B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)

C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are indistinguishable to you.

C means it is competent, but unspectacular genre fare. People who like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others probably will not.

C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film, but films with this rating should be approached with caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C- and an E are indistinguishable to you.

D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-. Any film rated D+ or worse is recommended for just about nobody. In order to rate that low, a film would have to be a critical failure, and be generally rejected by both mainstream and genre audiences.

E means that you'll probably hate it even if you love the genre. Films rated E have been almost completely rejected by reviewers, mainstream audiences, and even the people who normally like such movies.

F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

G means that the film is not only unappealing and technically inept, but also features Jeff Fahey.