Z-film

  or Z-movie

  refers to a very low-budgeted, independently-made, non-union, less than B-film grade movie, usually with first-time director and actors; often quickly-made for the teenaged youth market and amateurish-looking, but with campy appeal; with exploitational subject matter that includes surfing films, motorcycle flicks, cheap horror films, etc.; Z-films become prime candidates for cult film status

  Examples: American International Pictures specialized in Z-films, such as Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), Roger Corman's Gas-S-S-S! (1971) (aka (Gas! Or It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It), and The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971); also Octaman (1971), Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973), and The Curse of the Screaming Dead (1982). The best known Z-film, Manos, The Hands of Fate (1966) (pictured), was an extreme low-budget film made by fertilizer salesman Hal P. Warren, a film that became famous by the satirical TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000; also, director Ed Wood's films were Z-pictures, such as Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), as was Vic Savage's The Creeping Terror (1964) and Fred Olen Ray's Attack of the 60-Foot Centerfold (1995) and Bikini Cavegirl (2004) (aka Teenage Cavegirl)