The Best Films of Charles Band
by quridley | created - 01 Dec 2016 | updated - 30 Nov 2018 | PublicQuality films produced or directed by B-movie then C-movie then Z-movie mogul Charles Band
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1. Puppet Master (1989 Video)
R | 90 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Psychics find themselves plotted against by a former colleague, who committed suicide after discovering animated, murderous puppets.
Director: David Schmoeller | Stars: Paul Le Mat, William Hickey, Irene Miracle, Jimmie F. Skaggs
Votes: 12,793
Cheap, clever, never scary but totally bizarre "old dark house" mystery about psychics being killed by living occult puppets. His most famous production and probably his most enjoyable and rewarding.
2. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,539 | Gross: $2.02M
The best made and respected movie associated with Band. The credit belongs to director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna, but Band was crazy and crafty enough to let them make this 80s horror classic.
3. Trancers (1984)
PG-13 | 76 min | Action, Sci-Fi
A gruff bounty hunter travels back in time to 1980s Los Angeles to stop a twisted criminal who can transform people into zombie-like creatures.
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani, Art LaFleur
Votes: 7,551
This shows Band's personal genius. A fun script, star talent & classy production on a dime. This is "Blade Runner" meets "Terminator" with a young Helen Hunt being lovable. Probably the first film to use "Bullet Time".
4. Tourist Trap (1979)
PG | 90 min | Horror
A group of young friends stranded at a secluded roadside museum are stalked by a masked assailant who uses his telekinetic powers to control the attraction's mannequins.
Director: David Schmoeller | Stars: Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Jon Van Ness, Robin Sherwood
Votes: 12,876
Cemented the Charles Band formula: cheap, sexy, slasher meets fantasy psychodrama with creepy dolls, surreal dream logic and a kind of canned 1950s movie nostalgia.
5. Shrunken Heads (1994)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
When three N.Y. kids are murdered, the local Hatiian voodoo priest re-animates their shrunken heads to exact revenge. Complications arise between one of the heads and his former girlfriend.
Director: Richard Elfman | Stars: Julius Harris, Meg Foster, Aeryk Egan, Rebecca Herbst
Votes: 1,596
Typical Charles Band production in premise, raised to a high level of quirky fun by Richard Elfman ("Forbidden Zone"). Is it a campy kids film or a morbid revenge movie?
6. From Beyond (1986)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree
Votes: 30,785 | Gross: $1.26M
The 3rd collaboration between Band and Yuzna/Gordon. Their biggest and craziest movie. Very well-made and very mind-bending.
7. Pulse Pounders (1988)
77 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
In this 'sequel' anthology, the film offers a TRANCERS sequel written by original creators Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, a new Lovecraft adaptation THE EVIL CLERGYMAN, featuring Jeffrey ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, David Warner, David Gale
Votes: 282
3 short films that showcase Band's best directing and producing. Unfortunately shelved and only seen in bits with VHS quality
8. TerrorVision (1986)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
"TerrorVision" is a 1986 horror / science fiction movie; telling the tale of when a family's new satellite television system starts receiving signals from another planet, and soon it becomes the passageway to an alien world.
Director: Ted Nicolaou | Stars: Diane Franklin, Mary Woronov, Gerrit Graham, Chad Allen
Votes: 7,777 | Gross: $0.32M
A tribute to Roger Corman movies featuring some Corman alum. Campy, dumb, fun but also beautifully produced.
9. Castle Freak (1995 Video)
R | 90 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A man travels to Italy with his family to live in the castle they have recently inherited. But he soon begins to suspect that they are not the only occupants.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Jonathan Fuller, Jessica Dollarhide
Votes: 10,332
Almost-classic neo-Gothic monster movie by Stuart Gordon. Features Band's typical pretty photography and locations but also features Full Moon's amateur editing and sound design.
10. The Dungeonmaster (1984)
PG-13 | 73 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A demonic wizard challenges a modern-day computer programmer to a battle of technology vs. sorcery, with the programmer's girlfriend as the prize.
Directors: David Allen, Charles Band, John Carl Buechler, Michael Karp, Peter Manoogian, Ted Nicolaou, Steve Stafford, Rosemarie Turko | Stars: Jeffrey Byron, Richard Moll, Leslie Wing, Gina Calabrese
Votes: 2,917
A very wild and ambitious sci-fi/fantasy/action experiment that is insanely 80s and weird. One of Band's best on a premise and production level. The execution isn't great but fair.
11. Dolls (1986)
R | 77 min | Horror
A dysfunctional family of three stop by a mansion during a storm -- father, stepmother, and child. The child discovers that the elderly owners are magical toy makers and have a haunted collection of dolls.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Carrie Lorraine, Guy Rolfe
Votes: 12,853
2nd Yuzna/Gordon movie made for Band. This has clear influences on Puppet Master and its a nice family-oriented horror movie with a fairy tale element.
12. Head of the Family (1996)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Horror
The "head" of the family is literally that - a giant head on a tiny body, who psychically controls the rest of his even more unusual family.
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Blake Adams, Jacqueline Lovell, Bob Schott, James Jones
Votes: 2,684
One of the best films made later in Band's career. Great script and premise. Incredibly watchable for such a cheap movie.
13. Ghoulies (1984)
PG-13 | 81 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A young man and his girlfriend move into an old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a desire to control ancient demons.
Director: Luca Bercovici | Stars: Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Jack Nance
Votes: 10,390 | Gross: $35.00M
Cult hit about the occult, little monsters and airhead teens. Predecessor of the Puppet Master franchise. Features a young Mariska Hargitay.
14. Robot Jox (1989)
PG | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the distant future, mankind has forsaken global wars for battles of single combat. The world has been divided into two opposing super powers, with each side represented by trained champions.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo, Robert Sampson
Votes: 7,304 | Gross: $1.27M
Kinda dry but this was an ambitious and entertaining film for its era. Basically its "Pacific Rim" made on a fraction of the budget in the 1980s that takes itself pretty seriously. Great cheesy fluff but also kinda bad-ass.
15. Blood Dolls (1999)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Virgil, an eccentric freak billionaire, spends his days being a "biological inventor." The "blood dolls," his newest creation, aid him in getting revenge on those who betrayed him.
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Kristopher Logan, Debra Mayer, William Paul Burns, Warren Draper
Votes: 1,764
Charles Band's magnum opus. A Puppet Master riff with elements of Head of the Family. Band at his most outrageous, weird, cheap and personal. Directed by Charles Band.
16. Mutant Hunt (1987 Video)
Not Rated | 75 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Z, a vicious genetic scientist, discovers a way to alter harmless humanoid androids called 'Cyborgs' into becoming killing machines, which he plans to use for his own gain.
Director: Tim Kincaid | Stars: Rick Gianasi, Mary Fahey, Ron Reynaldi, Taunie Vrenon
Votes: 827
Insane "Blade Runner" ripoff that is so cheap and dated that its a must-see.
17. Unlucky Charms (2013)
Unrated | 71 min | Fantasy, Horror
Five girls vie for a chance to model diva Deedee DeVille's fashion line, but they're soon competing for their lives against four mythical beings, led by the mischievous Farr Darrig.
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Tiffany Thornton, Seth Peterson, Charlie O'Connell, Nathan Phillips
Votes: 463
Recent Band-directed trash. A reality TV spoof with a killer leprechaun and a surprisingly funny script. Its uneven but watchable.
18. Dollman (1991 Video)
R | 82 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
A hard-boiled intergalactic policeman lands on Earth, where he is thirteen inches tall.
Director: Albert Pyun | Stars: Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, Kamala Lopez, Humberto Ortiz
Votes: 3,713
19. Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994 Video)
R | 84 min | Fantasy, Horror, Romance
A woman destined for freedom manages to escape Hell. When she arrives from the sewers of Earth, she decides to punish Sinners. But the last thing she expected to find was love.
Director: Linda Hassani | Stars: Constantin Draganescu, Angela Featherstone, Cristina Stoica, Valentin Teodesiu
Votes: 1,323
20. Arena (1989)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A human becomes an unlikely rising star in the biggest fighting tournament in the galaxy that's dominated by alien species.
Director: Peter Manoogian | Stars: Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Camp, Claudia Christian, Marc Alaimo
Votes: 3,043
21. Arcade (1993 Video)
R | 85 min | Sci-Fi
A virtual reality game begins taking over the minds of teenagers.
Director: Albert Pyun | Stars: Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, John de Lancie, Sharon Farrell
Votes: 1,974
22. Crawlspace (1986)
R | 80 min | Horror, Thriller
A man who runs an apartment house for women is the demented son of a Nazi surgeon who has the house equipped with secret passageways, hidden rooms and torture and murder devices.
Director: David Schmoeller | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, Barbara Whinnery, Carole Francis
Votes: 3,848
23. Robot Holocaust (1987)
Not Rated | 79 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A highly unlikely band of heroes traverses a post-apocalyptic wasteland to rescue a scientist from the tyrannical Dark One and his army of robots.
Director: Tim Kincaid | Stars: Norris Culf, Nadine Hartstein, J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner, Jennifer Delora
Votes: 2,097
24. Trophy Heads (2014)
Unrated | 87 min | Horror
An obsessed fan and his mother kidnap former 'scream queens' and force them to reenact their famous film roles...with deadly results.
Director: Charles Band | Stars: Adam Roberts, Maria Olsen, Brinke Stevens, Darcy DeMoss
Votes: 473
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