'Bad' Movies, TV Shows, Books Etc. You Like

[RetroFan]

I was looking through my stories this morning amazed that five years have gone by since I submitted the first chapter of my story 'Body Swap With Sister's Boyfriend'. Written with the intention of making people laugh, it caused such anger, outrage and vitriol among the IT readers that it quickly became Literotica's answer to Tom Green's infamous 2001 comedy film 'Freddy Got Fingered'. Even today, I still get the odd comment telling me how the story is offensive crap and how bad a writer I am for creating it.

As for the real 'Freddy Got Fingered' while many people still hate the movie today as much as they did when it was released, it has become something of a cult film over the years. Obviously tastes vary from person to person, but which movies, TV shows or books have you seen/read that were notable for negative reception, were financial flops or generally considered 'bad' do you like? Mine personally would be the 2006 action/disaster/crime film 'Snakes on a Plane' and the 2016 comedy 'Dirty Grandpa' which was much despised upon release in January of that year. And yeah, I admit I like Freddy Got Fingered. As for TV, many years ago in Australia there was a soap opera called 'Paradise Beach' just so unbelievably bad that it was good.


So what appears on your list? A big-budget blockbuster film that was a megaton bomb at the cinema? Some obscure B grade film in any genre? A movie that sank without trace, or one that was savaged by critics and audiences alike upon release? A film part of a series that was not well received unlike the other movies? On the small screen, do you like a really bad soap opera or terrible teen drama either from today or years ago? A forgotten sitcom or drama that flopped upon release and quickly cancelled? A series that is known for people hate-watching it, like 'Emily In Paris"? And while 'bad' books don't get as much publicity, have you ever read any books by popular authors that you enjoyed but otherwise considered to be poor by other readers and critics?


It would be interesting to read your responses.

 

[MrPixel]

Harold and Maude.

 

[Euphony]

Gather round children for I have an awful tale (or a tale of awful?)

Back in ye ol' late 90s, there we protections on most DVDs that scrambled the movie if you hooked your DVD into your VCR (anti-copy.)

Now some of us poor folk, we had old ass tvs that didn't have fancy smancy red/yellow/white plugs (composite?) instead having to pass the dvd image through the vcr with the ancient screw on RF nonsense (if it's good enough for Nintendo, it's good enough for me.)

Rarely, a publisher thought their film so meh, it's meh-ness WAS ITS COPY PROTECTION.

Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS IS THAT FILM.

Underling (Perry) is coerced by his project boss to stalk his mistress to make sure she ain't stepping out like he's, you know, stepping out.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the disco and the girl misunderstands the underling's awkward as homosexuality, hence he's non-threatening so she let's him very much into her inner circle and shows her true self.

Cut to, he like this disaster farm that is her anyway and is forced to embody the AB-SO-FUCKING-WORST stereotypes of 90s homosexuality to keep up the ruse. (think the Bird Cage minus all camp and outlandish funniness)

A college lad needing to drown out the low hum noise that is housing awful needed it as background noise and by god did it ruin me.

It's so so sooooooooooooooo bad. But not ever in the so bad it stumbles into a little good. No, it walks the tightrope of "it's bad but it won't succumb to its awfulness redeeming itself by embracing its destiny."

It has to be seen to be believed. That it can be so down the line mediocre but never bad but never good boggles the mind honestly.

2.5 stars.

MY KIDNEY'S!!!

 

[lovecraft68]

Crybaby with Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop and Traci Lords. It is as bad as its reputed to be.

Showgirls-someone was paid to write this.

Modern entry. Rings of Power, makes the above two films seem well written

 

[gunhilltrain]

When I was a kid, I'd watch anything as long as the TV was on. I can't list every show I'd avidly watch. Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heros, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, McHale's Navy - it was all good. Even at the age of eleven, I knew that there was something interesting about Barbara Eden as Jeannie, but I couldn't define exactly what it was. There was a pretty good cop show, The Naked City, based on the 1948 movie. I was pleased that one episode was filmed in near my house.

When I was very young, there was a show called Cannonball, about truck drivers. Lee Marvin was a detective around then in M Squad. Late I watched Route 66 and The Fugitive in reruns. Used up the summer of 1967 on those among others.

I liked the closing credits of this:

 

[WrongFrog]

The Cell.

It's such an obscure film now, and it bombed big time in theaters, but I love it. It's such a visually conflicting film- it's both beautifully composed and utterly repelling.

Another one that I love because it's just SO BAD, but the memories attached to it are so good- a from the late nineties or early aughts called Penny Dreadful. It's basically two hours of watching a very stupid girl cry in a car while she gets sliced up and tormented by an unseen killer. My now 22yo has always had insomnia, and ended up watching it on the couch with me one night. He was probably in first grade? Young, anyway. Within twenty minutes he was sitting there heckling the main character, which culminated in him saying: "Oh, yeah, cry some more, that'll stop him! You're stupid! I hope he eats all your toes!"

I have a 10yo daughter just like him, and watching horror movies with them is one of my favorite treats.

 

[ericalauren]

“Nazis at the Center of the Earth” was such a bad movie that I couldn’t help but like it.

 

[SimonDoom]

The original "Road House" movie with Patrick Swayze was 100% total crap in every way, and I loved every minute of it. I think it's the greatest bad movie of all time. Everything about it is completely stupid, yet weirdly enjoyable.

For books, many people think of Stephen King as a schlock writer, but I think "Salem's Lot" is an artistic masterpiece of suspense/horror writing. It's my favorite of all his novels.

 

[SimonDoom]

I also think the original Star Trek series holds up very well over time despite the low budgets, cheesy special effects, and often hammy acting. Many of the episodes are based upon fundamentally good and interesting stories. It was way ahead of its time.

 

[SimonDoom]

Rings of Power, makes the above two films seem well written

Oh my God, yes. Horrible writing. Like something generated by a bad AI. Whoever wrote it forgot that, you know, you're actually supposed to CARE about the characters.

I'm a huge LOTR fan and was prepared to be forgiving, but that show really tested me.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Flash Gordon. A movie that was never even supposed to good. The director was set on making the movie just that way. Just campy and fun and add a Queen soundtrack to drive home the point with a railroad spike. I love it.

My wifes would be Popeye. She loves it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Oh my God, yes. Horrible writing. Like something generated by a bad AI. Whoever wrote it forgot that, you know, you're actually supposed to CARE about the characters.

I'm a huge LOTR fan and was prepared to be forgiving, but that show really tested me.

I misunderstood the thread. I thought it was the worst movies/shows period, not ones I like.

Having said that, I'll probably watch season two like someone rubber necking at an accident. Its so bad its fascinating in a way. That season two trailer....what a mess, and they're bringing in Bombadil, who has never been in an adaptation because...even Tolkien said he's totally irrelevant and existed in a rare instant of whimsy. I'm going to watch it with my daughter and we're going to heckle it like a Mystery science fiction 3k episode

 

[THBGato]

The original "Road House" movie with Patrick Swayze was 100% total crap in every way, and I loved every minute of it. I think it's the greatest bad movie of all time. Everything about it is completely stupid, yet weirdly enjoyable.

I went to a boarding school and for some reason this (along with "True Lies" and "Demolition man") seemed to be permanently playing in the common room of one of the boys' boarding houses. The girls never objected because they all fancied Patrick Swayze.

Yeah. I definitely wasn't looking at him.

My wife loves "Twister".

My favourite cheesy-but-not-bad books have to be the Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist collaboration "daughter, servant, mistress of the Empire" trilogy, plus the Jean M Auel Earth's children series. I still love them and re-read them every four years or so. Learnt a lot about cunnilingus from those!

 

[cadeauxxx]

Zardoz.

The gun is good and the penis is evil. No more needed to be said.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I loved the 'Popeye' movie with Robin Williams.

 

[lovecraft68]

The original "Road House" movie with Patrick Swayze was 100% total crap in every way, and I loved every minute of it. I think it's the greatest bad movie of all time. Everything about it is completely stupid, yet weirdly enjoyable.

For books, many people think of Stephen King as a schlock writer, but I think "Salem's Lot" is an artistic masterpiece of suspense/horror writing. It's my favorite of all his novels.

If you haven't seen it, the New Roadhouse makes the original look like an Oscar winner. The thing is just awful in every way, even less of a plot, and unlike the original, there is not one character you can like because...you know shit about all of them, even the lead. The original had a sort of campy charm to it because it never took itsef seriously, and Swayze and Elliot were good in their roles, and the secondary characters were all a bit quirky, in this there's....nothing

Even the fight scenes are awful. Original actually had some well-choregraphed fights, this was like a cartoon.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Zardoz.

The gun is good and the penis is evil. No more needed to be said.

I remember watching that one because my MIL was a big Connery fan and collected all his stuff going back to Darby O'Gill. I remember thinking it was just a hair away from being a good movie because the story was actually intriguing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Another type of bad movie is the low-production value bad movie, like Plan Nine from Outerspace by Ed Wood, often regarded as the worst movie ever made and so bad that it actually is quite entertaining. A more recent movie of this type, if you like this sort of thing, is Birdemic, which is kind of a low-budget version of Hitchcock's film The Birds. It is unbelievably terrible in every way. The movie spends over half an hour pointlessly introducing us to uninteresting characters doing uninteresting things, and then suddenly, for no reason, the birds attack, and your jaw will drop at how bad the special effects that depict the birds are. The birds don't just attack; for some reason they explode on impact and can spit acid. Get a couple of friends together, make sure you have lots of alcohol on hand, and enjoy.

 

[TheLobster]

I remember thinking it was just a hair away

I'm pretty sure that the last thing Zardoz needed was even more hair.

 

[Bamagan]

plus the Jean M Auel Earth's children series. I still love them and re-read them every four years or so. Learnt a lot about cunnilingus from those!

Same here. I liked each new one less and less. I thought Clan of the Cave Bear was unique and compelling, and the second and third novels were pretty good overall, even though I spent a lot of the third one hoping Jondalar would get trampled by an aurochs or something. Fourth one wasn't bad, but the fifth and six are so long and so little happens. I guess after the success of her first one editors and publishers decided to just let her do whatever she wanted, even if that meant repeating the same explanations of what elecampane is good for and how loess dust is formed and blah blah blah three times in each book. And that mother song that she copied and pasted over and over again... that felt like it was 10% of the last couple of books by itself.
But whenever I read the first one again I usually feel compelled to endure the entire series for some bizarre reason.

 

[THBGato]

I have never read the last one. I glanced through it in a book shop once and realised she was managing to fuck up Ayla and Jondalar's relationship and just couldn't bring myself to read it. I quite liked the fifth one, though I was half expecting Ayla to invent the wheel or something by the end of it given the pace of her technological experimentation!

 

[onehitwanda]

but I think "Salem's Lot" is an artistic masterpiece of suspense/horror writing. It's my favorite of all his novels.

"One for the road" gave me nightmares. Few other things have - up until Eva Green did her possession scene in "Penny Dreadful"

 

[Bamagan]

I have never read the last one. I glanced through it in a book shop once and realised she was managing to fuck up Ayla and Jondalar's relationship and just couldn't bring myself to read it. I quite liked the fifth one, though I was half expecting Ayla to invent the wheel or something by the end of it given the pace of her technological experimentation!

The fifth one, I thought, would have been good if they'd cut most of the filler that was essentially the exact same stuff as the first four books (it's the ice age, and she's an herbalist!), although I suppose the length between the later books may have seemed like it was justification to include a substantial portion of those earlier works as refreshers.
I liked the parts where Ayla was trying to integrate herself and her animals into the new culture, even though a lot of it was the same song and dance as at every stop they made along the way in the fourth book. But it at least gave her a chance to get involved in some conflicts and character drama she couldn't solve with slung stones or medicinal herbs for a change.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

I remember watching that one because my MIL was a big Connery fan and collected all his stuff going back to Darby O'Gill. I remember thinking it was just a hair away from being a good movie because the story was actually intriguing.

I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. I have lived three hundred years, and I long to die. But death is no longer possible. I am immortal. I present now my story, full of mystery and intrigue — rich in irony, and most satirical. It is set deep in a possible future, so none of these events have yet occurred, but they may. Be warned, lest you end as I. In this tale, I am a fake god by occupation and a magician by inclination. Merlin is my hero. I am the puppet master. I manipulate many of the characters and events that you see. But I am invented, too, for your entertainment and amusement. And you, poor creatures, who conjured you out of the clay? Huh huh huh. Is God in show business, too?

Zardoz gets a lot more hate than it deserves. It's a weird movie, yes, but I personally thought that Deliverance was at least as weird. And Zardoz has one of the most poignant ending scenes in cinema history.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

The 13th Warrior, in my opinion, wasn't as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. And I say that as someone who isn't overly interested in Norse history and who was bored to tears by what little I saw of the Vikings series.