Bad Movies

I've had somewhat of a fondness for bad movies for quite some time. I've dwelled among the imdb Bottom 100 and trudged my way through a number of them. My top choices for worst movies ever would have to be Monster a-Go Go and Zaat (aka Dr. Z), with honorable mention to Manos: Hand of Fate and The Beast of Yucca Flats, four movies I would definitely not recommend anyone watching without first consulting your doctor. Watching a genuinely bad movie is like an ordeal or a trial of courage that you must endure to prove yourself; the pleasure comes in that feeling of success at the end, like reaching the summit after a steep and difficult climb. To be sure, there's nothing quite like watching a genuinely good movie, but every once in a while I check out some of the worst so that I can say: "Yes, I saw that movie, and yes, I made it through the whole thing."

In order to ease your way along, making fun of the movies is a must, and its almost inevitable that the straightforward ridiculousness of some aspects of the movie will excite some light guffaws. This obviously is where the appeal of Mystery Science Theater 3000 comes from, and I can say that that TV show played a big part in turning me on to bad movies.

Another major factor in my learning to love bad movies was a roommate I had when I lived in Santa Fe named Adam. Adam had been a math major in college; he excelled at Chess, and was one of the top-ranked players in New Mexico; he loved to play World of Warcraft, which he would play usually for an hour or two each evening. He also loved to watch bad movies, mostly bad teen movies and comedies. For example some of his favorites were the teen drama Varsity Blues about Texas high school football, and the ridiculously bad teen movie parody Not Another Teen Movie. The pleasure he derived was entirely a result of making fun of these movies, which he was very good at. Watching movies and tv shows with him, which included some genuinely terrible ones as Son of the Beach, Dawson's Creek and, of course Varsity Blues, was lots of fun. His sarcastic wit cut into these movies and splayed them open.

I've never been able to make fun of movies as good as Adam or MST3K, and though I, for the most part seek out movies that look good, I do pull out the bad movies on occasion for a different kind of experience.

I've had somewhat of a fondness for bad movies for quite some time. I've dwelled among the imdb Bottom 100 and trudged my way through a number of them. My top choices for worst movies ever would have to be Monster a-Go Go and Zaat (aka Dr. Z), with honorable mention to Manos: Hand of Fate and The Beast of Yucca Flats, four movies I would definitely not recommend anyone watching without first consulting your doctor. Watching a genuinely bad movie is like an ordeal or a trial of courage that you must endure to prove yourself; the pleasure comes in that feeling of success at the end, like reaching the summit after a steep and difficult climb. To be sure, there's nothing quite like watching a genuinely good movie, but every once in a while I check out some of the worst so that I can say: "Yes, I saw that movie, and yes, I made it through the whole thing."

In order to ease your way along, making fun of the movies is a must, and its almost inevitable that the straightforward ridiculousness of some aspects of the movie will excite some light guffaws. This obviously is where the appeal of Mystery Science Theater 3000 comes from, and I can say that that TV show played a big part in turning me on to bad movies.

Another major factor in my learning to love bad movies was a roommate I had when I lived in Santa Fe named Adam. Adam had been a math major in college; he excelled at Chess, and was one of the top-ranked players in New Mexico; he loved to play World of Warcraft, which he would play usually for an hour or two each evening. He also loved to watch bad movies, mostly bad teen movies and comedies. For example some of his favorites were the teen drama Varsity Blues about Texas high school football, and the ridiculously bad teen movie parody Not Another Teen Movie. The pleasure he derived was entirely a result of making fun of these movies, which he was very good at. Watching movies and tv shows with him, which included some genuinely terrible ones as Son of the Beach, Dawson's Creek and, of course Varsity Blues, was lots of fun. His sarcastic wit cut into these movies and splayed them open.

I've never been able to make fun of movies as good as Adam or MST3K, and though I, for the most part seek out movies that look good, I do pull out the bad movies on occasion for a different kind of experience.

Bad Movies