...a sudden inspiration has come to me...er, that is, polygon mentioned
something on the movie guide item that i thought deserved a separate 
item, and so here it is...

what are some of the worst movies you've ever seen? why?

48 responses total.

Worst Movie ever -- Hardware.  Second runner-up "Drop Dead Fred".  And
I've seen a *lot* of movies, good and bad.  Even the "Hercules" movies
that were on TNT over Labor Day had a certain charm.  These two had
absolutely no redeeming qualities that I could see.

my worst experience was an italian import called _sword of the barbarian_.
the opening credits looked like crayola graphics on mylar. the exotic
locales included, but were limited to, somebody's back yard. combat scenes
actually had people clutching weapons to their guts as if they'd been
impaled, and the budget apparently only allowed for fake blood in one scene--
where it was comically excessive and very fake-looking (we're talking about
half a step above berry kool-aid here...maybe berry kool-aid with cornstarch).

i don't think there was a plot, leastways, i can't recall it, nor could i
while we were watching it or shortly afterwards. 

the two of us who were dragged very unwillingly to this film discussed making
the fellow who picked it walk home. in retrospect, we should have.

i admit, we walked out and i didn't see the ending--but i'm pretty sure it
didn't get much better.

 Vacation and European Vacation. Need I say any more???
(I will if asked)

Jabberwocky.

re 1:  "Drop dead fred"  I agree with you completely.  But my sister and
        brother in law absolutly loved in.  They've seen it at 3 times.
        different strokes for different folks :)

This response has been erased.

   how can you sit there and trash "wanda"??? That is a very funny/quirky
movie... yes I will admit that I had to see it twice to get it but it's
hilarious... Oh well. there is no accounting for some people's tastes.

Personally, I don't see why everyone hated "Drop Dead Fred".  I loved it.

Ah, you just liked it 'cause Rik Mayall was in it.

"Ben Hur".  It's okay I suppose if you like being run over by a truck
several dozen times, but I'll pass, thanks.

 the book is worse than the movie, in that it is written in a style that
does not exactly lend itself to reading it easily. But the movie, John is
a very good work. I fail to see your point. maybe you could expand on this.

 If it *was* so bad then why did Heston win an Oscar for his performance?
and why did it take best picture honors as well??? 

This response has been erased.

   Valerie you and I must be close to the same age...My memories are
about the same :)

I absolutely *hated* "The Beastmaster".

So far I have a pretty good track record of avoiding dumb movies.
  
_Faces of Death_ was beyond dull.

but the fallout of that movie has been inestimable. think of all the pc
vegetarians it engendered.

"Short Circuit II" ugh

Highlander 2, one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was worse
than Surf Nazi's Must Die.

 I could list "Kentucky Fried Movie" but that is supposed to be bad...

yes--no intentional baddies allowed. 

'course, if we _were_ to mention intentional baddies, i'd throw in _godzilla
1985_ in a second. its trailer is the now-famous "bambi meets godzilla,"
and the movie takes its tone from there--rubber-suited stuntman, fake-
looking plastic city models, deliberately mistimed dubbing on the japanese
actors "speaking" english, and one of the great dumb cut-up lines ever
(which i shan't reveal). truly a baddie.

but we're not mentioning intentional baddies...

"Everybody Wins" except the audience.  What a stinker.  Now, I don't
mind so much when a low-budget film, or somebody's early effort, or
something experimental turns out lousy, that's more or less the chance
you take when you go to these things.  But when a film has all the 
opportunities like a big budget, a good director, and an excellent
cast it's a bigger disappointment.  "Everybody Wins" - someone should
apologize for that one.

This response has been erased.

(Re #21:  The enormity of the failure becomes all the more appalling
when you list the people involved with "Everybody Wins":  starred
Nick Nolte and Debra Winger, directed by Karl Reisz ("The French
Lieutenant's Woman" & many others), original screenplay by Arthur
Miller ("Death of a Salesman"), & soundtrack music by Leon Redbone
(that part was actually ok...).  A true classic turkey.)

This response has been erased.

Did I ever hate "Barton Fink" and regardless of what everyone and anyone ekse
felt, I was bored to tears with "Babette's Feast". .pretentious, drab,
funereal, broing, disgusting (eating baby bird's heads-ugh!),etc.

"Tom Jones".  Yeah I know, it was a huge success, Newsweek called it
the greatest comedy ever made, and it won scads of Academy Awards.
I thought it was overblown and overdone, with the cutesy-poo tricks
(speeded-up motion, actors talking to the camera) pretentious and
tedious.

Hey, I know someone named "Tom Jones".

It's not unusual.  

heh.

I can think of a couple turkeys - "beastmaster II" was even worse than
the first one (which I kinda liked, btw...) and "He-Man" (I think the
movie was actually called "The Masters of the Universe")

I hated "Beastmaster", but I have heard that "Beastmaster II" was even
worse.

 
  Gross Anatomy and Look Who's Talking Too. 

save your time for doing other things.

     "Dark Man"!  I'm told by friends of mine who loved this movie that I'm
failing to take its genre (pulp adventure) into account when I harsh
(a very nice verb used in my particular sub-culture) on it.  My response
is that "The Shadow" or Edgar Rice Burroughs
or even Robert Heinlein are pulp, not this pathetic excuse for a movie.  (Save
the Heinlein comments for the Scifi conference, I'll be there soon.)
     Airport xx, need I say more?

I enjoyed "Darkman" simply because it was one of the very few movies that
actually had that comic book "feel".  Of course, there were lots of plot
holes and you really had to stretch your feelings of disbelieve, but I
thought it worked.

 
 InnerSpace.... 

  serve it for Christmas dinner.

Ooooh, I LOVED Innerspace!  I also thought Tom Jones was terrific fun.

My pick for worst movie, although I can think of some real doozies, would be
Ken Russel's "Lair of the White Worm". The whole vampire genre, after all,
is shot through with crud.

s

My pick for worst movie is Spiderbaby. It's an atrocious film starring Lon
Chaney Jr., who sings in the opening credits. It is interesting though, since
this movie obviously inspired the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Hm, this item seems to be waking up after a long sleep. Most of the
responses are from 1992.

A couple of worsts that come to mind:

"The Beast of Yucca Flats" (1961) - An a-bomb test turns Tor Johnson into
a raging monster; he goes around killing people. So low-budget that they
evidently couldn't afford dialogue recording; the movie is silent, with
voice-over narration.

"Manos, the Hands of Fate" (probably 1960's or 70's) - Family on a road
trip gets lost in the southwestern desert and falls into the clutches of
an evil (but very boring) cult.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss