http://ggtmc.libsyn.com/bonus-36-interview-with-matt-lynch
Also, Matt hosts the always enjoyable Scarecrow Video Podcast which is a favorite of mine. Listen to all of their episodes via itunes here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scarecrow-video-podcast/id442877975
(Notice that episode #31 is called Bad Movies We Love and is centered on this series and has 50 plus bad movies discussed within!)
Also, Matt hosts the always enjoyable Scarecrow Video Podcast which is a favorite of mine. Listen to all of their episodes via itunes here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scarecrow-video-podcast/id442877975
(Notice that episode #31 is called Bad Movies We Love and is centered on this series and has 50 plus bad movies discussed within!)
-----------------------------------
Working at Scarecrow Video (maybe you've heard of
us, we're the biggest video store on Earth), one of the most common
requests I get from customers is for a "So Bad It's Good" movie, and
they always look surprised when I tell them I don't really like films
like that. What they're really asking for is "Unintentionally
Hilarious", which bugs me because I don't like to go into a film looking
to make fun of it. I try to explain that even terrible movies are
capable of something interesting or unexpected, whether it's an unusual
performance or some striking photography or a few strange plot twists.
Usually the best bad movies have a lot of ambition that ends up being
limited either by money or lack of actual talent, and so I tried for
this list to come up with a few titles that are not just entertaining
and silly but have one or two unique elements. So here you go.
Recently
departed Richard Lynch is Rostov, a Russian terrorist who leads an
invasion of America. Haunted by visions of Chuck Norris, the man who
once nearly killed him, Rostov decides to get a little revenge on the
side. The titular invasion is pretty ridiculous, literally commandos in
jeeps driving through the suburbs blowing up random houses as opposed to
striking at military targets. Norris displays almost superhuman,
sometimes even magical powers, frequently appearing out of nowhere at
locations miles apart, just in time to stop the bad guys. This movie is
like 75% totally unconnected, gratuitous action, Golan-Globus style.
The
quintessential sci-fi cheesefest. Directed by the legendary Kinji
Fukasaku (BATTLE ROYALE), this 1968 US/Japan co-production about a space
station overrun by giant green tentacled aliens also features one of
the greatest movie theme songs every recorded. The "special" effects
make even the hokiest Kaiju efforts look like AVATAR, and the sets
wobble with every footstep. Still actually manages to ratchet up the
tension as the odds mount against a besieged crew of terrible actors
headed by Richard Jaeckel.
Buy THE GREEN SLIME from Warner Archive!
Buy THE GREEN SLIME from Warner Archive!
Michael
Winner is one of the greatest purveyors of sleaze cinema ever. Some of
his stuff (like the first DEATH WISH or APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH) even has
the whiff of legitimacy to it. He's probably best known for the amusing
but overrated DEATH WISH 3, surely on another one of these lists
somewhere. But these two films are his twin masterpieces. SCREAM FOR
HELP is essentially the slimiest Nancy Drew movie ever made (and easily
my favorite bad film of all time), following as it does a teenage virgin
as she investigates her murderous stepfather while at the same time
navigating the psychological trauma of young womanhood. DIRTY WEEKEND is
basically DEATH WISH with a woman; Winner's attempt at a feminist
revenge film is not only offensively stupid but graphic even by his high
standards. Look out for the scene (possibly only on the uncut European
version) wherein our heroine pukes up a wad of David McCallum's goo.
This sequel
to the 1976 KING KONG is known as one of the greatest amusingly bad
films ever, but really it's just an American Kaiju film. Kong, last seen
dying at the base of the World Trade Towers, has actually been on life
support ever since. When his heart begins to fail, cardiac surgeon Linda
Hamilton uses a crane and a crack team of doctors to fit him with a
mechanical heart in a ridiculous scene you absolutely must witness.
Totally absurd but full of great man-in-suit effects. No dumber than any
given mid-period Godzilla film.
Had to
include this one despite it being extremely well known. Intergalactic
Drug Dealer vs. Dolph Lundgren. Maybe the quintessential film you
watched over and over on cable as a kid.
Fred
Williamson directs and stars in this scrappy, lo-fi cop thriller. When
his partner is killed, seemingly at random, by a sniper, Chicago cop
Soda Cracker (it's just a nickname according to the awful theme song)
teams up with fellow officer Maud Adams and goes after drug dealer Bo
Svenson. Lots of great Chicago location photography and a relaxed,
almost comedic performance from Williamson set this apart from the
typical junk of this sort. Not particularly exciting but has a weird
sense of humor.
Probably the
closest thing on this list to an actual So Bad It's Good. MAUSOLEUM
stars ex-Playboy Bunny Bobbie Bresee as Susan Nomed, heir to the curse
of the Nomed women who, of course, are doomed to demonic possession.
First this turns her into an insatiable slut, much to the chagrin of her
idiot husband (Marjoe Gortner), but eventually she becomes a hideous
monster with man-eating breasts (really!). This one also has one of the
most baffling final moments of any film I've ever encountered,
essentially the film saying "Well, we don't know what the hell any of
that was about either." Awful 80s fashions a bonus.
This one
is tough to find, available as far as I know only on a region 3 DVD
from Celestial. It's a Shaw Brothers jam about a young woman who works
on a farm owned by a wealthy landowner. Lonely, her only friend is her
pet cobra. One day the landowner's nephew visits; they fall in love and
are shortly married. Only it turns out that he has other relatives who
are intent on stealing the family land from him. Repeated attempts at
murdering the newlyweds are foiled by this apparently superintelligent
cobra. Also features an (common-to-HK-films) actual fight between the
cobra and a mongoose.
An unheralded
Van Damme vehicle. I'm fond of referring to this as a thoroughly second
rate film. Everything about it is basically not quite as good as a
bigger budget film of its type. Van Damme is an ex-fireman instead of an
ex-cop. He works security at the local arena in Pittsburgh instead of
NY or LA. It takes place during the Stanley Cup finals as opposed to the
Superbowl or World Series. The target of terrorists is the Vice
President as opposed to POTUS. I could go on. Powers Boothe is
outstanding as the charismatic not-quite-Alan Rickmanesque villain. This
one was directed by the great workmanlike hack Peter Hyams and, fun
fact, features the exact same improvised weapon (a chemical bomb) used
to defeat the bad guys that Hyams would employ in his very next film THE
RELIC. SUDDEN DEATH is also that movie where Van Damme fights a guy in a
Pittsburgh Penguin mascot costu
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