Introduction to bad movies

[M.10rda]

My first bad movie was JACK-O. Alongside my group of friends, during summer we used to gather every weekend and watch horror movies,

Methinks this is a whole sub-section of this topic altogether, if not an entirely distinct thread: "Organized Social Rituals Around Bad Movies in Adolescence/Young Adulthood".

I founded my own local Bad (or at least Weird) Movie Society waaaaaay back in the late 80s... it remained informal and nameless until about 1994, when I dubbed it FUMAC: the F*cked-Up Movie Association of Clarence (my hometown). At peak popularity we could pack in 15+ members a meeting. Of course if any parents asked what FUMAC meant we would claim it was the "Ferociously Unique" Movie Association of Clarence. It remained semi-functional after I graduated High School. Unfortunately it eventually splintered into a bastard sibling organization, PAC (you guess what kind of filmgoing Association of Clarence that was) and at last collapsed.

Any similar stories out there?

[zombie no.one]

alas not really... me and the older kid who lived next door when I was growing up would watch movies in a vaguely 'riffing' (but more just flat out laughing) kind of way. Also one of my brothers and me connect on a few specific bad movies but I haven't watched a film with him in years.

I think there's even a 'bad movie' society in my town, but in all honesty I'm not really sociable enough to do that kinda thing these days.    (and usually too tired anyway!)

I have an unavoidable nostalgic fondness for that one...

I have the same for The Humanoid.  It's black stormtroopers are way cooler than the white Star Wars stormtroopers 

don't think I've actually seen that... confusing it with HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP probably. It's on youtube, will add it on the watch list

[claws]

There's no such thing, or that I was ever aware of, a bad movie club/society in our town. Not many of my friends really enjoyed bad movies the way I did.
Our bad movie night viewings were restricted to family members. We used to watch on a regular basis, but haven't for a couple of years now.

Even though there are plenty of bad ones, finding really entertaining modern bad movies is kind of hard. Golden age bad movies are usually fun to watch by default because of the time they were made.

I wonder if gen-z watch and enjoy modern bad movies.

[chainsaw midget]

I couldn't tell you what my first "bad" movie was.  I grew up near an independent owned video rental place with a selection that put Blockbuster and Hollywood video to shame and dollar rentals on Wednesdays.  I watched a lot of bad movies before even realizing they were "bad." 

I don't think I really understood my tastes were unusual until I got into the military and picked up a reputation for enjoying weird movies. 

[FatFreddysCat]

When I was about 13 circa 1983, I was a Star Wars crazed kid who would watch just about anything sci-fi related at the time. One fateful Sunday afternoon I watched Star Crash on TV. It was terrible, but in a totally awesome way. That was my introduction to the wild, wacky world of knock-off European B-Movies.

[zombie no.one]

Even though there are plenty of bad ones, finding really entertaining modern bad movies is kind of hard. Golden age bad movies are usually fun to watch by default because of the time they were made.

I wonder if gen-z watch and enjoy modern bad movies.

well along similar lines I read a youtube comment on a trailer for some early 2000s film (can't remember what) the other day, which said:

"the only thing better than early 2000s cheesiness is 90s cheesiness!"

I was thinking hang on, the early 90s was like the very tail end of awesome cheesiness being a thing... (for me anyway) . The early 2000s was just a depressing time for movies in general, can't think of any vintage cheese going on then?

so maybe diff generations do have different ideas of good cheese 

[RCMerchant]

^ the ROOM (2003) was pretty dam bad...

[Gabriel Knight]

I wonder if gen-z watch and enjoy modern bad movies.

From what I gather, there's still public for that, but more in an "intentional" kind of way. Like, the movies are bad on purpose so you can laugh at it, kinda like VELOCIPASTOR, or COCAINE BEAR to a certain degree. The last time I heard something similar to Ed Wood was Neil Breen or James Nguyen with BIRDEMIC, but even he understood the whole concept and is now cashing in by making intentionally terrible sequels.

I think that the naivety of those black and white awful sci-fi movies of old is gone, alas.

[Trevor]

^ the ROOM (2003) was pretty dam bad...

It was so bad I downloaded it from YouTube, watched it and burnt the USB it was on 😳😉😉😉

[zombie no.one]

^ the ROOM (2003) was pretty dam bad...

an absolute monumental bad-fest, but that's basically an anomaly, ditto BIRDEMIC...

the vast majority of suppsedly 'so bad it's good' movies from the early 2000s (such as for example GIGLI) don't have the charm of the 70s/80s stuff... to me

[RCMerchant]

I don't think films like the HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND, the BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER as "Bad", per se.
Low budget and inept perhaps, but not BAD. I find them entertaining and worthwhile. Garbage such as AVATAR and the countless Star Wars are awful, stupid films.  Or mindnumbing s**t like the FAST AND THE FURIOUS . Ugh.

[LordGraal]

I had a weekly movie night with friends when young.  We'd take turns choosing the film.  Others tended to bring half decent films while I'd bring things like Bronx Warriors.

RCMerchant makes a good point about high budget films that are basically awful, apart from the effects.  Most are conveyor belt written stuff and seen as 'product' by the execs rather than films to stretch imaginations etc.

The Asylum make intentionally bad movies so there's certainly a market for them.  But I think most of the 70's and 80's Italian films tried for style, which I can appreciate more than what the Asylum do.

It's interesting to see so many of the Italian films coming out on Blu-Ray and looking way better than I could ever imagine.  Widescreen - not grainy, blurred and zoomed in 4:3.  Starcrash looks fantastic with the Christmas light stars.

[LordGraal]

It was terrible, but in a totally awesome way. That was my introduction to the wild, wacky world of knock-off European B-Movies.

Couldn't agree more 

[zombie no.one]

It's interesting to see so many of the Italian films coming out on Blu-Ray and looking way better than I could ever imagine.  Widescreen - not grainy, blurred and zoomed in 4:3.  Starcrash looks fantastic with the Christmas light stars.

yeah some of these look amazingly crisp! almost feel sorry the original crowds didn't get to see them in such quality... (2 that stand out particularly for me in this regard are LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN, and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?. - both more kind of straight giallos than knock-off / exploitation  though)

[M.10rda]

I wonder if gen-z watch and enjoy modern bad movies.

Whatever the current generation is - they barely watch ANYTHING besides 10 second videos on TikTok or whatevs.