Bad Movies

What makes a bad movie? Is it the script, the actors, the director, a combination of all? I say it's none, bad movies are mistakes, you can have great directors like John Carpenter & Tim Burton can put out a turds like Ghost of Mars & Planet of the Apes. But what truly makes a bad movie, one that gets bashed on the net, and bickered at your local bookstore.

I believe there are certain levels to bad movies, first lets look at universally loathed universally, films like Gigli, Battlefield Earth & Glitter. Not only are the tomatometers low but so were the box office returns. I've never seen Glitter but i have seen Battlefield Earth, and it is just a horrible film in my opinion, even though some have turned it into their own guilty pleasure. I can see the guilty pleasure appeal but it's just not there for me, but i'll get to the ones that do in a minute.

Guilty pleasure films can be different for anyone, so it's hard to fit them into the box, but the best example i can give is Tommy Wiseau's 2002 badsterpiece THE ROOM. I first heard of it online a few years back and that midnight screening were popping up across the country, and i being a HUGE midnight movie fan, was intrigued. About a year ago i was at a midnight screening of The Wall, and one of the trailers was The Room, another was The Apple. The trailer for the Apple is far out, and the film itself to me isn't as much a bad movie as it is just a far out musical. The Room trailer on the other hand, was horrible, a few months later at a screening of Rocky Horror(my fav) we received pamphlets about a new weekend pairing, instead of 2 nights of RHPS, we'd get one, with the other going to the Room. Several comedians such as Patton Oswalt & David Cross host midnight screening dressed as the characters, and i saw video packages on youtube that made me think, PIECE OF SHIT, and others that i didn't get. Once i saw the film for myself though, i got it, i loved it. The first time i saw it, most in attendance were confused, some walked out, but the second time i saw it, alot of us, joined in with the film. It's bad, real bad, the story, the dialogue, the musical score, everything, but it's so bad it's great. Other films that fall into this so bad it's good category are Troll 2, Crank 2, alot have labeled Bad Lieutenant 2 as a bad movie, but i trully thought it was great. Some would say alot of the Friday the 13th & Nightmare on Elm Street films, but i disagree, sure they might not be great or even good, but they're not all bad(save Jason Takes Manhattan, and the New Blood, hated these two, sorry)

Now alot of critics list horror films as bad movies, granted there are a bunch out there that are shitty, both direct to video aswell the theatrical films. For me, horror is the addictive genre, those that love horror will see a film strictly because it's horror, i do myself alot of the times. However most of us can tell when we're watching a piece of shit. Either we admit it's horrible such as the Uwe Boll collection, or we'll say it's bad but still find enjoyment out of em, look at the last few Child's Play movies, sure they may have been bad, but they were fun. Then there are some the are critically hated but loved by a good portion of horror fans, such as the Troma movies, i myself would rather see a Troma film than anything by Michael Bay. Then you got Rob Zombie, i loved his first two films but then he got into Halloween, which i was split on for the longest time, up until deciding i truly didn't care for it last week. Halloween 2, his H2, is a piece of shit clusterfuck, Laurie is full of mod swings, characters are under developed, and the ghost sub plot(was Mama Voorhees, erm i mean Mama Myers a ghost) was hella retarded.

Speaking of Bay, let me mention blockbusters, now there are some blockbusters such as the Dark Knight that are brilliant masterpieces, yes i am one of those who performs filatio on the Dark Knight so shoot me. Then there are some like Iron Man 2, X Men & X2, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean, that aren't masterpieces but aren't bad either, then you have your Spider-Man films, which aren't bad bad, but aren't adult enough for me. Then here comes Michael Bay, i hate Michael Bay, i hate his style, while some online enjoy his films, i for one hate them. So instead of going through his entire filmography, i'm skipping the foreplay for once & going straight for the money shot, here is Transformers 2. Critics hated it, people online hated it, i refused to see it, even though i'm a fan of the comics. I finally saw it on dvd, and shook my head for 2 & a half hours, it was a clusterfuck, every aspect was bad, now i'm now big on CGI anyhow, but i'm gonna use Transformers 2 as my main target in future conversation about how CGI advances story telling. Yes i have had disputes with piss ants who truly think that's all there is for film choices.

Finally there are films that split people, films like Southland Tales(which i'm currently watching) and Repo the Genetic Opera(which i'm seeing at midnight). I see these more as the love it or hate it, type of films, now i don't love Repo, but you get my point. Then some critics even go as far as to say RHPS is a bad movie, they don't realize it is an homage to B movies, same with Grindhouse, some said it was made bad on purpose, first, i don't think they were made bad(except the obvious fake sound pops & missing reels), and second, it was made as an homage to exploitation. I remember an issue of Entertainment Weekly that listed films such as Escape From New York as being so bad they're good. I gotta call them out on that, the film is amazing, one of my all time favorites, perhaps they meant cult and not bad, cause there is a huge difference. I will say Return of the Killer Tomatoes was made bad on purpose, i find it hilarious.

SO what are some of your favorite bad movies?