I have a confession to make.
I love bad movies.
I also love musicals, so I doubly enjoyed the musical-comedy-horror film, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” and its sequel, “Return of the Killer Tomatoes.”
When the TV series “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” was on the air, I tuned in weekly. For those who don’t know, MST3K had its own characters sitting in a theater watching (and cracking jokes about) cheesy movies such as “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” and “Manos - The Hands of Fate.”
Bad Sci-Fi movies are another favorite – especially when you can see how the sausage was made. “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” directed by Ed Wood, is notorious for visible wires, stock footage and props made out of cardboard.
Sometimes, though, bad is bad. I agree that the movie “Eegah!” belongs on the “worst of all time” lists – and not in a good way. It’s about teenagers in dune buggies finding a prehistoric caveman in the desert.
Many more recent stinkers have shoved “Eegah!” off the Worst Movies list. Checking the 100 Worst Movies as ranked by Rotten Tomatoes, it’s not even on it. I haven’t seen many of the shows on that list. I saw the 1980 version of “The Fog,” but not its 2005 remake. Why would anyone remake “The Fog”? As Rotten Tomatoes says, it’s “a so-so remake of a so-so movie, lacking scares, suspense or originality.” I also saw the original (1990) “Flatliners,” I think – it wasn’t memorable – but not the 2017 reboot on the list.
When I was younger, I often missed movies when they came out but would invariably see the sequel. I saw “Rocky II” and “Karate Kid II” before seeing the originals. I’ve heard that a successful sequel just rehashes the original, which may be why I liked both of those sequels, while folks who made it to the theater for the real deal were less impressed. Another sequel on the Worst 100 list that I think I saw was “Staying Alive,” a follow-up to Saturday Night Fever.
Did you know there’s a sequel to “A Christmas Story”? It set six years after the first one, but instead of wanting a Red Ryder BB Gun, our hero Ralphie has his eyes fixed on a car.
Some movies need to be remade. I’ve seen every version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” – the 1956, 1978, and the 2007 version, “The Invasion.” I think we’re due for a new one. I also see I missed “Body Snatchers,” made in 1993. Will definitely look for that one.
The best thing about bad movies are that they are often unintentionally funny and if you’re watching them at home you can call out heckles. (The remake of the mini-series “V” was good for that.) But another highlight is that you go into a bad movie with no expectations. You can always walk away if you’re really bored or disgusted, but sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised.
That happened to me recently when I had the TV on but was mostly ignoring a dumb movie called “Step Brothers,” starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. I really wasn’t paying attention – just had it on as background noise. In fact, I didn’t even know the name of the movie until I got caught up in a scene and asked Google, “Did Will Ferrell really sing in ... ?” It turns out Ferrell sang an operatic piece, “Por Ti Volaré,” and Reilly played a fantastic drum solo to cap it off.
That’s really the appeal, isn’t it? A good movie asks for your full attention and rewards it. A bad movie asks for nothing at all — and every so often it rewards you anyway, with a Ferrell aria or a cardboard UFO on a visible wire. Maybe that’s why I keep coming back. The good movies are the ones I remember. But the bad ones are the ones I love telling people about.
Susan Thacker is managing editor of the Great Bend Tribune. Contact her at sthacker@gbtribune.com.
