What caused the B-movie boom of the 1980s?

[Saucerman]

There have been, as far as I can determine, three main "peaks" of B-moviedom.

It peaked in the 1950s largely due to economic prosperity (more people had cars, especially teenagers with disposable incomes and prurient interests)

It's peaking now with the increased availability of digital video editing software.  Anyone can make movies now. 

But why did it peak in the 1980s? Any thoughts?

[Psycho Circus]

VHS

[Andrew]

The rise of VHS rental stores, and the overall VHS explosion (once we got the Beta vs. VHS mess figured out).  My mom took a job working in a rental store that opened in my hometown.  It's one of the things I credit with my passion for b-movies.  At the end of the night she could bring home any movie that had not been rented.  Well, people rent the popular films.  Stuff like "Alien Predators" and "Razorback" were invariably still on the shelf - and so she brought them home to me to watch.

[Javakoala]

The rise of VHS rental stores, and the overall VHS explosion (once we got the Beta vs. VHS mess figured out).  My mom took a job working in a rental store that opened in my hometown.  It's one of the things I credit with my passion for b-movies.  At the end of the night she could bring home any movie that had not been rented.  Well, people rent the popular films.  Stuff like "Alien Predators" and "Razorback" were invariably still on the shelf - and so she brought them home to me to watch.

Does you mother know what damage this has done to you?   

[ghouck]

I always thought it was Cable that did it. I remember there being quite a bit of late-night fluff on HBO back then, Skinamax filled with soft-core porn, seemed like others did with B-Flicks.

Makes sense that VHS had an impact though, back then people would buy or rent anything that could be played.

[Raffine]

I think it was a double-edged sword: the rise of VHS and cable.

As the VHS player and cable became almost standard in homes the demand for new product opened up the doors for anybody and their (Polonia) brother to make and sell films. Like in the fifties, some of the most profitable genres to exploit were horror, sc-fi, and action.

VHS, and cable (to a somewhat lesser extent in this case) also made wide-spread interest in 'b-movies' from the past possible. With local TV channels the only source for 'blasts from the past' movies like THE KILLER SHREWS or DANGER: DIABOLIK were rarely glimpsed or only titles mentioned in a magazine article or book. I remember seeing a copy of the Medved Brothers' 'Golden Turkey Awards' around 1980 and thinking these movies looked hilarious; but I doubted if I'd ever get the chance to see most of them. The idea you could rent a copy of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, or actually own a copy, was completely foreign to most folks.

[Mr. DS]

With the reasons already mentioned, I'd have to add in the explosion of popular horror franchises.  Films like Halloween, Friday The 13th, The Excorcist, etc kind of opened a flood gate of B-dom. 

[Doctor Menard]

Although I think that VHS and cable did provide additional outlets for b-movies, remember that these movies were largely made for theatrical releases.

What also was not mentioned was the spike in b-movies during the 1930s; many poverty row classics.

A spike in b-movies often follows a trying period in our history.

We have had the depression; WW2 and the years following; the Vietnam war as well a decade filled with Watergate, a recession, a gas crisis, the Iran hostage situation, Three Mile Island, and...perhaps worst of all...disco and bell bottoms.

With the 80s loomed a better forecast for economic times. Certainly Voodoo Economics would come back to bite us in the ass, but we were too stupid to realize that, or care, in what has been labeled as the decade of excess.

When economic prosperity, whether real or a hoax, follows troubled times, we see an increase in what normally would be considered fluff, or a luxury.

B-movies could be argued whether they are art or not, but they are entertainment. Art is for people in a good place; entertainment is for people looking for something else.

[Jack]

Along the lines of what Darksider said, slasher flicks probably contributed a lot.  They were very popular and very cheap to make, so we got a zillion of them.

[Saucerman]

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. 

[meQal]

I would say it was caused by the same thing that fueled most of the 80's fashions, entertainment, and trends, cocaine.

Seriously however, I suspect it was the fact that studios were able to greenlight a lot of films during this time due to fact that production costs were cheap and horror movies were fast money makers.

[Neville]

I say both nerds and the VHS. Why nerds? Because prior to the advent of the VHS people couldn't rewatch their favourite movies too often, and even less if they were obscure. But with VHS a new generation of film nerds was born, one that had almost everything that had been created before at reach, but also could rewatch their favourite films until they turned themselves into a new kind of movie fanatics.

I don't think such a thing was possible before VHS.

[Frogger]

I say both nerds and the VHS. Why nerds? Because prior to the advent of the VHS people couldn't rewatch their favourite movies too often, and even less if they were obscure. But with VHS a new generation of film nerds was born, one that had almost everything that had been created before at reach, but also could rewatch their favourite films until they turned themselves into a new kind of movie fanatics.

I don't think such a thing was possible before VHS.

I agree.

This recent growth in B movies is an extension of that ability. The internet allows you to watch many films created, it even gives a platform for small production on very low budgets to get their work seen by people all over the world.

For example this is brilliant and I would have never have seen it if it had not been linked on a forum.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XWNNsCFBWf8

[CheezeFlixz]

It was hairspray!


See it's simple, in the 60's and 70's everyone had the "let it be" look  with their hair and in the 1980's the rise of BIG hair took over in both men and women. Therefore more and more hairspray was used  by all ages causing brain damage to the masses, this was especially true in highly populated areas along the coast.
This brain damage caused film maker to make films they thought were really good, but in fact were bad. So years later as big hair fell out of favor and wide spread usage of hairspray fell in the early 90's people begin to realize what they made was in fact really cheesy or total crap.
However the extreme over usage of hairspray led to a hole in the ozone which caused rapid tanning of people and these increased tanning gave us "Baywatch" and Pamela Anderson. Additionally this also breathed life back into the career of David Hasselhoff and as a result we will get to enjoy the future release of "The Legend of the Dancing Ninja".

So while some might think it was VHS tapes and/or cable ... truth is it was hairspray and in a small part underarm deodorant. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Psycho Circus]

Hairspray is awesome