A little while back our pal Royce posted about movies that have low critics scores but maybe deserve another look. It’s a great reminder that taste is subjective and individualistic, and there are probably a lot of examples you can think of where you really liked something but someone else didn’t.

I’m going to do a bit of a different take on the idea. Instead of looking at movies that can be watched a few different ways and people can come to different conclusions, since Royce did such a great job with that, I’m going to go with a very elusive subgenre of film; so bad it’s good.

What is that? They are movies that are terrible by every method and metric we have of measuring a movie. BUT even in spite of that, or sometimes because of it, these movies are still very fun to watch. Whether it’s to groan at the awfulness, stare in disbelief, make fun of it while you’re watching, quote along with it, host viewing parties, or just enjoy it ironically, these movies are famous for how bad but also for how enjoyable they are.

Now a big caveat to this subgenre is that a movie cannot be trying to be so bad it’s good. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t include films like Sharknado or Birdemic in this category. Everyone making those movies knew they were bad and so did everyone who watched them. So Bad It’s Good is elusive in that it has to be accidental and organic to fit into the category. Where everyone involved probably started out thinking they were making something pretty neat, but then things went horribly horribly wrong, be it weird decisions during and after filming, weird casting choices, bad filming due to budget constraints or straight up incompetence, etc. And then a bad film has to come out of all of that and still be fun. So many bad films are just bad or boring or forgettable or aggravating. So Bad It’s Good films have to have that x factor of still being enjoyable to watch, even if not in the way it was intended.

Never actively tried to watch a bad movie? Well, if you’ve never seen Mystery Science Theater 3000 have I got a show for you! What began as a 1990s public access TV show has since developed a strong fan base and a Netflix revival, and it’s all around watching bad movies. The general premise is that a human (Joel, Mike or Jonah, depending on which era you’re watching) is trapped by evil overlords on a spaceship as an experiment. As the theme song explains: “I’ll send him cheesy movies, the worst I can find. (La la la) He’ll have to sit and watch them all and I’ll monitor his mind. (La la la)” How would a mere human survive such hideous experimentation? With the help of his robot friends! Namely Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crow! Servo, Crow and our human captive watch these movies and make fun of them the whole time, with hilarious results.

One of the movies that MST3K kept from fading into obscurity was a bizarre 1966 film called Manos: The Hands of Fate. (BTW, manos is Spanish for hands, so the title is literally Hands: The Hands of Fate, and it’s a good first clue that this film is going to go off the rails hard). Made for a very minimal budget by a fertilizer salesman on a dare, Manos has long been a contender for the worst movie ever made. It has it all; weird acting, stilted dialogue, bizarre editing choices, a ridiculous story that involves a scene of a brawl between women in night gowns that goes on for way too long. etc. It’s a masterclass in what can go wrong in making a movie.

If you can find the MST3K version go for it. However, we have access to a digital copy of the original for your next party, where you and your friends can supply your own sarcastic comments.

And fair warning; like Royce pointed out in his post, everyone’s mileage varies when it comes to movies and this subgenre is no exception. Everyone has different tolerance levels for bad movies, so proceed with caution. There are some movies I can’t watch even with Joel or Mike and the bots because I really can’t stand them.

Having said that, I have some more examples for you in this handy list.

I want to give a special shoutout to Jupiter Ascending, one of my personal favorites. This little gem comes to us from the Wachowski siblings, the same people who made The Matrix. It’s pretty but very weird, with Channing Tatum playing a character who is part dog, Sean Bean with a lot of bees, Mila Kunis as the potential savior of the universe caught in the middle of royal sibling drama, and Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne giving one of his most bizarre but hilarious performances.

Happy watching, laughing, pointing and groaning!