Favorite bad movies? (1 Viewer)

Ever find yourself knowing a movie is really bad, but somehow it's so entertaining and funny it's addictive?


Here are a few of my favorite bad movies...


Thunder Run (1986). A trucker comes out of retirement for a lucrative job transporting plutonium across the Desert Southwest, but is attacked by terrorists along the way. The pacing is slow compared to a modern action film, a computer hacker subplot is a lame rip-off of "WarGames," and the supporting cast's acting is dreadful. But it's still fun to laugh at the bad acting, and then thrill when the protagonist fends off terrorists with his heavily-armed 18-wheeler.


Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986). A guy gets kicked out of college for having too many extra-curricular bedroom hijinks. His only hope of inheriting his trust fund (contingent on a college diploma) is to graduate from the BusterBurger Academy, where he will learn to run a fast-food hamburger franchise. So, it's a badly-acted, tasteless T&A movie, but funny nonetheless.


Moving Violations (1985). A "Police Academy" rip-off, in which a bunch of misfits have to attend remedial driver's training to get their license back, but the police have rigged the system against the would-be drivers.


Ben & Arthur (2002). It was supposed to be a serious drama about a gay couple wanting to get married, but experiencing persecution from religious fundamentalist relatives. But the actual film is more like a home movie that was made up as they go along. It's such amateurish, ineptly-executed cheese that it plays like a comedy.


Pass the Ammo (1988). Fresh out of jail, a guy plots to rob a wealthy televangelist to retrieve his girlfriend's inheritance money. Things go wrong when trying to escape with the cash, they stumble on stage during a televised religious service, and have to take everyone hostage. It all ends in a pyrotechnic confrontation between the robbers, police, and a band of heavily armed rednecks.


Lovelines (1984). Another '80s R-rated teen comedy, in which the protagonist fends off bullies by launching "booze balloons" at their car, and it culminates in a battle of the bands. It would look horribly dated now, between the changes in pop music and a lengthy break-dancing sequence.

I have to think about this some more, but I'm going to mention three films directed by the much maligned Albert Pyun...


The Sword and the Sorceror (1982) - Fantasy film with all of the standard fantasy tropes at play, memorable for Talon's three bladed sword and Richard Lynch as the villain of the feature. Kathleen Beller was smokin' in this film, which doesn't hurt.


Cyborg (1989) - Post apocalyptic SF film featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a mercenary protecting a scientist who is attempting to cure a world wide plague. Survival, martial-arts, and some well executed set pieces make this a diverting film for me.


Nemesis (1992) - Human/cyborg hybrid cop played by Olivier Gruner is caught in the middle of a war between humanity and cyborgs. SF, martial-arts. I've always maintained that this film has better sensibilities about what constitutes cyber-punk and is truer to that aesthetic in ways that much higher profile / budgeted films failed to grasp or execute.


Low budget fantasy and SF films can sometimes work for me, as is the case with the above three works.


- Walter.

Walter Kittel said:

I have to think about this some more, but I'm going to mention three films directed by the much maligned Albert Pyun...


The Sword and the Sorceror (1982) - Fantasy film with all of the standard fantasy tropes at play, memorable for Talon's three bladed sword and Richard Lynch as the villain of the feature. Kathleen Beller was smokin' in this film, which doesn't hurt.


Cyborg (1989) - Post apocalyptic SF film featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a mercenary protecting a scientist who is attempting to cure a world wide plague. Survival, martial-arts, and some well executed set pieces make this a diverting film for me.


Nemesis (1992) - Human/cyborg hybrid cop played by Olivier Gruner is caught in the middle of a war between humanity and cyborgs. SF, martial-arts. I've always maintained that this film has better sensibilities about what constitutes cyber-punk and is truer to that aesthetic in ways that much higher profile / budgeted films failed to grasp or execute.


Low budget fantasy and SF films can sometimes work for me, as is the case with the above three works.


- Walter.

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Hi Walter!


With all due respect, your descriptions of these Films seem more along the lines of them being underrated, rather than bad, per se?


Just an observation.


CHEERS!


Tony

With all due respect, your descriptions of these Films seem more along the lines of them being underrated, rather than bad, per se?

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Tony, you are more charitable than I. Are they bad films? - well I wouldn't call any of them good; but I like them. They all get around 5/10 ratings on IMDB.


- Walter.

Earnest Gies to Camp / Earnest Saves Christmas
Remo Williams
Big Trouble in Littke China
Constantine

Going Overboard (1989) with Adam Sandler. It's my #1 guilty pleasure. I love the Dickie Diamond character, and the two stooges who General Noriega send off to kill Miss Australia. "Where is she? At the store with the video tapes?!?!?" LOL!

My favorite bad movie has to be Plan 9 From Outer Space. I was either 8 or 9 when Ed Wood's masterpiece was first shown on one of New York City's TV stations. The film already struck me as hilarious back then, and would still crack me up if I put it on right now. You almost have to love any film in which a shower curtain was placed behind the actors playing the pilot and co-pilot of an airliner, to serve as the partition that separates the 2 men from the plane's passengers. I wish that some evidence could somehow be discovered to show that Mr Wood was actually being very sly in purposely creating a movie he wanted to be absurdly funny. Then that would turn the movie into sort of a joke on people like me, for having laughed at it from the wrong angle, for all of these years.

Mike Boone said:

My favorite bad movie has to be Plan 9 From Outer Space. I was either 8 or 9 when Ed Wood's masterpiece was first shown on one of New York City's TV stations. The film already struck me as hilarious back then, and would still crack me up if I put it on right now. You almost have to love any film in which a shower curtain was placed behind the actors playing the pilot and co-pilot of an airliner, to serve as the partition that separates the 2 men from the plane's passengers. I wish that some evidence could somehow be discovered to show that Mr Wood was actually being very sly in purposely creating a movie he wanted to be absurdly funny. Then that would turn the movie into sort of a joke on people like me, for having laughed at it from the wrong angle, for all of these years.

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Absolutely, Mike! I introduced this gem to my daughter and son just a few months ago. A truly joyous evening!

Colin Dunn said:

Ever find yourself knowing a movie is really bad, but somehow it's so entertaining and funny it's addictive?

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But if you really enjoy a movie, then it's not "bad"! ;-) But, I know what you mean.

Xanadu.

RMajidi said:

Absolutely, Mike! I introduced this gem to my daughter and son just a few months ago. A truly joyous evening!

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That is so cool!

I'm not big on watching movies just to laugh at them (I even find some goofy charm in bad 1950's sci-fi or horror movies) but Miami Connection is a movie that it is so laughably bad that it has to be seen to be believed.

Can't think of any bad movies that I enjoy. Generally, a bad movie to me is one that I never want to see again, so "Magnolia' (incomprehensible and boring) was a bad film, as was "Battlefield Earth" (Travolta was a comedic genius in it though), "Battle Beyond The Stars (Johnboy was a comedic genius in it though) and "Million Dollar Hotel (Not even Mel Gibson could save it). There are a lot more I could name but those are some of the ones that I consider terrible.

Ross Hunter's "Lost Horizon." As Bette Midler said, "I never miss a Liv Ullmann musical."


It's a bad idea executed poorly. Yet it's great fun to pick apart. The music is beautiful, but totally wrong for the subject. Peter Finch and Liv Ullmann are great actors, but their biggest scene is an operatic duet dubbed by professional singers. A delicate fantasy ruined by TV-movie style direction and backlot sets you remember from other movies. The problems are endless.

My DVD collection consists pretty much of nothing but bad (yet awesome) movies. Breakin; and Breaking 2: Electric Boogaloo, Ninja III: the Domination, All of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies, all of Ed Wood's movies, blaxploitation, spaghetti westerns - it's all on my shelf. Hell, I just picked up 1990: Bronx Warriors, the New Barbarians and Escape from the Bronx and loved the hell out of them in a three day long blitz.


Do I have a favorite? That's like asking me which one of my children I want to kill! But if you tied me up and dropped rocks on me until I gave you an answer, I would have to go with this:

^ I told everyone it had to be seen to be believed. And the movie lives up to how ridiculous the trailer makes it look.

I pick "Motorama", Still have not figured it out yet, but I enjoy it every time.

I remember loving "The Sword and the Sorcerer" back in the day ha ha. If you liked miami connection, you'll should get a kick out of Raw Force:





I'm stuck wondering what my favourite would be, I watch so many "bad" movies, I love 'em!

The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)


A documentary style drama about a Bigfoot type creature stalking Fouke Arkansas in the 70's. Found it scary as a kid and it still gives me the creeps.


The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)


I love the scenes of LR and Tonto as kids, the ambush of the Rangers, the end sequence, and the narration. Too bad it takes so long for the LR to show up and would like to have heard Spilsbury's real voice.


This Island Earth (1955)


I like the Aliens, the story and the art direction. I'm a big fan of movies from this era.

This Island Earth (1955)

I like the Aliens, the story and the art direction. I'm a big fan of movies from this era.

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Yeah, I've always enjoyed the art direction and production design of this film. As much as I've enjoyed MST3K over the years, I thought the selection of This Island Earth for the theatrical version of MST3K was a poor one, as the film (This Island Earth, despite being a 'bad' film) has a lot to recommend it. It really doesn't descend to the level of the films usually featured on MST3K. Perhaps they felt like they needed a more recognizable SF film from the '50s for the MST3K film. (?)

- Walter.