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Monday, July 20, 2009

[schlock films] so bad that they're good

Schlock, in this sense, means a movie that holds you spellbound in horror. The original plan was to do cult movies like Mon Oncle and La Cage aux Folles but the shlock seemed more of a challenge. Gigli, for example, was so bad it was bad and so it couldn't go in. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was just too good anyway.

My list has these, in no particular order:

1. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

The plot is simple: tomatoes suddenly turn into bloodthirsty monsters. Housewives are mauled while putting away the groceries, old folks stare in shock as a huge Brandywine gobbles down their grandson, and the police discover that buckshot is useless when a horde of rampaging Rutgers suddenly erupts from fields gone wild. The tomatoes even take out a helicopter!



2. Blood on Satan's Claw

Sort of like what a juvenile delinquent movie would be if it was a horror film set in seventeenth century England ... it's known for the nude scene and rape scene of Zoe from Dr Who. Not strictly in the bad category, the dialect sinks it.



3. Battlefield Earth

Using CGI effects
of the sort now commonly seen on syndicated television shows, we zoom from an orbital view of Earth to a series of no doubt expensive helicopter shots portraying various mountainous settings. Here a last expositional sentence appears. "Man is an endangered species," it announces. This helps to clarify things for those viewers confused by the assertion, seen ten seconds ago, that Man is "on the verge of extinction."



4. The Hottie and the Nottie

James Berardinelli described the film's comedy as "about as funny as the anal rape scene in The War Zone". There are two girls. One is hot, the other is not. Paris Hilton is one of the two. Which one? A true horror flick.



5. Showgirls

Nomi is so unlikable and, frankly, untalented, that you never buy that all the other characters keep chasing after her. One guy thinks she's selling out her great dancing talent (!), Molly is afraid she'll "become" corrupt, and everyone else, male and female, wants to get her into bed. Frankly, considering the tons of attractive (not to mention naked) women in this flick, Nomi just really doesn't deserve all the attention she's getting.



Honourable mention to Ecks v Sever:

No one expects action movies to be brilliant, but Wych Kaosayananda's Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever, which is based on a GameBoy game—A GAMEBOY GAME, folks, not even full fledged Nintendo—couldn't be more cartoonish if it were painted on acetate. It's loaded with two-dimensional characters, mindless violence set to pounding music, and a story so ridiculous, so incomprehensibly stupid, one can hardly find adequate words to denounce it. Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, have you no pride? Have you no standards? Have you no shame? Don't you pay attention to what's written on the papers you're signing?

So, which are your five "so-bad-that-they're-good" movies?
.

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Your views on "[schlock films] so bad that they're good"

 

Blogger lady macleod says ... (20 July 2009 22:58) : 

"Independence Day", "The Kingdom", and "SWAT" along with "The Mummy". So awful and sooooooo much fun to watch - great explosions, plots so bad that - oh yes, um.. what plot? but hey, Will Smith dragging that alien across the desert and bitching about the barbeque he is missing? Priceless.

What's his name scaring the Mummy with the cat! Too fabulous.

Some of the best (and most unrealistic) explosions ever in "The Kingdom" and I still want to cold cock the writers every time I see that scene where the chap from the American Embassy's office in Saudi Arabia says to a female FBI AGENT (!) "Can we do something about this situation? Cover up the boobies?" AND SHE SAID NOTHING BACK?!!!!! Nothing like: "You make one more sexist inappropriate comment like that you tiny piece of shit and I will pull your teeny little balls out past your tonsils - then I will hurt you." Just a suggestion on my part..

Ah yes... too much fun. Think I will put in one of them now...:-

OH " The Blob"!!!!

 

Blogger James Higham says ... (20 July 2009 23:07) : 

The Blob was great - I saw it at a drive-in with the gang. Was that Steve McQueen? Or Paul Newman - I always get confused.

 

Blogger James Barlow says ... (20 July 2009 23:50) : 

How about "The Beastmaster".

(Available in twelve parts on You Tube)

 

Anonymous Bob B says ... (20 July 2009 23:52) : 

Let's not understate the singular achievement of Showgirls:

"Showgirls is a 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon. . . After failing at the US box office, Showgirls enjoyed success on the home video market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals and became one of MGM's top 20 all-time bestsellers. . .

"Roger Ebert wrote that Showgirls received 'some bad reviews, but it wasn't completely terrible'. Despite Ebert's views, the movie was heralded as one of cinema's worst, winning seven 1995 Golden Raspberry Awards or 'Razzies' (from a record 13 nominations). Verhoeven gamely appeared in person at the Razzies ceremony to accept his award for Worst Director; Showgirls would later win a record-setting eighth Razzie Award for Worst Picture of the Last Decade in 2000. . ."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showgirls

If that wasn't sufficient public recognition, in 2005 the film also clinched the "worst movie sex scene award"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/30/worst_movie_romp/

"the pool romp scene from Showgirls - featuring Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan going at it like two dolphins caught in a tuna net - is the crappiest movie sex scene of all time. . .

A spokesman of Empire magazine is quoted as saying: "It's supposed to be the best sex in the world but, as Berkley thrashes around in the water, it looks more like the first ten minutes of Jaws."

Curiously, I rented out this movie in all innocence from the local public library where the administration seemed unaware of this gem in their collection of DVDs for hire.

 

Blogger James Higham says ... (21 July 2009 00:21) : 

Ah James - Beastmaster, yes. I was forgetting - King Zed, Tal and the Bat people.

Bob - brilliant. I never realized it was THAT bad. :)

 

Blogger UBERMOUTH says ... (21 July 2009 04:57) : 

I love It's A Wonderful Life-it's so cheesy but so bad it's good.

 

Blogger James Higham says ... (21 July 2009 21:05) : 

Cheesy is good.

 

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