Romance not included.
Horror
scifi
fantasy
adventure
action
western
whhich genre would you say B exceedes at the best? I'm leaning towards Horror and scif myself because I love the cheesy scifi and horror B films of the 40's and 50's, but thats my opinion.
Post-apocalyptic time-travelling-cyborgs
hey! I said NO romance!
Monsters. Big and small. From outerspace, the backyard, from the beyond. Lost in a small town, a big town, a military facility, and the only one's that can stop them is the teenage loser or town's sheriff.
I like gore...no story line, no character development, no exposition...just slaughter.
I find that I am rarely disappointed by slashers, zombie flicks, haunted house flicks, vampire/werewolf, monster flicks. As long as they stick to the carnage for the sake of carnage formula. I realize this includes many different genres, but the one thing that ties them together....gore and plenty O' gore.
I also like 30's exploitation,"new threat to the hearts and minds of our children", films. You know the type, they often include "madness" or "Crazed Abandon" in the title and usually include dialogue like"The sweet pill, that makes life bitter" . Good crack! I also have an affinity for public safety films like Signal 12 and Red Asphalt, some call it sick...I call it Primary Professional Education! Potato, poTAHto.
Biker flicks are usually full of crappy goodness, and completely non-threatening bikers. Old low budget thrillers are often really good.40's and 50's budget noir like The Narrow Margin, Kiss Me Deadly, The Big Knife, The Big Heat, The Big Combo. Top notch in every way except for the budget.
But, what I really like are movies about which those involved in the production were totally serious. I like it when they were intended to be first rate and came out s**te. Ed Wood(as an oft used example)comes to mind. He was totally sincere, but his films were crap. B-movies like that are,IMO, the absolute best for late night, insomnia induced, beer soaked viewing. Finest Kind!!
Post Edited (09-01-03 20:45)
The best B's in my opinion are the ones that crossbreed genres. Mainly adding an element of comedy to a genre that wouldnt normaly be funny.
Sci-Fi is the best, because the stories have more flexibility. Anything can happen. Horror runs a close second.
Sci-Fi and fantasy are the most flexable, plot wise, but any genre will do, provided it is a hot bed of good riffing material. Case in point? Gunslinger, done my Joel and the Bots. Groovey!
As a specialty, homicidal vegetation is real fun. It's just much harder to turn, say, a tree into a semi-believable killer than a mutant animal.
Anything with gore and/or depravity....
I like biker flicks and spaghetti westerns too.
Personally, I hate when they add comedy--it's ruined many a good horror movie.
I would say sci-fi presents the best "B" material as you have opportunities for truly silly sets, costumes and dialog. It's a genre where often even well done movies that try to be serious can be pretty goofy if you step back and take a look at what's going on.
Flangepart is right Fantasy films have the most potential. Sci-Fi and Horror cross each others lines frequently.
Jmc I think the biker genre is one of the great one and Westerns can be a type of horror with machismo instead of creepy music. I like both those genres.
Lol the gunslinger, one of the best westerns ever!:P
Huge fan of Kung Fu. Extreme gore comes in second. Goofy monster movies would probably be after that.
I like the juvenile delinquent films of the 50s and 60s; the outlaw biker films of the 60s and 70s; sci-fi from the 50s; Euro-Sex-Horror movies from the 60s and 70s; and the anarchistic comedies of the 70s like THE GROOVE TUBE, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, and IF YOU DON'T STOP, YOU'LL GO BLIND.
Horror no question in my book. Sci-fi would closely follow it.