# The Ultimate Bad Film Festival **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761 "2016-07-12T23:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/81 "2016-07-15T04:31:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m impressed. There are a lot of awful movies listed here. Some of them are downright terrible, the kind of stuff used in extreme psychological torture. These movies suck, keep up the good work. Wasn’t “Gigli” used for that? Manuel Noriega, I think. “Rabbit Test” came out when I was in junior high; I’ve never seen it, but I definitely remember it because there was one teacher in particular who had a huge potbelly and we called him that behind his back. :rolleyes: The worst movie I ever sat through in a theater was “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”. I was in college, and went with a friend, and we wondered why so few people were there - until the movie was under way. Len Maltin put it this way: “If you went to high school with people like this, no jury on earth would convict you for turning homicidal either.” ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/82 "2016-07-15T07:57:04Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The worst movie I ever sat through in a theater was “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”. I was in college, and went with a friend, and we wondered why so few people were there - until the movie was under way. Len Maltin put it this way: “If you went to high school with people like this, no jury on earth would convict you for turning homicidal either.” Not a good one, but better than many in this thread. Bad movies we’ve sat through i_n a theater_ should be a different category. I know I take a lot less risk when it comes to seeing movies at the theater. Worst movie I sat through at a theater was [“Last Resort” in 1986.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091387/reference) Horrible move. Don’t think I laughed once. I sat through it only because I was there with a friend. Afterwards, I found out HE only sat through it because he was there with me. We could’ve saved ourselves some pain if we’d communicated better. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/83 "2016-07-15T09:03:49Z")
My worst-movie-seen-in-a-theater would be _Dynamite Chicken_. As a twelve-year-old on a first “date” (chaperoned by my mother). Luckily all involved had enough sense of humor to transform the experience from an embarrassment to a memorable absurdity even as it was unfolding. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/84 "2016-07-15T10:08:39Z")
2 more I haven’t seen listed yet (because I’ve learned over the years not to post a laundry list, no matter how compelling I think it is): [The Ninth Configuration](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081237/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_165) is one of the biggest messes of a film I’ve ever seen. It’s so pretentious that goth hipsters are embarrassed to be seen watching it. The acting is so bad that wooden sticks would have shown more emotion. The direction is both ham-fisted and lacking any coherence. In short: it’s a stinker. [Glitter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118589/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) stars Mariah Carey as a struggling young singer who’s about to get everything she ever wanted… _or is she?_ ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/85 "2016-07-15T13:20:03Z")
I must admit I’ve never even heard of _Leonard Part 6_ before. It looks like it could be a runner-up. The worst of all time slot, of course, being reserved for _The Star Wars Holiday Special_. I don’t think anything can top that for sheer badness (made all the worse by high expectations at the time), and it was mentioned in the OP … ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/86 "2016-07-15T13:34:01Z")
I define a bad movie as one I walk out on. (1) Tom Laughlin, ouch! When he was making Billy Jack films I went to see “Born Losers.” I left about 20 minutes into the film. (2) I caught “Plan 9 From Outer Space” in a midnight revue. True to its reputation, it had me hustling out within 15 minutes. (3) Although I liked it overall, I also walked out after an hour of “Spectre,” the most recent James Bond film. It seemed tedious by then. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/87 "2016-07-15T18:49:03Z")
Oh, oh, [Reefer Madness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness). I saw it in a theater revival because it was regarded as cult film, billed as so self-delusional, it was actually funny. It wasn’t. It wasn’t intentionally bad so much as intentionally _bland_. It was originally meant as a PSA film to show at schools to deter students from marijuana, but it was done with the same level of emotional investment as any of the “how-to” instructional movies teachers put in the projector to kill time. All I really remember was that the movie had these no-good rebelling teens, wearing nice normal clothes and sporting perfectly bland hairdos playing stand-up pianos in their homes, like it was the equivalent of hanging around in biker bars. At the end, they put a guy in a straitjacket because he darted his eyes around too much. The arresting officer then droned on about the deleterious effects marijuana has on the brain, showing the eye-darting guy as an example. No suicidal bums in alleyways, or bodily-diminished whores begging for a joint or anything. They guy in the straitjacket was as over-the-top as it got. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/88 "2016-07-16T00:04:07Z")
I would watch all of these movies, and probably enjoy them if I was with the right crowd. (We so need to do a bad movie Dopefest). But there is one movie that I will never watch again, not even if Rifftrax did it. There is no redemption for this lead brick of a film. I feel sick even remembering it. [Mindwalk](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100151/) This is the worst fucking movie ever made. It’s pretentious, it’s boring, it will drain you of your will to live in five minutes flat. No one should watch this movie. Not even the worst person who’s ever lived. No one deserves this horror. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/89 "2016-07-16T01:21:33Z")
\*The Crawling Eye \*sounds like it ought to be the worst of the worst. I remember the older kids in my family talking about it being on the old Million Dollar Movie back in the '60s. I actually watched it on YouTube last week, and was surprised to see that it was fairly decent for the “1950s black-and-white no budget creature feature” genre. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/90 "2016-07-16T01:26:31Z")
I guess [Troll 2](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105643/) deserves a mention here. After all, it _is_ the [best worst movie](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/best-worst-movie-2010). ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/91 "2016-07-16T08:03:52Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > My worst-movie-seen-in-a-theater would be _Dynamite Chicken_. > [@Catamount](#): > > [Mindwalk](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100151/) > > This is the worst fucking movie ever made. It’s pretentious, it’s boring, it will drain you of your will to live in five minutes flat. Holy fuck, shit’s gettin’ real, ya’ll. That’s some low-quality cinema right there. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/92 "2016-07-17T19:13:40Z")
No, no, no, people. THE single worst movie ever made is the 1975 stinkbomb [At Long Last Love.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072665/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) This movie is just plain bad. It’s not campy, or ironic, or something you’ll want to sit around and drink beer while watching and laugh at. From a viewer’s review at IMDB: > [@](#): > > Director, writer, producer Peter Bogdonovich has managed something amazing in AT LONG LAST LOVE. He actually managed to make a musical with leads who actually sang worse than those in Joshua Logan’s PAINT YOUR WAGON. I used to think seeing and hearing Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood singing in Logan’s film was the height of horrid casting, but Bogdonovich managed to find four singers who were equal to or worse than Marvin and Eastwood. That’s no small feat, as perhaps only Andy Devine and Marcel Marceau were more ill-suited to a musical than Madeline Kahn, Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd and Duilio Del Prete (not to mention many other supporting actors in the film who simply couldn’t sing). > > … > > Bogdonovich’s idea of making a homage to 1930s style musicals (complete with excellent and familiar Cole Porter songs) isn’t bad at all. In many ways, the film is reminiscent of some of the Astaire/Rogers films–\*minus the quality singing and dancing. \*In fact, it looks much more like a community theater or talent show production because of all the insane choices that brought the quality of the film to an **unbelievably low level** … (My emphasis.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/93 "2016-07-17T19:21:13Z")
I am shocked, shocked that the truly awful low-budget sf film _Liquid Sky_ hasn’t been mentioned yet. An alien draws life energy from NYC punkers when they come in a seedy Eighties nightclub. Bleagggggggggggggh. > [@blondebear](#): > > Since Zontar didn’t make the cut, how about [From Hell It Came](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050414/) ? IIRC, one critic’s review read, in its entirety, “And back it should go.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/94 "2016-07-17T19:30:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I am shocked, shocked that the truly awful low-budget sf film _Liquid Sky_ hasn’t been mentioned yet. An alien draws life energy from NYC punkers when they come in a seedy Eighties nightclub. Bleagggggggggggggh. > IIRC, one critic’s review read, in its entirety, “And back it should go.” I thought it was “…and to Hell it should go.” ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/95 "2016-07-17T19:43:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I am shocked, shocked that the truly awful low-budget sf film _Liquid Sky_ hasn’t been mentioned yet. An alien draws life energy from NYC punkers when they come in a seedy Eighties nightclub. Bleagggggggggggggh. 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. > **[Liquid Sky | Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/liquid_sky)** > > An alien creature invades New York's punk subculture in its search for an opiate released by the brain during orgasm. > [@](#): > > Liquid Sky is an independent American science fiction film.[1] It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festivals thereafter.[2] It was produced with a budget of $500,000. It became the most successful independent film of 1983 grossing $1.7 million in the first several months of release.[3] > > The film is seen as heavily influencing a club scene that emerged in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris, and London called electroclash.[4] > **[Liquid Sky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Sky)** > > Liquid Sky is a 1982 American independent science fiction film directed by Slava Tsukerman and starring Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard. It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festivals thereafter. It was produced with a budget of $500,000. It became the most successful independent film of 1983, grossing $1.7 million worldwide. > The film is seen as heavily influencing a club scene that emerged in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/96 "2016-07-17T19:49:10Z")
Any world in which _Liquid Sky_ could get that high a rating is a world in which, oh, jeez, I don’t know… a world in which Donald Trump could… Uh oh. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/97 "2016-07-17T19:54:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I am shocked, shocked that the truly awful low-budget sf film _Liquid Sky_ hasn’t been mentioned yet. An alien draws life energy from NYC punkers when they come in a seedy Eighties nightclub. Bleagggggggggggggh. > [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. > [Liquid Sky | Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/liquid_sky/) > [Liquid Sky - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_Sky) > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Any world in which _Liquid Sky_ could get that high a rating is a world in which, oh, jeez, I don’t know… a world in which Donald Trump could… > > Uh oh. _Liquid Sky_ is the only movie that has gotten me slapped for recommending it. I saw it and told a friend about this awesome weird movie I had just seen. A couple of days later she walked up to me in class and slapped my face, hard, and told me it was in return for recommending it. Good thing I never told her about [Santa Sangre](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098253/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1), huh? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/98 "2016-07-17T20:10:55Z")
\*Thunderpants? \* I don’t even want to know what THAT is about! :eek: When my younger brother was a toddler, our Mom subscribed to _Parents_ Magazine. We older kids would read it too. I found some weird movies in the movie guide every issue, that the editors regularly panned. _Santa Claus Conquers the Martians_ was one of these. (I never took the magazine’s advice myself; I was just about through with movies by this time.) ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/99 "2016-07-17T23:54:18Z")
**[Dark Star](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/)** So low-budget it’s funny but entertaining and an OK story. Dang dude… \*\*[Eraserhead](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074486/?ref_=nv_sr_1) \*\*is a good movie! It’s an art project but a good movie! ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761/100 "2016-07-18T00:29:22Z")
I truly enjoy the second half of _**[Can’t Stop the Music](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080492/)**_, the not-at-all-true creation story of the Village People. The first half isn’t bad so much as just boring and slow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ultimate-bad-film-festival/759761.md?page=6)