Walk along the new-release shelf at your local Hollywood Video or Blockbuster these days, or log on to Netflix or Blockbuster Online and check out the new-release page, and you’re bound to see dozens of movies that you’ve never heard of, seemingly dwarfing the ones that played in nearby theaters. The direct-to-video industry is booming, with major studios now featuring divisions specifically dedicated to producing “DVD premieres.”

Everyone remembers the old stigma of the direct-to-video stinker, but with so many movies forgoing theatrical release these days, and the budgets for those movies getting bigger and bigger, the likelihood of finding something that isn’t entirely unwatchable has greatly increased. Here’s a look at the six types of direct-to-video movies you can expect to find nowadays.

The unnecessary/unrelated sequel

The direct-to-video industry has taken off thanks in large part to these movies, cheaper and more quickly made follow-ups to successful studio films. These movies often feature none of the original’s stars, or perhaps only one supporting player (as is the case with the numerous American Pie sequels). Sensing the demand for movies with familiar titles and/or premises, lately studios have been churning out new takes on films from WarGames to The Art of War.

Example from new-release shelf: Lost Boys: The Tribe is a higher-profile offering than most direct-to-video sequels, thanks mostly to its exposure on the A&E reality show The Two Coreys. Corey Feldman, who played a supporting role in the 1987 original, returns as vampire-hunting weirdo Edgar Frog, and Corey Haim, also in the earlier film, has a brief post-credits cameo. The main focus, though, is on what is essentially a retelling of the original’s story, as is the case in many direct-to-video sequels, especially those that come years later: A pair of teenage siblings move to a seaside town and discover a gang of vampires there. Feldman comes off as desperate for attention in his appearances as Edgar, and the plot is as perfunctory as possible. There’s a long sequence of the vampires doing motorcycle stunts for no apparent reason, and the big showdown with the main baddie is extremely anti-climactic. The original is not as good as a lot of people’s childhood memories of it, but it’s genius compared to this lifeless re-do.

Likelihood of quality: Low, but getting higher. As studios see more and more value in these sequels, they’ve started pouring more money into budgets for them, and eventually will probably hire some writers, directors and actors who know how to make a decent movie around the constraints they have to work with.

The rip-off

Can’t afford a movie ticket to Transformers in IMAX? Check out Transmorphers on DVD. Already made your way through all the unnecessary American Pie sequels? Try watching The American Poop Movie, whose DVD box prints those first and last words in suspiciously tiny letters. Whenever an anticipated blockbuster hits movie screens, especially one based on public-domain material, some enterprising low-budget DVD company will rush a very similar-looking rip-off into production to try to fool consumers. Or if a franchise ends up with enough installments to crowd video-store shelves, a new franchise whose title directly follows in the alphabet will start appearing right next to it.

Example from new-release shelf: Death Racers comes from The Asylum, direct-to-video rip-off kings who’ve given us such films as Snakes on a Train, Alien vs. Hunter and the aforementioned Transmorphers. Obviously, it’s an effort to cash in on the expected success of the recent Death Race remake with Jason Statham, although that movie didn’t exactly light up the box office. As The Asylum’s profile has risen, it’s been able to hire semi-recognizable Z-list stars, as well as spend perhaps into the triple digits on effects budgets, so this movie features the Insane Clown Posse and former WWE wrestler Raven in leading roles, and showcases numerous car chases around empty parking lots. The story is, of course, completely nonsensical, the sets are beyond flimsy, the acting is laughable and the all-ICP soundtrack is torture. But there is a certain basic sense of humor here that was missing from the studio take on the material.

Likelihood of quality: Extremely low. Bad-movie aficionados may find something to amuse themselves, but even the camp qualities are usually in short supply. Plus, the actual Hollywood originals tend to be nearly as bad; you’re not likely to see a quickie copy of an Oscar-winner any time soon.

The studio cast-off

Sometimes studios make movies with the best of intentions, and things just don’t work out. Or, sometimes studio executives green-light movies, only to have their successors deem those projects unworthy of release. These movies may be dumped into a small number of theaters with little or no advertising, but just as often they are relegated to studios’ home-video divisions or sold off to smaller DVD distributors. If you come across a movie you’ve never heard of with a bunch of recognizable stars, chances are that’s what happened to it.

Example from new-release shelf: My Mom’s New Boyfriend stars Meg Ryan, Colin Hanks, Antonio Banderas and Selma Blair, hardly a cast you’d expect for a home-video original. This lame comedy had probably half a dozen theatrical release dates set before Sony gave up and dumped it into video stores. It’s not hard to see why—the story, about an FBI agent (Hanks) who has to surveil his mom (Ryan) when she starts dating a suspected art thief (Banderas), is clumsy and predictable, the jokes aren’t funny, and the actors are all on autopilot. Ryan appears in a horrific fat suit at the beginning and then flaunts her svelte body disturbingly through the rest of the movie; she also has absolutely no chemistry with Banderas. The only mildly amusing bit is Enrico Colantoni as a lovesick chef with an awful Italian accent.

Likelihood of quality: Medium. Sure, plenty of these movies are as worthless as My Mom’s New Boyfriend, and you can easily see why the studio didn’t want to bother with a whole theatrical release. But oftentimes they’ve just been mishandled, and it’s entirely possible to find interesting, ambitious—if flawed—movies among the detritus.

The mysterious foreigner

Hundreds and hundreds of movies are made every year outside of the U.S., and only a small portion ever make it to American theaters. Those movies tend to be serious, highbrow dramas, since American audiences for foreign movies are generally arthouse aficionados. But other countries make just as many gory horror movies, silly comedies and brainless action films as the U.S. does, and if down-and-dirty genre fare like that winds up making its way to our country, it generally does so on video-store shelves.

Example from new-release shelf: Blood Brothers, produced by Hong Kong action-meister John Woo and based very loosely on his 1990 classic Bullet in the Head, is a B-movie all the way, a baroque gangster story with more ambition than substance. But its 1930s-set tale of three friends who move to Shanghai and get caught up in the underworld has a certain charm and verve to it, even if the characters remain indistinct and the action is a little incoherent. The swanky period style is impressive, and Taiwanese star Shu Qi is excellent as a nightclub singer torn between two lovers. If this were an American movie, it would definitely have gotten a theatrical release.

Likelihood of quality: Medium-to-high. It’s kind of a crap shoot, really, unless you closely follow the cinematic trends of various foreign countries. But judicious studying of DVD boxes and perusal of Internet sites devoted to horror movies and martial-arts films can help turn up some real discoveries, many of which end up with crappy American remakes a few years down the road.

The little indie that couldn’t

With the recent proliferation of film festivals, as well as the increased accessibility of the tools of filmmaking, hundreds of micro-budget indie movies now flood the marketplace, showing for tiny audiences in cramped screening rooms across the country. Very few of them make it to major festivals like Sundance, and even fewer come out of those festivals with distribution deals to be shown in theaters. The vast majority show once or twice and are never seen again outside of the filmmaker’s living room. But somewhere in between is a class of festival films not quite good enough for theaters but with enough going for them that some small DVD distributor decides to take a chance.

Example from new-release shelf: The DVD box for The Pacific and Eddy touts its wins at film festivals in Sacramento, Silver Lake and Lake County, hardly the equivalent of Telluride or Tribeca. And indeed it’s thoroughly second-rate indie filmmaking, a dull, obtuse slog through the lives of obnoxious and aimless young people. Like a lot of midrange indies, it features some young C-level actors (Ryan Donowho, Dominique Swain) looking to prove their chops and generally demonstrating that they’d be better off sticking to TV and slasher movies. Donowho’s Eddy is a mopey douchebag who harbors some serious angst about something or other, but writer-director Matthew Nourse’s penchant for ponderous shots of leaves and aversion to coherent dialogue (or any dialogue at all) conspire to keep things as inscrutable as possible. Add the grating soundtrack of whiny indie rock, and it’s not hard to envision plenty of burned-out festival patrons falling asleep during screenings.

Likelihood of quality: Medium. As with the foreign films, it’s often hard to tell whether these indies will be any good, but dedicated scouring of film-festival reports online usually turns up reviews that give some indication of what’s worth seeking out. Movies that are too difficult for mainstream release but end up on DVD can be brilliant and groundbreaking, although they can also just be pretentious duds.

The original recipe

Despite all of the advances in diversity in the realm of direct-to-video movies, a great deal of them still fulfill the same old stereotype: They’re cheaply and poorly made genre films starring washed-up actors often decades past their prime. They’re filled with violence and nudity and designed to appeal to the basest desires of the least discerning movie-watcher. They’re also often hugely profitable, even with slightly more sophisticated competition creeping in.

Example from new-release shelf: For a brief time in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Steven Seagal was a big box-office draw and a mainstream action star, but he hasn’t been seen in theaters since 2002’s Half Past Dead. Still, during that time he’s managed to crank out 16 direct-to-video vehicles, including Urban Justice, yet another rote revenge thriller with dull, repetitive action sequences and mealy-mouthed acting from the half-awake Seagal. Comedian Eddie Griffin co-stars as a gang lord whose dealings with shady cops find Seagal’s son dead in the crossfire. This is pretty much the same plot as every Seagal movie ever made, including the popular ones, but approaching 60 and clearly overweight, he just doesn’t have the energy and ferocity that once made up for the low quality of the filmmaking. Seagal lumbers through the movie covered head to toe in baggy clothing, reads his lines like he’s eyeing the craft-services table and delivers a handful of punches and kicks that are barely discernible through the quick-cut editing.

Likelihood of quality: Low. Despite increased attention to their sector of the industry, these movies plug along pretty much as before, with little concern for quality or originality. Then again, if you just want to see Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme kick something, or ogle a few naked breasts, or watch copious amounts of spurting blood, then you’ll probably get what you’re hoping for.