I caught this Re-Penetrator link (NSFW) (thanks Donna) and encountered several kinds of awesome. The trailer is a hoot. Not only does it have one of those cheesy trying-too-hard-to-be-clever porn titles, but they actually did a porn flick based on Re-Animator? Damn, I thought that was at least one B-movie people had forgotten.

I miss the days when a lot of B-movies went straight to video, yet still trying to have some semblance of quality (if that’s what you’d call it), with many of them still filming on film. I know it makes me sound old to say they don’t make ‘em like they used to, but this is one area where it’s oddly true. CGI was rare and expensive, so special effects on the horror / sci-fi staples were of the fun gooey splatter variety, mockup models, blue screen crops or in-camera effects.

Here’s a taste of cheese with the Shrunken Heads trailer:

I especially loved the flicks from Full Moon productions, complete with the VideoZone interviews and trailers to tease you for the next one (and they sure churned out a lot). Most anything Charles Band touched was golden, or maybe B-golden. Oh sure, some of them were just plain bad, I still have a LaserDisc copy of Demonic Toys that I thought would be cooler, but B-films were also my introduction to cherished actors like Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Bruce Campbell, Sherilyn Fenn, Helen Hunt, Meg Foster (those eyes mesmerized me!) and Seth Green.

There were some gems like the aforementioned Re-Animator. I’d love to re-watch Subspecies, Puppet Master, Meridian, Trancers, Oblivion (with George Takei!) and that Full Moon rendition of The Pit and the Pendulum.