10 Great B-Movies Recommended by Tarantino - Collider

It's no secret that Quentin Tarantino loves B-movies. Over the years, he has heaped praise on dozens of low-budget grindhouse movies, not least on his Video Archives podcast. QT's own work has been greatly influenced by 1970s exploitation flicks. A lot of his films can be seen as B-movie concepts given the Hollywood treatment.

While most B-movies are, well, a little sloppy, some of them hold up well. They might be rough around the edges, but many of these movies were influential in their time. Indeed, the early B-movies were an important milestone in the development of independent cinema.

'The Trip' (1967)

The Trip is a psychedelic movie directed by cult independent producer Roger Corman and written by Jack Nicholson (yes, that Jack Nicholson). It follows a depressed director, heartbroken over his divorce, who takes a large dose of LSD. He wanders around Sunset Boulevard, experiencing all kinds of hallucinations.

The Trip was a shameless attempt to capitalize on the psychedelic movement of 1967 and the public's fascination with drugs. However, it has its moments and is an interesting time capsule from that era. In 2013, there were reports that a film about the making of The Trip was in the works, with Tarantino set to play Corman. However, like many Tarantino projects, this one still hasn't come to fruition.

'The Last House on the Left' (1972)

Before he found mega-success with A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven directed this gritty, independent slasher about a teenager who is abducted by killers. However, the villains get more than they bargained for when the girl's parents set out for revenge.

Tarantino has said that, along with Bambi, The Last House on the Left was the only movie that terrified him as a kid. "I think Bambi is well known for traumatizing children," he has said. "The only other movie I couldn't handle and had to leave was at a drive-in in Tennessee. I was there alone, sitting on the gravel by a speaker, watching Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. So for me, Last House on the Left and Bambi are sitting on the f---ing shelf right next to each other."

'Master of the Flying Guillotine' (1976)

This wild kung fu movie is a sequel to the classic One-Armed Boxer. It centers on a blind martial arts master who embarks on a quest to take revenge on the men who murdered his students. He wields a weapon that is very similar to the one used by Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama) in Kill Bill.

"Jimmy Wang Yu was the first martial arts superstar that came out of Hong Kong," QT has said of the film. "More than any of the other kung fu movies, it captured the flavor of this Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby universe. I’ve seen it like 20 times."

'Coffy' (1973)

"They call her 'Coffy' and she'll cream you!" Coffy is a legendary blaxploitation film starring Pam Grier as a vigilante who takes on a drug dealer after her sister becomes an addict. Along with Foxy Brown, it's Grier's most iconic and intense performance. Coffy received mixed reviews on release but has since been acknowledged as a groundbreaking movie, especially for its nuanced portrayal of a black female protagonist.

Tarantino called Coffy one of his favorite blaxploitation movies and went on to cast Grier in Jackie Brown. "It has a violent power over an audience that’s very unique," he says. "People get swept up in it where they’re screaming for blood by the end of the movie."

They Call Her One Eye' (1973)

They Call Her One Eye (aka Thriller) is a Swedish action movie about a mute young woman who is forced into prostitution and then sets out to take revenge upon those who wronged her. Christina Lindberg delivers a powerhouse performance in the lead role. It's super-brutal, especially the eye-gouging scene, and has since become a cult film.

Tarantino called it “the roughest revenge movie ever." He pays homage to the film with the character of Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) in Kill Bill, who wears an almost-identical eye patch.

'Five Fingers of Death' (1972)

Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer) centers on a martial arts tournament where talented students from rival schools compete. Things rapidly escalate when the master of one of the schools hires assassins to take out the protagonist. In 2012, Tarantino ranked it as one of his 12 all-time favorite movies. The title also sounds like it was the inspiration for the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique from Kill Bill.

“That’s one of the greatest kung fu movies ever," he has said. "That’s up there with Coffy in terms of [being an] audience participation movie and one of the first of the kung fu movies to be released in America".

'The Savage Seven' (1968)

The Savage Seven is a biker movie about Kisum (Adam Roarke), the leader of a motorcycle gang, who falls in love with a woman named Marcia (Joanna Frank). However, her brother is the leader of a rival gang, and things grow even more complicated when a crooked businessman enters the fray. Some critics have interpreted the film as a biker remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

Tarantino included it among his 20 favorite grindhouse movies. He also screened it at his film festival and even performed the theme song on stage. While not for everyone, The Savage Seven should appeal to motorcycle fanatics and fans of good old-fashioned action.

'Brotherhood of Death' (1976)

Brotherhood of Death is a super low-budget action movie about a group of African-American Vietnam vets who take on the Ku Klux Klan in their hometown. They unleash tactics they learned in the war upon their enemies. Interestingly, many of the actors were, at the time, members of the Washington Redskins football team.

It looks likely that the film inspired the scene with the bag-headed proto-Klan members in Django Unchained. Tarantino was a big advocate of Brotherhood of Death, screening it twice at his film festivals. This brought it to new audiences and was the reason that the film was finally released on DVD in 2005.

'The Mack' (1973)

Richard Pryor stars in this blaxploitation flick about a criminal named Goldie (Max Julien) who is released from prison to find that his brother has gotten involved in Black nationalism. Instead of joining him, Goldie establishes himself as a pimp but soon has to deal with problems in the former of a rival drug lord and two corrupt cops.

The Mack features plenty of humorous, over-the-top dialogue, so it's no wonder that QT enjoyed it. Tarantino owns a rare 35mm print of the film and has cited it as an inspiration. In particular, The Mack influenced a few similar scenes in True Romance. The character Drexly Spivey (Gary Oldman) can even be seen watching The Mack at one point.

'Pretty Maids All in a Row' (1971)

Pretty Maids All in a Row takes place at a high school where one of the students is murdered. Ponce (John David Carson) is a shy student who befriends the guidance counselor (Rock Hudson), only to find out that he has been having affairs with some of the students. The plot continues to take twists and turns from there. The highlight of the film is Telly Savalas, who plays the detective investigating the death.

Tarantino included it on his 2012 list of the 10 greatest films ever for Sight & Sound, and particularly praised Hudson's acting. "[His] performance is so good, that it can bear the weight that Rock Hudson’s mythology bears on it…all the baggage of his f---ing life will just go away…this was his last great kickass [film] performance," Tarantino has said.

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