Love them or loathe them, B-movies have always been an important part of film history. Though they’ve been around for as long as their bigger-budget A-movie counterparts (e.g., since the dawn of cinema), they really came into their own in the late 1960s and ‘70s. Times were a-changing, and as young people gradually became disaffected with political and social establishments, so too did they with the Hollywood establishment. Since B-movies were typically made without any major studio involvement, they could go places A-movies wouldn’t dare. B-movies became, in essence, a more personal, visionary, and radical alternative to the mainstream and oftentimes out-of-touch Hollywood product.
These exploitation-style B-movies quickly became just as popular as the major film studio productions, and much of that is due to the success of one high-octane, low-budget flick called Easy Rider. Soon hundreds of cheap exploitation films flooded the theaters, and while many struck brilliance such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Assault on Precinct 13, countless others faded from view and memory as quickly as they debuted. Though a list chronicling these forgotten ‘70s B-movies could contain hundreds of entries, we’ve narrowed down the following list to 22 that are worthy of rediscovery.
22 The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
The Incredible Melting Man is a low-budget sci-fi horror about an astronaut who, after embarking on a trip to outer space that goes horribly wrong, returns to Earth as a man who melts incredibly. Featuring incredible melting effects from a young Rick Baker, who would later go on to craft many of the greatest special effects of the ‘80s, this gloopy mess of a movie began life as a spoof of ‘50s sci-fi schlock and wound up becoming a source of ridicule in and of itself. This overlooked slimeball pairs beautifully on a double bill with the also very much forgotten 1959 flick First Man into Space, which follows a very similar tragic astronaut-turned-monster tale, albeit without any melting.
21 The Man from Hong Kong (1975)
The Man from Hong Kong is an Ozploitation (Australian exploitation) classic from cult director Brian Trenchard-Smith. It follows a Hong Kong cop on a deadly mission to put an end to a sadistic Australian drug lord’s crime spree. Starring One-Armed Swordsman star Jimmy Wang Yu and one-time James Bond George Lazenby, this explosive actioner blends Kung Fu and spy movie tropes into a beautiful East-meets-West mishmash. The fact that it has been all-but-forgotten in the decades since its release is a crime, as it is a blast from start to finish and truly the stuff of B-movie legend.
20 I Drink Your Blood (1970)
The ultimate Satanic hippie trashterpiece, I Drink Your Blood is a proto-splatter, proto-slasher horror that, in spite of being an important link in the evolution of the horror genre, is not very well known outside of enthusiasts’ circles. It follows a group of devil-worshipers who turn into zombie-like cannibals after eating rabies-spiked meat pies. The film was originally intended to be released as Hydrophobia, but the title was changed to I Drink Your Blood when it was released on a double bill with an unrelated voodoo zombie flick called I Eat Your Skin. I Eat Your Skin is slow and not very engaging, but I Drink Your Blood is a drive-in classic guaranteed to delight with its depraved violence and adorably lo-fi filmmaking, then leave you foaming at the mouth for more.
19 Deranged (1974)
Also known as Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile, this scuzzy little movie is based on the life and crimes of Ed Gein. Like Psycho before it and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre of the same year, Deranged has an eerie backwoods aura and a childlike killer obsessed with death and domineering elders, yet it's oddly not near as well-known. Interestingly, the film was produced in part by A Christmas Story director Bob Clark, who also directed a pair of wonderful and mostly forgotten ‘70s horror flicks that deserve honorable mention on this list: Deathdream and Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things.
18 Tourist Trap (1979)
Tourist Trap is a supernatural slasher about a group of young friends who are forced to stop at an out-of-the-way roadside attraction, and are subsequently attacked by its weird proprietor and his living mannequins. Although the movie was one of the first films to follow in the slasher cycle kicked off by Halloween, it really owes more of its stylistic and structural design to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This is especially true when it comes to the film’s overall look, as production designer Robert A. Burns worked on both this and Tobe Hooper’s Texas-set proto-slasher.All-in-all, Tourist Trap is one of the creepiest and most atmospheric slashers ever made, and as such is deserving of much more recognition.
17 Asylum (1972)
While many horror fans may associate the “horror anthology” subgenre with the ‘80s and ‘90s – the time when the likes of Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt reigned supreme – there was once a studio that pumped out dozens of top-notch films of a similar ilk in the ‘70s. As Slash Film explains, “What has gone long-unacknowledged is a series of horror anthology films arriving partway between those genre classics and the comic books that directly inspired them, courtesy of the England-based Amicus Productions.” One of Amicus’ best and yet least well-known contributions to the subgenre is Asylum.
Directed by genre master Roy Ward Baker and written by Psycho author Robert Bloch, the film tells four creepy stories about the insane, all wrapped up in a spooky framing story. Gorgeous gothic sets give the film some class, but the gory horror and in-your-face sex appeal gives this the requisite sleaze to be considered a proper B-picture.
16 The Creeping Flesh (1973)
The Creeping Flesh released at the end of the British gothic horror cycle, which was so popular in the middle ‘60s but waned at the turn of the decade. As such, this slow-burn Victorian period horror-drama opened to very little fanfare and dropped out of theaters rather quickly. Just because it was unfashionable for the time, however, does not mean that it’s without merit; In actuality, The Creeping Flesh is a clever thriller about a giant prehistoric skeleton that can regrow its flesh and blood when exposed to water. Additionally, its blood is discovered to be the essence of evil, and winds up infecting the townspeople.
Although the movie is lighter on the skeleton-monster action than you might hope, the drama elements are quite engaging and the two lead roles are magnificently acted by genre icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
15 Cannibal Girls (1973)
Cannibal Girls is an oft-forgotten horror-comedy gem and one of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman’s first films. It’s about a couple who honeymoon at a quiet little hotel, only to find out that it’s run by an insane man and his harem of cannibalistic women. Although the film’s marketing materials are arguably better than the film itself (the poster advertising it as “the picture with the warning bell!” and the masterpiece of a Grindhouse trailer that you should watch NOW), Cannibal Girls is a blood-soaked delight that deserves more love.
14 The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974)
One of many exploitation masterpieces from B-movie auteur filmmaker Jack Hill, The Swinging Cheerleaders is perhaps a little less well-known than Switchblade Sisters or Foxy Brown, but truly his whole filmography deserves more recognition. Digressions aside, The Swinging Cheerleaders is both a hilarious comedy and a touching drama, all wrapped up into one sleazy package. This is pure, unadulterated B-movie bliss.
13 Futureworld (1976)
Futureworld is the criminally underseen sequel to the ‘70s sci-fi hit Westworld. Unlike its clever predecessor, Futureworld fits firmly into the B-movie camp; it’s cheesier and made by a studio of considerably lower prestige than its predecessor (Westworld was an MGM production while Futureworld was made by the independent American International Pictures, notorious for such films as She Gods of Shark Reef and Girls in Prison). That being said, the silly sequel is tons of fun, one of the best killer robot movies ever made, and features a memorable performance from counterculture icon Peter Fonda.
12 Psychomania (1973)
Psychomania, also known as The Death Wheelers, is a little-seen low-budget horror oddity, and the film which prompted Film Inquiry to beg the question, “Is This The Greatest Terrible Movie Ever Made?” It deals with a bunch of young friends in a biker gang who sell their souls to Satan, and then follow him as he wreaks havoc upon the English countryside. Stylishly directed by Hammer regular Don Sharp and loaded with far-out fashion, Psychomania is a trippy early ‘70s nightmare that has to be seen to be believed.
11 Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
Cotton Comes to Harlem is a fun neo-noir comedy and one of the first "Blaxploitation” films ever made. It’s about a pair of hard-nosed cops, Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, who uncover a money laundering scheme in Harlem. Overshadowed by better-known Blaxploitation classics that followed it (such as Shaft and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song), Cotton Comes to Harlem is nevertheless deserving of more recognition as an important touchstone in independent and Black cinema.
10 Island of Horrors (1970)
Island of Horrors (also known as Decapitation Island) is a Japanese women-in-prison flick about a group of convicted women who hatch a dangerous plan to escape the prison island they are trapped on. Meanwhile, a terrible outbreak of plague runs rampant on the island. The film is sleazy and visceral, and astonishingly well-shot. Although it isn’t likely going to be rediscovered and heralded as a major cult classic, it is important for laying the foundations upon which the much more popular Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion films would evolve.
9 Supervixens (1975)
Although Russ Meyer and his salacious Sexploitations are impossible to forget, somehow this one from 1975 hasn’t had the cultural impact that his earlier Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls have. Supervixens tells the sensitive story of a man being wrongly accused of murdering his wife, then embarking on an epic cross-country journey, in the process having numerous run-ins with the titular buxom bombshells. Hilarious comedy and random instances of shocking violence give this film a jagged edge that is unmistakably ‘70s. Supervixens is classic go-for-broke exploitation, and a B-movie monolith begging for rediscovery.
8 Starcrash (1978)
One of the silliest sci-fi spectacles of all time, Starcrash is a wild Italian Star Wars knock-off that follows genre movie legend Caroline Munro on a dangerous mission to save the galaxy from an evil ruler. It is extremely low-budget, but the filmmakers never let their lack of funds hinder their incredible ambition. Sure, it’s loaded with amateurish stop-motion animation, shoddy miniature work, terrible acting, and flimsy sets, but it’s too much fun to hate. This charming and unintentionally hilarious little movie just may be the ultimate Z-grade space trip, and deserves far greater recognition.
7 Blue Sunshine (1977)
Blue Sunshine is director Jeff Lieberman’s under-seen cult classic about a falsely accused man trying to uncover the connection between a series of bizarre murders and some bad LSD that the killers’ consumed ten years earlier. The film is every bit as bizarre as it sounds, and is a wholly unique horror flick unlike anything that came before or since.
6 Snuff (1975)
Snuff is a strange little exploitation movie about an enigmatic cult leader and his bevy of murderous women who, in a plot loosely based on the Manson Family murders, seek to kill a pregnant actress. The film has an interesting history, and was originally shot as a straight-forward narrative under the title of Slaughter by husband-and-wife filmmaking team Michael and Roberta Findlay. The distributor, Allan Shackleton, didn’t think the film would be successful without a gimmick involved, so he hired a new director to film a new ending; the new ending depicts the supposed crew of Slaughter murdering and dissecting one of the actresses in documentary style.
Even though the set and actors in the alternate footage bear no resemblance to the Findlays’ film before it, Shackleton marketed the ending segment as an actual snuff film. Unfortunately, the notorious faux snuff sequence is neither very convincing nor engaging, but the movie before it is a ton of sleazy fun and deserves more love.
5 Wolfguy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975)
Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope is a deranged Grindhouse masterpiece that melds horror, sci-fi, martial arts, and neo-noir tropes into one outrageous package. It stars Japanese martial artist Sonny Chiba as a werewolf detective embroiled in a deadly Yakuza plot. Strangely – perhaps even heretically – the titular Wolf Guy never transforms into a werewolf, but it’s difficult to notice that with how fast-paced and consistently surprising the movie is. Though its complete and utter lack of werewolf creature effects keeps it off lists of the greatest werewolf movies ever made, Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope is quite possibly the most unique werewolf film ever made.
4 Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood (1973)
Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood is a cheapo horror movie about a couple searching for their son, who has been kidnapped by a vampiric carnival owner. Light on plot but dripping with eerie atmosphere and chock-full of imaginative production design, this movie is a colorful nightmare waiting to be recognized as a cult classic. It is perhaps best summed up by Really Awful Movies, “Art house, meets funhouse? Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood is a no-budget '70s exploitation film with Gothic and other aspirations, which, even if frequently unmet, are nonetheless well worthy of your time.”
3 The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
One of the all-time best cryptid movies, The Legend of Boggy Creek is a documentary-style horror movie about the Fouke Monster – a hulking creature similar to Bigfoot that is allegedly native to Fouke, Arkansas. It features both real and scripted interviews with Fouke locals, as well as a few genuinely creepy dramatic reenactments of “actual” encounters with the creature. Although you might not buy the legend, the film is undeniably well-made and directed with a confident flair; sweeping shots of the Arkansas swamp and matter-of-fact narration create an oppressive and haunting ambiance, making this an effective low-budgeter worth checking out.
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