David Sterritt, THE B LIST author, film critic: Mr. Media Interview

The B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love, which presents the most offbeat, unpredictable, and idiosyncratic films ever to reach the big screen. Most of these movies haven’t won Oscars, but they’ve won-over audiences throughout the world—at art house cinemas, in dorm rooms, at midnight showings, and even at mainstream theaters.

In this collection, the nation’s most prominent critics reveal their love of “films that fall outside the mainstream by dint of their budgets, their visions, their grit, and occasionally—sometimes essentially—their lack of what the culture cops call ‘good taste.’” The thirty-five critics—including luminaries like Roger Ebert, Kenneth Turan, and Peter Travers—discuss everything from westerns to noir, science fiction to slashers.

Pink Flamingos, Grindhouse, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Platoon, Reservoir Dogs, The Fly, Videodrome, Night of the Living Dead, The Buddy Holly Story, Eraserhead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers—all the best B movies are represented here. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of these cult classics or just want to know what the buzz is about, The B List is indispensable.

David Sterritt is chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and a film professor at Columbia University.