6 Entertainingly Bad Movies

Kevin Anthony Carney
Movies
Movies

There are some movies that entertain us with how bad they are, some of these even become cult classics. These six bad movies are so awful that they circle back around to being entertaining and have earned themselves a special place in the hearts of fans.

The Room

One of the strangest people to ever work in the medium of film, Tommy Wiseau gave us The Room. Be it the acting, the dialogue, the subplots, or the sex scenes, everything is awkward and utterly utterly baffling.

Tommy Wiseau in The Room
"Ha ha ha. What a story, Mark."

The Room is an unforgettable experience for fans. With lines like “I did not hit her! I did naaaht! Oh, hi, Mark,” and “you are tearing me apart, Lisa!” becoming legendary due to their unconvincing delivery, the film has become a source of fascination and enjoyment for audiences around the world. So much so that The Room has become known as “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”.

The Wicker Man

Neil LaBute’s 2006 remake of Robin Hardy’s 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man fails at being scary. But it has gained a cult following as an unintentional comedy. The remake has a convoluted plot and the islanders’ behaviour is weird for the sake of being weird.

Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man
"How'd it get burned?! HOW'D IT GET BURNED!?"

Lead character Edward Malus is very unlikable, but Nicolas Cage makes him entertaining. The actor chews the scenery and inspires accidental laughter as well as several internet memes. Among these include Cage shouting “How’d it get burned?!” and the actor putting on a bear costume before punching a woman in the face. Then, of course, there’s the infamous “Not the bees!” scene.

Showgirls

As director of sci-fi and thriller classics like RoboCop, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct, Paul Verhoeven’s massive step down in quality with Showgirls was a shock. In 1995, the film earned a still unbroken record of 13 Razzie Award nominations, seven of which it won. The career of lead actress Elizabeth Berkley has never quite recovered.

Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls
"Maybe you are a whore, Cristal, but I'm not!"

Showgirls is now regarded as a cult classic with fans getting a laugh out of everything from Berkley’s over-the-top performance and her deranged dancing. Her swimming pool sex scene with Kyle MacLachlan is also one of the strangest in any movie.

The film features some cringe-worthy lines too, like “I used to love doggy chow!” and “Man, everybody got AIDS and s**t!”.

Troll 2

Troll 2 was set to be an original IP under the title Goblins but its name was changed to Troll 2 to market it as a sequel to Troll and cash in on the brand name. As such, the two films have nothing to do with each other. There aren’t even any trolls in the movie — as the original title suggests, the villains are goblins.

Goblins in Troll 2
It's called 'Troll 2' but it has goblins instead of trolls. Huh.

The film holds a special place among bad movies as it’s poorly-made in almost every category. It has wooden performances, cheesy special effects, and antagonists who aren’t in the least bit scary. The scene in which Darrin Ewing’s Arnold declares “They’re eating her, and then they’re going to eat me! Oh my Gooooooooood!” has become a very popular meme.

In 2010, Michael Stephenson, one of the stars of the movie, made a documentary about the experience of making one of the worst movies ever. It was, of course, called Best Worst Movie.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is one of the laziest exercises in the history of filmmaking with close to a third of the movie’s runtime consisting of recycled footage from its predecessor.

Eric Freeman in Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2
"Garbage day!"

Eric Freeman’s cartoonish lead performance has been a source of joy for many fans. The actor moves his eyebrows up and down a record 130 times over the course of the film.

The indisputable highlight of this movie has become a popular internet meme. During a rampage, Freeman’s character Ricky Caldwell sees a man taking out his garbage. He shouts “Garbage day!” in a ridiculous fashion before gunning him down.

Battlefield Earth

Based on the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Battlefield Earth is regarded as one of the worst sci-fi movies ever made. It’s also regarded as one of the worst movies ever made, period. The acting is terrible, the script is weak and riddled with plot holes, and the CGI is a joke. The costumes are laughable and the character behaviour is plain weird. It also rips off many other sci-fi movies and a whopping 95% of the shots use Dutch angles.

John Travolta in Battlefield Earth
'While you were still learning how to SPELL YOUR NAME, I was being trained TO CONQUER GALAXIES!!!'

The film is hilarious, though, with some truly insane performances. Barry Pepper hams it up as the hero Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, as does John Travolta as the villain Terl. Some of the dialogue is unbelievable, such as a bizarre moment when Terl asks Jonnie if he wants lunch.

Kevin Anthony Carney
Admin at the Wiki of Westeros and The Dark Crystal Wiki. Longtime contributor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, DC Extended Universe Wiki, The Batman Universe Wiki, X-Men Movies Wiki, Sony's Spider-Man Universe Wiki, Marvel Movies Wiki and DC Movies Wiki. Founder of the Robert Eggers Wiki. Other obsessions include heavy metal, horror, classic literature and online film punditry.