movies

A (generally low-budget) film usually considered to be of inferior quality, so called because such films were originally shown along with popular (or "A") movies as part of a theater's "double feature." Yeah, I know it's just a stupid B movie, but I still love it.

A film that is entertaining to watch but is generally not of a very high quality or rich in emotional or intellectual depth. A: "So what movie do you want to go see later?" B: "I don't feel like watching anything too heavy or complex—let's just see whatever popcorn movie is out."

A film that shows the actual murder or death of a person. Although snuff movies are illegal, they are still widely circulated on the black market.

A film with a very large budget and production value that is meant to provide substantial revenue to the production company. Big blockbusters used to be quite the rare cinematic event, but we've gotten to the point now where there's a tentpole movie coming out nearly every weekend of the year.

The low-budget second part of a movie theater's double feature. Back in the days of double features, movie houses showed two very distinct types of films. A movies were the hits—“Gone With the Wind,” “Casablanca,” “Citizen Kane,” “The Wizard of Oz”—the ones that drew patrons to the movie houses. Then there were Westerns, horror flicks, and science fiction movies that didn't cost very much to make (they were often in black-and-white). These B movies tended to be shown before the main feature; otherwise, people would leave after the A picture and then feel they hadn't gotten their admission money's worth. As double features disappeared and the cost of filmmaking grew, the curtain went down on the B movie genre.