B-movies arebottom-of-the-barrelmotion pictures. These low-budget productions cut corners to make practical filmmaking possible. Relying on archetypes, sensationalism, and exploitation, B-movies are seen as shallow and lacking substance by most critics.
Fans of the genre understand the creative freedom and unconventional waggery they express. The devil is in the details for B-movies and their directors who went against the grain. B-movie directors paved the way for independent films and A-list actors, while giving audiences more access to the film industry.
10Albert Pyun
Albert Pyunbegan his career working under the tutelage of Japanese cinematographer Takao Saito, a frequent collaborator of famed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Pyun was a film editor in Hawaii before moving to Los Angeles to become a director. Most of his films belong to the science fiction genre mixed with martial arts.
His high-concept films are attractive to the eye, as long as it can ignore the spellbound bad acting and rushed character development. Pyun’s first film was also his highest grossing, the fantasy adventure,The Sword and the Sorcerer, in which a king must vanquish an evil wizard with his three-bladed projectile sword.
9Andy Sidaris
Andy Sidarisdirectsbodacious action filmsfeaturing a rotating cast ofPlayboyandPenthousemodels. His girls with guns films were known as theBullets, Bombs, and Babes(BBB) series. Before making tantalizing movies, he was a sports television director for ABC, where he invented the “honey shot,” or close-up of pretty women at events.
The sleazy director would also recast actors in opposite roles or give a recurring character another race in subsequent films. Possibly his most absurd film isHard Ticket to Hawaii, a drug-fueled, bikini-clad, toxic snake and rat-infested diamond bust.
8David DeCoteau
David DeCoteauwas a theater projectionist before working as a production assistant for fellow B-movie director Roger Corman. He is a chameleon director, making films that would sell in a short amount of time. DeCoteau’s first film,Dreamaniac(made for Full Moon Pictures director Charles Band), is a satanic fever dream of sexuality.
His cult classicSorority Babes and the Slimeball Bowl-O-Ramawould later make use of the male gaze. Jumping from genre to genre, DeCoteau revealed he was gay in his most personal film,Leather Jacket Love Story. Another DeCoteau favorite was the post-apocalyptic creature feature,Creepozoids.
7Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jacksonstruggled to become a director, finding work in an auto factory. Prior to that, his first experience behind the camera was shooting a high school football game on the field rather than on the sidelines. The no-rules filmmaker’s first movies financed his move to Hollywood, California, where he would develop his Zen filmmaking technique.
Jackson did not rely on scripts in the making of his films, includingHell Comes to Frogtown. The science fiction action film has fertile man Sam Hell on a rescue mission to save fertile women held captive by mutant frogs so that they can repopulate the Earth.
Related:Beaten to Death Review: Gritty B-Movie That’s Hard to Watch
Ed Woodis the so-bad-it’s-good director of choice. Wood is known for his campy, low-budget sci-fi and horror films during the 1950s, the golden age of B-movies. The director’s movies were unknown until his posthumous Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time in 1980. Wood’s legacy of absurd premises, cheap special effects, and non sequitur dialogue can be found in one of the most famous B movies of all time,Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Related:One Piece: This B-Movie Inspired Netflix’s Live-Action Adaptation
5Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Hohas directed over 100 movies, some being categorized as Z-movies, films with less production quality than a B-movie. The volume of work is about as sensible as the more than 40 credited names he directed under. Ho started as an assistant director, working alongside Chinese filmmakers Chang Cheh and John Woo.
He would often turn existing movies intomartial arts filmsor a cut-and-paste ninja movies likeNinja Terminator. Ho is also heavy-handed with dubbing and his use of unlicensed music from other films, TV shows, and artists. The resourceful, albeit redundant, Ho takes another man’s treasure and turns it into glittering trash.
4Jim Wynorski
Jim Wynorskiis a black sheep considering his rocky introduction to the film industry. He dropped out of film school, quit his job at Double Day Publishing, and got to work with Roger Corman after a chance encounter. Wynorski managed publicity and wrote screenplays for a variety of genres.
Jumping from family to erotic films, Wynorski was a connoisseur of exploitation. According to the director, the cheapest special effects were boobs.Chopping Mall, on the other hand, was atechno-horror filmwith a cheesy but clear-cut commentary on consumerism and capitalism through the overseeing power of the malfunctioning mall security robots.
3Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufmanis asloppy, sacrosanct of schlock. Kaufman fleshed out his special brand of B-movie entertainment with Troma Studios after his lackluster experiences with major studios. He and Troma have produced over 1,000 independent films filled with sexual escapades, nuclear waste, and fun-loving violence. Kaufman’s most popular creation is the rancid superheroThe Toxic Avenger, born from a bullied nerd and a barrel of toxic waste.
2Roger Corman
Roger Cormanis known as theKing of the Bsand has shepherded notable directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron. In an interview with Cinemassacre filmmaker James Rolfe, Joe Bob Briggs ofJoe Bob’s Drive-In TheaterandMonsterVisionsaid that Corman preferred to be called the King of Exploitation. He earns the title, too, with his production company, New World Pictures.
Battle Beyond the Starscashed in on the success ofStar Wars.Galaxy of TerrorisAlienwith a sexual assault-death scene. A slew of foreign films were also distributed by New World and seen by U.S. audiences for the first time, inclduing the FrenchFantastic Planetand the GermanThe Tin Drum.
1William Castle
William Castlewas an autodidact, trading his schooling at age 15 for work in the theater. He was an assistant stage manager for theDraculaplay starring Bela Lugosi. Later, Columbia Pictures hired Castle based on his promotional skills.
Castle gained a reputation for makingcompetent and inexpensiveB-movies quickly. His passion remained in horror, where he used promotional gimmicks that involved audience participation. At some showings ofHouse on Haunted Hill, a skeleton would float above moviegoers at the same time as the skeleton-chasing scene.
