Cult exploitation and B movies, actors and actresses since 1990

Every niche from the eras of video nasties or grindhouse has its fandom. Seems that more recent movies that fit description from the title are less hip, but that makes them more obscure and more “cult” so one day today’s man trash will be tomorrow’s man cult classic. Recently Asian (Japanese) exploitation films are most popular, but what else is there? Also what about actors and actress who never made the A-list but make every movie they’re in it worth watching? What would be your nominees? Here are some of mine:

Actress: Gina Gershon

Movie: Heute Tension/High Tension aka Switchblade Romance (2003)
With budget of 2.2M euros, gory exploitation-style violence, and its great cast (that is unknown to mainstream audience, but has wonderfully intriguing careers), this movie is B-movie delight. On rottentomatoes it has 41% rating among critics, and 67% among audience, another indication of the cult film. Mark my words, the film’s status among critics will grow with age as the film is “re-evaluated”. I read the review of Roger Ebert[url]Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 - Roger Ebert - Google Books. His review is totally misplaced, even dare to say (emperor has no clothes!) blind and superficial, there’s no sign that he recognized what the movie was actually about. Neither consensus on rottentomatoes is more insightful: “There is indeed a good amount of tension in this French slasher, but the dubbing is bad and the end twist unbelievable.”
The final twist is not only at the very core of the film, but it begins to be (very subtly) hinted at since the early scene in the car when the girls listen and sing Sara Perche Ti Amo.
I guess you must avoid American version dubbed in English at all causes.

There was a great Canadian film a few years back called Hobo With A Shotgun with Rutger Hauer. The film started as a fake trailer made for a grindhouse competition, and they ended up turning it into a full length movie. Great example of classic exploitation violence and revenge, a great vigilante style film.

Recently watched Hobo With A Shotgun. I bought the blu when it first came out and have watched it 3 times, I think. Its a good flic, but again, my usual problem with these modern exploitation movies is that they are more satire than real exploitation. Its entertaining but loses a lot of oomphf because its obvious the filmmakers are just having a laugh with the genre, more or less.

Bad Biology (2008) by Frank Henenlotter, who also did the excellent Frankenhooker (1990). Basket Case 2 was also 1990, but I haven’t watched it yet. Henenlotter also does a kind of comedy/satire, but in a more original way that actually has something meaningful and funny to say. His films are without doubt pure exploitation.

Crank (2006) + Crank 2 High Voltage (2009) - crazy films that are sometimes too cheesy for me, but the bulk of the films just feel so different from everything else

Rampage (2009) Uwe Boll - if this isn’t exploitation then I don’t know what is…

Modus Operandi (2009) - I’ve only watched this once, back when it was first released, but I liked it very much then. I was afraid it would be super boring going in, but it actually kept me quite entertained the whole way, and the guy really just fucking nailed it with the look of the film. This was way more similar to watching an old exploitation flic than any other modern films I’ve seen trying to imitate the genre.

The Purge (2013) - a recent film that everyone seems to hate, constantly made fun of in mainstream media, but I saw it at the cinema and instantly recognized it as pure exploitation, properly done and reminded me very much of some older classics. People seem terribly hung up on how ridiculous the premise of the film is, which at this point is not something I even really pay much attention to.

I pick The Killer Inside Me (2010). Casey Affleck was really quite good in this. And there are definite exploitation aspects.

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