h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Which films, books, TV shows, musicals, etc are so bad they're quite entertaining?

Some h2g2 conversations.

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace.

A new TV mini-series called 'The Bible' (4 X 2hours)
produced by Monica Downey the lovely Irish lilted
star of 'Touched By An Angel'. It is excruciatingly
bad - like a bag of stale peanuts with just enough
salt to make them palatable.


~jwf~

"Santa Claus Conquers the Nartians" -- a film that is widely regarded as one of the worst films ever made. It's so exuberant, though, and has such catchy music, that I can't help enjoying it.

"Hansel and Gretel, Witch-Killers" has a rock-bottom rating from the critics -- only about 20% of them thought it was any good -- but almost 60% of viewers liked it. The "witches" in the film are truly awful, like rejects from Monty Python's "Hell's Grannies" skit. They strut around, flaunting their ugliness as if they were fashion models on a runway.

There are various compilations of "world's worst songs." There was one song, a tender ballad about a lost pet named Fluffy, sung by a woman who rarely if ever got anywhere near the pitch. Yest, she was hysterically funny. That album also had a song based on the story of a mass-murderer who entertained hcildren as a clown and then murdered them.

"Kinko, Kinko, the kid-loving clown.
If the kids just love me back, I'll never wear a frown."

Perhaps you've heard it? It's in the worst possible taste, but it's so jolly you find yourself tapping your toes and humming along.

Well the old classic is Ed Wood Jnr's Plan 9 From Outer Space - famously marketed as Bela Lugosi's last film on account of Ed Wood getting a few seconds of film of him in the weeks before his death.
He replaced him with a guy who was about a foot taller than him with different colour hair and pretended to be him by just putting a cape over his face for the whole film

It's got the lot - terrible script, terrible acting, terrible scenery and props, terrible directing and near zero budget.

It's not so bad its' good. It's so bad it's genius!!!

I just bought a new copy on DVD as I was fed up of living the story that in a burglary of my house a few years back the only film in my collection nicked was the official 'worst film ever made'.

Really, it's famed for this for a reason - I recommend it to the house

Years and Years ago I watched a series called the 10 worst films ever made. Plan 9 was number one but Santa Claus conquers the martians was in there too.
Godzilla versus the Smog Monster was another. Can't remember the rest sadly. But all 10 really were gems of the genre - beyond bad. This sort of thing is right up my street in case you hadn't guessed.

Googling about I've discovered two of the others were

Wild Women of Wonga

and

They Saved Hitler's Brain

I do recall these being part of this (early Channel 4) series of films and both were delightful tosh also.

Volcano.

About a volcanic eruption in downtown Los Angeles. It starts off with a fountain getting a bit warm and before you know it Tommy Lee Jones is diverting an unstoppable flow of lava to the ocean, where it immediately cools and becomes harmless. On 'take your daughter to work day' (well, it might not have been, but obvs his daughter is involved, just to add an extra layer of drama, and she gets trapped in a car park that has to be blown up because ... oh, just go and watch it).

We watched this for the first time with our best friends, the day after Eurovision had been the night before. We now own a copy (so much enjoyment for less than £5) and take it on holiday with us. It is *so* rubbish - a truly dreadful film, I mean just *ludicrous*, with people dying in the most ridiculous ways imaginable (I can't decide if my favourite is the 'scientist' who falls into the pit of lava, or the subway train drver who melts) ... well, anyway, we found it hysterically funny and still do, because it is impossible to take seriously.

Mol

I've seen that- don't they have loads of conversations (and actiony bits) whilst standing about 3 feet from major lava flows? As you would of course

Yes, that's the one. And they do at one point manage to stop the unstoppable lava flow with concrete barriers, over which lots of firefighters are hanging in order to get a good look. There is also of course the obligatory romantic entanglement between TLJ and some maverick geologist that he starts off not much liking. Although (and this is a genuine plus point when the audience includes 10 year old boys) there's no sex or even serious snogging (IIRC).

Mol

The romantic Interest would be Ann Heche, if I recall correctly.

Yes. I've got it up on IMDB. Nominated for a Razzie in the category 'Worst reckless disregard for Human Life and Public Property'.

There are some excellent reviews on IMDB that say it all much better than I can. And I had actually forgotten the vomit-inducing 'Everybody looks the same' at the end.

Mol

Hawk the Slayer is my touchstone for this category. There's such a fine line though, between "so bad it's good" and just "so bad".

Las Vegas. The city I mean. An awful place. Just so, well, sorry to say it, but American. It couldn't possibly have been built anywhere else.

Everybody should be able to go to Las Vegas and see how awful it is just so they don't make the mistake of going there.

PP.

Oh, and the 2006 film 'Black Sheep'.

IMDB says "An experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into blood-thirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm."

People bitten by one of these sheep turned into a half sheep - half human monster.

But it is not as good as it sounds. After about 15 minutes of cinema audience numbing badness, I started to giggle, then laugh, then guffaw uncontrollably. Before long I was in tears and the rest of the audience was also laughing out loud. I suspect I was the subject of the laughter rather than the film. The lady that I had taken was somewhat embarrassed by this display but we all had a whale of a time. I think.

What possessed me to go and see it in the first place, I have no idea.

PP.

In my cinema, Black Sheep was advertised as a "horror comedy", so I just assumed it was *meant* to be like that. Some people actually do that kind of stuff on purpose.

Naah, if it's done on purpose it doesn't count, sorry

I invited examples from all genres of entertainment, but it's cinema that most people think of first, isn't it?

What abut computer games? Any poorly made ones which are surprisingly playable and addictive?

Or websites? Any brilliant ones which are totally bug ridden?

(oo er)

I know on any objective measure Glee is just awful, but I love it. I can't help myself: Friday evenings, winding down from work, Glee and a stuff drink just work for me.

Avril Lavigne is so beyond bad, so cliched and awful even Glee haven't touched her back catalogue (and they've done an entire episode of Justin Bieber) but every time I hear her 'music' the echo of my teen emo self makes me smile.