all hell breaks loose in Las Vegas as everyone's favorite green friend encounters problems with a kid named Scott, who is on his way to school. Scott finds one of the leprechaun's coins, gets infected by leprechaun blood, and starts to become a leprechaun himself. This part of the series has some truly great one-liners, and that is why it is a good B-movie. For instance: "There was an old man of Madras / Whose balls were made of fine brass. / So in stormy weather / They both clanged together / And sparks flew out of his ass." The acting by everyone but Davis is beyond dreadful, but who cares because the girls make good eye candy. I stopped caring about the leprechaun after he started visiting "the hood", but I continue to love watching this one. It has it all nudity, gore and humor.
Honorable Mention
Re-Animator
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, and David Gale
Directed By: Stuart Gordon
1985
I want to thank Matt for getting the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes theme song in my head. The countdown is starting to wind down now. Keep reading, it's just getting interesting. (history provided by Wikipedia.org)
