So bad, they're good
 

List some of your favorite so bad they are good movies. And I mean, SERIOUSLY so bad, they're good. Not the oh that SCENE is terrible but the movie's alright. I mean who the hell green-lighted this movie? The concept is awful, there isn't one single scene in the movie that is well acted, convincing or anything positive!

1. They Live - a discarded box of sunglasses, when worn, reveal a world of reptilian aliens controlling everything through subliminal advertising. Add in awful duke nukem rip-off one liners, and the most epic friend-on-friend brawl (a good 20 minute fight scene) over refusing to try on the sunglasses, and you have oscar worthy material.

2. No Retreat, No Surrender - A loser kid learns martial arts in a shack in the woods, which happens to be inhabited by the ghost of Bruce Lee who helps the kid learn to defeat Jean Claude Van Damme in a karate tournament and have the confidence to go to a breakdancing club. Or something.

Robot Jox - Big fighting robots in an arena... what's not to like

Coyote Ugly

Troll 2 - Many unintentionally hilarious scenes in this low budget horror movie. Fun fact: the word "troll" is never used in the movie. It's not really a sequel, either. This movie is about "goblins", but the studio decided to release it as a sequel to a completely unrelated movie to sell more videos/DVDs.

Samurai Cop - Basically Ed Wood bad in an awesome way. This might be, on both a technical and script level, the worst movie I've ever seen. They were shooting for basically a tasteless action movie with many violent deaths, and sex scenes between the main character and basically every woman in the film. So they were shooting for a bad movie and still managed to fail spectacularly. The continuity/editing problems alone are astounding. So many cuts to awkwardly inserted (and acted) reaction shots and the main character is wearing what is obviously a woman's wig (with bangs) in several scenes as he got a haircut mid-shoot. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Trancers series. All of them. I love those.

Mac & Me- An abominable ET ripoff that was basically a big advertisement for McDonald's (Seriously).

Troll 2-Absolutely hilarious. So many moments of UIC in this one that it's hard to pick even just a few. It's definitely worth your time.


Manos: The Hands Of Fate- Yeah, you could list pretty much any movie that was made into an episode of MST3k, but this one definitely takes the cake. I mean, it was directed, written, and produced by an El Paso fertilizer salesman (he also played the lead role) who made a movie because of a bet.

Deadfall- Directed by Christopher Coppola, and starring his brother..or cousin or whatever: Nicholas Cage. Cage brings the art of overacting to new embarrassing heights. It has to be seen to be believed.

Snakes on a Plane
John Carpenters Vampires

Cripple fight!!!

Buckaroo Bonzai

Evil Dead

Adam Sandler's first movie, Going Overboard, is so bad that it's not good enough to be so bad that it's good.

In the Name of the King:A Dragon Seige Tale

They Live and Evil Dead aren't bad, they're classics.

National Lampoon's Last Resort - Corey Haim and Corey Feldman star in a....fuck it, that's really all you need to know. It would be impossible for me to put into words how awful this movie is.

Super Babies 2: Baby Geniuses - Talking babies with super powers. And Jon Voight.

Making the Grade - Judd Nelson comedy vehicle, before Breakfast Club, but pretty much playing 'Bender Goes to Boarding School'.

On Deadly Ground - I love Seagal, for both ironic and sadly concrete reasons, but this is really Seagal at his bestworst, as director, star, and writer. With bonus, literally 10 minute long, eco-monologue at the end, with flying flying-eagle-montage and everything.

That's what I'm saying. I've seen easily a dozen times, and not all of the enjoyment is ironic (although certainly some of it is). Same wif Backaroo Banzai, for that matter. Those movies were all certainly campy, but most of it was on purpose, as compared to some of the other true stinkers in here.

Prayer of the Roller Boys



Did someone say Crippled Masters?

Cabin Boy!

I can't believe it's gone this long without a mention of...

Big Trouble In Little China

Then again, that's probably a classic as well.

More John Carpenter!!

Damn Straight! I loves me some John Carpenter...well pre 1990s.

Attack of the Killer Tomatos - Killer tomatos are on the loose in San Diego. Need I say more? Oh and has one of the best soundtracks ever for a B movie.

Damnation Alley - Post nuclear war with Jan Michael Vincent and George Peppard trying to make it from California to Albany New York in the baddest ass SUV ever. They have to fight killer cockroaches, giant scorpions and mutants on the way there, with a pitstop in Las Vegas where they pick up a lonely lady.

Night of the Comet - It's up to some 80s teenagers to restore humanity after the Earth passes through a comets tail that turns everyone into cocoa powder.

They Live - Rowdy Roddy Piper, nuff said.

Toxic Avenger - Your average weakling that's picked on has an accident with toxic waste and becomes a hero and a lover.

My Science Project - A high school senior (Michael) who is a grease monkey, must come up with a science project for Dennis Hoppers class, or he will get a D. Michael goes to the old Air Force base outside of town and finds what he thinks is an engine, but, in reality, the gadget can manipulate time and space.

The Wraith - Charlie Sheen as a violent ghost coming back to avenge his death at the hands of the local street racing gang.

Again, none of those movies come even close to meeting my definition of 'so bad'. The first person to say 'Repo Man' or 'Return of the Living Dead' in here, dies by my hand. Clearly, none of you have ever seen Superbabies 2.

Yeah, I'm getting confused as to what the criteria is. Is it an actual bad movie that's fun because it's so unintentionally awful, or is it a "bad" movie that knows what it is and plays with it's own ridiculousness (Toxic Avenger or Big Trouble in Little China for example)?

I object to Night of the Comet even being considered for this list.

My own first nomination probably goes to Maniac Cop 2 which makes it easily except that I'm not so sure it wasn't just plain bad instead of bad = good.

Who still shit themselves, if you believe the cover art. I mean, diapers? What the hell. They can talk, they have superpowers, but none of those superpowers involves bladder control.

LOS SUPERBABIES!

I'd probably have to say Repo Man. Oh yeah, and Return of the Living Dead.

grumble grumble

Diapers = funny. Always.

It's like fat people falling down and old people rapping. It gets 'em everytime.

This movie immediately came to my mind also.

+1

'Bloodsport' is another JCVD vehicle that certainly does meet my haughty standards for 'so bad', and I've enjoyed that well over two dozen times. OH! And that one where he fights the Pittsburgh Penguin's mascot and plays goalie in the Stanley Cup for a couple of minutes....'Sudden Death'.

I hear ya. Return of the Living Dead is so tongue-in-cheek. I love it. (I think that's the one you were grumbling about)

Demolition Man is really bad if you take it seriously, but awesomely good/funny if you take it not so seriously.

I love 'em both! If anything, this thread proves that the '80s were great for campy, tongue-in-cheek horror/sci-fi movies....and just plain old bad movies.

First movie that came to mind here. Great casting. Terrible movie. Still lol funny.

I'll 2nd Toxic Avenger (all of them), and also throw in Swamp Thing.

Oh, American Ninja, too. All of em.

Yeah I think some of these movies (They Live especially) aren't bad, they are entertaining B-movies.

Night of the Comet is another example, and the same director also made The Night Before, with Keanu Reeves as a high school dork who accidentally sells his prom date (Lori Loughlin) to a pimp, and has to get her back. These kinds of movies arte extremely silly and have a low budget, but I consider them good because theyre entertaining on their desired level.

When I think "so bad, they're good", I think of a movie that's so bad, it becomes unintentionally funny.

Black Belt Jones

I'm a little disturbed by the number of people that think They Live isn't hilariously bad.

+1

I have to agree with RKG no this. Same for Last Action Hero in my opinion.

Yeah, ditto on They Live. I mean, it has a 10 minute long and completely unnecessary wrestling match in the middle of the movie for Christ's sake. I enjoy watching it, but it is what it is - bad. ;)

Dolemite, obviously.

I'm not saying 'They Live' isn't bad, I'm saying John Carpenter knew exactly what movie he was making. It's like 'Starship Troopers' or 'Evil Dead, an over-the-top parody. It's supposed to be 'bad' to some degree.

Pretty much anything by the ol' Troma Team (I think that was the name of the company).

I was always partial to the campy "Surf Nazis Must Die!" lol

Cheers!

+1

John Carpenter wasn't some random director. He wouldn't have cast Roddy Puper in the lead role unless that's what he wanted, and he wouldn't have included lthe "chewing bubble gum, kicking ass" line unless that's exactly the type of movie he was going for.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton.