It’s hard well-nigh impossible to argue their value is anything like that of good movies, but there is value in watching bad movies. Sometimes they’re so-bad-they’re-good, and fun. Sometimes their productions are tales of hubris. Sometimes it’s great for an aspiring filmmaker to have a good idea of what not to do. That’s certainly worth something.
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According to IMDb’s infamous Bottom 100, these are the 12 absolute worst movies in the history of the planet. Take whatever you can from these historically, unanimously panned dumpster fires. Movies this bad will likely maintain a certain underground popularity, an ironic kind of timelessness, even, for all the wrong reasons.
12 ‘Battlefield Earth’ (2000)
IMDb Score: 2.5/10
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Battlefield Earth is a notorious critical and commercial flop that will forever live in infamy. It was a passion project for John Travolta, and if there’s any redeeming value here (that’s debatable) it’s his scenery chewing. Based on the book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, it’s about an advanced alien species that ends up being no match for more primitive Earthlings.
Battlefield Earth is a record-breaking darling of the Razzies, among many dishonors. Plans for a sequel (hard to believe there ever were any) were scrapped. This proved to be an unfortunately unshakable career movie for one of the most purely talented movie stars of the 20th century.
Battlefield Earth
Release Date May 12, 2000
Director Roger Christian
Runtime 118 minutes
Main Genre Sci-Fi
11 ‘National Lampoon’s Pledge This’ (2006)
Directed by William Heins
Image via Pop Films LLC
Paris Hilton makes her first of two appearances on this list in a movie that isn’t entirely her fault. All the on-screen talent in the world couldn’t save this inept ostensible comedy about college friends displaced after a toilet explodes on campus. Z-grade antics derived from better comedies ensue.
Pledge This is terrible, with too many awful demerits to list out in a lifetime. However, the absolute worst part of this painfully unfunny comedy is the total waste of Hilton’s co-star here, Simon Rex. The ever-underrated former MTV VJ, rapper and natural comedian has less than nothing to work with here. Thank goodness for Sean Baker, who finally gave Rex a role worthy of his overlooked chops with the brilliant indie comedy Red Rocket.
National Lampoon’s Pledge This!
Release Date December 1, 2006
Director William Heins , Strathford Hamilton
Cast Paris Hilton , Paula Garces , Sarah Carter , Simon Rex , Geoffrey Arend , Alexis Thorpe
Runtime 91
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Cheryl Guerriero , Anna Obropta
Tagline Pledging Has Never Been This Hilarious.
10 ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’ (2021)
IMDb Score: 1.9/10
Image by Zee Studios
It’s likely you’ve never heard of this entry on the list, and beyond this stern warning of its incoherent, nearly mesmerizing stitching-together of bad filmmaking choices, there’s really no reason you should even think about it. Directed by Prabhu Deva,Radhe is a dance-tastic actioner about a cop at war with drug lords targeting youths.
Though you have to really dissect it to even see this, Radhe is a loose remake of the brutal, grounded 2017 South Korean crime film The Outlaws …only with more shirtless shots (of star Salman Khan). Radhe serves a purpose in that it shows us cringey bombastic vanity projects aren’t exclusive to the American film industry. There are so many modern Indian-Hindi movies worth seeking out even if you’ve never seen one, like the sweet family sports movie Dangal for example. Radhe is generally regarded as one of the worst films in Indian cinema history.
Radhe (2021)
A dedicated police officer returns from suspension to confront a burgeoning drug crisis controlled by a young, ruthless criminal mastermind. Tasked with dismantling the syndicate, he employs unconventional methods that blur the lines between right and wrong, igniting a fierce battle that spans the echelons of corruption and power.
Release Date May 13, 2021
Director Prabhu Deva
Cast Salman Khan , Disha Patani , Randeep Hooda , Jackie Shroff , Pravin Tarde , Gautam Gulati , Sangay Tsheltrim , Govind Namdeo
Runtime 109 Minutes
Writers Vijay Maurya , A.C. Mughil
Watch on ZEE5
9 ‘Epic Movie’ (2007)
IMDb Score: 2.4/10
A craze of spoof movies launched in the very early aughts with Keenan Ivory Wayans’ original slasher parody Scary Movie, a lowbrow but undeniably hilarious farce that was, for a time, the highest-grossing movie from a Black director. More “spoof” films, if you can even call them that, got lazier and lazier, bottoming out with a run of films from Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg that include Date Movie, Meet the Spartans and this artistically bankrupt mashup of scenes from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Harry Potter and other popular IPs of the time.
Epic Movie is so shapeless, so aggressively unfunny, so unpleasant, it makes something like, say, Scary Movie 2, look like Airplane!. There is exactly one element that isn’t atrocious, and that’s Jennifer Coolidge as villain “The White B*tch.” The movie gives her less than nothing to work with, but this is an actor who can’t not be funny.
Epic Movie
Release Date January 25, 2007
Director Jason Friedberg , Aaron Seltzer
Runtime 86
Writers Jason Friedberg , Aaron Seltzer
Tagline We know it’s big. We Measured.
Website
8 ‘Son of the Mask’ (2005)
IMDb Score: 2.3/10
Image via New Line Cinema
Jamie Kennedy was very charming as hell as Randy in Scream, but he’s no match for Jim Carrey in a sequel that frankly should never have been greenlit. It was a financial and critical disaster upon release, and over the years its reputation as one of the biggest turkeys in history has snowballed.
Son of the Mask is infamous for unattractive visuals, crude special effects and uninspired performances. It’s a pale imitation of the Oscar-nominated original. Released the year that Carrey rose to unprecedented levels of stardom with Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the original film has aged very well. Son of the Mask, meanwhile, is an honoree on most roundups of lamest sequels.
Son of the Mask
Release Date February 18, 2005
Director Lawrence Guterman
Cast Jamie Kennedy , Alan Cumming , Liam Falconer , Ryan Falconer , Traylor Howard , Steven Wright
Runtime 94
Writers Lance Khazei
Tagline The Next Generation Of Mischief
7 ‘House of the Dead’ (2003)
IMDb Score: 2.1/10
Though the tide may be turning in the wake of Super Mario Bros.’ resounding success, video-game movies generally deserve their reputation for being cursed. For every Sonic the Hedgehog or Detective Pikachu, there are seemingly innumerable game adaptations that offer nothing but numbing, lame action and ineffective fan service. Often these movies feel like you’re watching someone play video games, only without the personality you’d get from actually watching a charismatic internet personality/vlogger do such a thing.
Arguably the very worst of the bunch, though it’s got some competition from Alone in the Dark, also directed by Uwe Boll, is House of the Dead, a movie that’s somehow more repetitive than the arcade rail shooter it’s based on. House might ultimately have the edge as the worst of the genre for an infamous, excruciating creative decision to simply lay moments from the game over scenes from the film.
House of the Dead
Release Date April 11, 2003
Director Uwe Boll
Cast Jonathan Cherry , Tyron Leitso , Clint Howard , Ona Grauer , Ellie Cornell , Will Sanderson
Runtime 92
Writers Mark A. Altman , Dan Bates , Dave Parker
Tagline You won’t last the night.
6 ‘The Hottie and the Nottie’ (2008)
IMDb Score: 2.0/10
In 2005, Paris Hilton appeared in The Shallows director Jaume Collet-Sera’s House of Wax. Due in large part to Hilton’s public image and notoriety at the time, that film, an uncommonly good slasher, received negative buzz it didn’t deserve. The Hottie and the Nottie marks a big-screen return for Hilton (now in a starring role), and this one is, truly, a remarkable stinker.
With a title that obtusely presents truth in advertising, The Hottie and the Nottie is about an attractive twentysomething who refuses to go on a date until her less-hottie best friend finds a suitor. It’s kind of like a modern-day fairy tale, gone to hell.The Hottie and the Nottie is as morally deficient as it is narratively inept. For reference, it’s about as bad as When Harry Met Sally is good.
The Hottie & the Nottie
Release Date February 8, 2008
Director Tom Putnam
Cast Paris Hilton , Joel David Moore , Christine Lakin , Johann Urb , Adam Kulbersh , The Greg Wilson
Runtime 90
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Heidi Ferrer
Tagline That’s hot. That’s not.
5 ‘Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas’ (2014)
IMDb Score: 1.3/10
Growing Pains star and Golden Globe nominee Kirk Cameron’s yuletide clunker has a surprisingly convoluted plot about a Christmas party, quarreling in-laws, and purging Christmas of materialism. Cameron has gone on record theorizing that the film’s unanimously poor critical and fan reception was the result of a conspiracy.
It is absolutely not fair to outright knock faith-based movies. 2021’s American Underdog was a touching, well-acted hybrid of faith and sports film, and that’s just one example. But Saving Christmas, like many faith-based movies of modern times, is cinematically anemic. The irony here, or at least some of the irony, is that a movie ostensibly about restoring Christmas spirit comes off as chilly and cynical. Depressing, even.
Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas
His annual Christmas party faltering thanks to his cynical brother-in-law, former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron attempts to save the day by showing him that Jesus Christ remains a crucial component of the over-commercialized holiday..
Release Date November 14, 2014
Director Darren Doane
Cast Kirk Cameron , Darren Doane , Bridgette Cameron , Ben Kientz , David Shannon , Raphi Henly
Runtime 80
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Darren Doane , Cheston Hervey
Tagline Putting Christ back in Christmas.
4 ‘Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2’ (2004)
IMDb Score: 1.5/10
If Baby Geniuses was one of the worst movies of 1999 (and it was), the sequel is noticeably much worse, if you can believe it. Jon Voight stars as a nefarious madman hellbent on controlling minds, opposite a cast of toddlers with unconvincing, Uncanny Valley talking effects. Director Bob Clark made classics like Black Christmas and A Christmas Story. Voight starred in all-timers like Deliverance and Midnight Cowboy. Kathleen Turner starred in the first Baby Geniuses. It’s all kind of astounding.
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 was reviled by critics in a way few movies ever have been. It’s frequently ranked near the bottom of many all-time worst roundups. A good family film is something that should be preserved for generations. Good family entertainment is what built the Disney empire. Superbabies lives up to its ill repute, and will live on only in infamy.
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
In a sequel that mixes comedy and adventure, a team of highly intelligent toddlers uncovers a nefarious scheme to control the minds of children worldwide. Together, they must navigate obstacles and use their unique skills to save their peers and perhaps even the world.
Release Date August 27, 2004
Director Bob Clark
Cast Jon Voight , Scott Baio , Vanessa Angel , Skyler Shaye , Justin Chatwin , Peter Wingfield , Gerry Fitzgerald , Leo Fitzgerald
Runtime 88 Minutes
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Robert Grasmere , Francisca Matos , Steven Paul
Buy on Amazon
3 ‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’ (2010)
IMDb Score: 1.7/10
It’s like The Birds, without Alfred Hitchcock… and it’s terrible. Special effects that evoke a screensaver from a quarter-century ago, an unconvincing romance, and an environmental message are all ingredients in a would-be thriller that’s been appreciated as a fun disasterpiece since its release.
It’s a bad-movie-night essential, risen to infamy in the same era as The Room. It’s not as unintentionally pleasurable as that, but this definitely is squarely in so-bad-it’s-good territory. A sequel was released in 2013; a threequel came out in 2022. Birdemic 4: Garden of Paradise is now in pre-production.
Birdemic: Shock and Terror
A horde of mutated birds descends upon the quiet town of Half Moon Bay, California. As the death toll rises, two citizens manage to fight back, but will they survive Birdemic?
Release Date February 27, 2010
Director James Nguyen
Cast Alan Bagh , Whitney Moore , Tippi Hedren , Laura Cassidy
Runtime 105 minutes
Writers James Nguyen
Buy on Amazon
2 ‘Manos: The Hands of Fate’ (1966)
IMDb Score: 1.6/10
Image via Emerson Film Enterprises
A classic of claptrap that’s held up, or “held up,” for all the wrong reasons for nearly six full decades, Manos: The Hands of Fate is a low-fi eyesore (and earsore) about a family that runs into a sacrificial cult after taking a wrong turn in Texas.
Manos: The Hands of Fate is hard to endure on its own, despite running just over one hour. With the right group of friends who love bad movies, it’s a glacially-paced party. It’s also, famously, the butt of the joke on one of the all-time best episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Lost on a backroad, a family seeks refuge at a remote desert inn, unaware that it is the center of a bizarre cult worshiping an ancient, malevolent entity. As eerie events unfold, they must unravel the secrets of the lodge and its enigmatic master to survive the night.
Release Date November 15, 1966
Director Harold P. Warren
Cast Tom Neyman , John Reynolds , Diane Adelson , Harold P. Warren , Stephanie Nielson , Sherry Proctor , Robin Redd , Jackey Neyman Jones
Runtime 70 Minutes
Writers Harold P. Warren
Watch on Plex
1 ‘Disaster Movie’ (2008)
IMDb Score: 1.9/10
A movie placing atop this list could appear to suggest it’s so-bad-it’s-good. In the case of Disaster Movie, that simply isn’t so. Another Friedberg and Seltzer mashup of dated references, without a single actual joke—ya know, set up and payoff, like jokes have always been—in sight. Here are 90 minutes of cultural hooliganism strung together with a plot about twentysomethings encountering disasters of nature and man-made origin. This is an uncomfortable, even grueling watch.
Whether Disaster Movie is truly the worst movie ever made is, maybe, debatable. But damned if it isn’t at least worthy of consideration of that mantle of ill repute. There is nothing of merit here. Disaster Movie is where creativity goes to die.
Disaster Movie
A chaotic evening unfolds when unexpected catastrophes strike, compelling a band of friends to confront a whirlwind of surreal and over-the-top disasters. Mimicking various blockbuster hits, they encounter everything from invasions to superstorms, poking fun at cinematic tropes with each misadventure.
Release Date August 29, 2008
Director Jason Friedberg , Aaron Seltzer
Cast Carmen Electra , vanessa lachey , Nicole Parker , Matt Lanter , Gary Johnson , Crista Flanagan , Kim Kardashian , Ike Barinholtz
Runtime 87 Minutes
Main Genre Comedy
Writers Jason Friedberg , Aaron Seltzer
Watch on Amazon