The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made

Some of the narration's not as funny as it thinks it is, but how can you go wrong with choice cuts of turkeys like these?

This looks like someone's homemade YouTube video, and the level of analysis is no better. In nearly all the cases, all that is shown of the film is the theatrical trailer, which often provides no indication of what makes the film so bad. Early on, we get an exception, with _Mesa of Lost Women_, where the documentarian provides examples of his claims for how bad the film is, but most of the time, we get snide remarks about why the writer perceives the film as bad, without any real demonstration or support, which is certainly difficult if all you can afford to pay for is the trailer. Each film is covered for only about a minute or so, and the segments are broken up with an amateurish computer sequence of thrown popcorn. A coffee table book would be more useful and more fun. This film gets an F.

I love watching bad movie and have gleefully done so since I received Harry Medved's great book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time". However, despite the same title, this film is not based on Medved's book. Some of this is good--after all, the book came out in the late 70s and there have been a lot of bad films since. However, it also seems like the makers of this film were cashing in on Medved's idea and made no mention of him or his book and that just seems a bit sleazy.

What also didn't impress me is that although the film was about bad films, the overall look of the documentary was incredibly cheap. For instance, the same exact cheap animation of an audience throwing food at the screen was used again and again and again. Also, while the narration wasn't too bad, the same guy did everything and the film would have benefited from a panel of experts on bad films--something to make it more interesting.

I have a few other negative observations. There was too strong an emphasis on 50s-60s cheap drive-in horror films. A more well-rounded list would have been more interesting. While most of the picks were fitting, a few of the films weren't quite bad enough to merit inclusion. Now I am NOT saying that THE KILLER SHREWS, TROG, THE APE and SPIDER BABY were wonderful films, but they just weren't that bad and several had excellent "camp value". Also, while THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK definitely deserved inclusion, the clips they showed were all pretty good. None of the over-the-top wretched scenes were included (such as the kid with a claw hand chasing a pet bunny as the evil national guard shot him down). Finally, there also is a fair amount of nudity, so parents are cautioned about letting little ones watch the film--and that all seemed a bit unnecessary. I'm not upset that some rather adult films were chosen, just baffled why they chose to include some clips that make this a very family-unfriendly film.

However, despite my complaints, the documentary certainly was enjoyable, albeit the pace is a bit rushed to get it all into just 60 minutes. As I sat watching, I wrote down titles to watch. Most of the picks were NOT included in the book, so it gives me a lot of ideas. Plus, many of Medved's choices of films are simply impossible to find today (being unavailable on VHS or DVD)--so it's nice to find that most films listed in the film are available. In general, the clips and commentary were well done--making this a must-see for bad film fans like myself.

This abomination of a list makes WatchMojo look like Siskel and Ebert. The announcer is clearly being overly ecstatic and it's horrifyingly bad. Trash.

Where is Manos, The Hands of Fate? This is in the top five on most awful films lists (or bottom five, however you count it). What about Amazing Grace and Chuck? Baby Geniuses 2? The films of Steven Seagal or Wham Bam Van Damme? It seems like this list concentrated on low budget horror and sci fi films. I also didn't see any of the recent Disney travesties. How about the really bad superhero films (like Supergirl or Green Lantern). Yes, 50 bad movies were listed, but the list could have been much worse.