Hear Me Out: B-movies are popular again
We’re told by the industry bigwigs and box-office gurus that comic-book movies and tentpole franchises are the only hope for modern Hollywood to stay afloat, but with so-called ‘superhero fatigue’ sinking in for many, the truth may have surfaced as to what modern audiences really want. No longer do Marvel and DC dominate the trending section of Twitter on a day-to-day basis; these days, you’re far more likely to see the likes of M3gan, Cocaine Bear and other preposterous B-movie icons.
Indeed, ever since the threat of the pandemic started to ease off in 2021, the films that have dominated online conversation have been preposterously kitsch projects that would have one day been mere B-movie sideshows. During a year when very little was being released in cinemas and streaming services thrived, it was the Warner Bros movie Godzilla vs Kong that thrived, with audiences presumably wanting to escape the anxiety of the Covid-19 pandemic with simple ‘ape-hit-lizard’ action.
B-movies, which were once low-budget nonsense projects that were farted out of the movie industry, have suddenly become cinema’s bread and butter, usurping the spectacle of blockbuster sincerity. No longer are such movies sneered at, with each one proving worthy of turning a tidy profit whilst generating online buzz, from 2022’s horror exploitation flicks Violent Night, Terrifier 2 and Barbarian to the most recent success of Plane, M3gan and Cocaine Bear.
Becoming a gay icon in the process of making serious bank, M3gan is perhaps the poster child of the B-movie resurgence, with the evil doll horror-comedy movie infatuating audiences on social media long before it hit cinema screens. Taking just shy of $180million on a budget of just $12m, M3gan became a significant hit and has unsurprisingly been green-lit for a sequel due to its effortless ability to rouse the masses into a frenzy of besotted excitement.
There’s something about each of these aforementioned projects that grasps the audience with the concept alone, daring them not to see the film by presenting such enticing ideas as a bear running rampage on cocaine, a violent Santa slasher and much more. These movies aren’t just weird obscure releases reserved for lovers of eclectic cinema, such films have created watercooler moments for a generation of people who barely even know what such a moment feels like.
Indeed, it was once commonplace for the hype of a certain movie or TV show to create a buzz that would fly around the office like a birthday cake, but with most people working flexible hours, these B-movies-provide-bitesize chunks of Tik-Tok sized content we can send in a quick message instead. These movies don’t just know their viability, they embrace it, creating something that is almost better to watch at home surrounded by noisy mates than in the strict walls of a cinema screen.
Even still, the viral nature of such movies creates a small micro-community of people who are all in on the joke of the film, making cinema trips to see the likes of M3gan and Cocaine Bear a little like participating in a screening of cult hits The Room or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. By encouraging people to share the film online, tweet their favourite moments and engage wholeheartedly with the material, such movies are creating something more than mere viewers, recreating the communal viewing experience that has been lost with the slow demise of live TV, turning people into gleeful participants.
