# Movies that are so bad, they're good

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 4, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003 "2005-12-04T05:50:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/1 "2005-12-04T05:50:26Z")

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These really are a novelty. Typically, if a movie’s really bad, it’s just unwatchable.

But those chosen few, made in such earnest, are jaw-droppingly terrible, but watchable for the reason that you want to see what horrible cinematic mistake will be next.

We just watched “The Crow: Wicked Prayer.” It was a real turd, but so inadvertently hilarious that we had to keep watching. It was like MST3000 at my house.

It takes place in the Southwest, in the town of “Lake Ravasu” :rolleyes: on the Raven Aztec Indian Reservation. They didn’t bother trying to find any Indians, and instead just used Mexicans.

We live on a Reservation. Indians do not look like Mexicans.

The cast was surprisingly well known for a straight-to-DVD release. Ed Furlong, Tara Reid, David Boreanz, and even a pimped out Dennis Hopper.

The dialogue was ludicrous, the action was confusing, and many of the sets were simply ridiculous. We loved/hated it. It was an hour and a half train wreck.

Can y’all think of any more?

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/2 "2005-12-04T06:27:31Z")

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The live-action version of [Street Fighter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111301/).

It’s worth watching for the totally over-the-top performance by the late Raul Julia.

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**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/3 "2005-12-04T06:32:14Z")

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Had fun watching _House of 1,000 Corpses_, _Alien v. Predator_, and _From Dusk Til Dawn_ recently. All three sucked but were moderately entertaining, if only for mockery value.

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**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/4 "2005-12-04T07:07:53Z")

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_ **Planet Nine From Outer Space** _

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**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/5 "2005-12-04T07:11:11Z")

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_The Man From Hong Kong_ with George Lazenby and the legendary Hugh Keyes-Byrne - after the original _Mad Max_, the greatest Australian film ever made. A Bond film/chop-sockey slug fest made on the lowest imaginable budget. And gaspingly funny it is…  
mm

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**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/6 "2005-12-04T07:15:11Z")

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> [@Waterman](#):
>
> _ **Planet Nine From Outer Space** _

I think you mean _Plan_ Nine From Outer Space. And yeah, Ed Wood is considered the king of the so-bad-it’s-good genre of filmmaking. “Glen or Glenda” is supposedly even better/worse.

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**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/7 "2005-12-04T07:22:27Z")

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I recently enjoyed the comically bad _Wild Things III_. The acting is awful and the ending is simply asinine, but it was redeemed by the volume of totally great gratuitous T & A.

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/8 "2005-12-04T08:05:41Z")

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> [@Omniscient](#):
>
> I recently enjoyed the comically bad _Wild Things III_. The acting is awful and the ending is simply asinine, but it was redeemed by the volume of totally great gratuitous T & A.

I knew I picked up the wrong one when I opted for _Cruel Intentions 3_, which had less T & A than way real love life.

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**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/9 "2005-12-04T08:09:41Z")

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_The Day After Tomorrow_ is so comically over the top it’s hilarious. You’ll agree too when you see the heroes madly dashing to stay in front of the rapidly onrushing… cold front!

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/10 "2005-12-04T08:14:27Z")

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> [@Silentgoldfish](#):
>
> _The Day After Tomorrow_ is so comically over the top it’s hilarious. You’ll agree too when you see the heroes madly dashing to stay in front of the rapidly onrushing… cold front!

Meteorologists refer to those as “Jason Fronts,” because they pursue people in steadycam tracking shots. “Drawing air directly down form the troposphere” has become an in-joke among my friends.

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**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/11 "2005-12-04T08:21:55Z")

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> [@Rodgers01](#):
>
> I think you mean _Plan_ Nine From Outer Space. And yeah, Ed Wood is considered the king of the so-bad-it’s-good genre of filmmaking. “Glen or Glenda” is supposedly even better/worse.

Sorry, I should have looked up the title instead of relying on memory.

But your point about Ed Wood is what I was trying to get at!

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**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/12 "2005-12-04T08:45:00Z")

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> [@Siddhartha Vicious](#):
>
> We just watched “The Crow: Wicked Prayer.” It was a real turd, but so inadvertently hilarious that we had to keep watching. It was like MST3000 at my house.
> 
> It takes place in the Southwest, in the town of “Lake Ravasu” :rolleyes: on the Raven Aztec Indian Reservation. They didn’t bother trying to find any Indians, and instead just used Mexicans.
> 
> We live on a Reservation. Indians do not look like Mexicans.
> 
> The cast was surprisingly well known for a straight-to-DVD release. Ed Furlong, Tara Reid, David Boreanz, and even a pimped out Dennis Hopper.
> 
> The dialogue was ludicrous, the action was confusing, and many of the sets were simply ridiculous. We loved/hated it. It was an hour and a half train wreck.
> 
> Can y’all think of any more?

I REALLY REALLY want to see this, but my Hollywood Video doesn’t carry it. I love the first Crow movie as an actual, serious, GOOD movie, hated the second, didn’t see the third, but this one sounds like it could be so bad it’s great, or possibly even great in its own right.

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**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/13 "2005-12-04T08:52:46Z")

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**Sahara** was like this to me. The first hour or so I felt it was pretty bad, but then by hour two it got so bad that it crossed back over into good, in a completely over the top way.

Particulary when they Shot down the helicopter with the 130 year-old civil war cannon that’s been buried in the desert for almost as long.

I kept saying “No, they wouldn’t dare”. And they did. It was so absurd as to be hilarious.

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**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/14 "2005-12-04T09:01:06Z")

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> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> I REALLY REALLY want to see this, but my Hollywood Video doesn’t carry it. I love the first Crow movie as an actual, serious, GOOD movie, hated the second, didn’t see the third, but this one sounds like it could be so bad it’s great, or possibly even great in its own right.

I had to get it from Netflix.

Don’t watch it expecting a Crow movie. Ed looks more like a goth kid than the Crow. Still, it’s great for the very reason that it isn’t great.

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**Author:** ![Citizen\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Citizen\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Citizen_Bob)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/15 "2005-12-04T09:25:02Z")

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> [@Siddhartha Vicious](#):
>
> … Can y’all think of any more?

I saw “Manos, The Hands of Fate” 25 years ago or so and was apalled and disgusted – the script was bad, the actors were bad, the cinematography was crap, the props were rediculous, including “The Master’s Women” running around in underwear and fighting.

The relatively redeeming values were “Torgo”, whose character achieved an unparalleled level of campy, and the music, which was actually barely ok for the time period and conveyed a barely better than campy scary mood.

\*\*\*A few years ago, I was pleased to see that the MST3K crew had taken the film on – They were almost able to make the movie barable with verbal notes of the obvious horriffic – uggh – I can’t bare to think about it anymore!

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/16 "2005-12-04T09:32:41Z")

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> [@Citizen Bob](#):
>
> \*\*\*A few years ago, I was pleased to see that the MST3K crew had taken the film on – They were almost able to make the movie barable with verbal notes of the obvious horriffic – uggh – I can’t bare to think about it anymore!

When the Mystery Science Theatre guys admit they had trouble making fun of a movie, you know it’s awful.

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**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/17 "2005-12-04T15:34:06Z")

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The acknowledged precursor to Evil Dead, [Equinox](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0067055/maindetails), is a huge favorite at the Kitty House. They showed it all the damn time on AMC, back when AMC was still cool. It had Herb Tarlek in it! And… well, no other “name” actors at all; in fact, very few members of the cast did anything else.

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**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/18 "2005-12-04T15:51:16Z")

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Rinkworks ([www.rinkworks.com](http://www.rinkworks.com)) has a section called _It’s a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie_. They rank true stinkers on a scale of 1 to 5 turkeys; the previously mentioned _Plan Nine_ rates a full 5 turkeys.

They also have a section for people to submit their own reviews of truly bad movies. It’s been closed for a few years; I’m waiting for it to reopen so that I can submit two reviews:

_Ice Pirates_: A lovable rogue, a captured princess, planet-sized plot holes, technical screw-ups, and stock footage taken from a completely different movie. All the elements you need for a good bad movie.

_Scorpion King_: A spin-off of a sequel of a remake – the perfect set-up for a bad movie. Moreover, Rinkworks has a checklist of signs that a movie is destined to be bad (it’s called _The Filmmakers’ Exam_). My review of _Scorpion King_ is taken right off that checklist, starting with item # 1: Does your movie star a pro wrestler in the leading role? (The Rock plays the title character.) I considered it a wonderfully enjoyable bad movie.

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**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/19 "2005-12-04T16:20:00Z")

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> [@mamboman](#):
>
> _The Man From Hong Kong_ with George Lazenby and the legendary Hugh Keyes-Byrne - after the original _Mad Max_, the greatest Australian film ever made. A Bond film/chop-sockey slug fest made on the lowest imaginable budget. And gaspingly funny it is…  
> mm

Yes, yes yes! I desperately want this on DVD. It’s just wonderful. And the opening track of the soundtrack was a huge hit as a remake a few years ago, and would crack me up thinking of the film every time it came on the radio.

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**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-so-bad-theyre-good/334003/20 "2005-12-04T17:14:16Z")

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> [@Silentgoldfish](#):
>
> _The Day After Tomorrow_ is so comically over the top it’s hilarious. You’ll agree too when you see the heroes madly dashing to stay in front of the rapidly onrushing… cold front!

[Somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard

JACK: OMG THE EYE OF THE STORM!

Outside Some Frozen Russian Ship

SAM: HURRY! WE HAVE TO OUTRUN THE TEMPERATURE!]([http://www.livejournal.com/community/m15m/2025.html](http://www.livejournal.com/community/m15m/2025.html))  
from the “Movies in 15 minutes” page

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