The most notable change was the inclusion of comedy, especially among the lower budgeted films, this might have been done to appeal to a larger audience, or perhaps to compensate for cheap special effects that couldn’t be taken seriously anyway. They featured heaps of neon lights, over the top particle effects and musical scores filled with synthesises and rock music. In the 80’s they were bright, colourful and a lot more fun. The films reflected the times, in the 70’s B horror movies were grim and nihilistic, like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) and “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977). The explosion of the video rental market meant the B horror movies flourished like never before or since. These cinemas were generally in the rough part of town and had no inhibitions to the type of films they showed, giving B moviemakers the freedom to make anything their deranged imaginations could come up with.īy the 1980’s, home video and cable movie channels had arrived, this spelt the death of the Grindhouse cinema.
These films were shown in what’s became known as Grindhouse cinemas across America. When the Hollywood Production Code was abolished, filmmakers were free to push the boundaries of decency and good taste to the limit. In the 1960’s and 70’s exploitation cinema revitalised the B movie. Generally referring to a low-budget film that lacks artistic ambition, instead trying to please its audience with spectacle, titillation and violence. The films were usually genre pictures: westerns, science-fiction and horror being the most popular.Īt the end of the 1950’s the double feature faded away and along with it the need for B movies, nevertheless, the term B movie stuck and is still used today. The B movie would usually have a much smaller budget and no star names.
Double features were the norm, showing a main feature, usually a big budget studio picture with star names, and a B movie afterwards. The term B movie was first coined in Hollywood’s Golden Age which ran from the 1930’s through till the late 1950’s.
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