B-Movie Theater, the popular web site celebrating the art and industry of the low-budget film genre, announces the fifth annual inductions in the B-Movie Hall of Fame. The B-Movie Hall of Fame honorees were selected from nearly 2,000 votes submitted by cinephiles from around the world who paid tribute to the classic films and versatile artists of the B-Movie orbit.
During the voting process, the B-Movie Hall of Fame provided ballots with 100 B-Movie titles and 100 B-Movie icons to choose from. “This year’s winning votes overwhelmingly reflect the B-Movie glory years of the 1970s,” said Ron Bonk, president and founder of the B-Movie Hall of Fame. “When 70s icons like Pam Grier, Divine and Dario Argento and classics like “Eraserhead,” “I Spit on Your Grave,” and “Dawn of the Dead,” dominate the votes, it is clearly time to recognize this decade as being a golden era for the B-Movie genre.”
The newest members of the B-Movie Hall of Fame are as follows –
B-MOVIE ARTISTS:
DARIO ARGENTO – Italian legend who directed B-Movie classics including “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage” (1970), “Suspiria” (1977) and “Creepers” (1985).
MARIO BAVA – Italian director who helmed the horror masterpieces “Black Sunday” (1960), “The Whip and the Body” (1963) and “Blood and Black Lace” (1965).
JOE-BOB BRIGGS – Good ol’ boy film critic who has been an indefatigable champion for B-Movies.
WES CRAVEN – Prolific filmmaker who scared audiences with his memorable “The Last House on the Left” (1972) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
DAVID CRONENBERG – Canadian filmmaker who directed B-Movie gems including “Scanners” (1981) and “Videodrome” (1983) before heading to the A-list.
DIVINE – Cross-dressing diva who starred in the John Waters flicks “Multiple Maniacs” (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and “Polyester” (1981).
PAM GRIER – Icon of 1970s blaxploitation classics including “Coffy” (1973) and “Foxy Brown” (1974).
RAY HARRYHAUSEN – Celebrated master of stop-action animated special effects, best known for “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963), “The Valley of Gwangi” (1969) and “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1974).
BETTIE PAGE – Pin-up superstar who graced movie burlesque revues including “Striporama” (1953)and “Varietease” (1954).
TOM SAVINI – Versatile film artist best known for his extraordinary make-up work on the horror classics “Deranged” (1972), “Martin” (1977) and “Maniac” (1980).
B-MOVIE CLASSICS:
“ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13” (1976), directed by John Carpenter. Cops and cons join forces when an isolated station is suddenly under attack.
“DAWN OF THE DEAD” (1978), directed by George Romero. Second installment in the zombie trilogy, with the recently deceased returning to take over a mall.
“ERASERHEAD” (1977), directed by David Lynch. Midnight movie perennial about a weird man who becomes father to an even weirder baby.
FASTER, PUSSYCAT…KILL! KILL! (1965), directed by Russ Meyer. Three strippers go on a wild crime spree in this proto-feminist cult favorite.
FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980), directed by Sean S. Cunningham. The first in the long-running horror series featuring the homicidal Jason on the loose at a summer camp.
“GLEN OR GLENDA?” (1953), directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. A closet transvestite’s gnawing angst is explored with astonishing lunacy in this camp anti-classic.
“HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER” (1980), directed by John McNaughton. The true-life criminal career of Henry Lee Lucas is extensively recreated in gruesome detail.
“THE HILLS HAVE EYES” (1977), directed by Wes Craven. A vacationing family is stranded in the California desert and stalked by odd beings who don’t enjoy visitors.
“I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE” (1978), directed by Meir Zarchi. A woman is brutally assaulted and left for dead…except she doesn’t die and instead seeks out her attackers for some much-needed revenge.
“MARTIN” (1977), directed by George Romero. A boy in Pittsburgh claims to be a vampire…and his claim might not be as strange it seems!
