The 10 Most Rewatchable So-Bad-It's-Good Movies of All Time, Ranked (2024)

"So bad it's good" is thrown around alot nowadays. Whenever a new superhero flop like Madame Web or Morbius hits screens, "so bad it's good". When the 250 million dollar Red One barely makes 1/8th of that on opening weekend..."so bad it's good". The desire to see a bad movie with friends, have some laughs at its expense, and ultimately justify the time spent at the cinema is a tempting and powerful allure. Unfortunately for audiences, however, most movies given the title of so bad it's good these days don't live up to the gold standard set by such classics as The Room, many of them are simply...bad.

True schlock can be hard to come by, and represents not only questionable filmmaking, but a cinematic experience so singular and unique that it sticks with a viewer for years on end. Something like Mac and Me, the cheap McDonald's funded E.T. knock off that left such an impression on Paul Rudd, that he uses the film every time he appeared on Conan for 20 years, or 2019's Cats, the Taylor Swift-starring fever dream that forgot to have a plot, each makes for truly unique viewing experiences with friends and prove themselves worthy of the so bad it's good label. Instead of settling for something that is simply "so bad", audiences can revisit some so bad they're good classics over and over again.

10 'Wild, Wild, West' (1999)

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

Sometimes, films are small passion projects made by dedicated teams of creatives with a singular goal. Other times they are massive ego trips created out of rejected ideas from other films with the singular purpose of putting a giant mechanical spider on film.Wild, Wild ,West is one of the latter, it may be the only one of the latter, and as such has become known as not only one of the worst Westerns of all time, but one of the worst films of the entire 1990s.

This misguided steampunk romp starring Kevin Kline and Will Smith at the height of his powers, was meant to be an adventure film alongside Men in Black, and even came packaged with its own accompanying theme song by the Fresh Prince himself. Unfortunately for Wild, Wild, West this theme song is easily the best part of the movie, as an insane plot, questionable acting, and the aforementioned giant mechanical spider, create a bewildering experience from start to finish. Still for viewers in the mood for a Western, but not for a good one, Wild Wild West is a hilarious ride from start to humongous eight-legged finish.

Wild Wild West

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Science Fiction

Western

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 30, 1999

Director

Barry Sonnenfeld

Cast

Will Smith , Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh , Salma Hayek , Ted Levine

Runtime

107 Minutes

9 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959)

Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.

Plan 9 From Outer Space is possibly the original, so bad its good movie. Directed by B Movie legend Edward Wood, and starring horror icon Bela Lugosi, Plan 9 tells the unbelievable story of alien grave robbers who reanimate corpses in southern California. It's a high concept idea, that is brought to life by low concept and low budget effects, complete with tin cans, strings, and coat hangers clearly visible in the frame, not even attempting to be disguised. When Tim Burton and Johnny Depp teamed up for a biopic to honor Wood's legacy, Plan 9 was placed on the center stage as the directors' crowning masterpiece of madness.

The production behind Plan 9 From Outer Space is the stuff of legend. The film required all of its cast and crew to become baptized to secure funding from a local baptist church. Star Bela Lugosi was addicted to heroin at the time of filming, and passed midway through production, leading the director to replace him with his girlfriend's chiropractor, a man who looks and acts nothing like Legosi. These tidbits only enhance the current viewing experience of Plan 9 From Outer Space and help cement its status as a beloved piece of schlock for over 60 years.

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Not Rated

Sci-Fi

Horror

Release Date

July 22, 1959

Director

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Cast

Gregory Walcott , Mona McKinnon , Duke Moore , Tom Keene , Carl Anthony , Paul Marco , Tor Johnson , Dudley Manlove , Joanna Lee , John Breckinridge , Lyle Talbot , Conrad Brooks , Maila Nurmi , Bela Lugosi , Criswell , Edward D. Wood Jr. , David De Mering , Norma McCarty , Lynn Lemon

Runtime

79 Minutes

8 'Batman and Robin' (1997)

Directed by Joel Schumacher

In a modern cinematic landscape that is drowning in luke-warm or even boring superhero movies, Joel Schumacher's camp classic Batman and Robin is an enjoyable and goofy change of pace. This over the top superhero flick harkens back to Batman's silly comic book roots, as well as his original 60s film to create one of the most jovial and fun superhero films of all time. It is genuinely hard to tell if Batman and Robin is in on the joke at times, as it bounces between Arnold Schwarzenegger's pun-filled performance as Mr. Freeze, and shockingly compelling performances from the likes of Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl.

Still, whether in on it or not, Batman and Robin is incredibly laughable. Massive amounts of production value went into Batman and Robin, but it is used in such questionable ways, including the infamous rubber nippled batsuits worn by the titular duo, hilarious props such as a bat credit card, a fuzzy robe for Mr. Freeze, and downright unfinished CGI effects, such as the sequence of the dynamic duo surfing out of the sky in the film's opening. Batman and Robin starts at an 11 on the zany scale and continues to inch its way up, all while having some of the superhero genres' most memorable performances and iconic outfits.

Batman and Robin

pg-13

Action

Thriller

Sci-Fi

Release Date

June 20, 1997

Director

Joel Schumacher

Cast

George Clooney , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Chris O'Donnell , Uma Thurman

Runtime

2h 5m

7 'Congo' (1995)

Directed by Frank Marshall

In the 1990's Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the buff action heroes of the 80s had all come and gone and new swings were being taken across blockbusters to find the new hook that would reel in audiences for years to come. Congo was certain that hook was gorillas, lots and lots of gorillas. this 1995 adventure film starring Tim Curry, Ernie Hudson, Laura Linney, and others, Congo tells the story of a missing research team and the people sent to find them. At least that's what it claims to be about. In actuality, Congo is about a secret society of intelligent gorillas trained to guard precious gemstones underneath a volcano.

This absolute insanity mixed with a healthy dose of 1990s preachy white savior tropes that make Congo such a baffling experience on each subsequent viewing. Congo desperately wants to tell you it's a serious movie about serious politics, while Tim Curry is doing a thick Romanian accent and Laura Linney is wielding an honest-to-god laser rifle against gorillas. By all accounts, this film should be a cult classic, but its martini-drinking gorillas have been so firmly rooted to the year 1995 that it has been left behind. Congo's incredible dated-ness works to its advantage, making it a laughable time capsule to a bygone era of blockbusters.

Congo

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Mystery

Release Date

June 9, 1995

Director

Frank Marshall

Cast

Laura Linney , Tim Curry , Dylan Walsh , Ernie Hudson , Grant Heslov , Joe Don Baker , Lola Noh , Mary Ellen Trainer

Runtime

109 Minutes

6 'Foodfight' (2012)

Directed by Lawrence Kasanoff

Made on a budget of over 65 million dollars and featuring the voices of such stars as Charlie Sheen, Wayne Brady, Hilary Duff, Eva Longoria, Christopher Lloyd and more, Foodfight is one of the most high profile and largest scale disasters in the past 20 years of hollywood. Sheen stars in what is obstensibly a mystery film, as Dex Dogtective, a crime solving brand inhabiting the supermarket world of Marketropolis. Dex works alongside recognizable supermarket brands to solve this case and while being stuffed to the brim with product placement barely helped Foodfight's profitability, it does work against its likability as a film.

Aside from the overt advertising and dated voice cast, viewers will be in awe of the film's abysmal animation, especially once reminded of the 65 million dollar price tag. Foodfight is one of the worst animated films of all time on both a technical level, and when packaged with its story, characters and world, but it is still worth a watch with some friends, just to marvel at how things move and look. Nearly every character, scene, particle, and wave in Foodfight seems to be animated poorly in a different way, and as the film revolves around showcasing often fluid, or wet food...this becomes a site to behold as the film goes on.

Foodfight!

PG

Animation

Action

Adventure

Release Date

February 12, 2013

Director

Lawrence Kasanoff

Cast

Hilary Duff , Haylie Duff , Charlie Sheen , Eva Longoria , Wayne Brady , Larry Miller , Chris Kattan , Christopher Lloyd

Runtime

91 minutes

5 'Troll 2' (1990)

Directed by Claudio Fragasso

"They're eating her! And then they're going to eat me! Oh, my goooooood!" This cartoonish line of dialogue, and its equally silly, delivery has rung through the heads of every viewer who heard it at the finale of the universally beloved horror failureTroll 2. This cult horror classic is famous for not just its head-scratching acting, but it's poorly constructed plot, laughable creature design, and the iconic fun fact that Troll 2 is about goblins and features absolutely zero trolls.

The film tells the story of young Joshua and his family as they move to the town of Nilbog. After ignoring the literal warning sign that Nilbog is Goblin spelled backwards, Joshua and friends are shocked to discover that the town is infested by Goblins. What follows is one of the most clichéd, silliest horror movies ever put to screen, as murderous goblins are treated with casualness and line delivery ranges from absolutely horrified to downright bored with the situation. Every Halloween, fans gather in droves to watch what is widely considered the worst (or best) horror movie of all time.

Troll 2

PG-13

Comedy

Fantasy

Horror

Release Date

October 12, 1990

Director

Claudio Fragasso

Cast

Michael Stephenson , George Hardy , Margo Prey , Connie Young , Robert Ormsby , Deborah Reed

Runtime

95 minutes

4 'The Amazing Bulk' (2012)

Directed by Lewis Schoenbrun

The knock-off movie has been a long-standing tradition since the birth of video on demand, whether it be capitalizing on the success of family movies (Chop Kick Panda to Kung Fu Panda) or stealing the thunder of even lesser known successes (Snakes on a TRAIN to Snakes on a Plane), these movies will always exist to fill a hole in the market. The boom of superhero films over the past 20 years, however, has led to one of the cheapest, most visually unappealing, and borderline avante garde knockoffs in recent memory: The Amazing Bulk. Loosely based on nothing in particular, this film tells the story of a gamma-irradiated scientist who becomes an uncontrollable purple monster (see, its different cause its purple).

Made nearly entirely out of green screen and stock assets, The Amazing Bulk is almost impressive in how cheap it is. Every background, prop, scene transition, side character, and sometimes entire scenes are taken from stock asset libraries and crudely placed into this film. The commitment to this style of filmmaking is to such a point where it would actually be easier to use some practical props such as pencils and pens, but the film still bravely chooses to use CGI assets. All of this culminates in the film's incomparable final five minutes, wherein every stock asset is used, no matter how illogical or inconsistent with the rest of the film, creating a cornucopia of low budget chaos that has to be truly seen to be believed.

The Amazing Bulk

G

Action

Comedy

Science Fiction

Adventure

Animation

Release Date

April 17, 2012

Director

Lewis Schoenbrun

Cast

Jordan Lawson , Shevaun Kastl , Terence Lording , Randal Malone , Juliette Angeli , Jed Rowen , Deirdre V. Lyons , Mark E. Fletcher , Mike Toto , Meghan Falcone , Matthew Barnard , Mandell Anthony , Mark Stuver , Read MacGuirtose , Ford Austin , Julianne Bianchi , Art Roberts , Marc Chamberlain , Derek Lui , J. Matthew Welker , Mark Todd

Runtime

75 minutes

Writers

Keith Schaffner

YouTube Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaR-Lq_ayk

Producers

David S. Sterling

Character(s)

Henry 'Hank' Howard , Hannah Darwin , General Darwin , Dr. Werner von Kantlove , Lolita Kantlove , Det. Ray Garton , Det. Lisa Tuttle , Sam , Scully , Hooker , Guard #1 , Guard #2 , Henchman #1 , Henchman #2 , News Chopper Cameraman , News Chopper Pilot , Doctor , Military Pilot , Door Guard #1 , Door Guard #2 , Jet Pilot

3 'The Room' (2003)

Directed by Tommy Wiseau

The most popular bad movie of all time and likely the film that began the so bad it's good craze, Tommy Wiseau's technically speaking, auteur masterpiece, The Room has carved out a bigger place in pop culture by being bad than most artists ever achieve through quality. Made on an impossibly high budget of 6 million dollars, The Room showcases none of this money on screen, begging the question of where the money came from and actually went. So great was the legend behind this enigma of a production that it led to the creation of a whole other film in 2019's The Disaster Artist, built around deconstructing the legends built around Wiseau himself.

The films' melodramatic plot, painful pacing, and downright baffling acting, led by writer, director, star Tommy Wiseau, all make for one of the most technically inefficient and over-the top productions of the twenty-first century. While some have argued the film isnt nearly that bad, pacing decisions such as the opening five-minute sex scene, equipment visible in shots, and line deliveries so uncomfortable and weird that they can't all be listed ("I did not hit her, I did NOT, oh hai Mark!" "Well, It's official, I have cancer!" "Hahaha, so Mark hows your sex life?"). The Room has been a fan favorite bad movie for over two decades and will continue to go down in history as a cult classic, and one of the worst films of all time.

The Room

R

Drama

Romance

Independent

Release Date

June 27, 2003

Director

Tommy Wiseau

Cast

Tommy Wiseau , Juliette Danielle , Greg Sestero , Philip Haldiman , Carolyn Minnott , Robyn Paris

Runtime

99 minutes

2 'Twisted Pair' (2018)

Directed by Neil Breen

Tommy Wiseau may have the single most infamous film of all time, but the most infamous filmography of the modern era, likely belongs to Neil Breen. The director of six of the most hard to follow, baffling, inventive, and downright jaw-dropping low budget independent movies ever made, Neil Breen's fifth feature length film Twisted Pair features twice the normal amount of the auteur director. Twisted Pair stars Breen as twins Cale and Cade, who were selected by a futuristic "entity" as children and given cybernetic powers in "the digital forest" so that they could- is anyone still following? With a story the goes on to include time travel, an actual fairy, and "programmable virtual reality" Neil Breen's attempt to tell a story of brotherhood gets lost in the shuffle of one of the craziest plots of this century.

Of course, the brothers played by Neil are still very present, and Breen's performance as the straight-laced Cade and the drug-addicted Cale both come with their own hilarious types of overacting. This is a trait shared by every other actor in the film (of which there are a shocking number) and when paired with Breen's sub-par cinematography, and special effects stolen straight out of The Amazing Bulk, Twisted Pair is a film that is packed so densely with insanity and poor decisions that a new one is caught upon every rewatch. It's also now the first of Breen's films to ever get a sequel in Cade: The Tortured Crossing, a film that makes a rewatch of Twisted Pair not only more timely, but also somehow more nonsensical with the added context.

1 'Who Killed Captain Alex?' (2010)

Directed by Nabwana IGG

Unlike other bad movies which seem unaware or ashamed of their quality, Uganda's premiere action movie Who Killed Captain Alex is 100% in on it. In Uganda, films are frequently watched alongside a 'Video Joker' who provides both helpful and mocking commentary throughout a film's runtime. Who Killed Captain Alex brings this experience directly to a viewers' home by featuring its very own VJ Emmie, baked directly into the movie itself. What would otherwise be an embarrassing home movie created by a few friends becomes one of the unique and original viewing experiences of all time thanks to the inclusion of the video joker. Whether it be screaming "MOVIE MOVIE" during fights, or simply calling its own characters stupid, this Wakaliwood masterpiece is one of the most hilarious so bad its good films of all time.

The action and effects are ultra low budget, featuring a terrible green screen, horrible effects, and an excited man screaming "ACTION" "COMBAT" "VIOLENCE" and any other words that come to the forefront of his brain at mid-moment. By adapting the tropes and conventions of Wakaliwood onto a familiar action genre template, Who Killed Captain Alex creates a unique and singular experience in the realm of bad movies. Simultaneously being able to be in on the joke, and blissfully ignorant of the fact that some may be laughing at this hidden gem rather than with it. Whether with friends or simply reliant on the companionship of VJ Emmie, Who Killed Captain Alex is a movie unlike no other to be enjoyed time and time again.

Who Killed Captain Alex?

Action

Drama

Comedy

Release Date

March 1, 2010

Director

Nabwana IGG

Cast

Sserunya Ernest , G. Puffs , Bukenya Charles , Kavubu Muhammed , Kasumba Isma , Faizat Muhammed , Bisaso Dauda , Musisi David , V.J. Emmie , Nabwana IGG

Runtime

68 minutes