Guilty pleasure of loving bad movies

(MENAFN) Film critics recently slammed the latest version of War of the Worlds, starring Ice Cube as a man trying to save humanity from an alien invasion without ever leaving his desk. Reviews called it everything from “the worst possible adaptation” of H.G. Wells’s story to “one of the worst movies ever made.” The film quickly earned a 0% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, sparking both mockery and curiosity online.

Some viewers were drawn to the movie despite—or because of—its awful reputation. Actor Patrick Schwarzenegger admitted he felt compelled to watch it, showing how even bad reviews can make a film irresistible. Lon Harris, an executive producer and movie fan, described hitting a very low Rotten Tomatoes score as “something I need to experience,” finding intrigue in universal agreement on a film’s poor quality.

Harris watched War of the Worlds expecting the worst and wasn’t disappointed. He found the movie “very silly,” with Ice Cube’s one-man performance at times feeling like a parody, including a bizarre subplot about Amazon drone deliveries. The film’s premise, shaped by pandemic-era restrictions, confines the hero to watching events unfold on a laptop screen, giving it a raw and unpolished feel. For Harris, this imperfect quality adds charm compared to glossy blockbusters.

One critic even softened their stance after watching, calling it “stupid, but... a great deal of fun,” helping nudge the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score from zero to four percent.

For Timon Singh, founder of the Bristol Bad Film Club, truly terrible movies offer unforgettable entertainment. He points out that films with glaring mistakes—out-of-focus shots, crew wandering into scenes, fallen wigs—can be more enjoyable than big-budget blockbusters like Transformers: The Last Knight, which he finds boring despite technical polish. Singh highlights Samurai Cop as a wonderfully bad film full of laughable acting and fight scenes that stick with viewers long after watching.

Cult favorites like The Room, often called a “trash masterpiece,” have earned devoted followings despite low critic scores. Its maker, Tommy Wiseau, is seen as a “bad film auteur” whose earnest but flawed work captivates audiences.

Film scholar Katharine Coldiron explains that watching filmmakers who try hard and fail is far more engaging than those who simply go through the motions. Her favorite “so-bad-it’s-good” film is Staying Alive, Sylvester Stallone’s much-criticized sequel to Saturday Night Fever. She loves to watch it just to shout at its sociopathic characters and laugh at its many failings.

In the end, it seems that audiences enjoy terrible films not in spite of their flaws, but because of the unique, unforgettable experience those flaws create.

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