List of films considered the worst

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The films listed here have achieved a significant level of infamy through critical and popular assertion as being among the worst films ever made. The films have either been cited by a combination of reputable sources as the worst movie of the year, or been on such a source's list of the worst movies of all time. Examples of such sources include Roger Ebert's list of most hated films, Rotten Tomatoes, the Internet Movie Database's "Bottom 100" list, and the Golden Raspberry Award ("Razzies").

[edit] Original films

[edit] B-movies

Released in 1953, Glen or Glenda began a string of bad B-movies created by Ed Wood.

Plan 9 from Outer Space was hailed by The Golden Turkey Awards as the "Worst Film Ever."

Manos: The Hands of Fate has an opening nine-minute sequence in which nothing much happens but endless driving through the countryside, due to the opening credits being left out.^[1]

Although B-movies are not generally presented or accepted as fine cinema in the first place, some of the films from this genre have become known for being markedly worse than others, sometimes being referred to as Z-movies.

Some B-movies have become cult classics, partly as a result of their peculiarities. Fans of low-budget cult films often use the phrase "so bad it's good" to describe movies that are so poorly made that they become an entertaining "comedy of errors". Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent fan following who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the bevy of errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere.

Glen or Glenda (1953)

A semi-autobiographical quasi-documentary about transvestism, starring and directed by Ed Wood. After a nightmarish dream sequence, Glen undergoes psychotherapy to help cure his affliction. Béla Lugosi appears in this film, as he did in several other Wood films toward the end of his career. Many of Wood's fans and critic Leonard Maltin insist that this was far worse than Plan 9 from Outer Space; Maltin considers it "possibly the worst movie ever made".^[2] In his book Cult Movies 3, Danny Peary suggests that this is actually a radical, if ineptly made, film that presents a far more personal story than is contained in films by more well-respected auteurs.^[3] This film was included in the 2004 DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.

Robot Monster (1953)

A science fiction film, originally shot and exhibited in 3D, featuring an actor dressed in a gorilla suit and what looks almost like a diving helmet. The film, produced and directed by Phil Tucker, is listed in Michael Sauter's book The Worst Movies of All Time among "The Baddest of the B's." It is also featured in The Book of Lists 10 worst movie list, in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, and in the 2004 DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. The Golden Turkey Awards confers its main character the title of "Most Ridiculous Monster in Screen History" and, listing its director Phil Tucker among the runners-up to "Worst Director of All Time" (the winner being Ed Wood), states that "What made Robot Monster ineffably worse than any other low-budget sci-fi epic was its bizarre artistic pretension". Noted film composer Elmer Bernstein wrote the score for this film. It was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000^[4] and was fondly remembered by author Stephen King who quotes, and agrees with, a review in Castle of Frankenstein magazine ("certainly among the finest terrible movies ever made", "one of the most laughable poverty row quickies").^[5]

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Ed Wood's Plan 9 was labeled the "Worst Film Ever" by The Golden Turkey Awards. But reception from professional critics was generally positive: the review site Rotten Tomatoes reported that 62% of critics gave the film positive reviews. This movie marked the final appearance of Béla Lugosi. Wood idolized Lugosi, and before Lugosi's death, he shot a small amount of test footage of Lugosi. This was then placed in the movie and repeated several times. Following Lugosi's death, the character was then played by Tom Mason, the chiropractor of Wood's wife at the time, who played his scenes holding the character's cape in front of his face. Wood was apparently undeterred by the numerous physical differences – such as height and build – that distinguished Mason from Lugosi; e.g., that Mason was nearly bald while Lugosi retained a full head of hair until his death. Years later, video distributors such as Avenue One DVD began to make light of this, adding such blurbs as "Almost Starring Bela Lugosi" to the cover art. Due to difficulty in finding a willing distributor, the film was not released until 1959. It has played at the New Orleans Worst Film Festival and was included in the 2004 DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. Plan 9 was also mocked on the television series Seinfeld by Jerry in the episode "The Chinese Restaurant," in which he said, "This isn't like plans one through eight. This is plan nine, the one that worked! The worst movie ever made!"

In 1994, Tim Burton directed Ed Wood, which included some material about the trials and tribulations of making Plan 9. In the television series The X-Files, Fox Mulder watches Plan 9 whenever he needs to focus on a difficult problem, claiming that the film is so incredibly bad that it shuts down the logic centers of his brain, allowing him to make intuitive leaps of logic. He has seen the movie 42 times. In the 1996 edition of Cult Flicks and Trash Pics, the authors state that, "The film has become so famous for its own badness that it's now beyond criticism."

The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)

A film by Coleman Francis shot silently with added narration. It features a seminude prologue (which implies necrophilia) completely unrelated to the rest of the film, and a scientist turning into a monster played by Tor Johnson. Leonard Maltin's TV and Movie Guide calls it "one of the worst films ever made".^[6] Bill Warren said "It may very well be the worst non-porno science fiction movie ever made."^{[7][dead link]} It was also featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

This holiday staple was the creation of Nicholas Webster. When Martian children get to see Santa Claus only on TV, their parents decide to abduct Santa to make them happy. Like many others in this category, it has been featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000^[8] and is also included in the IMDb's worst 100. Also cited on a 10-worst list in The Book of Lists, in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, and in the 2004 DVD documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.

Monster A Go-Go (1965)

A Herschell Gordon Lewis film, Monster was begun as Terror at Halfday by Bill Rebane, who would later go on to make The Giant Spider Invasion; the film was left incomplete, only to be purchased by Lewis, who reportedly needed a second film to release on a double bill, and who shot some additional footage. The picture consists mostly of men sitting around drinking coffee and talking; the ending consists of a long speech by the narrator informing us that "there was no monster." All Movie Guide calls the film a "surreal anti-masterpiece".^[9] At one time it held the #1 spot on the IMDb Bottom 100. It was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and is officaly the worst movie they have ever seen.^[10]

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

A low-budget horror film made by El Paso fertilizer salesman Hal P. Warren, about a family on vacation that stumbles upon an isolated house inhabited by a polygamous cult. Among its most notorious flaws, besides poor production qualities, is an opening sequence with little dialogue in which the family drives through the countryside for several minutes looking for their hotel. Also, a teenage couple is seen making out for no apparent reason nor with any connection with the plot. John Reynolds, who played the character Torgo, supposedly a satyr, wore a rigging for his legs that made his performance extremely awkward. The film gained cult popularity by being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.^[11] It has held the #1 spot on the IMDb Bottom 100 repeatedly. It also has a 9% rating at Rotten Tomatoes,^[12] and the one positive review linked on Rotten Tomatoes is for its Mystery Science Theater appearance rather than the film itself (which the reviewer, Mike Bracken, calls "unwatchable").^[13]

Hobgoblins (1987)

This film by Rick Sloane was also made famous after it debuted on Mystery Science Theater 3000. At its lowest rating, it repeatedly made the IMDb worst movie list at number two, second only to Gigli. MST3K writer Paul Chaplin later commented on Hobgoblins, saying, “It shoots right to the top of the list of the worst movies we’ve ever done." Efilmcritic.com called the it "Jim Henson's worst nightmare." It is also the only film considered the worst of all time to have a sequel, Hobgoblins 2, made twenty years after the original.

Troll 2 (1990)

Not only one of the "least scary horror movies ever", according to Yahoo! Movies, but "by pretty much any measure... one of the worst films ever made".^[14] A movie in which vegetarian goblins try to trick a family into turning into plants so they can devour them. Director Claudio Fragasso removed his name from the movie, instead using the pseudonym Drago Floyd. Despite the script being written in awkward language (Fragasso, along with most of the crew, were Italian and spoke English only as a second language), Fragasso insisted the American actors deliver the lines as written. The goblins in the movie are midgets wearing burlap sacks and latex masks. Campy acting, confusing plot twists, and unintentional homosexual innuendos have contributed to give the movie a cult status comparable to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The movie's child star, Michael Stephenson, is working on a documentary about the movie titled "Best Worst Movie."

[edit] Poorly executed adaptation

Many directors adapt a book, play, game, or story from another medium into a film, with varying results.

Battlefield Earth was universally panned by critics and moviegoers in 2000. In response to all the negative publicity the film generated, Entertainment Weekly published a spoof poster quoting the film's bad reviews^[15]

Catwoman was one of the most critically panned movies of 2004. Halle Berry attended the 25th Golden Raspberry Awards to pick up her Razzie for Worst Actress.

Howard the Duck (1986)

Howard the Duck was loosely based on the Marvel Comics character, which was created by Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik, and stars Lea Thompson, a young Tim Robbins, and Jeffrey Jones. The film retains only two central characters: the eponymous duck and Beverly Switzler and goes to no effort to make them look or behave similarly to their counterparts from the comics. Executive producer George Lucas disowned it shortly after its release.^[16] In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin calls the film a "hopeless mess of a movie".^[16] The film was also among Siskel and Ebert's picks for the "Worst Films of 1986". The film was adapted by Willard Huyck and his wife Gloria Katz and directed by Huyck, with no input from Gerber, who "was hoping against hope that the [movie's] script and the movie itself weren't as bad as [he] thought they were or, at least, that they wouldn't be received as badly as [he] thought they would [be]," citing that many films he hated were at least successful. Huyck and Katz were once considered "luminaries"^[17] but have not made a film since. The film was considered so bad that it was soon dubbed "Howard the Turkey".^[18] The Nostalgia Critic also gave a negative review for this movie, especially in reviewing the beginning of the movie, in which there is a nude female duck taking a bath. The film won four Razzies - Worst Picture, New Star, Visual Effects, and Screenplay.^[19]

Battlefield Earth (2000)

Based on the first half of L. Ron Hubbard's thousand-page novel of the same name, starring John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, and Barry Pepper, this film had the third worst 3,000-plus-theater opening weekend up to that time. It was criticized for its poor script, hammy acting by Travolta, overuse of tilted camera angles, laughable dialogue and several plot inconsistencies. More than one reviewer called the film "Travolting".^[20] Rob Vaux called the film a "crime against celluloid".^[21] Roger Ebert predicted that the film "for decades to come will be the punch line of jokes about bad movies."^[22] It has a three percent Rotten Tomatoes rating (listing 3 positive reviews out of 96).^[23] The film won seven Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Screen Couple (John Travolta and "anyone on the screen with him").^[24] In 2005, an eighth Razzie (for Worst "Drama" of Our First 25 Years) was awarded to the film.^[25] Maxim magazine printed, "Even Quentin Tarantino couldn't revive Travolta's career after this movie."

Catwoman (2004)

Based on the DC Comics character and starring Halle Berry, the film retains next to nothing of the Batman antagonist and the source material. In the movie, Catwoman has actual superpowers, which she lacks in the comics. The lycra catsuit was replaced with slashed leather pants, a bra, and a mask, which also acts as a hat, and she leaps from rooftop to rooftop in stiletto heels. As the movie character differs so widely from her comic book source, the character, as portrayed in this film, has been cited as "Catwoman In Name Only".^{[26][dead link]} It has a 9% rating at Rotten Tomatoes^[27] and was declared "arguably the worst superhero film ever made" by the Orlando Sentinel. The Village Voice summed up reviews of the film under the title "Me-Ouch."[7] It is the winner of four Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Director (Pitof), and Worst Screenplay.^[28] Berry arrived at the ceremony to accept her Razzie in person (with her Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball in hand), saying:^[29]

"First of all, I want to thank Warner Brothers. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, god-awful movie . . . It was just what my career needed."

Alone in the Dark (2005)

Based on the popular survival horror video game series Alone in the Dark, specifically Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Alone in the Dark stars Christian Slater and Tara Reid and is directed by Uwe Boll (who became infamous for directing poorly-received movies adapted from games, like the equally panned House of the Dead, BloodRayne, and Postal); Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film a score of 1% as of January 2009 and lists it as the second-worst reviewed movie of all time. At Metacritic, it has a score of 9%. On IMDB; it has a rating of 2.2. In a review of Alone in the Dark, Rob Vaux states that the movie makes other "bad" movie directors feel better in comparison: "'It's okay,' they'll tell themselves, 'I didn't make Alone in the Dark.'"^[30] Another reviewer wrote that Alone in the Dark was "so poorly built, so horribly acted and so sloppily stitched together that it's not even at the straight-to-DVD level."^[31] Common criticisms of the film include an incoherent plot, excessive gunplay, poor camerawork and special effects during fight scenes, a poorly-executed sex scene, an ending which directly contradicts plot points previously established in the movie, and the casting of Tara Reid as an archaeologist. The film received two 2005 Razzie Award nominations: Worst Director (Uwe Boll) and Worst Actress (Tara Reid).

[edit] Star vehicles

Some films listed here starred A-list actors or high-profile celebrities whom critics felt were either badly miscast, paired or grouped with other stars with whom they did not share viable chemistry, or cast in an otherwise poorly made film that relied entirely on their star power.

Gigli was hailed as the worst movie in 2003. It also became the only film to perform the "Razzie Grand Slam," winning all six major awards. The film was then awarded a seventh one a year later for "Worst Comedy of Our 25 Years."

The Conqueror (1956)

A Howard Hughes-funded box-office bomb featuring John Wayne as Genghis Khan and the redheaded Susan Hayward as a Tatar princess. The movie was filmed near St. George, Utah, downwind from a nuclear testing range in Nevada and is often blamed for the cancer deaths of many of the cast and crew, including Hayward, Wayne, Agnes Moorehead,^[32] Mexican actor Pedro Armendáriz, and director Dick Powell (although according to an A&E Network Biography episode, Wayne also typically smoked five packs of cigarettes a day). The film appears in Michael Sauter's book The Worst Movies of All Time and made the 10-worst list in The Book of Lists. Hughes thought the movie was so bad that he bought up every copy (which cost him about $12 million), and he refused to distribute the film until 1974, when Paramount reached a deal with him. This would be the last film that Hughes would produce.

The Postman (1997)

Two years after the controversial Waterworld, Kevin Costner involved himself in yet another post-apocalyptic film; this time, it was an adaptation of the novel by David Brin. Like Waterworld, it was widely panned by critics; but unlike Waterworld, it was a complete financial failure - the $80 million film made only $18 million.^[33] Siskel & Ebert both gave The Postman "Two Thumbs Down", with Siskel calling it "Dances with Myself" (in reference to Costner's Oscar-winning film Dances With Wolves) while referring to the ending sequence where a bronze statue of The Postman is unveiled.^[34] James Berardinelli of Reelviews called the film "dumb and riddled with gaping holes of logic, and the dialogue sounds like it was penned by a hack writer."^[35] The film is ranked at 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[36] The Postman took home five Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song for its entire film score. It won an award for every category in which it was nominated - the first (and only) time this has occurred in Razzie history.^[37]

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)

Sort of a self-parody, this movie portrays the making of a movie considered extremely horrendous by its director (Eric Idle). Since his name is Alan Smithee, he can't put that name in the credits, and he destroys all copies of the movie. Also starring Jackie Chan, Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg, and Oscar-nominated actors Ryan O'Neal and Sylvester Stallone, this film was widely panned by critics upon its release. It won five Razzies, including Worst Picture. With an estimated budget of $10 million, Burn Hollywood Burn only grossed approximately $45,000, making it a tremendous box office flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a zero out of four stars, calling it a "spectacularly bad film — incompetent, unfunny, ill-conceived, badly executed, lamely written, and acted by people who look trapped in the headlights."^[38] It is also on his "most hated" list.^[39] In the documentary Directed by Alan Smithee, director Arthur Hiller stated he had his credit replaced with the pseudonym Alan Smithee because he was so appalled with the botched final cut by the film's producers.^[40] It was written by Joe Eszterhas and at one point in the movie a character comments that the film-within-the-film was "worse than Showgirls" (see below), which was also written by Eszterhas.

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)

This action movie, starring Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas, was universally panned by critics, earning a rare zero percent rating (with 103 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes, where it remains as the worst critically reviewed film on the site.^[41][42] Critics variously described the film as "A picture for idiots", "Boring to an amazing degree", "A fine achievement in stupidity and dullness", "Dreadful", "Gives new meaning to the word incoherent", and "the film is bad on just about every level". One critic suggested an alternate title as "Simplistic: Bullets Vs. Humans."^[43] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote, "You could run this film backward, soundtrack included, and it would make no less sense."^[44]

Gigli (2003)

A Martin Brest movie featuring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, with appearances by Al Pacino and Christopher Walken, that was declared by many to be the worst movie of 2003. Originally a black comedy with no romantic subplot, the producers demanded script rewrites throughout filming, hoping to cash in on the Lopez-Affleck romance that was big news in celebrity-watching publications of the time such as Us and People. This film only grossed $6 million, making it one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. Many especially avoided it because they thought it was just a vehicle for the Lopez-Affleck relationship. Some reviewers^[who?] dubbed the film "The ultimate turkey of all time" — perhaps aptly, considering one notorious scene in the film involved Lopez's character's sex talk to Affleck's character as she invited him to perform oral sex on her: "It's turkey time." "What?" "Gobble, gobble." Winner of seven Razzies (including 2005's Worst "Comedy" of Our First 25 Years^[28]).

I Know Who Killed Me (2007)

The thriller-mystery film starring Lindsay Lohan set new records at the 28th Golden Raspberry Awards by winning eight of its nine nominations (beating previous record holders Showgirls and Battlefield Earth), including Worst Picture. Lohan bagged two Worst Actress awards and the Worst Screen Couple award for her dual role as twins. The film was also the first to receive the inaugural Worst Excuse for a Horror Film award.^[45]

[edit] Bad crossover

Sometimes, stars in other fields, such as music or sports, will attempt to parlay their existing fame into a movie career. If this works well enough, the star can have a dual career in both fields, or move on exclusively to a film career. Other times, this turns out to have been a mistake and they often stop after the first try.

Kazaam (1996)

A 1996 comedy that stars professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal as the title character, a genie. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from almost every critic. It holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[46] The movie also has a 2.4/10 rating by the users of the Internet Movie Database,^[47]. The New York Times give it a 1/10 and it said "Memo to Shaquille O'Neal: Don't give up your night job." ^[48]. It is number 10 on Everyone's a Critic bottom 200 movie list.^[49] The Nostalgia Critic also dubbed this as one of the worst movies ever, pointing out major problems like: Shaquille acts like a pedophile, the deadbeat dad is a complete idiot, and Shaquille (the genie) doesn't believe in fairy tales.^[50]

[edit] Bad comedy

The 2008 Paris Hilton film The Hottie and the Nottie was described by critic James Berardinelli described as "about as funny as the anal rape scene in The War Zone".

Some comedic films fail because they are simply not funny to a wide enough audience. Many bad comedies include a series of dry, tepid jokes and overused comical events; these mostly fail due to poor or rushed writing or acting, or because they just "try too hard". Other movies fail because of an attempt by a comedic actor to try something different or a non-comedic actor to attempt comedy. Another reason may be a misunderstanding of the place of bad taste in comedy; although bad taste may be funny if comedic elements exist, bad taste is not by definition funny.

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)

A comedy starring Sylvester Stallone along with Golden Girls star Estelle Getty, about a cop whose elderly mother meddles in his life, to the point of going on raids and chases with him. The film won three Razzies: one each for Stallone and Getty, as well as for Worst Screenplay. It also has a 6% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.^[51] In a 2006 interview with Ain't It Cool News, Stallone himself referred to it as "maybe one of the worst films in the entire solar system, including alien productions we’ve never seen", that "a flatworm could write a better script", and "in some countries – China, I believe – running [the movie] once a week on government television has lowered the birth rate to zero. If they ran it twice a week, I believe in twenty years China would be extinct."^[52]

Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

A "comedy" film starring Tom Green, who also wrote and directed it. CNN's Paul Clinton called it "quite simply the worst movie ever released by a major studio in Hollywood history" and listed the running time as "86 awful minutes."^[53] In a damning review, Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of 0/4 stars. Ebert considered the movie to be so bad, that it "doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels" (in response to it not scraping, being, or being below the "bottom of the barrel") and noting it would more likely become a milestone for neosurrealism before it is even considered funny.^[54] However, Ebert amended his critiques in his review of Stealing Harvard, saying "it was at least an ambitious movie, a go-for-broke attempt to accomplish something", and Ebert also believed that Tom Green does possibly have good work in him, that may eventually make a "movie worth seeing."^[55] The film was nominated for 8 awards at the 2001 Razzies, and won for Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst On-Screen Couple. Tom Green accepted his awards in person, even traveling to the show in a white Cadillac, and brought his own red carpet to the presentation. In his acceptance speech, Green noted that "[he] didn't deserve this any more than anyone else here", but noting he didn't think that would be true.^[56]. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club has defended this film, claiming he watched it in 'open-mouthed admiration', and calling it a ['secret success' [8]

The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)

This romantic "comedy" was released on the basis of featuring American socialite Paris Hilton. To no surprise, the film was universally panned. Online film critic James Berardinelli described the film's comedy as "about as funny as the anal rape scene in The War Zone".^[57] Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers gave the film a half-star rating, saying that the half-star was because "it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) [for Hilton] to appear on screen again after House of Wax."^[58] The movie was featured on several worst of 2008 lists including those of The Times^[59], NY Post^[60], The Star-Ledger^[61], The Tart^[62] and Metromix^[63]. Rotten Tomatoes has the film ranked at 5%.^[64] Hilton was the big winner at the 29th Golden Raspberry Awards, taking home the Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple awards, plus the Worst Supporting Actress award for Repo! The Genetic Opera.^[65]

[edit] Exploitation

Striptease starring Demi Moore won six Razzies out of seven nominations at the 17th Golden Raspberry Awards.

Filmmakers sometimes try to overuse content considered taboo or shocking by the general populace as a means to draw in curious film-goers (see shock value). When executed poorly, this method can backfire. These films are commonly cult classics, however, as the overdone scenes of nudity, death, violence, and gore are often so poorly executed that they become more humorous than shocking.

Myra Breckinridge (1970)

The 1970 film based on the book of the same name by Gore Vidal and starring Raquel Welch, Mae West, and Farrah Fawcett provoked controversy due to scenes that seemed a bit questionable for the time period. It also started with an X rating but then had to be cut down to an R. Some stars from the 1940s and 1950s were also shocked to see footage from their films seen as sexual in-jokes, even some, like Loretta Young, suing them to remove the footage. There were also conflicts between Raquel Welch and Mae West on the set. Critics have panned the film, with Time Magazine saying "Myra Breckinridge is about as funny as a child molester. It is an insult to intelligence, an affront to sensibility and an abomination to the eye." Gore Vidal blamed the movie for a decade-long drought in the sale of the original book.

Cattive ragazze (1992)

An Italian film written and directed by Marina Ripa di Meana, notorious for its controversial use of public funds. Critic Paolo Mereghetti, describing the dialogue as "vulgar and idiotic" and the acting as "much worse" and saying that this film "may be of use only to understand what cinema is not", wrote of it: "It may compete as the worst film in cinema history. And win".^[66]

Striptease (1996)

Much like Showgirls, Striptease - starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds and directed by Andrew Bergman - relied heavily on sex and nudity. And just like Showgirls, it was heavily panned by critics. Leonard Maltin gave the film no stars, saying that it was too depressing, and "Not funny enough, or dramatic enough, or sexy enough, or bad enough, to qualify as entertainment in any category."^[67] Striptease won six Razzies out of seven nominations at the 17th Golden Raspberry Awards. In addition, Moore was recognized as Worst Actress not only for Striptease, but also for The Juror. Despite the negative reviews, the film was a financial success, earning $113,309,743 (more than twice its $50 million budget) worldwide.^[68]

[edit] Sequels, prequels, remakes, and clones

Often, an attempt is made to capitalize on the popularity of a successful film by making a sequel^[69] (or prequel), writing a new script loosely based on the ideas of the old one, or if the film is old enough, remaking the movie altogether.^[70] Sometimes these films do not live up to their predecessor. Some factors resulting in poor performance are:^[71]

• different continuity which makes a film a sequel in name only
• budgetary constraints
• the film may not feature the stars associated with the original
• the film may not be made by the same producers, directors, writers and editors
• the target audience's lack of interest in furthering the story of the predecessor
• declining actors attempting to reprise roles from the height of their career for which they are no longer suited
• a perceived attempt to capitalize on a popular concept with little or no original material
• the original was poorly received in the first place

While they are usually considered inferior to the original, others end up being poorly done movies in and of themselves and sometimes taint the film they were meant to emulate or continue.

[edit] Comedy sequels

Caddyshack II (1988)

The sequel to the critically acclaimed 1980 comedy Caddyshack received two Razzies for Worst Original Song and Worst Supporting Actor (Dan Aykroyd). It holds a 0% from 8 critics at Rotten Tomatoes^[72] and a rating of 3.4 out of 10 on IMDb, as of January, 2009.^[73] The film was also listed on ESPN Page 2's "Worst Sports Movies Ever" at number 4,^[74] in contrast to the original Caddyshack being listed at number 8 on the "Top 20 [Best] Sports Movies of All-Time".^[75] Caddyshack II continues to appear on numerous "worst movies ever" and "worst sequels" lists including a number two spot on the Entertainment Weekly list of Worst Sequels Ever.^[76][77]

[edit] Superhero, horror, science fiction, and fantasy movies

Known for crippling the Batman movie franchise for nearly a decade, Batman & Robin was nominated for 11 Razzies, including Worst Picture. Alicia Silverstone won the Worst Actress award for her performance as Batgirl.

Batman and Robin (1997)

Based on the DC Comics series, this film has been criticized due to a weak script, campy performances, and a ridiculous plot. George Clooney was cast as Batman, replacing Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer. Only three cast members reprised their roles from previous films - Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Michael Gough as Alfred, and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon. Another source of annoyance to viewers was Arnold Schwarzenegger's portrayal of Mr. Freeze whose performance included numerous "ice" puns. Although somewhat financially successful (it made $238 million worldwide), the unpopularity of this film brought Warner Bros' billion dollar Batman franchise to a halt, changed plans to release a second animated film theatrically to direct-to-video, and canceled plans for a fifth film in the series. Not until 2005 was a new Batman movie made, Batman Begins, which was a complete reboot of the franchise that ignored the four previous films. In an article for MSN Movies, David Fear called it the "worst superhero film",^[78] and Maxim goes a step further by declaring it the worst movie ever made.^[79] The film was nominated for 11 Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, winning only one for Alicia Silverstone as Worst Supporting Actress.

Wild Wild West (1999)

The theatrical remake of the 1960s TV series was universally panned by critics. Rob Dreher of the New York Post cited it as "the movie that stole Will Smith's mojo!"^[80] Roger Ebert gave the film one star, calling it "All concept and no content!"^[81] Wild Wild West won five of its seven Razzie nominations - including Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. Robert Conrad, who played James West in the original series, publicly denounced the film and even attended the 20th Golden Raspberry Awards to pick up three of the five awards the film won. Nine years later, in 2008, Will Smith apologized to Conrad for the poor fan and critical response to the film.^[82]

[edit] Other

Basic Instinct 2 (2006)

The $70 million sequel to the controversial 1992 thriller Basic Instinct featured a return performance by Sharon Stone, but unlike the first, it was a commercial failure and more universally panned by critics. It flopped at the box-office, earning just $39 million worldwide. Ebert & Roeper both gave Basic Instinct 2 "Two Thumbs Down". Ebert commented that Stone does a good job playing such a trashy character.^[83] Kyle Smith of the New York Post commented, "At this point, there are inflatable toys that are livelier than Stone, but how can you tell the difference? Basic Instinct 2 is not an erotic thriller. It's taxidermy."^[84] The film is ranked at 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[85] At the 27th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film (dubbed by the ceremony as "Basically, It Stinks, Too") won four Razzies for Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Prequel or Sequel and Worst Screenplay.^[86]

[edit] Audience polls

Certain sites attempt to gauge the opinion of their audience regarding the worst film ever via voluntary poll. However, since respondents tend to be self-selected, these polls are not scientifically rigorous and should not be considered definitive. Additionally, these polls tend to fluctuate wildly in reaction to recent films and are much less stable than lists of best movies.

[edit] Internet Movie Database Bottom 100

According to the Internet Movie Database's polls, as of April 24, 2009, the top ten worst rated movies are^[87]:

[edit] Everyone's a Critic Top Ten Worst Rated Movies

Everyone's a Critic (EaC) utilizes a collaborative filtering algorithm to obtain film recommendations from people who share similar tastes in film. According to the EaC poll, as of April 13, 2009, the top ten worst rated movies are^[88]:

1. Battlefield Earth (2000)
2. House of the Dead (2003)
3. Alone in the Dark (2005)
4. From Justin to Kelly (2003)
5. Spice World (1997)
6. Catwoman (2004)
7. Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
8. Baby Geniuses (1999)
9. Son of the Mask (2005)
10. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)

Note: These lists update regularly.

[edit] Rotten Tomatoes' list of the worst-reviewed movies of all-time

Rotten Tomatoes^[89] has the advantage over audience polls of gauging the reaction of critics, who, in addition to being (presumably) more qualified than most audience members, also typically have to watch and review a wide cross-section of movies, thus giving a broader sample.

As of September 23, 2008, Rotten Tomatoes' list of the ten worst-reviewed movies of all time is:

1. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
2. Alone in the Dark (2005)
3. Crossover (2006)
4. Pinocchio (2002)
5. King's Ransom (2005)
6. SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
7. National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2003)
8. Twisted (2004)
9. The Master of Disguise (2002)
10. Half Past Dead (2002)

[edit] Metacritic's list of the worst-reviewed movies of all-time

Metacritic is somewhat similar to Rotten Tomatoes, but the scoring results sometimes vary drastically, depending on which reviews are tallied. For instance, Rotten Tomatoes gives an overall unfavorable rating to Kenneth Branagh's film version of As You Like It by quoting mostly British critics, who reportedly have strongly disliked Branagh's Shakespeare films. Metacritic on the other hand, tallies its score largely from American reviews of the film, which have been largely very favorable.^[90]

[edit] See also

• Box-office bomb

[edit] External links

[edit] References