A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature. However, the U.S. production of films intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s. With the emergence of commercial television at that time, film studio B movie production departments changed into television film production divisions. They created much of the same type of content in low budget films and series. The term B movie continues to be used in its broader sense to this day. In its post-Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides of the definition: on the one hand, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient; on the other, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity.
Wesley Earl Craven was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Due to the cultural impact and influence of his work, Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre. Amongst his prolific filmography, Craven was best known for his pioneering work in the horror genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror cliches with humor and satire.
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as splatter films and psychological horror films.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 American meta slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, creator of 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street. A standalone film and the seventh installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, it is not part of the same continuity as previous films, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world and haunts the cast and crew involved in the making of the films about him. In the film, Freddy is depicted as closer to what Craven originally intended, being much more menacing and less comical, with an updated attire and appearance.
Edgar Howard Wright is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a signature editing style that includes transitions, whip pans and wipes. He began making independent short films before making his first feature film A Fistful of Fingers in 1995. Wright created and directed the comedy series Asylum in 1996, written with David Walliams. After directing several other television shows, Wright directed the sitcom Spaced (1999–2001), which aired for two series and starred frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Chris LaMont is an American professor, screenwriter, and independent filmmaker who co-founded the Phoenix Film Festival in 2000 and is currently the President of the Advisory Board for the non-profit Phoenix Film Foundation which he founded in 2000. He has produced and directed several independent films, including Film Club, My Apocalypse(film), Netherbeast Incorporated, The Graves, Justice Served (film) and Postmarked (film).
The 1960s and 1970s marked the rise of exploitation style independent B movies. Movies that are usually made without the support of Hollywood's major film studios. As censorship pressures lifted in the early 1960s, the low-budget end of the American motion picture industry increasingly incorporated the sort of sexual and violent elements long associated with so-called exploitation films. The demise of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1968 coupled with the success of the exploitation film Easy Rider the following year fueled the trend throughout the subsequent decade. The success of the B-studio exploitation movement had a significant effect on the strategies of the major studios during the 1970’s.
Vengeance of the Zombies is a 1972 horror film directed by León Klimovsky and starring Paul Naschy. The film was shot in July of 1972, but was only theatrically released in Spain as La rebelión de las muertas in June 1973. It was shown in Italy as La Vendetta dei Morti Viventi. It was released in the U.S. as Vengeance of the Zombies in December 1973, on a double bill with another Klimovsky film The Dracula Saga.
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is a 1977 American surrealist horror film written, produced, and directed by George Barry in his only feature film. The plot centers on the title antagonist as it is passed on through generations, bringing tragedy upon those who come across it.
S&Man is a 2006 pseudo-documentary film that examines the underground subculture of horror films. It contains interviews with indie horror filmmakers and other horror experts, including Erik Marcisak, Bill Zebub, Fred Vogel, Carol J. Clover, and Debbie D., as well as a scripted plot that comes into focus in the film's second half.
Bloody Disgusting is an American production studio, which started out as an horror genre-focused news site/website that covered all horror media including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. The company evolved into a film studio with the V/H/S series of anthology horror films.
Adam Wingard is an American filmmaker. He has served as a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous projects. Following an early career as a member of the mumblecore movement, he became notable for his works in the horror and action genres, especially the films You're Next (2011), and The Guest (2014), and the bigger budget franchise films Blair Witch (2016), Death Note (2017), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).
A Satanic film is a subgenre of horror film, and at times other film genres, that involves the Devil as a concept or a character. Common themes/characters in Satanic film include the Antichrist, demonic possession, exorcism, and witchcraft.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Andrew Monument, based on the 2004 book of the same name by Joseph Maddrey. The film examines the appeal of the horror film genre to audiences and how the genre has continually evolved to reflect changing societal fears in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Red Christmas is a 2016 Australian horror film written, directed, and produced by Craig Anderson.
Epic Pictures Group is an independent film and television studio engaged in the development, financing, production and distribution of film and television. Since the foundation of the company in 2007, CEO Patrick Ewald has grown Epic Pictures into an independent content studio with the mission of delivering the best-in- class genre entertainment “for fans, by fans.” Epic Pictures produces, finances, and distributes approximately twenty-thirty independent genre films a year. In 2013, the company established Epic Pictures Releasing which is its US focused distribution division. In 2017, Epic Pictures acquired the world’s most popular horror website, Dread Central, and launched its unique horror label, Dread, followed by its AVOD channel, DreadTV. In 2019, Epic Pictures started the horror gaming site, DreadXP, with a focus on editorial, reviews, podcasts, and original streaming content. In 2020, DreadXP began a video game publishing division with the launch of The Dread X Collection, an anthology of horror games in collaboration with some of the most innovative developers in the independent gaming space.
Art or arthouse horror is a sub-genre of both horror films and art-films. It explores and experiments with the artistic uses of horror.
J. D. Dillard is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter best known for his work on Sleight (2016) and Sweetheart (2019).
