Cheap Cinema: The B Movies Quiz

B movies are all low-budget productions. Some are terrible, but many B movies have gained fame for their ingenuity or artistry.

In the early days of film, theaters often billed films as double features, with a big A-level Hollywood feature accompanied by a lesser promoted B movie.

Many top-notch talents (Jack Nicholson, John Wayne, Pam Grier, etc.) worked in B movies, which provided a steady source of income and exposure.

In the '40s, Westerns declined in popularity.

Slater is a detective of supernatural phenomenon is this bomb of a movie, considered by some to be the worst move in Hollywood history.

In spite of a $20 million budget, the film makes almost no sense, and it certainly found no audience — it lost at the box office by earning only $10 million.

There were about 3,700 drive-in theaters, which contributed to the popularity of B movies. That's because B movies, with their often predictable premises, were perfect for audiences sitting in cars.

Busey is the "The Gingerdead Man," a killer cookie that begins a killing spree in Texas. In the end, the kooky killer is cooked to death in an oven … or is he?

This 1959 black-and-white B movie was made by the famous Ed Wood, who wrote, directed, produced and edited the film.

Aliens planned to prevent humans from creating an advanced weapon that could destroy the entire universe. The movie gained fame starting in the '80s, when critics dubbed it one of the worst films ever created.

Length was often an indicator of B movies, which were rarely 80 minutes long. Often, they were much shorter.

Vincent Price played a millionaire offering a cash prize to anyone who can survive a night in a haunted house. The acting is totally goofy, and the special effects are practically homemade crafts.

A huge mutant bear rampages through society, apparently as a commentary on humanity's selfish ways and their environmental impact.

"CHUD," which stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, is about toxic waste creating a race of underground cannibals that terrorize New York City.

"Hercules in New York" was Arnold's first feature film. His English was so poor then that his lines are almost unintelligible.

"X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes" can see through clothing and other objects. Don Rickles starred in this film, which actually got good reviews.

To stop "The Tingler," audiences were encouraged to scream as loudly as possible. In some theaters, a vibrating mechanism was installed on seating to give scary scenes an extra jolt.

"The Big Doll House" is about women in prison. The tagline for the film was "their bodies were caged, but not their desires. They would do anything for a man. Or to him."

In 1971, that $125,000 budget was actually pretty sizable. The movie went on to make millions of dollars in rentals and spawned a sequel called "The Big Bird Cage."

The clowns in this movie are ravenous — they plan to kill and eat all the humans on Earth.

The mutant baby is a hardcore killer and is so dangerous that the National Guard is called in to stop the murder spree.

Tom Hanks was 26 years old when he starred in this B movie, which linked the "Dungeons & Dragons" gaming craze to Satanism and mental illness.

This 1988 film is one of the most famous B movies made in recent decades. It was written and directed by the Chiodo Bros., who have worked on many other Hollywood productions.

In a swirl of gaping teeth, the sharks tear apart people in Los Angeles. It stars celebrities Ian Ziering and Tara Reid and caused a media ruckus in 2013.

Enraged by atomic bomb tests, a humungous octopus claws its way out of the sea to kill people. In one famous scene it climbs the Golden Gate Bridge.

The movie was made for $20,000 by creator Larry Buchanan, who has been called one of the worst filmmakers in history.

In "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats," the bed actually does eat people. It eats people and drinks wine. "Death Bed" was director George Barry's only film.

Steve McQueen stars in the movie. He was later nominated for an Academy Award for his work in "The Sand Pebbles."

Z movies are movies with ultrasmall budgets (even smaller than B movies), and they are typically very short, too.

A radioactive cloud of mist envelopes the man, who begins shrinking. He is eventually attacked by his own cat and a spider, and he's never cured of his condition.