▶ watchobscureWerewolves on Wheels
1971 · USA · 85m
Exactly what it says, at half the pace you want.
Biker
1966–1972 · 9 films catalogued
AIP's outlaw cycle. Started with a news story, ended when the counterculture stopped selling.
American International Pictures noticed the Hells Angels were in the papers and made The Wild Angels (1966) with Peter Fonda for $360,000. It took over $5 million, and American drive-ins ran on motorcycle films for six years.
The formula: a club, a town that does not want them, an act of violence, a funeral. Real outlaw clubs were often hired as extras and occasionally as security, with predictable results.
The cycle paid for Easy Rider (1969), same producer, same star, same economics. Easy Rider then killed it by proving the audience would pay for something better made.
Where to start
All 9 →▶ watchobscure
obscureSatan's Sadists
1969 · USA · 86m
Al Adamson's grimiest, shot partly where the Manson family was living.
▶ watchobscurePsychomania
1973 · UK · 90m
Zombie bikers, toad worship and George Sanders' last film. As English as horror gets.
▶ watchcultAngels Hard as They Come
1971 · USA · 85m
Jonathan Demme's first script, produced by Corman. Rashomon on bikes.
▶ watchcultStone
1974 · Australia · 103m
Australia's outlaw-biker scripture. Mad Max drank from this tank.
▶ watchcultThe Born Losers
1967 · USA · 114m
The first Billy Jack film, and much nastier than the sequels.
▶ watchknownHells Angels on Wheels
1967 · USA · 95m
The biker cycle's Jack Nicholson entry, shot by Laszlo Kovacs and a cut above the AIP norm.
▶ watchknownThe Wild Angels
1966 · USA · 87m
Corman starts the cycle. Peter Fonda, real Hells Angels, and a funeral.
▶ watchcanonThe Wild One
1953 · USA · 79m
Brando's motorcycle gang takes over a town. The film that invented teenage cool and terrified parents.