A B movie by definition is a low budget movie. Just to pick a few at random from the initial post listing:
Resident Evil had a budget of $32 million.
Total Recall had a budget of $65 million.
Shoot ‘Em Up had a budget of $39 million.
Those aren’t even in the neighborhood of low budget. They may be bad movies, maybe camp, but not B movies.
The thing is, your major Hollywood action movies now have budgets in the $100-200 million range.
They certainly do. If your argument is that this makes a budget in the tens of millions “low budget” by comparison, I’m going to have to disagree with you.
I remember really enjoying that film. Was a throwback to the 70’s British crime dramas with some nice Hollywood polish. The director Roger Donaldson had such a strange career. He helped kickstart the NZ film industry with Sleeping Dogs and Smash Palace, and then took over The Bounty after David Lean couldn’t get insured. Just a few years later, after collaborating with Kubrick’s favorite cinematographer John Alcott on the awesome thriller No Way Out (unfortunately his last feature), he was working on anonymously on films like Cocktail (1988). :(
Turbo Kid is pretty good. Intentionally cheesy 80s throwback. Mad Max on BMX bikes with lots of over the top gore.
It is, and agree to disagree, I suppose. Your definition means “B” movies have all but stopped being made in the last couple decades. Or at least, you’d have to look to places like Uganda, and those movies are nearly impossible to source around here.
I mean Total Recall was made in 1990, though, when a $32 million dollar budget was a much bigger deal.
Nonsense, James Gunn pretty much exclusively made B movies until he got called up to the Avenger ranks. The Asylum does pretty much exclusively in B movies these days, as well as many Syfy joints like Sharknado. Roger Corman would have been laughed out of town if he had asked for $30 million.
Zatoichi (2003) is a lot fun because it’s half a musical.
Hard Boiled by John Woo.
The original The Terminator was unquestionably a B movie. Just as The Chronicles of Riddick was not a B movie (budget $110 million).
Big Wakaliwood fan are you? :)
Anyway, stuff like Bad Black and Who Killed Captain Alex doesn’t qualify as b-movies. B-movies still have some kind of budget, instead of just enthusiasm.
If you want the low budget tier of action that’s fallen away from cinemas, and probably would’ve been produced by Cannon in the past, you’ll have to go to the DTV world. Scott Adkins has a bunch of solid entries there: Undisputed 3, Ninja 2: Shadow of Tear, Accident Man, Triple Threat - and since Universal Soldier: Regeneration has already been mentioned (awesome pick btw), I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. (Although it might be a bit too weird, ambitious and frustrating to fit with the rest of these.)
I would like to be, but I haven’t had the chance to see any of them. My local Alamo has had showings of more than one, which is how I know the scene even exists, but something has consistently come up to make it impossible to go to them. :(
If Miami Connection is getting a recommendation, then I can’t not nominate Hard Ticket To Hawaii
I had to google because I had no idea, apparently the original Terminator had a $6.4 million budget - that’s pretty darn low, even in 1984 dollars. And considering Cameron got his start working for Corman you can see the B movie ethos in the movie, down to the stop motion photography on the skeleton.
Speaking of low-budget, definitely make time for El Mariachi.
And I have a soft spot in my heart for Surviving the Game. Ice-T! Rutger Hauer! Gary Busey!
List updated and alphabetized as requested. Ping me a PM if there are any errors of omissions :)
Thanks for all your recommendations. Many of these movies I’ve never even heard of before. I’m looking forward to some super movie marathons.
Note typo at “Demonlition Man,” which is apparently the name of a “web-toon” of some kind, but should also totally be a B movie.
Fixed - thanks! :)
Well most of my choices have already been recommended by others, but I’ll say that if you like Ultraviolet, you might also check out Aeon Flux with Charlize Theron. It’s in that same “Definitely not good but very watchable” category.