Ridley's Scott's sci-fi/horror mashup is a modern classic. At thirty-two years of age, it looks fresh as the day it was hatched. Written by Dan O'Bannon (Return of the Living Dead, Total Recall), and starring Sigourney Weaver in her first film--ALIEN has gone on to spawn three sequels, and inspire an entire subgenre of horror.
This week, I do a feature-length audio commentary--dedicated to a film that was born the same year I was. It sits in my top ten for several reasons--not the least of which is that it still has the power to move me.
As always, you can listen to the snarly goodness here. Or, you can download from Archive.org
I pose a question to all of you, and to myself, "Does the "B" movie still exist?" Sure, we have the back catalogue of Roger Corman and Jack Hill--which serve as latenight movie fodder. But are there modern "B" movies? Would you consider Stars Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, or Transformers to be the stuff of "B" movies? When George Lucas and Steven Spielberg changed the game of Hollywood in the late 70's, budgets, and cinema, were never the same. Movies that many of us grew up with, staples of the genre, would have once been considered "B" movies.
Stories of space wars and aliens, were considered pulp magazine page fillers, and saturday matinee tripe. Now, movies about giant robots from space are blockbusters.
What defines a "B" Movie? Is it budget, subject matter, or genre?
While I may not have definitive answers in this week's episod--I bring up some interesting ideas.
As always, you can listen to the B-Grade carnage here. Or, download the show for iPod, or similar device from Archive.org
