Photo courtesy of: IMDb (“Ghost Ship” is a well known bad movie)
Riley Fontana
Connector Editor
If there is one thing I am known for it is my controversial opinions on media. I truly enjoy bad media., There is something special about watching a movie everyone said was horrible and finding a nugget of enjoyment in it. It does cause quite a stir every time I mention that I found “Morbius” enjoyable, or that I found the 1993 “Super Mario Bros.” movie not terrible. There is a special joy that comes from knowing these movies are bad, and still loving them.
The biggest part of getting away with this in a way people don’t find insufferable is being able to admit these movies are bad but that’s what makes them fun. Yes, I can admit “Ghost Ship”, an earnest attempt at horror that fell flat, is utterly terrible. But getting to explain the opening scene with the fishing line, and that there is some grim reaper character who can only collect souls from shipwrecks and then watching my friend’s reactions is unbeatable. The gag is to make it seem like these movies should be incredible and get people to want to watch them, just to see them laugh at how bad it is.
If you want to truly commit to the bit, talk about the movie like it’s a cinematic masterpiece., This works even better if no one has ever heard of the movie. If I pitched a movie night and the film was about a young girl going to extreme lengths to see her favorite band live, and it stars Kiernan Shipka, so many people would be willing to give it a try. Then I would put on the made-for-TV movie “Fan Girl,” where the title character commits full-on crimes like stalking and breaking and entering for All Time Low. The movie is an absolute mess with next to no plot, but making it seem like it has one is the key.
Now some movies are made to be bad, see “Willy’s Wonderland” the cheap “Five Nights At Freddy’s” knockoff. The kicker with films like this is to pitch them as bad. Statements like “Do you want to watch a horrible movie where Nicolas Cage fights animatronics?” are almost guaranteed a resounding yes. Talk about the movie as what it is: bad. Sometimes you just need to sit down and watch something that was meant to be bad. Movies that are made to be bad are more fun because they are in on the joke, not like the movies made with heart that just ended up bad.
Bad movies are one of the best ways to spend a night with friends. Go through Letterboxd, Rotten Tomatoes or one of the other countless movie reviewing sites and pick a film at random. Pro-tip: look for something the critics hate, because sometimes they are wrong and the movie is actually good. Settle in and get ready to laugh and make fun of everything in the movie. The goal is to turn something incredibly boring and not fun to watch into a great time. Make some popcorn and go watch a bad movie tonight.
