So Bad, They’re Good
There are bad films that people love—"so bad, they’re good” films like Plan 9 From Outer Space—and it almost seems unfair to include them in this list. But unfortunately for these films, many of them big studio productions, they are some of the lowest rated by both critics and audiences.
An American Hippie In Israel (1972)
Maybe you’ve never heard of it, but in Israel, An American Hippie in Israel is a bit like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but without the knowing nod to kitsch. An American Hippie in Israel seems to be sincere.
Almog Film Israel, An American Hippie in Israel (1972)
Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever (2002)
Not all movies based on video games are bad, but many are. Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever is based on a Gameboy Advance game and it has all the sophistication one would expect from a movie directed by a guy named Kaos. The review-aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever a 0% rating.
Franchise Pictures, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
Batman & Robin (1997)
George Clooney as Batman, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze—how could you go wrong? Starting with Batman’s strange uniform complete with nipples, it all seems to go downhill from there. Michael J Nelson from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 wrote: "Batman & Robin is not the worst movie ever. No, indeed. It's the worst thing ever. Yes, it's the single worst thing that we as human beings have ever produced in recorded history".
Warner Bros., Batman & Robin (1997)
Caligula (1979)
This over-the-top historical drama has a world-class cast: Dame Helen Mirren, Sir John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Malcolm McDowell. However, it truly feels that this movie was made for no particular audience. Of course, it was produced by Bob Guccioni, the publisher of Penthouse, so expecting I, Claudius was probably too much to ask.
Felix Cinematografica, Caligula (1979)
Cats (2019)
What can be said about Cats, a computer-animated adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical? An all-star cast, including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, and Taylor Swift, is transformed into CGI cats and the results are horrifying. It’s definitely one of the many contenders for the title of "The Worst Film Ever Made".
Working Title Films, Cats (2019)
Catwoman (2004)
Halle Berry was still a hot commodity in 2004 when she was tapped for the title role of Catwoman. Critics agreed that Berry was fine as Catwoman, but the film itself is considered unfocused with an absurd script and paint-by-numbers action sequences.
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
The Exorcist is considered to be one of the greatest horror films of all time, but John Boorman, director of its sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, hated the original. He felt he was making an “antidote” to the original, but critics agree he managed to do the exact opposite. One critic even went as far as to say Exorcist II: The Heretic was akin to painting Mona Lisa 2.
Warner Bros., Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
For a very short time, Tom Green was famous with his shock comedy, The Tom Green Show. High on that dubious success, Green wrote, directed, and starred in Freddy Got Fingered, a gross-out comedy that wasn’t all that funny.
New Regency Productions, Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
From Justin To Kelly (2003)
Kelly Clarkson is one of American Idol’s most successful contestants and a movie career beckoned after she won the first season of the show. From Justin to Kelly is a story about students on spring break who also sing a lot, and it also stars American Idol contestant Justin Guarini. Who? Exactly.
19 Entertainment, From Justin to Kelly (2003)
Gigli (2003)
Celebrity couples seem to grate by design. A romantic comedy starring Bennifer (that would be real-life couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck) seemed like a sure winner, at least to unnamed studio executives. Whatever worked in real life for Bennifer didn’t seem to translate onto the big screen.
Revolution Studios, Gigli (2003)
Glen Or Glenda (1953)
Should this be on the list? Yes, it’s an Ed Wood film and it’s incompetent, strangely mixing horror with sociology, but this one was close to Wood’s heart. It’s a story about a man named Glen who cross-dresses as Glenda, and given Wood’s own real-life cross-dressing, one would think this film would be illuminating. Unfortunately, it’s not and Glen or Glenda’s only redeeming quality really is that it’s an Ed Wood film.
Screen Classics (II), Glen or Glenda (1953)
Glitter (2001)
Mariah Carey was one of the biggest pop stars of the 90s and 2000s. Movie stardom seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, whatever Carey has that makes her a pop sensation does not translate onto the screen, and the film itself is just plain bad.
Twentieth Century, Glitter (2001)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
One of the most expensive films ever made, Heaven's Gate was long, confusing, and mostly boring. It bankrupted film studio United Artists and ruined director Michael Cimino's career.
Partisan Productions, Heaven's Gate (1980)
Howard The Duck (1986)
The first Marvel Comics movie, Howard the Duck is technically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s good—and it isn’t. Corny and cliched, Howard the Duck is very much a product of its time: 1980s excess with little to redeem it.
Universal, Howard the Duck (1986)
Ishtar (1987)
When Ishtar was released, critics called it Heaven’s Gate Part 2. It was considered to be an over-budget embarrassment, and it still shows up on worst-of lists, like this one, but increasingly as a cautionary tale: word-of-mouth stories of its badness kept audiences away and it seems like not too many people actually saw the film. With VHS and DVD viewings, people suddenly discovered Ishtar is pretty good; people just think it’s bad without ever watching it.
Loqueesha (2019)
How was this movie made in 2019? If it had been 1989, it would make a bit more sense: it’s the story of a White male radio host becoming rich and famous impersonating a Black woman named Loqueesha on the air. File this under “What were they thinking?”
The Best Movie, Loqueesha (2019)
Mac And Me (1988)
Cashing in on ET: The Extraterrestrial’s success, albeit seven years too late, Mac and Me has little to recommend. It’s about a boy in a wheelchair who befriends an alien, and its bad special effects and cloying story endears it to no one. It did spawn Paul Rudd’s running gag on Conan O’Brien’s show, so there’s that.
Mac and Me Joint Venture, Mac and Me (1988)
Manos: The Hands Of Fate (1966)
This is a classic of bad cinema. So bad, it was made great by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Supremely low-budget and ineptly directed, Manos: The Hands of Fate made famous the villainous duo of Torgo and The Master. Stick around for Torgo’s jaunty theme music.
Sun City Films, Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Movie 43 (2013)
The big-name cast list is so long we can only give you last names: Jackman, Winslet, Watts, Faris, Stone, Gere, Quaid, Thurman, Moretz, Butler, Berry, Bell, Banks, Bosworth, Knoxville, Pratt and Sudeikis. The movie itself, Movie 43, is a series of gross-out vignettes, which begs the question: What were those big names thinking?
Relativity Media, Movie 43 (2013)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)
This was Ed Wood’s masterpiece. Tim Burton centered his Ed Wood biopic on the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space. It’s often called the worst movie ever but there are much bigger movies by better directors that are far worse; in the end, Ed Wood gave it his all.
Reynolds Pictures, Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
Reefer Madness (1936)
An anti-drug propaganda film from the 1930s, it really is best to watch this movie while partaking in the substance in question. The thing is, this movie is really bad and the only redeeming value is the unintentional comedy.
George A. Hirliman Productions, Reefer Madness (1936)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is legendarily bad and it was the first acting role of Pia Zadora, who, as an adult, is considered one of the worst actresses of all time, starring in the terrible 1980s film, Butterfly. Zadora won a Golden Globe for that performance, famously because her producer husband bribed the Golden Globe jury. There’s really nothing else to say about Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, it’s that bad.
Showgirls (1995)
Ed Wood’s movies were sincere efforts made with almost no budget. It’s helpful to compare that to a big-budget film with the pretenses of being sexy and provocative but is neither of those things. A starring showcase for Saved By the Bell’s Elizabeth Berkley, this terrible movie stalled her career pretty much at the starting gate.
Carolco Pictures, Showgirls (1995)
Super Mario Bros (1993)
Bob Hoskins, who plays Mario in Super Mario Bros, called the movie "the worst thing I ever did". Who are we to argue?
Hollywood Pictures, Super Mario Bros. (1993)
The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
Few people remember this one. It’s a mostly fictional account of Babe Ruth, and baseball legend Ted Williams called it the worst movie he had ever seen.
Roy Del Ruth Productions, The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
The Conqueror (1956)
Yes, times were different, but John Wayne playing Genghis Khan, complete with make-up to make him “appear” Asian? That was bad. Maybe worse was the statistically disproportionate number of cast and crew (including Wayne) who developed cancer over the years which may or may not have had something to do with shooting the film near a nuclear testing range.
RKO Radio Pictures, The Conqueror (1956)
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
This was meant to be a gross-out kids' movie based on a gross-out 1980s trend. Somehow, the filmmakers managed to make it even worse. The New York Times called it "too repulsive for children or adults of any age".
Atlantic Entertainment Group, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)
The title was tongue-in-cheek but that didn’t help the first "Monster Musical”. It was just a bad movie and no knowing winks to the audience could save it.
The Last Airbender (2010)
M Night Shyamalan adapted a popular children's TV series, and it cost $150 million to do it. Shyamalan has had one of the steepest downward trajectories in film history, from the heights of Sixth Sense, to, well, pretty much everything else. Roger Ebert said of this film: "The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented".
Paramount, The Last Airbender (2010)
The Master Of Disguise (2002)
Dana Carvey is a brilliant sketch comic, a legend from Saturday Night Live and beloved by both his fans and his peers. A film star he is not, and this horrifying tour-de-force of bad costumes pretty much sealed his fate as someone who just can’t make it on the big screen.
Revolution Studios, The Master of Disguise (2002)
The Room (2003)
Is this film bad, knowingly bad, so-bad-it’s-good, or does it occupy its own level of bad? Director/writer/star Tommy Wiseau's unplaceable accent is perhaps the real star but as the “Citizen Kane of bad movies", The Room has carved out its own niche of badness and has become a classic of its kind, even inspiring James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, a biopic about Wiseau and his masterwork.
They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968)
Can you have a great title and still manage to be just a regular bad movie? Yes, and this is it. And yes, they do save his brain, or rather, his whole living head, spiriting der Führer’s Kopf to South America to start the Fourth Reich.
Paragon Films Inc., They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968)
Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey (2023)
In 2023, Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain—or rather, the original Winnie-the-Pooh prior to Disney’s redesign—and a filmmaker more enterprising than talented spotted his chance. Without a copyright, AA Milne’s beloved original Winnie could be used in any way possible, and the horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey came along to fill a niche no one asked for.
ITN Distribution, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
Pledge This! (2006)
Paris Hilton was famous for a reality show. With dollar signs dancing in their heads, studio executives believed this would translate into a box office success. It did not. Paris Hilton could not act, and the film was rushed and poorly made.
National Lampoon, Pledge This! (2006)
The Hottie & The Nottie (2008)
For a couple of years, they really tried to make Paris Hilton into a movie star. It didn’t happen.
Purple Pictures, The Hottie & the Nottie (2008)
It's Pat: The Movie (1994)
As a Saturday Night Live skit in the early 1990s, Pat, an androgynous person of unknown gender, generated a few laughs, as tasteless as it was. They tried it out as a full-length movie and, even for its time, it seemed to repel audiences. Pat creator Julia Sweeney has, in recent years, unhesitatingly apologized to the transgender community for making such a tasteless character and film.
Touchstone, It's Pat: The Movie (1994)
Sharknado (2013)
This almost doesn’t belong on the list because it was designed to be bad. In a way, it’s too knowing, too contrived in its kitsch. However, having almost zero redeeming qualities—it doesn’t hold up as a parody and it isn’t funny enough to be a straight comedy—Sharknado fits comfortably on this list.
Southward Films, Sharknado (2013)
Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
The original Basic Instinct is considered one of the quintessential 1990s movies. They tried it again in the following decade but whatever it was that worked in the 1990s, couldn’t be revived 10 years later. Even the return of Sharon Stone as the star didn’t help.
Jack And Jill (2011)
Starring Adam Sandler and Al Pacino, Jack And Jill is a terrible comedy, and given its 2011 release date, it is far too tasteless to be taken seriously. Sandler plays both Jack and his disagreeable fraternal twin sister Jill and the result is too boring to be offensive.
Columbia, Jack and Jill (2011)
Howard The Duck (1986)
The first Marvel Comics movie, Howard the Duck is technically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s good—and it isn’t. Corny and cliched, Howard the Duck is very much a product of its time: 1980s excess with little to redeem it.
