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"The green slime". Oh man, what an entree to serve on B movie night! This has it all: An international cast, bad dubbing, weird sets, bargain basement SFX, wooden acting, laughable plot and monsters that will have you rolling on the floor. Imagine a mix of really bad Japanese scifi movies and really bad Italian scifi movies.

"The X from outer space". Attack of the giant space chicken! See the monster stopped by shaving cream missiles!

Godzilla vs the smog monster" Japan may have gotten into LSD like 7 years after it became popular in america, but they got the good stuff. Hippies, psychedelic lighting, groovy music and a monster that looks like a blob of melted grey way and glitter with vertically slit eyes.

"Assignment terror" A not dracula vampire, a werewolf, a blue faced chinese mummy and a not frankenstein monster are recruited by an advanced alien race who wants to conquer earth by using human's fear. Some torture porn, exploited women and Michael Rennie in what would be tragically his last role combine to make a movie so stunningly bad it was officially made by an alliance of 3 countries because no one nation wanted to take all the blame. Features footage from a real open heart surgery worked into the movie.

Feast

Gloriously dumb monsters vs drunks schlock fest, sequels kind of suck mind

Dog Soldiers

Not sure if it counts are a b-movie as you could argue all British movies are B-movies by budget alone, anyway soldiers vs werewulfs

Grabbers

Tremors comes to Craggy island, plus the hook of the monster being allergic to alcohol means every stupid horror movie cliche decision by the heroes kind of makes sense

Saw it mentioned somewhere here, a day or two ago - Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters. Maybe the third Godzilla flick I saw and the first I owned. Great 60s Toho cheese and a great soundtrack. When it comes to all-out monster mashes, I'd rate it higher than King of the Monsters. In terms of wacky fun, anyways.

On that note, King of the Monster(B-movie)s: Tremors.

Screamers. Starring Peter 'Robocop' Weller, based on the story 'Second Variety' by Philip K. Dick. One side in a devastating future war turns on an automated, learning factory for 'screamers' (think Necron scarabs with circular saws bursting out of the radioactive dirt) then runs like hell. Stays true to the concept and paranoia of the original story, one of the few screen adaptations where the changes don't screw it up too badly. A bit cheesy but actually pretty effective, for the most part.

The Machette series - two films though they've teased a third (in space of course - though far as I know nothing has come of that). It was originally just a teaser trailer thrown in at the start of another film; a teaser that eventually transformed into a full film.

I try to watch Commando once a year or so.

Terror Beneath the Sea- Very funny and riffable. Matt, you would love it!

Any Gamera Movie- Yes, any of them. New, old, doesn't matter. The real "Big G" in my book!

The Undertaker and his Pals- I watched it, and still am not sure what I watched. Needs to be seen to be believed.

Ator the Fighting Eagle- Who needs MST3K, I watch it straight and cold. Like a knife to the brain.

There are a lot of films that I would recommend, but I’m not sure they count as low budget or B movies. The Warriors and (all John Carpenter movies) and the first two Critters movies and Krull and Masters of the Universe and The Golden Child are all either too high profile or too well budgeted. There were a lot of great 80’s movies that look and feel like low budget B movies but were considered mainstream A movies at the time, such as Tango and Cash or any Stallone or Schwarzenegger movie.. I’ll try my best to meet the spirit and the letter of the thread; please forgive my errors in judgment.

Battle Beyond The Stars. Just saw this recently. I was surprised by how good it was. Lots of cheesy, charming special effects, memorable character actors, and a charmingly goofy script. Makes me want to watch all the old Roger Corman films.

Doctor Mordred. Jeffrey Combs. Brian Thompson. Stop motion. Yes.

The Call of Cthulhu (by the HPL Society). It doesn’t get much more low budget than this. Very well done in the style of an old silent film. I hope to see their Whisperer in Darkness film soon.

Drive. Not the one you’re thinking of. I’m talking about the Mark Decascas/Brittany Murphy action movie from the early 2000’s. It’s got sass. It’s got (well choreographed) wire fu. It’s got cyborg assassins. And last I checked it was free on YouTube.

Hard Ticket to Hawaii. This is the most infamous of Andy Sedaris’s low budget action-skin-flicks. This is the movie that gave the world the gif of the exploding blow up doll. And the toilet snake. It’s also free on YouTube (even the NSFW version). After that, try to watch the Sedaris film where Al Leong flies a helicopter because it has Al Leong flying a helicopter.

Dog Soldiers has some of the best looking werewolves in all of film, love that movie.

I think Equilibrium is my favorite low budget movie of all time, some of the best gun-fu scenes ever done in that movie, I go back and watch it once very couple of years and it's still amazing.

Halo: Forward unto Dawn is close behind it, loved seeing that universe brought to the small screen and most of the acting is decent. Not great, but good enough not to detract and better than your typical web series stuff, certainly better than some of the Netflix Originals I've tried to watch. Tiny budget of 10 million, but they spent it where it counts (amazing special effects and spot-on costuming) and did a great job of keeping the story small enough to fit within it.

Most of the Babylon 5 made for TV movies are pretty great, especially In the Beginning and A Call to Arms. I really regret lending the DVDs to a friend that never got them back to me.

I don't know if Sky High counts as low budget, but it's absolutely cheesey in all the right ways. One of the best superheroe movies out there

Night of the Living Dead (either the 1968 or 1990 version, the 2014 version SUCKS). Tony Todd is a completely underrated actor.

Motel Hell. Why? Well, it's not good. I just fondly remember watching it with my brothers as a child.

Sharknado. Fight me.

 Easy E wrote:
Terror Beneath the Sea- Very funny and riffable. Matt, you would love it!

Any Gamera Movie- Yes, any of them. New, old, doesn't matter. The real "Big G" in my book!

The Undertaker and his Pals- I watched it, and still am not sure what I watched. Needs to be seen to be believed.

Ator the Fighting Eagle- Who needs MST3K, I watch it straight and cold. Like a knife to the brain.

The only gamera movie I can watch in "war of the monsters" which is the only kenny free gamera movie, is quite dark and violent, and hasa guy being eaten alive by a kaiju.

Ator the fighting eagle, was that the one with the guy with the mirror shield and the giant spider?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
There are a lot of films that I would recommend, but I’m not sure they count as low budget or B movies. The Warriors and (all John Carpenter movies) and the first two Critters movies and Krull and Masters of the Universe and The Golden Child are all either too high profile or too well budgeted. There were a lot of great 80’s movies that look and feel like low budget B movies but were considered mainstream A movies at the time, such as Tango and Cash or any Stallone or Schwarzenegger movie.. I’ll try my best to meet the spirit and the letter of the thread; please forgive my errors in judgment.

Battle Beyond The Stars. Just saw this recently. I was surprised by how good it was. Lots of cheesy, charming special effects, memorable character actors, and a charmingly goofy script. Makes me want to watch all the old Roger Corman films.

Doctor Mordred. Jeffrey Combs. Brian Thompson. Stop motion. Yes.

The Call of Cthulhu (by the HPL Society). It doesn’t get much more low budget than this. Very well done in the style of an old silent film. I hope to see their Whisperer in Darkness film soon.

Drive. Not the one you’re thinking of. I’m talking about the Mark Decascas/Brittany Murphy action movie from the early 2000’s. It’s got sass. It’s got (well choreographed) wire fu. It’s got cyborg assassins. And last I checked it was free on YouTube.

Hard Ticket to Hawaii. This is the most infamous of Andy Sedaris’s low budget action-skin-flicks. This is the movie that gave the world the gif of the exploding blow up doll. And the toilet snake. It’s also free on YouTube (even the NSFW version). After that, try to watch the Sedaris film where Al Leong flies a helicopter because it has Al Leong flying a helicopter.

I liked BBTS, I kinda lkied Robert Vaughs's bored pirate character.

"A meal, and a place to hide. Right now your offer looks very attractive to me, Chad."


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kalamadea wrote:
Dog Soldiers has some of the best looking werewolves in all of film, love that movie.

I think Equilibrium is my favorite low budget movie of all time, some of the best gun-fu scenes ever done in that movie, I go back and watch it once very couple of years and it's still amazing.

Halo: Forward unto Dawn is close behind it, loved seeing that universe brought to the small screen and most of the acting is decent. Not great, but good enough not to detract and better than your typical web series stuff, certainly better than some of the Netflix Originals I've tried to watch. Tiny budget of 10 million, but they spent it where it counts (amazing special effects and spot-on costuming) and did a great job of keeping the story small enough to fit within it.

Most of the Babylon 5 made for TV movies are pretty great, especially In the Beginning and A Call to Arms. I really regret lending the DVDs to a friend that never got them back to me.

I don't know if Sky High counts as low budget, but it's absolutely cheesey in all the right ways. One of the best superheroe movies out there

I liked B5 third space. Pretty good and a twist on a bible story.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm going to step just to the edge of my own topic's parameters here and recommend a not so cheap 'n cheesy movie:

Hardware 1990. It was a late 80's cyperpunk apocalypse flick and all things considered, it....actually was pretty good, actually.

Has the guy who played Jek Porkins from star wars and Iggy Pop, who I am fairly certain by now must be a perpetual. I swear that guy must be harder to kill that Vulkan. (Of course now that I said that his death will be announced tomorrow just to make me look bad.)

At times I wonder if iggy pop and ozzy osbourne are the missing primarchs. They both seem to be indestructible and immortal. Ozzy's survival is so incredible theyactually studied his DNA years back to see why he was still alive when he shouldn't be.

Wouldn't that be a real twist? Ozzy and possibly iggy are the missing primarchs hurled back thru time and studying their DNA sets the world on the path to the 40k universe...

Hardware is all in all a good movie with at least a decent budget. Made in 1989 and released in 1990 be prepared for a lot of 8-16 bit graphics and weird video effects.

Another movie more on the cheap 'n cheesy side is A.P.E.X., a sorta not terminator movie with killer robots from an alternate timeline out to destroy all life on a post plague apocalypse earth, making it kinda appropriate for the current time I guess.

The plot is a gordian knot that's kinda impossible to make sense of, and you have to wonder how one lab can send an apparently infinite number of extermination robots thru early CGI time tunnels, but the robot suits are cool and generally worth watching the movie for.

Here's some youtube reviews if you're sitting on the fence.

https://youtu.be/lZywPXJpq1w


https://youtu.be/fvcTsSN_XcA

The Sword and the Sorcerer

I would also say Krull, but I don't think it was considered low budget at the time and it wasn't really aiming at being a B movie, either. It just seems that way now, though.

Good luck finding a copy of it, its that much of a B-movie, but there's a film I literally grew up on called Blind Rage.

My dad had a copy of it recorded on VHS from when he and my mom first got married and had cable.

Plot synopsis: A laughably bad asian "gangster" is pissed off at, well, someone, and so he hires a literal team of blind people to rob a bank in like, malaysia or some gak.

To date, I've only seen one other VHS copy for sale on amazon in 20 years, and it was coming out of one of those countries where shady video practices are regular.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
After that, try to watch the Sedaris film where Al Leong flies a helicopter because it has Al Leong flying a helicopter.

Even knowing who Al Leong is means you have been initiated into the secret order of B. Welcome brother.





Edit: Yes Ator is the shiny shield and Giant Spider guy. There are actually a few different cuts of the film to make it extra fun! ..... fun? ..... fun :(


Edit x2: I think I need to add Bloody Pit of Horror to my list as well. That is the perfect body of a B movie!

Just thought of some more.

The Gate. This low budget, Canadian-made horror movie for kids looks ready to be another Goonies or Explorers...and then it gets fetching intense. This movies’ minions are anything but cute. Heavy metal to the rescue!

House 2. A great low budget weird-a-f fantasy/horror? movie. Zombie grampa. Prehistoric caterpillar dog. Human sacrifice. John Ratzenberger’s greatest role. If you only look up clips from this movie, look him up as the electrician.

My Science Project. Similar to House 2 on the weird gak-o-meter, but only in the last half hour. Kid’s science project opens vortices through time and space. There are cavemen and cyborgs, gladiators and a T-Rex. Al Long cameos as a Viet Kong. Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit 1,2, Hackers, Super Mario Brothers) in his most obnoxious role yet.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looks like all three of those movies are free on YouTube.

Is House 2 the one with the awesome "yeah it looks like you got one of those dimensional portals here" or similar ? Watched so much trash in the 80's-90's it all starts to blur

That’s the one.

I'd second Dog Soldiers to what everyone has said.

The difference is that Dog Soldiers is not a gakky movie which is a simple guilty pleasure, it's actually just an incredibly solid, well written and directed movie, full stop. We picked it up as a joke in college (we used to grab 2-3 ultra-cheesy gak films based solely on the box cover) only to discover it was actually really damn good.

The film quality isn't great and the DVD production was pretty poor, but everything else is pretty top notch for an excellent "Soldier movie with werewolves". Also, you won't find another film - particularly in that budget region - where the characters actually act like humans and do real things. The plot is not predicated on garbage/gak stupid decisions to push a horror/thriller plot. If you watch a horror movie and think "Why doesn't X just pick up that hammer and use it..."....this is the film for you. The characters use everything in their available reach to fight back against werewolfers.

Cannot recommend this movie enough.

Considering its budget I always thought the werwolves we saw in Dog Soldiers were some of the best. They also didn't go for that "its a curly sort of shaggy hair/fur" style that a lot of them go for (I assume because having a very messy fur design helps to hide up the costume)

Yes. I also recommend Dog Soldiers.

Bad Moon is nowhere near the same caliber, but has a great werewolf throw down against an armed woman and her big dog at the end. Worth a YouTubing.

A well done low budget sci fi movie is Upgrade. It’s a bit of a throwback to 80’s sci fi action, but very modern in its acting and production value.

An oldie but goldie:Tales From The Darkside The Movie. Three short horror stories connected by a fourth, with outstanding practical effects and chock full of recognizable B movie stars.

Starcrash - An Italian Star Wars knock off, based on the novelization of the movies. Imagine a DM who is planning out the campaign on the fly, and that’s kind of what it feels like. You really can’t even come close to predicting what anyone is going to say next or what’s going to happen next, since so much of the planning feels like it was done on the spot.

Samurai Cop - A cop who is a samurai, trying to eliminate a yakuza gang. The editing so bad, the location of the fight scene can change mid-shot.

Phantom of the Paradise - Phantom of the Opera, starring Paul Williams and a guy in a dollar-store Griffith costume. The charm is really similar to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the music is surprisingly good. I still listen to the album at work. Apparently this movie bombed everywhere except Paris and Winnipeg, which gave it a surprisingly dedicated cult following.

 SkavenLord wrote:

Samurai Cop - A cop who is a samurai, trying to eliminate a yakuza gang. The editing so bad, the location of the fight scene can change mid-shot.

When it is set? That premise isn't even weird (or honestly even particularly interesting without some additional character/story hooks) during the right period.

 SkavenLord wrote:
Starcrash - An Italian Star Wars knock off, based on the novelization of the movies. Imagine a DM who is planning out the campaign on the fly, and that’s kind of what it feels like. You really can’t even come close to predicting what anyone is going to say next or what’s going to happen next, since so much of the planning feels like it was done on the spot.

I was hoping someone would mention this one. This movie is my personal B-kryptonite. It took me about 7 times to get threw it because I kept falling asleep watching it!

I am really not sure if I love it or hate it.

Someone mentioned starcrash. Well, 'd like to present an overwhelming argument for watching it.

https://atomic-chronoscaph.tumblr.com/image/181570577113

Voss wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:

Samurai Cop - A cop who is a samurai, trying to eliminate a yakuza gang. The editing so bad, the location of the fight scene can change mid-shot.

When it is set? That premise isn't even weird (or honestly even particularly interesting without some additional character/story hooks) during the right period.

Pretty sure its set in the modern day for its time...so 2000ish, it really is a bit of a one of a kind type film. Troma for you.

Not sure if it qualifies, strictly speaking, as a B movie, but for me it's the Swartznegger conan movie. I tend to class it as a B movie but love it because it's kinda cheesy etc

Easy E wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:
Starcrash - An Italian Star Wars knock off, based on the novelization of the movies. Imagine a DM who is planning out the campaign on the fly, and that’s kind of what it feels like. You really can’t even come close to predicting what anyone is going to say next or what’s going to happen next, since so much of the planning feels like it was done on the spot.

I was hoping someone would mention this one. This movie is my personal B-kryptonite. It took me about 7 times to get threw it because I kept falling asleep watching it!

I am really not sure if I love it or hate it.

Ha! So people do know about this one! Yeah, the ship battles really do feel like they go on forever. Doesn’t help that pad out 10 minutes of the finale showing each and every ship leaving the station, broken up by dramatic sighing.

foenixphate wrote:

Voss wrote:

 SkavenLord wrote:

Samurai Cop - A cop who is a samurai, trying to eliminate a yakuza gang. The editing so bad, the location of the fight scene can change mid-shot.

When it is set? That premise isn't even weird (or honestly even particularly interesting without some additional character/story hooks) during the right period.

Pretty sure its set in the modern day for its time...so 2000ish, it really is a bit of a one of a kind type film. Troma for you.

Judging from the Wikipedia page, seems it was out around the 90s. It’s not so much the premise that’s goofy (I mean, look at The Last Samurai), it’s just a very awkward film with extremely bad editing. Gotta love it when two separate restaurants have the exact same parking lot.

Ohh, another "gem" that must (not) be enjoyed:

"Horrors of War" . . . wife and I rented it at Blockbuster and, based on the box art, and the description on the back, was thinking it was going to be yet another WW2 documentary. . .

HOoooooolleeeeeee gaak, were we fething wrong. . .

Its basically, saving private ryan meets teen wolf, with superhuman nazi zombies (seriously, main character dude comes into contact with this secret nazi facility, and due to his awesome american-ness, he becomes a werewolf, and he and his new top secret undead werewolf private ryan squad have to fight an army of ubermenschen zombies raised by the same serum/scientist). . .

If that dizzying combo wasn't enough, you have FX done a la Dark Throne style. . . the rifles *sound* like someone throwing those 4th of july poppers on the ground, and the muzzle flash looks like someone was using MS Paint to make them

"Godzilla, mothra and king ghidorah. giant monsters all out attack."

Asides from having the longest title of any godzilla movie, this one is notable for making the big G an all out, flat out villain, even tho that may be an unfair portrayal.

This movie also tackles a taboo subject in japanese culture. Japan's atrocities during WW2.

I won't go into japanese war crimes and atrocities during the war, except t say they were on par with their european allies.

Well, since ww2 the japanese have tried to forget their warcrimes and mass atrocities (But boy they're still wiling to talk about how awful hiroshima and nagasaki were.) and that's just accepted as a given in japanese culture.

Now in GMKD, as this movie is called, the godzilla is a radioactive mutant as usual, but it is apparently driven by the ghosts of the people japan murdered in WW2, and yes what the japanese did in ww2 was mass murder.

The ghosts are apparently rising up because japan has refused to acknowledge it's guilt and actively tries to pretend they did nothing wrong, so this godzilla is apparently possessed by their ghosts to punish japan for it's attempt to ignore the evil their ancestors did.

That's actually mentioned in the movie, which makes it kind of edgy for a japanese movie.

Also in this movie ghidorah is actually portrayed as a good guy, which is a real first. (The cyborg ghidorah in an earlier movie doesn't count, it was only good when controlled by that japanese girl from the future.)

Basically the "evil" ghdzilla,( And boy, does this godzilla look evil. I mean it, this is probably the scariest godzilla they ever made, the eyes are really creepy. This is one evil and scary looking monster.) starts rampaging thru japan, and destroying pretty much everything in sight. This movie also breaks another japanese taboo, when this godzilla caps off an atomic breath shot, they show a mushroom cloud rising.

Evil godzilla.



Now Baragon is in the movie too, but apparently didn't rate title billing, and he is one of he "Guardian monsters" that protect japan, along with mothra and ghidorah. The thing is, they care about the country itself, not the people living in it.

This is definitely a godzilla movie worth watching, and includes an attack against godzilla made from inside involving a minisub and a japanese naval officer with a kamikaze fetish.Check it out if you can.

Kung Pow, Enter the Fist. Steve Oedekerk's loving recut of several kung fu movies, where he does all the voices. It is incredibly dumb, well aware it's dumb, and gloriously funny. Within the first 10 minutes, you will either be rolling in laughter or cursing the name of whoever recommended it to you.

Whichever you choose, you will likely continue it until the end of the film.