Certain movies have earned global fame for being awful. Flicks like The Room, Battlefield Earth, and Birdemic have become iconic precisely because they’re so bad. However, they barely scratch the surface of the fathomless ocean that is atrocious cinema. While many readers will be aware of the more popular disasterpieces, there are plenty of more obscure stinkers that they find ironically entertaining. They range from misguided biopics to sluggish monster movies and everything in between.
Each of the following movies is unique in its missteps, from baffling plots and unconvincing special effects to dialogue that defies belief. They’re a reminder of how easily projects can veer wildly off course. Whether you’re a fan of so-bad-it’s-good cinema or just curious about the depths of Hollywood’s misfires, these titles offer a journey through the strange and sometimes hilarious underbelly of filmmaking.
10
‘Fire Maidens of Outer Space’ (1956)
Directed by Cy Roth
“Prasus: Welcome my friends. Welcome to New Atlantis.” This sci-fi disasterpiece centers on astronauts who discover a colony of women claiming to be the last descendants of Atlantis on a moon of Jupiter. Initially welcomed with open arms, the men soon learn that the colony is under threat from a creature that resembles a lumbering Halloween costume. What follows is s mess of awkward dialogue, repetitive music, and wooden performances.
The special effects are also amateurish to the core and unashamedly cheap. For example, the shot of a spacecraft landing is achieved by simply playing the launch footage in reverse. The problems extend to the themes as well. Where many 1950s sci-fi flicks were speaking to issues of the time, particularly around nuclear weapons and the Cold War, Fire Maidens of Outer Space seems to have nothing interesting to say whatsoever. For all these reasons, the movie was panned on release and was later canonized as one of the worst films in the genre.
Fire Maidens of Outer Space
- Cast
-
Anthony Dexter
, Susan Shaw
, Paul Carpenter
, Jacqueline Curtis
, Harry Fowler
, Sydney Tafler
, Rodney Diak
, Owen Berry
, Richard Walter
, Maya Koumani
, Norma Arnould
, Sylvia Burrows
, Kim Parker
, Jan Holden - Runtime
-
80 minutes
9
‘The Creeping Terror’ (1964)
Directed by Vic Savage
“In a remote part of the county, the first of a series of tragedies took place; tragedies that could have been avoided had the public been warned.” The Creeping Terror is another steaming pile of sci-fi slop. It’s about a sheriff (Byrd Holland) and his deputies who attempt to stop a slug-like alien creature from consuming the residents of a small town. This premise might have created some tension – if the monster didn’t look so much like a pile of rugs. It’s also hilariously slow, with the attacks seemingly taking ages to unfold, yet the characters do little to get away.
This is Plan 9 from Outer Space levels of awfulness, but without the quirky charm. Instead, director/star Vic Saga serves up a clichéd plot and endless camp. The movie is marred further by technical problems. Apparently, much of the footage was lost, including the original dialogue track, so droning, monotone narration is tacked on to fill up the silence.
- Cast
-
Vic Savage
, Shannon O’Neil
, John Caresio
, William Thourlby
, Brendon Boone
, Larry Burrell
, Jack King
, Pierre Kopp
, Byrd Holland
, Ken Savage
, Mark Field
, Les La Marr
, Mary Price
, Louise Lawson
, Buddy Mize
, Lewis Lawson
, Robin James
, Ray Wickman
, Connie Valoie
, Rita Tubin
, Kelly Adams
, Al Lewis
, Karl Goldenberg - Runtime
-
77 Minutes
- Writers
-
Robert Silliphant
8
‘The Last Vampire on Earth’ (2010)
Directed by Vertaily Versace
“Stop or I’ll shoot. This is a good man and if you took the time to get to know him you would find that out.” Stephanie Meyer‘s teen vampire romance saga Twilight obviously dominated the late 2000s through much of the 2010s. Vertaliy Versace‘s The Last Vampire on Earth is an obvious, low-fi, unintentionally hilarious attempt to re-create the magic.
McKenzie Grimmet and Michael Bole star in the direct-to-video fantasy horror romance about an ancient vampire romancing a teen girl. Sound familar? The Last Vampire on Earth is a so-bad-it’s good classic that is mostly slept on despite being the focus of an episode of RedLetterMedia‘s Best of the Worst series.
Watch on Tubi
7
‘Nukie’ (1987)
Directed by Sias Odendaal and Michael Pakleppa
“I am Nukie, from the planet Airon. I come in peace.” This South African movie is essentially a ripoff of E.T., though it’s arguably worse even than fellow copycat Mac and Me. Nukie follows the misadventures of an alien who crash-lands on Earth and embarks on a mission to reunite with his brother, who has been captured by the U.S. government.
If the unoriginal premise wasn’t bad enough, the film is brought down further by flimsy production values, mean-spirited dialogue, and a thoroughly perplexing plot. The alien design is grotesque too, with Nukie’s face resembling a melted candle wax sculpture, and the sound editing makes every word gratingly unpleasant. As a result, Nukie goes beyond simply bad to being outright painful to watch. Still, this atrociousness has won Nukie a small, ironic cult following. A rare VHS tape of the film was even sold on Ebay in 2023 for a whopping $80, 600.
6
‘Fatal Deviation’ (1998)
Directed by Simon Linscheid and James Bennett
“I have to do this… alone.” Perhaps Ireland’s only martial arts film, Fatal Deviation is a wild mix of amateur fight choreography, melodramatic plotlines, and unintentional hilarity. The story follows Jimmy Bennett (James Bennett, who also co-directs), a martial artist who returns to his hometown to avenge his father’s death and participate in a deadly local tournament. Awkward camera work and choppy fight scenes are the order of the day.
Every shot, from the poorly lit interiors to the inconsistent, color-blinking outdoor scenes, underscores the film’s micro-budget origins. It was reportedly made on the equivalent of about $25, 000. But instead of using its limitations as a springboard for innovation, Fatal Deviation feels like a half-hearted homage to genre tropes, stitched together without any clear sense of identity. Nevertheless, its sheer ridiculousness has earned it a spot in the ‘so bad it’s good’ history books. It’s arguably the worst Irish movie ever made.
Fatal Deviation
- Cast
-
James P. Bennett
, Mikey Graham
, Colin Hamilton
, Aenne Barr
, Paul Cotrulia - Runtime
-
77 minutes
5
‘Parting Shots’ (1999)
Directed by Michael Winner
“I’m dying, so I’m killing.” Parting Shots features musician Chris Rea as Harry Sterndale, a man diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to exact revenge on everyone who wronged him before his death. He sets out, Beatrix Kiddo-style, with a gun and bucket list of targets. While intended as a black comedy, the uneven tone and poorly written script make Parting Shots more baffling than entertaining. It’s like if Tommy Wiseau had directed Falling Down.
Critics eviscerated the movie, with many slamming it for glorifying vigilante justice and violent retribution. These are tricky ideas to play with, and co-writer/director Michael Winner (probably best known for Death Wish) fails to address them with the requisite intelligence or satire. Even worse is the fact that the supporting cast is actually pretty star-studded, featuring a who’s who of British talents like John Cleese, Bob Hoskins, Diana Rigg, Ben Kingsley, and Joanna Lumley. None of them is particularly charming here, however.
4
‘Sex Lives of the Potato Men’ (2004)
Directed by Andy Humphries
“Spuds and studs, mate. That’s us.” The wonderfully titled Sex Lives of the Potato Men revolves around a pair of potato delivery men (played by Johnny Vegas and Mackenzie Crook) as they navigate their mundane lives and romantic entanglements. While the film aspires to be a raunchy comedy in the vein of American Pie, its crude humor and lack of narrative structure make it a slog. The cast and crew fail at both the bawdy humor and the slice-of-life realism.
The performers are not bad, but the script gives them shockingly little to work with. While Vegas can be very funny in his standup, his comedic talents are absent here, and Crook fares a little better, coming off as utterly charmless. The supposed “gross-out” elements are neither shocking nor funny, just abject and pathetic, leaving the audience cringing for all the wrong reasons. As a result, Sex Lives of the Potato Men just winds up being a little… depressing?
Sex Lives of the Potato Men
- Cast
-
Johnny Vegas
, Mackenzie Crook
, Dominic Coleman
, Mark Gatiss
, Lucy Davis
, Julia Davis
, Kate Robbins
, Helen Latham
, Nick Holder
, Caroline Harvey
, Nicholas Tennant
, Angela Simpson
, Nicola Reynolds
, Ceris Jones
, Joy Aldridge
, Laurence Inman
, Alfie Hunter
, Craig May
, Robert Harrison
, Jenny Jay
, Evie Garratt
, Leonard Jones
, Justin Edgar
, Barry Aird
, Jeff Alexander - Runtime
-
85 minutes
3
‘Run For Your Wife’ (2012)
Directed by Ray Cooney
“Two wives, one man, endless trouble.” Speaking of movies that are pure drudgery to watch, Run For Your Wife tells the story of John Smith (Danny Dyer), a London cabbie who secretly juggles two wives (played by Denise van Outen and Sarah Harding) in different parts of the city. When an accident lands him in the hospital, his carefully constructed double life begins to unravel, leading to a series of farcical misunderstandings. Rather than being goofily fun, the finished product is catastrophically funny, and feels a relic from an earlier time.
Where to begin? The humor is tasteless, the acting is atrocious, and the storyline is frustratingly convoluted. The cinematography is barely on the level of a canceled sitcom pilot. Once again, the movie’s general vibe is just off-putting too; similar in tone to the equally disastrous Movie 43. For all these reasons, Run For Your Wife holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Run For Your Wife
- Cast
-
Danny Dyer
, Sarah Harding
, Denise Van Outen
, Neil Morrissey
, Kellie Shirley
, Christopher Biggins
, Lionel Blair
, Jeffrey Holland
, Richard Briers
, Barry Cryer
, Judi Dench
, Rolf Harris
, Cliff Richard
, Ian Cullen
, Gareth Marks
, Nicholas Le Prevost
, Pamela Cundell
, Peter Blake
, Ben Cartwright
, Derek Griffiths
, Jean Fergusson
, Jennifer Wilson
, Vicki Michelle
, Jenny Seagrove
, Russ Abbot - Runtime
-
94 minutes
2
‘Guardians’ (2017)
Directed by Sarik Andreasyan
“We’re not heroes. We’re experiments.” Guardians is a Russian superhero flick about a group of genetically modified individuals, each with unique abilities, who come together to fight an evil scientist threatening global destruction. It’s like if the Avengers had been born in the Soviet Union and were also incompetent. The characters are absurd across the board, from a man-bear hybrid wielding a Gatling gun to a woman who can turn invisible in water.
The story is derivative and littered with plot holes, while the CGI is as bad as one would expect. Then there are the sappy, emotional backstories, played with over-the-top music that can’t help but be unintentionally funny. The whole affair is thoroughly bizarre, verging on self-parody, and makes one wonder what the hell the filmmakers were thinking. Unsurprisingly, Guardians was widely panned, even in Russia, and went on to become a box office bomb. It makes Morbius look like The Dark Knight.
Guardians
- Cast
-
Alina Kiziyarova
, Valeriya Shkirando
, Sanzhar Madiyev
, Anton Pampushnyy
, Sebastien Sisak
, Marusya Klimova - Runtime
-
100
1
‘Get Even’ (1993)
Directed by John De Hart
“Justice always wins… eventually.” Claiming the top spot on this list is Get Even (aka Road to Revenge, aka Champagne and Bullets), a spectacularly bad vanity project by writer, director, and star John De Hart. He stars as Rick Bode, a former cop seeking justice against the corrupt judge who framed him and caused his downfall. Along the way, Rick rekindles a romance, delivers a series of awkwardly choreographed action scenes, and performs an infamously bizarre musical number titled “Shimmy Slide”.
The film oscillates between absurdity and tedium, riddled with self-indulgence that’s hard to ignore. Yet, this very lack of self-awareness is precisely what makes it ‘so bad it’s good’. De Hart’s self-absorption and clumsy attempts to portray himself as a tough, confident hero become oddly fascinating. They provide an unintentional glimpse into his psyche if nothing else. Consequently, for aficionados of gloriously bad cinema, Get Even is not to be missed.
