The greatest movies in the world reach us in a way that is difficult to describe, touching one’s mind, heart and soul in a way that can forever change how you look at the world. Inferior movies try to do that, but fall short in a way that’s not as entertaining. The worst movies, however, fall so hard that watching them crash is just as fun as watching a good movie.
Most people have a vague awareness of bad movies, but it doesn’t go far beyond “Sharknado” or “Velocipastor”, movies famous for having such absurd conceits as shark-filled tornadoes or priests turning into dinosaurs.
Although not all realize, watching the right bad movie can be a uniquely great experience.
If you are ready to go on a bad movie adventure, the first thing you will need to do is pick a bad movie to watch. There is a whole universe of terrible, easily accessible movies out there. Most of them can be grouped into a few types, which are all fun for different reasons.
The kind of bad movie most are familiar with are movies that are blatantly bad on purpose, such as “Sharknado” or “Evil Bong”. These movies can be enjoyable, as they often play jokes to extremes that one wouldn’t normally see in a film. While there is fun to be had with these movies, they sometimes aren’t as funny as movies that are truly trying to be great and unequivocally failing.
The most classic variety of bad movies is sometimes called a Z Movie: a movie produced on a low budget and created of an even lower quality. The flaws in these movies are so organic and genuine that they are truly delightful. Obvious continuity or technical errors abound, characters aren’t one dimensional as much as nonsensical and plots are just so stupid, you wonder what the writers could possibly have been thinking.
The third kind of bad movie is simply badly-reviewed contemporary movies. Take a scroll through your streaming service of choice and look for something that seems weird and bad. Streaming services are often full of corny rom coms and badly conceived horror movies that can be a true delight.
Plus, Wikipedia has long lists of “films considered the worst” from the 21st and 20th centuries, and movie review sites such as Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes have similar lists. Some quick research can easily yield an interesting-looking bad film for anyone looking to enjoy one. Many of those films are free to view on YouTube, and some public domain ones are even on Wikipedia.
Once you’ve picked out your movie, make sure you’re ready for the watch. Bad movies are best enjoyed with a group of friends on a cold, gloomy day. Watching a bad movie by oneself can be enjoyable, but watching with a group of friends gives much more opportunity to make fun of the movie’s shortcomings. Make sure you’ve got plenty of snacks handy, too.
One more note: many bad movies have seemingly randomly inserted explicit scenes. But if you’re ready for that, pick something that looks funny and get watching.
