Top 11 classic so-bad-they’re-good B-movies

It matters not if production standards are low and the budget microscopic.

Every now and then, a B movie classic emerges.

Karla picks 11 of the best/worst…

How is it that sometimes worse is better?

We dont really know.

But we do know that this wonderful cinematic paradox is most enjoyably exemplified in the B-movie genre.

Or wish youd never seen…

Much like in Mel BrooksThe Producers.

So, toPlan 9.

Lugosi, famous for his earlier portrayal of Dracula, had just died.

The complex plot involves scientists, and, well, big huge crab monsters.

But more than just a silly movie maker, Corman is one of the true innovators of his ilk.

Few from any genre come close to his vision, courage and inspiration as a filmmaker.

Watching it, you feel it would almost be difficult to make a movie so badly.

Garth Marenghi has nothing on this heap of brilliantly steaming produce.

Its laugh-out-loud ridiculous from start to finish.

You must see this cult classic to believe it, or renounce your geek moniker immediately.

It wasnt made on a tiny budget.

The studio put a few quid into it, thinking it may be the last in the legendary series.

But it certainly has the feel and tone of a classic B-movie.

The film is set in 1999.

A la comic book guy.

Tromavilles high school is located right beside a leaking nuclear power plant.

Im sure you’re able to imagine the subsequent adventures.

But this is a good/bad film list.

But 1966sPlague Of The Zombiesis actually a criminally under-rated zombie flick, often overlooked within the saturated genre.

It was shot mostly over weekends as Jackson was working full time.

A few years later he unleashed his brilliant black (and by black ,we mean blood-soaked-red) comedyBraindead.

In a turn of typically bizarre Antipodean cinema weirdness,Braindeadis as gorey as it is tongue n cheek.

Slapstick humour delivered in exaggerated blood n guts packaging.

The plot involves a rat-monkey hybrid that bites the lead characters mother, turning her into a murderous zombie.

Braindeadis not actually bad at all, so perhaps shouldnt be on this list.

Its a fantastic example of good ol zombie gore fun done well.

Illustrating an early incarnation of the talented Mr. Jackson we all know today.

On a nearby island live handsome, dashing men.

But, youve guessed it, their women are mingers.

One day the dreamy men-tribe are attacked by ape men, so they send for help.

Thus insulting their tribe.

The crocodile god has been offended.

Luckily enough, there was some stock footage of a crocodile lying around to illustrate this.

Its all completely asinine.

And so the attractive-ratio-harmony-matrix of the universe is restored.

Secondly, that this is not a sequel at all.

It was originally calledGoblin.

So, the two films have no connection and dont relate to each other.

This caused huge communication problems during production, and results in a stilted, badly delivered script.

Have you ever heard of anything more chimerical and absurd in your life?

Surely the phrase camp humour was created for this homo-erotic, muscle pumping, Italio-American hilarity.

The Wikipedia entry for this film shows the calibre ofBarbariansfans (and I realise Im insulting myself here).

But they make a mean errrughhhhhhhh noise.

It also stars B-movie mavens Richard Lynch and Michael Berryman, adding to the authentically cheapo feel.

Peter and David went on to star in some bad, bad films.

Atrociously awful pieces of garbage next to impossible to sit through, such asTwin SittersandDouble Trouble.

By then the glory days of their cinematic peak,The Barbarians, were long behind them.

1950s B-movies, butI Was A Teenage Werewolfis perhaps the most famous.

And it sums up the zeitgeist perfectly.

The shock factor for US audiences here was that the subject was a teenager rather than an adult.