Best ‘So Bad It’s Good’ Movies of All Time

The craft of creating a great film is one that takes countless years of effort and dedication to master, and many believe the ‘perfect movie’ is impossible to achieve. Directors such as Stanley Kubrick became infamous for their meticulous and obsessive need to make every aspect of their films exactly as they envisioned. However, what happens when a film not only falls short of these expectations but does so in such a spectacular fashion that you can’t help but enjoy it?

When a movie is ‘so bad it’s good,’ it can often provide audiences with more enjoyment than one that is otherwise well-made. The fascinating nature of a project gone so wrong, whether it be poor writing, acting, direction, or all of the above, makes it impossible to take your eyes off the screen. Many of these films have achieved cult status over the years and gone on to gain far more fame than their creators ever dreamed, though not quite for the reasons they had hoped. These are the types of movies you love to watch with friends and pick apart, comedy coming from its many mistakes, often made with the best intentions in mind.

‘Batman & Robin’ (1997)

Seeing Batman at the top here might hurt some in their childhoods, but the movie that saw three caped crusaders going up Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze just had such an abundance of cheese. Batman & Robin would present the entire world of Gotham as an eyesore, a neon-soaked urban jungle with weird-themed gangs, far from the gothic vision people love.

The film is a visual eye-sore, including delivering the worst bat-suit of all time, but much of the humor here actually comes from the dialogue and interactions. Schwarzenegger delivers some of the punniest one-liners, Uma Thurman chews through the scenery, and George Clooney is just stiff and awkward besides his more rambunctious bat buddies. The film was certainly reviled by many fans, but has since become a favorite to revisit for its camp and many poor decisions.

‘Miami Connection’ (1987)

Manson International

Yes indeed, “we are all orphans” in our own right, in this bonkers rediscovered gem that took on its own life with a theatrical run after being lost for decades. Miami Connection follows a group of super-friends who play music and know martial arts. They just want to live a happy life, so when a gang kills one of their own, it is up to them to seek revenge.

There is so much cheese oozing from Miami Connection from start to finish. This includes bizarre lines of dialogue, an extended concert scene featuring an utterly silly song about friendship, spurts of violence, and you have a true crowd-pleaser. The movie presents itself as a sort of drama, only to go over-the-top bonkers in its climax, making it all the more charming.

‘Chopping Mall’ (1986)

Concorde Pictures

80s horror is chock-full of phenomenal B-movies. Chopping Mall is one of those, sort of. It falls under that category of a one-off slasher that never got a sequel, but its twist is that the killer is a group of mall security robots. You have a pretty typical set-up: teens who want to party, hide out in the mall for the night to drink and mess around. Yet, a short circuit causes the newest security system to turn the robotic security guards deadly.

A laughable villain and an obnoxious group of teenagers, oddly, leave you cheering for the clunky killer robots. Not quite good, not quite bad, but hitting that sweet spot in between. The humor comes from some great over-the-top kills combined with the silliness of the scenario; the robots look like they would struggle to take a tight turn, let alone stalk humans.

‘Deadly Prey’ (1987)

Action International Pictures

A mash-up of First Blood and The Most Dangerous Game with zero budget to back it, actually lands Deadly Prey in a bit of a charming spot; coming from the infamous production company American International Pictures and directed by David A. Prior, the movie offers the kind of machismo and over-the-top action one would expect.

Deadly Prey presents a simple manhunt in which one person is captured and forced to fight for their life for entertainment, but the plot is not what matters here. Everything is so over-the-top from start to finish, with drawn-out villain monologs, explosions, and lots of gunfire. The actual ‘kills’ in the film are executed with a certain bravado that tends to put an exclamation point in the movie’s faults, turning a laugh into a cheer.

‘Manos: The Hands of Fate’ (1966)

Emerson Film Enterprises

Poor Torgo never stood a chance. Manos: The Hands of Fate became an infamous so-bad-it’s-good movie thanks to its enduring popularity on an episode of MST3k, often considered one of the best. The plot is pretty paper-thin; a couple happens upon a cult and gets involved in their ritual; that is all you need to know.

The comedic gold comes from how badly every element of the movie is conceived and executed. Shots linger too long, the camera is often out of focus, the titular Manos is a gaunt figure who loves to oversell every single one of his words, and the supporting cast fares little better; poor Torgo. The movie would actually see a sequel decades later, and remains one of the most re-watched so-bad-it’s-good films of all time, thanks to screenings by people who love to share a chuckle with Manos: The Hands of Fate

‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’ (1964)

Embassy Pictures

One of the oddest movies about Santa Claus, this 1964 science fiction comedy follows the Martians as they abduct Santa Claus (played by John Call) from Earth to provide the children of Mars with a bit of Christmas cheer. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a silly, yet charming, classic of ‘so bad it’s good’ cinema.

A poorly written script, weak special effects, and cringeworthy dialogue only make this low-budget kids’ movie awkwardly enjoyable. Remember this Christmas-themed twist on the alien invasion genre around the holidays, as you can certainly throw it on for a laugh or two.

‘Howard the Duck’ (1986)

Universal Pictures

1986’s Howard the Duck centers on a sarcastic anthropomorphic bird that has to save the world from the Dark Overlord. The George Lucas-backed film was a commercial disaster and won four Golden Raspberry Awards (for Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star, and Worst Visual Effects). However, Howard the Duck became a cult classic decades later.

Curiously enough, Howard the Duck has an unsung legacy in the history of film. Lucas’ company, Industrial Light & Magic, essentially created Photoshop to disguise the wires used for puppetry, a special effects technique that has since been used in everything from the Terminator sequels to The Matrix. Still, at the time, the puppetry was not nearly as polished and looked awkward. Most of the unintentional humor, however, came from the film’s identity crisis: it didn’t know whether it was a comedy, a romance, or a superhero movie.

‘The Giant Spider Invasion’ (1975)

Group 1 International Distribution Organization Ltd.

A hilariously cheesy wonder, The Giant Spider Invasion is one of the most entertaining B-movies of the 1970s. The plot follows gargantuan spiders from another dimension as they land in a small Wisconsin town and begin to terrorize its residents.

There is always something charming about effects done on a budget that is a key component to many so-bad-it’s-good films, and The Giant Spider Invasion is a great example of this. You get a car covered in fur and legs roaming around, and some utterly silly kills using the awkward, gangly arms of the space spiders. Actors having to take the scenario seriously adds a lot of unintentional humor.

‘Mac and Me’ (1988)

Orion Pictures

Originally conceived as a marketing tool for McDonald’s, Mac and Me is a shameless rehash of E.T. and makes no attempt to hide what it is. Released in 1988, this meandering family adventure recouped just under half of its budget, received abysmal reviews, and was promptly forgotten. Thanks to the internet, however, many bad-movie aficionados have had a chance to experience this once-forgotten failure.

Held back by its derivative plot, awkward special effects, and laughably unnatural product placement, this endearing flop offers plenty to enjoy and provides a memorable experience for all the best/worst reasons. The film also lives on through an ongoing inside joke between actor Paul Rudd and Conan O’Brien.

‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ (1957)

Distributors Corporation of America

Considered to be the grandfather of all so-bad-it’s-good movies, it requires multiple viewings in order to catch all the mistakes on display here. Being the most notable of infamous filmmaker Ed Wood’s works, 1959’s Plan 9 From Outer Space has everything that a fan of bad movies needs, and then some.

Charming cardboard sets complement the store-bought flying saucers, zipping over the heads of actors portraying some of the most unintentionally funny performances and dialogue in cinema history. It is evident that Wood’s vision for this picture was to finish it as quickly as possible, quality be damned (especially since his main star, Bela Lugosi, died in the middle of production).