Favourite awful films

[Sam]

Last night, after my girlfriend went to bed, I found myself watching the start of The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. I hadn't seen the first one, but considering this prequel is a film Dwayne Johnson apparently turned down the chance to be in, I was expecting it to be pretty bad. But even compared with what I was expecting it was just spectacularly awful, so much so that I found it impossible to tear my eyes from the screen (the fact we'd had a bottle of wine shortly before might have affected this as well). Acting so wooden it's a wonder that anyone in the thing ever found any work, awful scriptwriting, and not one character so dull that the writers didn't think they could make the next character introduced just a bit less interesting.

Its audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 18%, which is quite something.

Anyone else got a good example of a film so shit it becomes strangely enthralling to watch?

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Favourite awful films

Not sure what counts as "awful", but I'm quite fond of Working Girl, which isn't going to appear in art house listings any time soon.

[EIM]

Favourite awful films

Hard to Kill. Seagal is the master of this sort of film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2u06eAyDKM

[Toby Gymshorts]

Favourite awful films

The Room probably wins this hands down, however strangely enjoyable it might be.

I've also got a lot of time for Dude, Where's My Car? but I'll fight anyone who says it's awful. Brilliant, stupid, dumb film.

[SouthdownRebel]

Favourite awful films

I always thought 1982's The Beastmaster fit neatly into this category, but I find it scored a lofty 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. Anyway, here our hero nearly meets his end but is rescued by two ferrets.

[EIM]

Favourite awful films

Ooh. Also Road House. Road House is a great awful film.

[Wouter D]

Favourite awful films

Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Launched a boatload of huge careers, with an awful awful script.

[3 Colours Red]

Favourite awful films

This is where I go on about liking Rocky V and Superman III again, isn't it?

[EIM]

Favourite awful films

Superman III is the best Superman film.

[Jon]

Favourite awful films

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: Not sure what counts as "awful", but I'm quite fond of Working Girl, which isn't going to appear in art house listings any time soon.

Maybe not but the fact that it was nominated for four oscars and is generally regarded as a classic romantic comedy means it should be nowhere near this thread.

But roadhouse. Yes, that is a film right up this thread's street. As is tango and cash.

[Gerontophile]

Favourite awful films

The Chronicles of Riddick.

I love this. It's trashy, and hammy, and has crappy effects, but I watch at least a bit of it every time it comes on. Which is a fuckton. (And that is just in the USA. Which is almost as often as the number of times it is on somewhere on ITV.)

And it has Dame Judi Dench, who was obviously blackmailed to go anywhere near this.

[Crusoe]

Favourite awful films

The Chronicles of Riddick is great.
Predator 2 is great. I like it more than the first Predator, which winds up my friends no end.

I'll add Under Siege 2 (I don't count the first Under Siege as awful).

[3 Colours Red]

Favourite awful films

EIM wrote: Superman III is the best Superman film.

I am in total agreement. In my head it goes III > II > I > Returns > IV > MoS > BvS (Yes, those last three are correct - my expectations for IV were rock-bottom so I was less disappointed).

It must be up there in terms of misplaced criticism - I've heard far too many absolute fucking morons say that Richard Pryor ruins the tone. No, what you meant to say was "Richard Pryor makes the film". Not pointed at you of course, EIM... I'm not Berba.

[Crusoe]

Favourite awful films

It surprises and disappoints me that there must be people who don't think Superman III is the best in the series, or that Richard Pryor (and to a much lesser degree Robert Vaughn) make it.

[jwdd27]

Favourite awful films

Nicolas Cage is my favourite actor, not least because his first response when offered a piece of shit is "I'll do it!".

Con Air
in which it's also pleasing to see John Malkovich being dragged down a few levels.

Knowing
In which we are asked to believe that Nic Cage is a Professor of Mathematics, and it has the ending with the rabbits.

There's a prison one as well.

[Ginger Yellow]

Favourite awful films

I'm totally with you on that Crusoe. Rooftop ski slope!

As to the OP, so, so many. Let me put it this way: I subscribe to three bad movie podcasts.

Top of the list is Fateful Findings, which I discussed briefly here. I've still not seen The Room, as it's only available on an expensive imported DVD and I don't really want my first viewing to be one of those Prince Charles Cinema showings with a bunch of people shouting out lines and such. But I find it hard to believe it's worse, technically speaking, than Fateful Findings.

Other recently watched, um, gems:

Hell Comes To Frogtown - a low rent, morally questionable, narratively nonsensical precursor to Mad Max: Fury Road

Vampire's Kiss: Possible candidate for peak Nic Cage.

Gymkhata: Standard issue cheapo 80s martial arts movie, except that it shoehorns gymnastics into the action at every opportunity, just because they hired an Olympic gymnast as the lead. Includes a stone village pommel horse, for no apparent reason.

Solar Babies (aka Solar Warriors): Another post-apocalyptic film, this time shoehorning in roller skating at every opportunity for no apparent reason.

[Ginger Yellow]

Favourite awful films

I've also got a lot of time for Dude, Where's My Car? but I'll fight anyone who says it's awful. Brilliant, stupid, dumb film.

Agreed.

[Crusoe]

Favourite awful films

I thought of some more.

Battle Beyond The Stars
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
Screamers

And I could see The Happening (the killer trees film) making the list at some point.

[Sits]

Favourite awful films

Waterworld. I realise the effects are quite good, and it has Dennis Hopper hamming it up. And Jeanne Tripplehorn.

[Jah Womble]

Favourite awful films

I seem to remember quite enjoying Leon the Pig Farmer - which the entire rest of the world seemed to hate with a vengeance. Probably rightly.

[Ginger Yellow]

Favourite awful films

I suppose this would be a good thread to remind people that Netflix

a) has secured internatnational rights for 20 classic Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes (including Manos and Santa Claus vs The Martians). If like me you never really got a chance to see them at the time, now's a great time to catch up.

b) will be airing brand new episodes of MST3K in a month's time. Flop House contributor Elliot Kalan is head writer.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Favourite awful films

Toby Gymshorts wrote: The Room probably wins this hands down, however strangely enjoyable it might be.

It has to be The Room, a film once described as 'Like bad soft porn, without the porn'. It has the perfect awfulness-to-pretentiousness ratio. Silly unpretentious films can't even aspire to be in the same universe of deliciousess, and the fact that Tommy Wiseau is an aboslute gimp (replace that a with word that's not offensive to you) is the cherry on the cake. It's a shame it's become a hipster cliche, but even a broken clock etc.

[Giggler]

Favourite awful films

I got Problem Child 2 on VHS for Christmas in 1993 and must have watched it every day until I went back to school after the holidays.

It's got Gilbert Gottfreid in it. The vomiting effects of the fairground ride scene - giving you a picture of the level we're aiming at - are appalling. Its budget was presumably minuscule. But if I stumbled on it on telly tonight, I'd watch it.

[San Bernardhinault]

Favourite awful films

Mention of Nicholas Cage reminds me of how much I enjoy both National Treasure movies. Da Vinci Code By Disney, and completely idiotic.

And I have a very strong penchant for bad disaster movies. The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 are definitely terrible, terrible films, and yet I love them. And a recent contender is San Andreas from a couple of years ago with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a fire rescue helicopter pilot in helicopters that he could hardly fit in.

[Crusoe]

Favourite awful films

Good call. I love disaster films, bought 2012 on DVD.