Movies, for the most part, are split into three categories for us: there are those we adore, those we avoid… and those that we think are absolutely terrible but can’t help but watch on repeat anyways. They’re gimmicky, unoriginal, and often outlandish – yet something about them undeniably draws us in. There are movies so outrageous, so over-the-top, and just all-around bad that we probably wouldn’t boast about watching them in public, but secretly host viewing parties on a somewhat regular basis with our closest bad-movie-loving friends. While pretty much any bad movie can speak to someone, these are bad movies that – for the most part – somehow gain love and recognition from the masses. So if you’re looking for a new guilty pleasure flick – one of these movies is probably for you.
17. 2012
2012 touts itself as an epic disaster movie with all the typical explosions and action fit for a movie about the end of the year. It capitalized on the 2012 end-0f-year phenomenon by creating a movie that shows every terrible thing that could happen to planet Earth (in the span of a few hours). Let be real, if Earth’s tectonic plates were all screwed up and hit Los Angeles with massive earthquakes that made the city collapse on itself, the likelihood of a struggling writer/limo driver being able to 1) rent a private plane to save his family and speed off with 2) juuust the right amount of acceleration on the runway before the 3) ground collapses – is slim to say the least. C’mon, Hollywood. The Day After Tomorrow, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, offers a much better alternative, TBH. But will we watch it everytime 2012 airs on FX? You bet we will.
16. Disaster Movie
This movie is quite literally a disaster. It includes spoofs of a hodgepodge of movies, from High School Musical to Cloverfield, and quickly loses sight of what it’s supposed to be about. It parodies different movies in a way that feels disjointed and choppy and is a total cinematic nightmare. It includes all the makings for a no good, very, very bad movie from its random cast to its abominable script, but somehow we find ourselves waiting with bated breath as Kim Kardashian comes into the scene.
15. The Room
When boiled down, The Room (NOT to be confused with the Academy Award-winning movie Room), is about a guy who has it all and it all comes crashing down on him. It’s been repeatedly called one the worst movies EVER made, which may be why it’s so unforgettable. The messy and flawed plot, heightened by the sub-par script and even worse acting lends itself to a movie that is almost too engrossing. Waiting to hear what other outlandish lines the characters are going to say next makes for some phenomenal viewing, and it’s long been praised as the best bad movie out there. James Franco‘s The Disaster Artist is based on the making of this film, so you know it’s become a cultural artifact already.
14. Baywatch
Unlike the original movie, the new Baywatch, a movie about lifeguards protecting the bay, is unoriginal and really only attracts the audience with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron‘s sweat-slicked bodies. It’s exactly how you imagine a movie created solely for oggling purposes to be, and the trick is to go in with low expectations. The comedy is off-kilter, and the plot feels out-of-focus, but you’ll be wholly amused by how it all ties together.
13. The Hot Chick
A high school cheerleader, played by Rachel McAdams, switches bodies with a 30-year-old criminal, played by Rob Schneider, and learns about the important things in life. A bit of Freaky Friday meets Mean Girls, The Hot Chick proves two great things in one does not make one really, really great thing. The low-brow humor that only gets more vulgar as the movie progresses isn’t everybody’s cup of tea but there’s something addictive about just how bad the comedy is. The predictable plot line makes for a great drinking game, BTW.
12. Just My Luck
The only good thing to come out of this movie is that it gave us Chris Pine. Lindsay Lohan‘s character has the best luck in town, and it accidentally gets switched with someone’s bad luck, leaving her fired, penniless, and arrested. It’s cheesy in how it portrayed the good-luck-bad-luck reversal, clearly delineating the line between the elite and the middle class and perpetuating the thought that there is no middle ground. A typical rom-com with very little of the com, we won’t say no to watching Chris Pine in his heyday, though.
11. Suicide Squad
In Suicide Squad, the world’s most dangerous criminals are assembled in a task force by the United States government to fight on behalf of the country in missions after Superman dies. It’s kooky and wasn’t DC’s best attempt at catching up to Marvel… despite some heavy, heavy marketing before this flick was released. The plot is a scattered mess, but we’ve got to give it to Suicide Squad that interactions between the characters and Harley Quinn’s character, played by Margot Robbie, are a hoot to watch.
10. Sharknado
Sharknado may have been designed to be a dramatic sci-fi disaster movie, but it’s anything but. A mindless, 90-minute immersive experience about a Shark-Tornado in Los Angeles that floods the streets and makes the danger of getting killed by a shark only greater, this is a fun movie to mock. The fact that four sequels were made, in spite of its negative reception, make it abundantly clear that there’s a significant fanbase waiting to see what completely ridiculous twists the brains behind Sharknado will do next.
9. Seed of Chucky
The Seed of Chucky finds Chucky’s son living his life away from his parents as a ventriloquist dummy. When he sees his parents on TV, he goes on a mission to find them, not knowing how evil they really are, and a battle ensues. The entire Chucky franchise is a bit ludicrous to begin with, but if you add in the shenanigans of his family dynamic as they try to consume the souls of the humans around them, it becomes excessive, stereotypical, and oddly satisfying. Voodoo magic, really?!
8. The Master of Disguise
Called one of the worst movies ever made several times, The Master of Disguise can barely be called a movie. It’s full of juvenile fart jokes and slapstick comedy which very few would genuinely find funny. It has Adam Sandler‘s brand of humor, considering he is a producer on the movie, and let’s just say that’s not a good thing. Nonetheless, it’s amusing to watch how the movie unravels (literally).
7. Troll 2
“Um, what?!” comes to mind when thinking of this movie. And the brains behind the movie know it, considering the tagline is “One was not enough.” Terrible acting, awkwardly crafted goblins, and a heavily flawed and boring storyline about a family of humans unknowingly going to a village of goblins, this movie is equivalent to watching trashy reality TV when one as nothing better to do. It’s more entertaining to troll this movie than to actually watch all of it and try to take it seriously (pun intended).
6. Batman & Robin
A young George Clooney is always a sight to behold, but even he can’t save the downward spiral of Batman and Robin. Too showy for its own good, it heavily depends on visual effects and was fast-tracked to production, which compromised with its barely-there storyline and dialogue. It seems like a gratuitous installment at best, but at least we get a good laugh out of it! George himself has said, “I always apologize for Batman & Robin,” claiming he legitimately thought he’d ruined the franchise with this one. It’s okay, George, we love to hate it!
5. Birdemic: Shock and Terror
A couple’s vacation plans go awry when they discover that birds are wreaking havoc on humans in Northern California. Not sure who thought that anyone besides Alfred Hitchcock should make a movie about birds going wild, but the bad decision shows in its low-quality acting and disaster of a plot. It misses the “so what?” factor, and had it been better explored/explained that these birds were attacking because of climate change, it could have made for an almost-decent movie. That said, there is a lot to work with in this bad movie and re-watching it is always a good time.
4. Scary Movie Franchise
The Scary Movie franchise is one hot mess, though to give it credit – we’re pretty sure that’s kind of the point. The movies make parodies out of existing horror flicks, hence the ironic title. The first three movies were so bad-good that they might’ve actually been good, but after that, the overall quality went downhill, and not in the purposeful Scary Movie kind of way. Its reliance on slapstick comedy and crude humor do, at times, make for laugh-out-loud funny moments, but they’re easily forgettable as soon as the movie is over. That said, a Scary Movie marathon is a good way to waste a few hours.
3. Wicker Man
This is probably one of the worst movies Nicolas Cage has ever starred in. The plot centers on a police officer trying to find a missing girl on a remote island and, while it’s meant to be a horror/suspense movie, Cage’s ridiculous and exaggerated performance makes it incredibly funny to watch. There’s a reason why many of his facial expressions and scenes have become memes.
2. Samurai Cop
A cop who can whip out a samurai whenever he wants to? LOL. We’re still scratching our heads as to why this movie was made, but this 90-minute spectacle sets the bar REAL low when it comes to cop movies. The actors struggle to redeem the plot, and as one reviewer said on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is a “hilarious blunder of an action movie that delivers on every B-movie front in terms of over-the-top violence and gratuitous (and I mean REALLY gratuitous) sex and nudity.” What more could you be looking for in a movie that’s so bad it’s good?
1. A Christmas Prince
A movie about an average girl falling for a prince while pretending to be someone else… where haven’t we seen that before?! This Netflix original combines Hallmark-esque Christmas movies with bad rom-coms and makes for an incredibly cheesy movie that somehow won over millions of fans and became an internet sensation. The characters are one-dimensional at best, and the bland and unoriginal plot leaves a lot to be desired. But there’s a je-ne-sais-quoi about it that makes A Christmas Prince essential Christmastime (and year-round) viewing.