So You Want To Get Into… Good Bad Movies

There’s a knack to a film that is terrible but also weirdly enjoyable that is almost impossible to define. There are plenty of films out there that are just plain bad but there are those films that are so bad that they take on a level of enjoyment that wasn’t anticipated by the filmmaker when they set out to make it. What makes a bad movie enjoyable? There are a few elements that all the best worst films have…

1. Low Budget
If you have a huge amount of cash to throw at a film, the likelihood is that you’re just going to get a bad film. There are one of two exceptions to this but, for the most part, the enduring good bad films often have a ramshackle, making-it-up-as-they-went along feel that you’re unlikely to get with a big studio budget.

2. Enthusiasm Over Talent
You can tell that people are giving their all even if their all really isn’t very good.

3. Belief In Greatness
All the truly great awful films were made by people who genuinely believed that they were making something genuinely worthwhile despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

So where to start? 

The Best of The Worst
One man’s name is often bandied around when it comes to bad filmmaking and with good reason. He was so bad that he was immortalised in a biopic by Tim Burton and portrayed by Johnny Depp. Yes, I’m talking about Edward D Wood Jr, creator of such classics as Glen or Glenda, Bride Of The Atom and the film often cited as being the worst film of all time Plan 9 From Outer Space. Plan 9 is probably the archetype for the good bad film - the continuity is appalling, the sets wobble when the actors bump into them and the plot is constructed around the footage they had rather than the other way round. Somehow though, this all combines to be funny and male a film that is entertaining, just not in the way the filmmaker intended.

They’re Eating Her...And Then They’re Gonna Eat Me!
If we’re talking best of the worst , you can't ignore the glory that is Troll 2. A film completely unrelated to the original film Troll which it was then marketed as a sequel to (and indeed a film that doesn’t actually feature any trolls - they’re goblins), it’s become famous for its combination of atrocious and bizarre dialogue, dreadful hammy acting and laughable special effects. It’s the sort of film that shows up on the midnight screening circuit and even inspired a documentary, Best Worst Movie.

Oh Hai
Of course, if we’re talking midnight screenings and cult appeal, you can't not mention Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. Wiseau wrote, directed and starred in this train wreck which he now claims is a comedy but is clearly meant as a serious (and erotic) drama. The dialogue is strange and stilted, odd little subplots crop up and are dismissed (one character casually mentions she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer which is then never mentioned again) and the whole thing is anchored by Wiseau’s bizarre accent and even more bizarre performance. 

There are plenty more you could leap into - the first Sharknado is indicative of the modern low-budget bad movie (but not the too-knowing sequels), Showgirls is now a high camp masterpiece and supposedly the films of Neil Breen drift into similar territory to Tommy Wiseau (although I haven’t seen those yet) - but that will get you started down the rabbit hole of enjoyably dreadful films. Be warned - it could lead you to some pretty strange places…