Judging the Worst Movies Ever

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2013

June 4, 2010 at 11:00 AM

Judging the Worst Movies Ever

With “Sex and the City 2″ getting panned, we get reviews from critics, and you, on the best “worst” movies of all time.

“Sex and the City 2″ is getting panned. Critics say the new “Prince of Persia” is no prince on the big screen.

It’s starting off as the summer of bad movies. And yet, we watch.

Some even feast on movies they say are so bad, they’re good. “Ishtar” did bad camel shots long before Carrie Bradshaw hit Abu Dhabi. “Snakes on a Plane” was joyfully awful.

There was an audience boom for “The Room.” Never mind “Troll 2,” “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” “Mommie Dearest,” and any number of films starring Mr. Elvis Presley.

This Hour, On Point: Terrible movies. We’re looking at the “best worst films” of all time.

Guests:

Kim Morgan, writer and blogger for MSN Movies, Huffington Post, IFC, Entertainment Weekly and Garage Magazine. She is the former L.A. Weekly film critic. Her blog is “Sunset Gun.”

Wade Major, senior film critic for Boxoffice Magazine and a regular featured critic on NPR’s FilmWeek.

Michael Paul Stevenson, director of the new documentary “Best Worst Movie,” which looks at the characters and the making of “Troll 2,” which topped IMDB’s Bottom 100 list (in 2006). As a child actor, he had the lead role in the film “Troll 2.”

More:

“Birdemic” is one of the newer candidates in the running…

“Sex in the City 2″ is getting some bad press, though the jury is still out…

Critics have not been kind to the 2003 film “The Room,” though it has a cult following…

And of course, there’s the classic 1959 film “Plan 9 From Outer Space”…

Ivy Moore

Report to the Commissioner
I was so bored I disassembled my theater seat and put it back together
chud

Actually, Troll 2 nicely wraps-up a lot of unanswered questions from the original Troll. I recommend the panel go back and watch both films consecutively and then evaluate.
Ed H.

Several decades ago there was a movie title ‘Coma’. People in hospitals were made sicker, put into comas, and stored in a cool basement room where their organs could be harvested for other patients. It wasn’t badly made, but it was the worst movie because it portrayed evil. ‘Rosemary’s baby’ is also the worst movie because it is a promotion of evil, blasphemous, and theologically impossible and ridiculous.
Mr. Trees

Point Break has to enter the discussion. It is utterly preposterous and has terrible acting…but I’m pretty sure I still watched it weekly in college (At least!).
Mr. Trees

Oh come on, Ed. Rosemary’s Baby was hilarious. What other movie is going to give you a the priceless lines “He has his father’s eyes” and of course “HAIL SATAN!”. And, if “being evil” or focusing on an “evil” plot, is enough to require OnPoint rebuke, then the list is much much longer than Coma and Rosemary’s Baby my friend.
cory

Judge Dredd. Bad even amongst Sly Stallone’s other notoriously bad movies. The only movie I have ever walked out on (and that is saying alot from a cheap bastard such as myself).
Anton Phibes

Ah, I’m looking forward to this broadcast. While I will respect the views of the experts noted, I would like to whisper a little secret in your ear: Badmovies.org. I have no affiliation with the site; I’m just a fan. Andrew Borntreger, the site’s webmaster, has reviews of films that might be said to be less enjoyed than survived.

My own pick for the worst film ever: _Manos, The Hands of Fate_. But _The Beast of Yucca Flats_ is pretty close…
Glenn

I just viewed the trailer for Troll 2, and I have to say its reputation for compelling awfulness seems justified. It’s hard to put one’s finger on how it does that, but I think it has to do with the sincerity of the filmmaker.

Films that try to be “so bad they’re good” fall flat and quickly become boring. But this filmmaker obviously thought he was doing a good job, and I think that’s the key. Likewise, the spectacularly bad auditions on American Idol are only funny when the contestants actually think they can sing.

Incompetence isn’t funny, but clueless incompetence is mesmerizing.

How best to deal with cheesy fake rubber monster masks? Close-ups! Stiff amateur actors? Let the camera linger! Bad dialogue? Keep talking! Every decision shows the pride the filmmaker had in his project, and the sad sincerity makes you keep watching.
Erin

Reign of Fire was horrible. It’s supposed to be a futuristic drama, but I was laughing the entire time! The climactic scene with Matthew McConaughey was pure comedy! Terrible, terrible movie.
Vince D

“Beloved” — This is the only movie my wife and I ever walked out on. We went because of the Oprah hype, and still don’t understand what she saw in this script.
Frank LaPorte

It’s not intentionally bad, but intentionally “bad taste.” I speak of John Waters’ 1972 PINK FLAMINGOS, a film that actually declared war on hippies (he had already declared war on the main-stream in his earlier works). Even though it was ironically crafted and widely loved, any film with a coprophagic coda deserves mention.
jeffe

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
Clambake (1967)
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1980)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

I tried to watch Clambake, but it’s so bad that it’s impossible to watch it to the end. The dance sequences are hilarious, some of the dancers look like they are having fits.
Michael

“6 string samurai ”

worst movie ever but i watched it a few times.lol
Alex

They are just making money. If I could make that kind of money I would put out awful movies as often as possible, too. Who cares? You think sitting in the law office 15 hours a day is a lot of fun?
Adam S.

Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”. If you have Netflix, put it in your queue *now*. It is hee-lariously bad. There’s a character that announces she has cancer and then the subject is dropped. Shots from the same sex scene are recycled. A guy uses a house phone in his car. Football in tuxedos before a wedding that may or may not occur (the story is unclear on that). Atrocious writing and acting. Hey, “keep your stupid comments in your pocket!”.
Dee Kieft

For a chuckle-watch He-Man Masters of the Universe with Dolpf Lundgren and Courtney Cox-I bet she wants to forget that film-it’s great bad fun….
And, an oldie but good from the B movie era-Amazon Women from Mars with 1 of the Gabor sisters. Amazon women hijack space ships and use the men for slaves. Just brilliant and really bad special effects such as a giant magnet with a sting pulling in spaceships.
Robert

#1
TREMORS!!!
1990 flick with Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and giant “Graboids”

#2
CAVEMAN!!!
1981 – Ringo, Barbara Bach and Dennis Quaid.
Lar Pooka!
Ben Holland

Not even MST3K Could save “Manos the Hands of Fate”. I love to hate the first 10 minutes of nothing but fields during the introduction.
Holly Allen

ALL of Mamma Mia and Section 9 (?) Don’t know if I have that last title right, but it was shrimp in South Africa. Horrible.
Laura Caffry

A few years ago, when my daughter was 7 or 8, Blue Hawaii was one of her favorite movies. We didn’t have TV, but I have to admit we watched a fair amount of what might be considered bad movies.

Elvis plays a character named Chad who is a young adult trying to make his own place in the world rather than doing what his mother, played by none other than Angela Landsbury, wants him to do. The movie is also a big promotion for Hawaiin tourism.

We were shopping in Burlington VT when my daughter saw a life size Elvis cut out at music store. She said, “Look Mommy, it is the actor that plays Chad.”

In the eyes of my daughter, more than 30 years after Elvis died, Elvis was an actor.
Patricia

The best worst movie of all time is “The Rocky Horror Show”. Obviously a terrible flick, but one that has lasted and gained fans over the years, and is STILL being shown (and performed) world-wide!
Peter

Two words
L’ultimo squalo
JP

“BASKETCASE!!!”

This has been one of my favorite bad movies since it came out in 1982.

How can this movie always miss getting mentioned in these discussions?

If you haven’t seen it yet, treat yourself to one of the worst ever!
Wool

Funniest? It’s a MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD World

Best Action: BULLITT with Steve McQueen.

Best Musical: HARD DAYS NIGHT

WORST: LOVE STORY

BEST CLASSIC: EASY RIDER
Adam

The best “worst” movie is Killer Clowns from Outer Space. That movie is so funny. Full of cheesey original songs and of course, killer clowns from outerspace.
Judy Susak

ISHTAR! ISHTAR! ISHTAR! ISHTAR!!

What a blast to see two otherwise talented actors in such a bad movie. I love this film!!
Soccerchik

Purple Rain – walked out as a teenager with a low bar of movies I’d watch.
http://www.examiner.com/x-10796-Boston-Automotive-Examiner Rick

Hey, how about the worst best films instead?

The top three are:
Titanic
Titanic
Titanic

Cheers,
Rick
Boston Automotive Examiner
Don Workman

My ears perked up during the introduction to this segment, when “Mommie Dearest” was mentioned. While it is a movie version of a disputed tell-all book, it hardly belongs on this list. I have no idea how accurate the book was, but are they judging it soley by the “wire hangers” scene?
Matt G

The Room is so horrible, so bad it defines the term “so bad it’s good.”
Wool

and most BEAUTIFULL… DAYS OF HEAVEN
nancy

The worst, campiest movie ever is called “Summer Camp.” It is supposed to be a horror film, but it is difficult to stop laughing during the entire film.
eldano

Having recently re-watched “Mega Pirhana” on Syfy (modern society’s greatest gift to bad movies), I decided that it ranks just under Troll 2 for silliest movie ever.

The worst movie ever, non-horror category, is a film called “Tiger Heart”. Writing: lazy. Music: comically over-dramatic. Directing: there’s a fight scene where the extras are clearly just running in circles in the background. The most stunning thing about this movie is that it was released in the 90′s. It must have been created in the 80′s and then picked up by the father of the “star” as a vehicle that he produced to make his martial arts son famous. I cannot recommend it highly enough to those who appreciate unintentional comedy.
Tim Johnson

“The Terror Of Tiny Town” has to rank on the ten worst list.
Marc S. (Worcester, MA)

What about “HOT TUB TIME MACHINE”? The title was so bad, I had to go see it. I had no expectations (other than a corny film) and found myself hysterically laughing. The best of the worst!
Nini

I loved the Cutting Edge with Moira Kelly and DB Sweeney. I even own it.
jeffe

Somehow the topic drifted to good films, I thought the topic was “best of the worse”.

Bullit is a pretty good film and it has that car chase.
Michele

“The Truth about Charlie” HAS to go on my list of one of the worst films ever made. How could anyone think that Thandi Newton and Mark Wahlberg could play roles that were originally played by Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant??! What a disaster!
Liza

Spaceballs!!
Scot Couturier

What’s the panel’s opinion of Ed Wood and his ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space?
Sybylla

I love great bad movies. Love love love them!

One of my all-time favorites, which I strongly recommend to everyone, is Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon. It’s from the 80s, stars Taimak as Leroy “Bruce Leroy” Greene (he eats popcorn with chopsticks), Vanity as video disc jockey Laura Charles, and is just joyfully, wonderfully awful. Julius Wilson as Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem is worth the price of admission alone.

I cannot say enough good about this terrible film.
http://n/a Tarah

Robert Altman’s “Popeye” with Robin Williams and Shelly Duval!! What a romp of a movie and so maligned by critics.

I love this discussion- it’s reminded me of how much I loved this as a kid, will definitely send off for it.
Daniel Walters

I have to mention Wing Commander, which was supposed to be this giant science fiction epic, and ended up as a crossover between The Muppets and Red October. The aliens looked like Fozzy the Bear, and you had the spaceship commander talking about everyone keeping quiet so the aliens on another spaceship wouldn’t hear them…in space.
becky

Is it possible Ishtar flopped by the standards of quality at that time, whereas quality itself has so plummeted that now Ishtar seems like a decent film?
Andrea

How about Boondock Saints.I hated it but some say it is a cult!
Spike

976-Evil 2: The Astral Factor
Thomas Poplawski

You cannot have this discussion without mentioning MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, and the new incarnation CINEMATIC TITANIC. These guys turned unbearably bad films into high art! And provided countless laughs as well.

You know the show….they pretended to be watching these movies, with them silhouetted with the theater seats at the bottom of the screen. They just mocked the movies, riffing jokes, pointing out the bad direction, acting, cheap sets, plot holes, etc.

I miss them…..now they do it live.

Great show Tom,
~Tom
Debora

My 3 least favorite movies, Pet Sematary, The Gate and Worlock. After “The Gate” I wanted to ask for my money back.
Rabi

The lifetime achievement award in awesome bad movies has to go to Uwe Boll. His terrible video game movies (Bloodrayne, Dungeon Siege, House of the Dead, Postal, the list goes on) are high-school student quality and terrible in every logical respect, yet fantastically entertaining.
LEANNE WHITTLE

I was just curious what the critic and public opinion was in 1944 on ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’. This is my favorite old movie! Love it, but I was curious as to how it was originally received. THANKS!!
http://traumanation.com Douglas Hardy

Let’s not forget the films that collected big stars. My nominee — “Paint Your Wagon” the musical starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg.
Josh Conescu

The Betsy – Olivier, Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Jane Alexander…

this cast should have been able to make a telephone book interesting!
Angela Barton

The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Too Funny…
MYC

Definitely love the summer blockbuster action movie types that are so terrible they’re good: Doom, for instance, or Con Air. Hilarious!
RJ Erbstoesser

Gigili was sooooooooo bad. Ben Affleck stars with Jennifer Lopez as a “lesbian hit woman!” The F-word was uttered at least 75 times! Ben drove around LA in no traffic and always found a parking space! This film was so bad that co-starsChristopher Walken and Al Pacino never mention it.
Matt

Its important to remember comedy changes over time.

Favorite bad movies…anything with Nick Cage, Specifically, ConAir and The Rock for example here’s good bad movie writing:

“Loser always whine about their best, winners go home and F!@#$ the prom queen.” Sean Connery
“She was the prom queen.” Nick Cage
– From The Rock

Also agree with the Boondock Saints comment.
Kate

Kim Morgan, you’re ruining this show for me. I’m so sick of hearing you say “You’re wrong”.
Jan Briede

One of my favorite great bad movies is Tank Girl! I enjoy it so much … bit it’s so bad!
No One

Tom, you have to bring up Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus — it’s amazingly bad, especially with the scene where the Mega Shark jumps out of the water to take a bite out of an airplane at cruising altitude.
Todd

One of the most disappointing movies, in spite of its star-studded casting (Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro), is “Wag the Dog.”
About Boondock Saints

Boondock Saints is a pretty standard action flick with an injection of revenge and vigilantism. It also contains its own interesting stylistic elements. For these reasons I feel you can dislike it but can neither call it downright bad nor “so bad it’s good.”
Fletcher Moore

Manos, the Hands of Fate.

Worst. Movie. Ever.
Hackers!

How can we skip Hackers with its prank war and hacking-montage where the deconstruct the Da Vinci virus!? (It’s actually a worm…) Such terrible moments of “No, that’s not right” with its inaccuracies and its oddly alt-awesome portrayal of hacker culture. HACK THE GIBSON!
Rex

How about the dull acting and lack of suspense in the new Star Wars movies?

Dracula: Dead and Loving It just screamed cheap and desperate.
Bryan H

Any of those movies that are being “filmed live” by one of the actors in the movie, like cloverfield and blair witch.

The movies are really bad, but kind-of fun to watch.
JJ Joyce Jr

How has only one commenter mentioned Uwe Boll? He’s made some of the worst movies in history. And he just won’t stop…
Jon Wilt

Petey Wheatstraw, the Devils Son-In-Law. It’s almost too much to believe. Rudy Ray Moore. Full-on 1970s pimp clothing everywhere. Watermelon afterbirth just after he’s brought into the world at the age of 10. Horrific costumes, vampires, devils, double-crossing Lucifer and his ugly daughter. And a fast-motion orgy scene with some kind of wraith-women.
David Moore

Gotta include “House of the Dead” if for no other reason than this exchange:

Girl: “Why did you want to be immortal?”
Main bad guy: “So I could live forever.”
Bill Liteplo

Three Men and a Little Lady.

The original (Three Men and a Baby) was clever; this sequel was awful.
William

Manos the Hands of Fate would actually clear all the bars your guests feel compelled to hold up. Any fan who enjoyed MST3K knows what this is about.
Laura

I know it’s just a matter of taste, and it certainly wasn’t meant to be bad, but I found the movie “I’m Not There” about the various incarnations of Bob Dylan interminable. By the end I was pounding my head on my coffee table yelling “Make it stop!!!”
Tracie

Anyone remember this beauty: Logan’s Run. Easily fits into the “worstest of the worst” category.
rlzee

I Love “The Dark Backward” and “Shakes The Clown”. Don’t know if those count because they are actually good Films which some may consider bad.
Rex

I’ve heard “surely” too much during a program on movies not to hear “stop calling me Shirley”
Pam Biggi

RE: Kevin Costner… I think the worst worst movie ever made was WaterWorld.

RE: Snakes on a Plane… Samuel L Jackson was on The Daily Show to promote it, and he said the producers/directors wanted it to be a straight horror movie… then the blogosphere went wild and he got to do all that campiness… true? not?

Thank you,
SUSAN MONTGOMERY

KINGPIN – BEST COMB-OVERS, BEST BOOBS, BEST AMISH IN A LEADING ROLE.
Claudine Bodin

Purple Rain comes to mind . . . I was a huge Prince fan when it came out and saw all his films but when Applonia says, “And You, what do you dream about?” even I had to cringe at her delivery.
Ivan

The BEST worst movie ever made, in my opinion, has got to be “Americathon”–it’s “the future” 1998 and the United States has run out of oil and money. President Chet Roosevelt, played by John Ritter, holds a telethon to rescue the nation from bankruptcy with Harvey Korman, a pill-popping, fading sit-com star, as emcee. Cameos by Elvis Costello, Jay Leno, George Carlin, and Meatloaf (battling the last running car in America with an ax). Pure gold–a “desert island movie” MUST! P.S. Kudos to “Popeye”, “The Last Dragon” and “l’Ultimo Squalo”–great movies all!
rlzee

You can get wrapped up in Your own imagination and semi-delusion…and then be baffled that others don’t get it.
d mcdonald

In the Beach Movie genre but slightly off center-think Annette on the slopes and you have my pick “Winter a-go-go.” If you see a tree, move your ski.
There can be intentional good bad films

Your child start just said you have to make a movie sincerely for it to become so bad it’s good and not set out to make a bad film, but I have a point of contention on that: The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera — it was made as an homage to the bad ’50s sci-fi flicks (and is even in black and white) and is as hilarious as it wishes to be. It doesn’t matter whether it was intentionally or unintentionally bad because it’s good either way!
William

I think your guests are hung up ridiculing movies made by sincere people desperately shy of resources – financial, experiential, intellectual, etc; and rightly have no such compunction about George Lucas and Kevin Costner etc.
rlzee

Wow! That takes guts to admit affection for Xanadu! (don’t tell anyone but I ♥ Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton John.)
Venice

I LOVED the 1987 movie, “Less Than Zero”, which starred Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. This film had a great story line, and visuals. However, the acting was not very good. Still all of the main character went on to do VERY well in their acting careers, especially Robert Downey Jr., who critics were the hardest on. All in all, it was a good movie that was very under rated. If it were recreated today, it would be a great film. In my opinion.
Rlzee

Hey VENICE…”Less Than Zero” Rocks!
Curtis

What about Riki Oh- The Story of Ricky… even for kung fu movies which are notorious for campiness; it’s insane: “The warden of any prison has to be the very best at Gung-Fu” or “Alright! You gotta lot of guts Oscar!”
http://www.whatdothlife.com ryan

I am a HUGE fan of The Room and needs to be viewed by everyone. I would like to mention “Thankskilling” a wonderful indie “horror” movie that despite its self awareness, pays homage to the genre in a stoopidly funny way, with the protagonist, a homicidal Turkey. Plenty of T&A, gore and dumb puns to go around!
Thomas Poplawski

Right on Rizzee!

My brother and I accidentally caught ‘The Dark Backward’ late one night on tv knowing nothing about it. We ended up quoting it incessantly for months.

Shakes was great too! Waking up to drunken slutty Mrs. Brady! OMG! The film that brought us ‘Mimebashing!’

~t
Terry

Ravenous. I’m not certain what they were going for but Its about frontier cannibalism. It would be kind of scary if it wasn’t so funny. I never get tired of watching it.
D. Flick

In the early sixties I worked for two years in a movie theatre as an usher. Obviously got to watch a lot of bad movies but the one that sticks in my mind was “The Man in the Iron Mask.” During the under water scene in which the lead actor is trying to escape from his bonds. You could clearly see parts of the skin diver who was there to help him if something went wrong. In another scene, in the background while a duel was going on, you could see a sportscar moving accross the screen.
Dave
Brett

There are so many “worst” movies out there: The Room is right up there!
Bryce

Daredevil. Reading up on it, the film makers and actors too it so seriously, but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Thank God the tickets were free.
http://emptyhandspvd.com hutch13

swordfish.

eye of the beholder.

vanilla sky.

those are ones i started to watch. – never even bothered with other ones you guys have mentioned….
rico

STARSHIP TROOPERS.
Melinda

I agree with Thomas Poplawski – MST3K, Rifftrax, etc. are largely responsible for helping people appreciate really crappy movies. However, I doubt that they could redeem these movies:

Beloved
Bruno
The Golden Compass
Revolutionary Road
Why Did I Get Married Too?
Madea Goes To Jail
Melinda

Oops… I forgot to mention The Break Up, Derailed, and Rumor Has It. Jennifer Aniston seems to be synonymous with crappy movies.

And lord rest Brittney Murphy’s soul, but Little Black Book… so bad.
Weldon

There are so many awful films to choose from, but I think I’d have to go with “The Trial of Billy Jack”
Amy

I have to put in a vote for American Beauty.

That may be because an ex-significant other watched it non-stop for a week straight, though.

Also – I have a guilty love for “The Fifth Element.”

It’s an outrageous movie, and ridiculously far-fetched and silly, but I really really love it.
Bob

Priscilla Queen of the Desert Proof positive that gorgeous locations and talented actors can still produce a stinker.
http://onpoint.org Dave

Spaceballs is an example of perhaps a good idea that immediately sank to the bottom. Humorless! Also Dead Alive a zombie movie where they squirt this pus -like substance into peoples soup which causes them to turn into zombies. Sorry about that, quite disgusting, but that is really what happens.
Cameron

In the spirit of “best” worst movies, I have to say Waterworld tops my list. I consider it to be unintentionally hilarious. The preposterous premise and is the perfect setting for a movie that takes itself far too seriously and injects more than enough social commentary to actually kill the story (global warming, tobacco smoking, “evil” fossil fuel). It’s unnecessarily long and full of bad dialog (“Dry land is *not* a myth!”), but the real cherry on the top of this sundae are the Ed Wood special effects at the very end of the movie (particularly the balloon scene). Prior to its release, Waterworld was heavily marketed as a hugely expensive epic that would change the art of movie-making. In spite of all that, I actually enjoy watching the movie sometimes for the amusement factor.
terry jackson

Hotel Hell! You can still catch it on late late late night TV
Chad

Too many commenters here are calling movies they just didn’t care for “one of the worst movies in history,” and therefore do not understand the theme. In order to be considered, a movie should have NO redeeming value, to anyone. For example, District 9 was a decent film, if only for its brilliant special effects, and should never have been included here. Same goes for Titanic. And Purple Rain is redeemed by great music. The Day The Earth Stood Still is a classic, though time has rendered it a bit cheesy — but it’s not a bad film. So please, only the WORST of the worst.
http://www.pathtoasia.com Zack

No mention of Uwe Boll, a director so infamous for making bad movies that he has developed a cult following of hate for churning out schlocky video game adaptations. The ridicule became so great he hosted a boxing match with harshest internet blogger critic a ew years back. Having directed 14 movies up to 2008 Boll reached an average IMDb rating of 2.4!

My company http://www.pathtoasia.com, helps Americans move to Asia. Check us out and receive a free consultation.
David Luebke

My nomination for best-worst movie is “The Conqueror” (1956), starring John Wayne as Genghiz Khan — no kidding — and Susan Hayward as the enchanting Princess Bortai. Totally camp, utterly irony-free, hilarious and wholly unintended absurdist comedy (Dick Powell)
Alex

“I have to put in a vote for American Beauty.”

Interesting choice. I thought it was one of the best of all times. It ripped quite elegantly on the life in a mythical American small town. That movie was in the same league as Winesburg, Ohio.
Allixi

Terminator Salvation has got to be up there. I could not believe what I was seeing.
James

Battlefield Earth…john travolta and others….TERRIBLE
carbonware

for me it has to be Battlefield Earth, the only movie I’ve walked out on.
jason

People…(including Kim Morgan)..Sex in the City II is everything that fans would want.. We have a strange elitism in this country that looks at obvious instances of silliness and hyperbole and lifts their noses at them. The movie was untended to be big, to be slightly obnoxious – but also a little off the handle. For Morgan to bring in Godfather and Gangs of New York (which was pretty terrible in my eyes) prooves that many just miss the point. Not all movies strive for the same dramatic grittiness that Lynch, Scorcese bring to the screen.. but that doesn’t mean they’re bad movies… Lighten up..
NHBill

Fun show.
Big fan of Kim and Wade!
Susan Geffen

Tom, you’re my hero of reportage. And great guests, as always.

My personal favorite is Black Sheep, a 2006 film from New Zealand. Demon sheep on the loose! Camp (I hope intentionally so).
K Clark

Let’s see… Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan; Dreamcatchers; and a hideously awful film called Speed Zone! that must have gone straight to video the day after I saw it. I made my poor father go to that last one; I was twelve and even then I realized it was so bad that we left.

I may have also hated Dreamcatchers so much because I enjoyed the novel and the movie changed it horribly and made it into a stupidly huge alien-themed mess.

P.S. Nothing But Trouble, a film Demi Moore probably still has nightmares about being in.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/06/judging-the-worst-movies-ever A Holcomb

My vote(s):
Face Off ~ John Travolta, Nicolas Cage (1998)
Second: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ~ Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey (2003)
Karen

I think you picked the Best-Worst movie reviewer in Kim Morgan. You can’t judge the work if you are too attached to the feelings of the writer or director. She couldn’t contribute to the conversation without being contrary and detached from the subject matter the host was trying to get out. It was really annoying.
Kirk D

Fun to watch bad movie: Big Trouble in Little China
Eddie P

Don’t forget Maximum Overdrive. Have a bunch of friends over and make sarcastic comments (a la Mystery Science Theater) and have a night of joy. Seriously–killer ice cream truck!
ben

I’ll add Zardoz (1973) to the list.
Andrew Latzman

I saw “Blue Velvet” in the movie theater when I was a kid and that had to be the worst movie I actually paid money to go see. It qualifies as there were scenes that were not supposed to be funny in which people in the theater were laughing out loud — what a stinker.

I know it was a David Lynch movie and that people will say it was part of his genre — but this early version really didn’t work at all. I am amazed he ever got another chance.
UpperRight90

First time poster.

I just found OP through my NPR Droid Podcast app. I enjoy listening podcasts on my commute and have found Tom Ashbrook’s show to be a fantastic find.

Sorry about being late to this party.

A tip of the hat to the poster’s who glossed Kingpin and Americathon. In the same vein as Americathon, I would like to draw attention to “In God We Trust” which was a comedy about a monk in the secular world featuring Marty Feldman. Irreverant and sacrilegious to say the least.

One of the most publicly accepted films that was so bad was Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s “You’ve Got Mail”. Meg Ryan’s character has absolutely NO INTUITION and the film has zero plausibility. Torture. Torture. Torture.

Oh, yes, and then there’s the string of late 70′s Clint Eastwood and Sandra Locke stinkers (Bronco Billy, Anywhich Way…, etc). What were they? Comedy? Action? Romance? Answer: Neither. They were just bad.
http://www.themoviemavens.com Dara

I gotta go with the original Batman Movie from 1966. Laughably bad. Endlessly watchable.
Brian

“Cabin Boy” this movie was so awful i forced myself to watch the entire film to make sure i would never make the same mistake, be certain there were no redeeming features, and inform everyone i ever cared or ever would care about to not subject themselves to the complete experience of wasting ones’ time. Ok David Lettermen saying “would you like to buy a monkey?” was the only redeemable aspect, but watch the clip and nothing else.
Tim

Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid! What a hoot! B movie trash thru and thru! I look forward to seeing this on future lists.
Martin

“Plutonium Baby” is the simply the best worst movie. You can even tell by its tag line “Be good to him…or he’ll tell his mommy”.

I guess it’s supposed to be a horror movie but we laughed so hard when we watched this movie, it’s hysterical! I wish I could find it somewhere because it has been over 20 years since I saw it and I would love to watch it again for the fun of it.
Brian

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) Blew. My. Mind.
Jill

Manitou! I can’t believe no one has mentioned it.
canada eh

Robot Monster; Cape Canaveral Monsters; Beach Girls And The Monster; Horror Of Party Beach; Beast Of Yucca Flats; The Creeping Terror; Bride Of The Monster; Navy vs. The Night Monsters; The Thing With Two Heads; Two Headed Transplant; Astro Zombies and Blood Freak to name a few.
Allyn

Megaforce!!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/james.nicholson.714 James Nicholson

What, you did’nt like how Batman spared little innocent ducklings the effects of a lit bundle of dynomite? Or a marching band for that matter if memory serves me correctly.

ONPOINT

TODAY

Uncovering Apple’s Tax Havens

May 22, 2013

168 Comments

Apple CEO Tim Cook is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Apple in the hot seat. Lawmakers say the company dodged billions in taxes on overseas profits. We’ll look at the world of off shore tax escapes.

How Can We Better Prepare For Tornadoes?

May 22, 2013

98 Comments

A woman carries her child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

After Oklahoma’s giant twister, does Tornado Alley need to change the way it builds and lives in the age of superstorms?

RECENT

SHOWS

Henry Ford And His World

May 21, 2013

57 Comments

The controversial and brilliant Henry Ford and the world he invented.

George Packer On America’s ‘Unwinding’

May 21, 2013

291 Comments

New Yorker writer George Packer’s inside history of the great unwinding of America’s 20th century way of life and where we stand now.

On Point Blog

Switching Shows For Our Second Hour Today

Friday, May 17, 2013

Adventures in live radio. Richard Snow, our guest for our show on Henry Ford, was held up — possibly by a faulty Model T? — so we’re running a terrific archive show on great quotations.

More »
5 Comments

Floyd Abrams On Obama Vs. Nixon

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Floyd Abrams — one of the country’s leading authorities on the First Amendment — joined us today to talk about revelations that the Justice Department seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press.

More »
Comment

Dr. Judy Garber On Angelina Jolie’s Cancer Decision

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Dr. Judy Garber — director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — joined us for the final segment of our show today to talk about star Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy.

More »
1 Comment