Thursday Movie Picks: So Bad It's Good
1) White Chicks
I've written about this film being my guilty pleasure before. I had a nice time seeing this with friends in high school and I still love it. I don't care how terrible it is. I will laugh at Terry Crews in this movie for the rest of my life. "Eaaasssssy White Chocolate."
2) Sleepaway Camp
I love campy horror films. This film is pretty terrible, but the ending is actually really surprising. I didn't see it coming at all. I think I was 14 or 15 when I saw this. It's all over the internet, so even if you haven't seen it you probably know it. Still, it's something else.
3) The Room
I participated in this "So You Think You Can Review" tournament over at The LAMB about four years ago. Two people were given the same movie to review and people voted on who they thought wrote the better one. I was given The Room, (and shockingly advanced to the 2nd round with this thing) I watched it sober, and hated every minute. I mused towards the end that this was probably better under the influence, and I was right. Watching it again with a few beers and a few friends made this movie hysterical. Now it's hysterical to me with or without booze. It's SO FUCKING BAD. You have to see it.
Bonus
Sleepaway Camp! What a gem of crapness that is. I was about 12 or 13 when I first saw it. My jaw hit the floor when that ending happened. I need to see The Room. Sounds like fun. I tried with White Chicks. I just can't.
ReplyDeleteI love White Chicks, it's so stupidly amazing.
DeleteSleepaway Camp has become so notorious I just may have to overcome my aversion to slashers and watch it. Like Dell, I just can NOT with White Chicks. I've seen some scenes from The Room and I don't think I'd be able to make it all the way through without some seriously strong drugs.
ReplyDeleteSleepaway Camp isn't even that inspiring of a slasher, the end it what sets it apart. Yeah, The Room needs alcohol or weed to get the best effect.
DeleteI have not seen any of these. I am not into slasher films all that much. The Room...nope. Oh well
ReplyDeleteOnly one is a slasher, the other is a comedy, and The Room...it it's own separate entity but they were probably trying to go for drama lol.
DeleteThese all sound awful and yet funny in their way which makes them perfect for today. Sadly (or happily considering) I've seen none. I have seen the original Wicker Man, which was odd but decent, and have heard the remake is a disaster.
ReplyDeleteI love this type of film so I couldn't get down to less than 5. They are:
*The Best of the Worst*
Valley of the Dolls (1967)-“You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls.” And when you do you face plant right into this hooty mess based on Jaqueline Susann’s notorious best seller. A roman a clef about the messy backstage lives of three career girls looking to make it in showbiz in NY and Hollywood is scuttled by leaden direction and absurdly overdone or somnambulant performances. Susan Hayward is terrific as vicious stage star Helen Lawson, based on Ethel Merman and Sharon Tate touching as the doomed Jennifer but everyone and everything else is a shambles. The worst offender and therefore the most fun is Patty Duke (RIP Patty, you’ll be missed!) as Neely O’Hara, an amalgam of the tortured souls of Judy Garland, Betty Hutton and Frances Farmer, there is no scenery left unchewed when she’s done with it. The hairspray and makeup costs alone must have taken up half the budget!
*Getting In Touch With Your Inner Bad Movie*
Skidoo (1968)-Crime boss “God” (Groucho Marx) forces retired mobster Tony Banks (Jackie Gleason) to perform a hit on an incarcerated prisoner by kidnapping Tony’s daughter and holding her on his yacht. But the plan goes awry when Tony unknowingly drops acid and goes on a mind-blowing trip. Things go downhill from there! What begins as a silly but not dreadful generation gap comedy devolves into an incoherent mess capped by the horrifying sight of Carol Channing, playing Gleason’s wife Flo Banks (no, really), in long platinum wig, admiral's hat and red hot pants singing the title tune. Just when you think it can't get any worse Frankie Avalon sings the credits! ALL OF THEM! It's as ghastly as it sounds and yet hilarious at the same time. A great many respected actors, Peter Lawford, George Raft and Mickey Rooney among them, shred their reputations for a paycheck.
*The Frightfully Atrocious Big Star Debacle*
The Conqueror (1956)-John Wayne is GENGHIS KHAN!!...battling the Tartar armies where he takes redheaded (?) Tartar princess Susan Hayward and her servant, an equally Caucasian Agnes Moorehead prisoner. I repeat John Wayne is Genghis Khan! Yeesh. As absurd and ridiculous as the film is it has a somber aftermath. It was filmed in Utah near a nuclear testing site and about half the company, including all the principal players, died from cancer linked to fallout exposure.
*Screamingly Awful Runner-Up*
Scorchy (1976)-This tacky turkey is bargain-basement claptrap starring Connie Stevens as Seattle narc Jackie Parker aka Scorchy, with a voice one octave below Minnie Mouse, a frosted wing hairdo that is both a marvel and a testament to the bad taste of the 70’s and a wardrobe straight out of Frederick’s of Hollywood. She’s about to blow the lid off an international heroin ring but when she’s not chasing bad guys down in a high speed-dune buggy or chopper she finds time for a long steamy shower or a nooner with a lover who is harpooned on top of her as she screams like Fay Wray! AIP exploitation flick is cheesy beyond belief all the way up to its self-important finale…but don’t worry “Scorchy” is on the case!!!
*The Abominably Infamous Bonus*
Can’t Stop the Music (1980)-This musical purporting to tell the story of how The Village People formed starts with Steve Guttenberg getting his boogie on by roller-skating under the credits down a New York street in ultra-short shorts and only gets wackier from there. Includes a performance of Danny Boy in full cop drag, a production number devoted entirely to milk and other jaw dropping items including a rendering of Y.M.C.A., part of which takes place in a packed men’s shower! Ya gotta see it to believe it!!
I've always meant to check out Valley of the Dolls. Mickey Rooney though, can't stand that guy. I was not a fan of his work at all.
DeleteYes! The Room just has to be on a list like this :D
ReplyDeleteExactly! Lists like this were created for The Room.
DeleteWhite Chicks is fucking awesome.
ReplyDelete"OK Schwarzenegro"
Those 3 minutes of The Wicker Man are awesome but they got cut out in its recent airings on HBO. Boo!!!!! They're the best parts of that awful film. "NO, NOT THE BEES!!! AH!!! MY EYES! MY EYES!!!!"
How can you cut ANYTHING out of the Wicker Man? That badness needs to be seen. lol
DeleteI haven't seen any of these, but I've recently heard a lot of bad things about The Room.
ReplyDeleteThis weirdly went into my spam, you need to check out The Room just to witness how bad it is.
DeleteI actually never seen The Room, not sure if I ever can get this drunk :) Wicker Man though...a classic of awful :P
ReplyDeleteomg you have to see The Room in all it's glory lol
DeleteHaha The Room is so freakin' awful. You could go on all day about the endless football throwing or the appalling acting, but it does fit the so bad it's funny category pretty well
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure anything will ever be more notorious than The Room for "So bad it's good."
DeleteYaaaas! I've only seen White Chicks from your list but I love that movie so much. Wish I'd chosen it for myself now!
ReplyDelete- Allie
lol I'm glad to see more love for White Chicks.
DeleteI can't stand White Chicks. My cousin seems to love it which makes me hate it more because I probably had to sit through it more than once.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard of Sleepaway Camp before and The Room I've heard is a popular bad movie but I've never known what it's actually about.
lol That's the thing about The Room...there's no plot. Just a guy who's girlfriend cheats on him. Then he throws a football around.
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