Not all movies are created equal. There are the great works of art like Citizen Kane and modern classics like The Dark Knight at the top of the heap. The spectrum degrades to lesser favorites and mediocre films. Then, at the bottom of the barrel are the bad and unwatchable.
But what about the movies that are so bad they're good? They are a class unto themselves.
You know the kind, it's a dramatic movie with so much unintentional humor that you bust a gut laughing. Or, a film with such low production values that you can't help but admire the cheap special effects.
In a tradition of these bad-but-great movies, I present to you the following movie clip from YouTube dubbed "The Worst Movie Ending Ever."
The movie here is the 1987 classic Student Confidential. It stars the late King of Pop's brother Marlon Jackson as a computer geek. Yeah, he's the chap in the video with an uncontrollable smile. Not only him but it also stars Michael Douglas' brother.
Surprisingly, this movie is available on DVD. It's from Troma, a small little independent studio that's made a business from these kinds of cult movies. Troma and its leader Lloyd Kaufman are the ones responsible for The Toxic Avenger, Redneck Zombies, and Cannibal! The Musical.
There's also Mystery Science Theater 3000, the show that features silhouetted heads talking over some low budget oldies. They championed the so-bad-they're-good class for 11 TV seasons.
For me, my favorite bad movie is They Live, the 1988 sci-fi classic from John Carpenter starring Roddy Piper. It's the film that delivered us this epic line of dialogue "I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass -- and I'm all out of bubblegum."
What about you? What are your most treasured bad movies? Please give us the reasons why you think they should earn the rank of so bad they're good. Assume we've never seen the film and state your case. Feel free to include links to YouTube clips as evidence. We'll honor the most deserving in our Hall of Fame -- And Shame.
Note that these movies are not the same as guilty pleasures. This refers to the films you're ashamed to say you like. (For me, those include Party Girl and Grease 2.) We'll save that topic for another day.
