125-463: Nukie is a 1987 South African science-fiction film directed by Sias Odendaal and Michael Pakleppa, and based on an original story by Odendaal. The film stars Anthony Morrison, Steve Railsback , Ronald France, and Glynis Johns . The plot concerns an alien, Nukie, who crash lands on Earth and seeks help from two children to reunite with his brother, Miko, who has been captured by the US government . The film
250-491: A Mona Lisa 2 , but with a moustache." The Golden Turkey Awards named it the second-worst film ever made, after Plan 9 from Outer Space and it also appeared in The Official Razzie Movie Guide . The A.V. Club listed it as the worst sequel of all time and critic Bill Chambers stated it was "Possibly the worst film ever made and surely the worst sequel ever made." Friedkin believed the sequel diminished
375-475: A dream sequence , Glen undergoes psychotherapy to help "cure" him of his transvestism . Leonard Maltin wrote that Glen or Glenda was worse than Wood's later Plan 9 from Outer Space and considered it "possibly the worst movie ever made". Julien Allen of Reverse Shot similarly wrote that it was "widely considered to be an atrocity" and "the most catastrophic failure of [Wood's] singularly bad career". Richard Barrios described Glen or Glenda as "one of
500-464: A hit and run accident , manslaughter , murder , attempted rape, and descent into madness, association with organized crime and suicide. Pacific Standard wrote that Reefer Madness was "one of the first films ever to be considered transcendentally bad" and Leonard Maltin has called it "the grand-daddy of all 'Worst' movies". Las Vegas CityLife named it the "worst ever" runner-up to Plan 9 from Outer Space , and News.com.au considered it
625-445: A late night television show featuring the worst movies ever made. The Babe Ruth Story is a 1948 baseball film biography of Babe Ruth , starring William Bendix , Claire Trevor and Sam Levene . The New York Times describes it as "the Plan 9 from Outer Space of baseball biopics". It was rushed into release while Ruth was still alive. One infamous scene features Ruth promising
750-566: A "disastrous flop turned cult classic" due to its "terrible acting and exaggerated drug-addicted stereotypes". Natalli Amato of The Daily Dot included Reefer Madness on her list of the best worst movies, writing that it "may be one of the worst movies of all time for the fact that it accomplished the exact opposite of its intended goal" by becoming a cult classic among stoners. Leafly ' s Danté Jordan also wrote that it may be "the worst movie of all time", criticizing its many inaccuracies regarding marijuana use and calling it "easily one of
875-469: A $ 38,000 budget, much of it takes place at The Pike amusement park in Long Beach, California , which resembles Brooklyn 's Coney Island . The film was billed as the first "monster musical", beating out The Horror of Party Beach by a mere month in release date. The music critic Lester Bangs wrote an appreciative 1973 essay about Incredibly Strange Creatures in which he tries to explain and justify
1000-461: A 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with the consensus stating that it is "justly celebrated for its staggering ineptitude". Phil Hall of Film Threat contends that the film is "far too entertaining to be considered as the very worst film ever made", and Kim Newman states that, "The worst thing you can say about a film is that it's boring, and Plan 9 is a fairly entertaining movie." Although Flavorwire included it on its list of
1125-440: A better received director's cut that debuted on home video in 2013. Exorcist II: The Heretic is the sequel to William Friedkin 's Oscar -winning 1973 film , this time directed by John Boorman . Friedkin opted not to return to direct the sequel and The Daily Telegraph states that Boorman "hated the original" and intended The Heretic to be an "antidote ... to wash away the evil of Friedkin's film." Set four years after
1250-414: A cult following akin to The Rocky Horror Picture Show . It was then released internationally on home video by Grindhouse Releasing . Gil Shefler of The Jewish Daily Forward described it as "perfectly awful", offering that it "probably is the worst Israeli movie ever made, and a serious candidate for the worst movie of all time". Its description as "a serious candidate for the worst movie of all time"
1375-425: A director on the rise after directing The Deer Hunter (which won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director), his reputation never recovered after Heaven's Gate . The production is also notorious for the cruelty to animals that occurred both on screen and on site, including deliberately killing a horse with explosives. The controversies surrounding Heaven's Gate ' s failure are credited for having
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#17330927262961500-426: A dying child that he will hit two home runs . The child is subsequently cured of his ailments after Ruth delivers on the promise. Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams believed it to be the worst movie he had ever seen. The Washington Times stated that it "stands as possibly the worst movie ever made". The Spokesman-Review included the film on its list of the worst films of all time, while Paul Newberry of
1625-420: A goatee, so Lewis recast him as the brother of the original character. The picture consists mostly of lengthy dialogue sequences concerning the apparent mutation of an astronaut into a monster portrayed by the 231-cm-tall (7 ft 6¾ in) Henry Hite . Poor audio quality makes much of the dialogue unintelligible, and when the film is overexposed, several characters' faces appear as bright white, glowing circles. During
1750-563: A growing trend by large international houses to use Cape Town , Johannesburg and other South African locations for their film productions. Jacqueline Maingard at the University of Bristol has written about the history of film in South Africa. Listed alongside each distributor are the studios they represent: Here are several notable South African filmmaker's that have added to South Africa's cinema history: List of films considered
1875-459: A growing trend of shooting in real locations, rather than using backlots. From 2009, there was an increased use of South African locations and talent by international film studios. US productions like District 9 (2009), Chronicle (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Dark Tower (2017), Tomb Raider (2018), The Kissing Booth (2018), Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), Escape Room (2019) and Bloodshot (2020) reflect
2000-483: A harsh review: " No Orchids for Miss Blandish is not only a disgrace to the studio that made it, but it also reflects on the British industry as a whole ... the entire production is unpardonable." Cliff Goodwin, discussing No Orchids for Miss Blandish ' s initial reception, notes it was "unanimously dubbed 'the worst film ever made ' ". Later reviews of the film were equally antipathetic. No Orchids for Miss Blandish
2125-399: A horror movie. Warren was convinced by the film's cinematographer and stunt coordinator that most of its glaring mistakes could be fixed in a Dallas post-production studio, when in reality the two wanted to quickly wrap the production because they were not being paid. Several technical gaffes made it into the film, including scenes filmed out of focus, a marking slate being seen in one shot,
2250-424: A largely British cast (including an early role for Sid James ) was seen as unconvincing. The British film journal Monthly Film Bulletin called it "the most sickening exhibition of brutality, perversion, sex and sadism ever to be shown on a cinema screen". The Sunday Express film reviewer called No Orchids for Miss Blandish "the worst film I have ever seen". The Australian newspaper The Age also gave
2375-592: A legacy as being "the worst musical extravaganza in Hollywood history", and Jay Cocks has said the film was "regarded as the great white elephant catastrophe of its time". Lester J. Keyser wrote that it was "justly included on most lists of the ten worst films ever made", as it was included in Michael Sauter's The Worst Films of All Time , The Golden Turkey Awards and Vanity Fair' s worst film list. Bogdanovich lamented being influenced by studio previews to cut
2500-454: A role in ending the " auteur period " of the 1970s, with studios subsequently taking control back from directors. Vincent Canby called it "an unqualified disaster", among other things. Roger Ebert called it "the most scandalous cinematic waste I've ever seen". After word of his grandiose spending and defiant nature toward studio United Artists got out (detailed in Final Cut by Steven Bach ,
2625-615: A run as the worst movie of all time." Howard Hughes funded The Conqueror , an epic film featuring John Wayne as Mongolian chieftain Genghis Khan and the redheaded Susan Hayward as a Tatar princess. The movie was filmed near St. George, Utah , downwind from a nuclear testing range in Nevada , and is often blamed for the cancer deaths of many of the cast and crew, including Hayward, Wayne, Agnes Moorehead , Pedro Armendáriz , and director Dick Powell . In addition to filming near
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#17330927262962750-400: A shred of artistic distinction," adding, "Attending it was one of the most depressing experiences of my life" and considered it the worst movie ever made. Gene Siskel also considered it one of the worst films ever made. Film Racket featured it as their first entry in to their "Worst Movie Ever?" series, while Vanity Fair and Flavorwire included it in their worst film lists. Despite
2875-435: A studio executive involved with the film from the beginning), Cimino was awarded the 1980 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director , and the film was nominated for four more Razzies, including Worst Picture. In 1999, Time placed the film on a list of the 100 worst ideas of the 20th century, and Rolling Stone ranked it as one of the worst decisions in movie history. In 2008, Joe Queenan of The Guardian called it
3000-636: A terminally ill American fashion designer in Venice, Italy , and Marcello Mastroianni as a race car driver who has a whirlwind affair with her. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it the "most godawful piece of pseudo-romantic slop I've ever seen!" and Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times referred to it as "the worst movie I have seen all year and possibly since 1926". Leonard Maltin noted Ebert's comments in his review, and offered that
3125-435: A very few others, it will remain as an artifact in years to come to which scholars and searchers for truth can turn and say, ' This was trash! ' " The 2004 DVD The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made listed this film as the worst film of all time. Time Out and Flavorwire included it on their respective worst film lists. Monster a Go-Go! began as Terror at Halfday by Bill Rebane . The production ran out of money and
3250-567: A zero-star rating, dubbing it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash", accusing it of being artistically vulgar in its depiction of sex and violence, and of having technically incompetent direction and structure. It was one of the few films Ebert ever walked out on (two hours into its 170-minute running time), after describing himself as feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". Ebert also placed it on his "Most Hated" list and Michael Sauter selected it for The Worst Movies of All Time . Australian newspaper The Age stated that Caligula
3375-505: Is a pre-Code exploitation - horror film directed by Dwain Esper . The story is a loose adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story " The Black Cat " and follows a vaudeville impersonator who becomes an assistant to a mad scientist . Promoted as a documentary on mental illness , Maniac was criticized for its gratuitous footage of women undressing and for plagiarizing horror sequences from
3500-479: Is a "rare re-edited version of a movie that features less graphic sex and violence than the original." In an interview with The Guardian , McDowell praised the removal of sexually explicit material added by Guccione, and said The Ultimate Cut is "very much the movie I thought I was making"." The Ultimate Cut holds an 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 37 reviews; however, Brass has publicly disowned it. The Western epic Heaven's Gate , loosely based on
3625-480: Is about a large slug-like alien that lands on Earth and terrorizes a small town in California. The film is memorable for its use of some bargain-basement effects: stock footage of a rocket launch played in reverse to depict the landing of an alien spacecraft, and the "monster" appears to be composed of a length of shag carpet draped over several actors. Notably, the creature's victims inexplicably stand perfectly still as
3750-545: Is being held captive. The head of the Space Foundation operation Dr. Glynn sends Dr. Eric Harvey to Nairobi to investigate the other crash site. During their experiments, the scientists discover that Miko is a being made of pure energy. Nukie begins to explore his surroundings, coming across two children, Tiko and Toki, who can understand Nukie. He asks them for their help with finding America, but they run off vowing not to tell anybody about what has happened. Sister Anne,
3875-456: Is bitten by a cobra and is taken back to the camp by Dr. Harvey while the Corporal arrives and shoots Nukie with tranquilizers. The tribe carries Nukie's unconscious body back to the village. Tiko tells Dr. Harvey and Sister Anne about Nukie's capture. E.D.D.I attempts once more to scan for Nukie, and manages to lock in on Toki. Toki discovers the tribe has Nukie imprisoned in a cage and sneaks into
Nukie - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-573: Is of a banality matched only by the woodenness of the acting". Time Out magazine called The Swarm a "risibly inadequate disaster movie". The Swarm is included in several "worst movie" books, including the Medved brothers' The Golden Turkey Awards , and The Official Razzie Movie Guide . It soon gained a cult status (enough so that Warner Archive released the extended version on Blu-ray ). I Spit on Your Grave became controversial for its graphic violence and lengthy depictions of gang rape. It
4125-426: Is only remarkable for how undeniably terrible it is", noting that it appears on lists of the worst films ever made . Critic Brad Jones, the creator and star of the web series The Cinema Snob , selected Nukie as the worst film he has ever seen. British film magazine Total Film described Nukie as an "atrocity heralded by some as the 'most painful movie ever made'". Total Film listed it in separate articles as
4250-643: The Aldergrove Star described The Conqueror as the worst ever made and Complex listed it as the worst biopic ever made. The Guardian called the choice of Wayne for Khan – a role originally written for Marlon Brando – "one of the worst casting decisions of all time". Wayne lamented taking the role, stating, "Don't make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you are not suited for." The Daily Telegraph writes: "by absolutely every conceivable metric – financially, critically, historically, ethnically, and even body count – it would come to be known as one of
4375-547: The Associated Press wrote that the film's place on "nearly every list of the worst movies ever made" was "with good reason". Newsday ' s Jack Mathews similarly wrote that The Babe Ruth Story was "what many people consider to be the worst sports movie of all time". It also was called one of the worst sports films ever each by Newsday and The A.V. Club , and called one of the worst biopics by Moviefone and Spike . Entertainment writer Michael Sauter included
4500-611: The 82nd Academy Awards . The first film studio in South Africa, Killarney Film Studios , was established in 1915 in Johannesburg by American business tycoon Isidore W. Schlesinger when he traveled to South Africa against his family's wishes after he read about the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand and was interested in exploring what he could find. During the 1910s and 1920s, a significant amount of South African films were made in or around Durban . These films often made use of
4625-486: The Johnson County War in 1890s Wyoming , was plagued by massive cost and time overruns, largely due to director Michael Cimino 's extreme attention to detail. He demanded 50 takes of at least one scene and refused to start shooting for another until a cloud he liked rolled across the sky. It cost over $ 44 million, but brought in only $ 3.5 million at the box office . The original version ran at nearly four hours, but
4750-524: The MPAA brought it down to an R. It also used the technique of inserting clips from Golden Age movies in such a way that the dialogue took on sexual undertones. The film was a critical failure, with Time magazine saying, " Myra Breckinridge is about as funny as a child molester." Leonard Maltin gave it a BOMB (the lowest score possible) and stated that it was "as bad as any movie ever made". The Miami News critic Herb Kelly nominated Myra Breckinridge as
4875-511: The 1922 silent film Häxan . Danny Peary believes that Maniac is the worst film ever made, and Charlie Jane Anders of Gawker Media ' s io9 described it as "possibly the worst movie in history." Rotten Tomatoes placed Maniac on its list of movies "So Bad They're Unmissable", Vanity Fair included the film on its list of the 20 worst movies ever and it is featured in John J. B. Wilson 's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying
5000-528: The 50 worst movies ever made (in the 50th spot), writer Jason Bailey described The Golden Turkey Awards ' s assessment of it as "a label that stuck" and opined that he did not think it was even Wood's worst film. Likewise, John Wirt of The Advocate goes as far as to call it "the ultimate cult flick", and Videohound's Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics states, "In fact, the film has become so famous for its own badness that it's now beyond criticism." Barber credits Plan 9 ' s cult following to
5125-474: The 66 worst films ever made. A documentary directed by Pete Schuermann about the making of the film, The Creep Behind The Camera , was released in 2014. The sci-fi movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was the creation of TV director Nicholas Webster . Because Martian children only get to see Santa Claus on TV signals beamed from Earth, their parents decide to abduct Santa to make them happy. The film
Nukie - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-570: The 66 worst films of all time. The 1972 Israeli film An American Hippie in Israel is about an American hippie traveling to Israel after being involved with the Vietnam War , befriending Israeli flower children , and encountering "menacing" mimes along the way. The film was presumed lost , but after resurfacing 38 years after its production, it became a "midnight sensation" in Tel Aviv and developed
5375-508: The Best of Hollywood's Worst . Reefer Madness (originally released as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled or subtitled as The Burning Question , Dope Addict , Doped Youth , and Love Madness ) is a 1936 American exploitation film and propaganda work revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to smoke cannabis — and consequently become addicted and involved in various crimes such as
5500-423: The Corporal has been trying to sell Nukie. E.D.D.I attempts to free Miko, but cannot bypass the security system. Miko manages to escape with the help of Pamela Carter. Nukie and Toki manage to evade the Corporal, who drives off the edge of a cliff into a river while attempting to run them down. Nukie ends up in the river too and goes over a waterfall, severely injuring him. Unable to contact Miko, Nukie suggests that
5625-531: The Corporal's truck as he transports Nukie, later freeing him at a trading post with Charlie. The Corporal finds Toki and holds him at gunpoint as Nukie and Charlie escape. Sister Anne is alerted to the Corporal's presence and distracts him long enough to allow the pair to escape. Nukie finds Tiko at the infirmary and heals him as Toki and Charlie arrive. Toki and Nukie decide to leave Tiko to recover and set off to find America. Sister Anne attempts to contact Dr. Harvey but finds out that he has left for America and that
5750-465: The Extra-Terrestrial knock-off, Mac and Me . Abrams wrote that Nukie was worse than Mac and Me , adding that it was "probably the most incompetent E.T. ripoff of any time period ... While Mac and Me was just rotten and ill-conceived, Nukie is uniquely perplexing." Comic Book Resources described it as E.T. ' s "most infamous imitator" and reported that it is "regarded as one of
5875-651: The French magazine Télérama ranked it 17th in its list of the 100 greatest films in the history of cinema, describing the work as "a post-classical, lyrical, and disenchanted Western". The Apple (also called Star Rock ) is a 1980 science fiction musical comedy film written and directed by Menahem Golan . It stars Catherine Mary Stewart as a young singer named Bibi, who, in a futuristic 1994, signs to an evil label named Boogalow International Music. It deals with themes of conformity versus rebellion, and makes use of Biblical allegory , including that of Adam and Eve and
6000-526: The Space Foundation, Miko has started to befriend the supercomputer, the Electronic Digital Data Intelligence computer (nicknamed E.D.D.I), and convinces him to scan for Nukie. Dr. Harvey repairs the helicopter and takes off, tracking Nukie. Tiko and Toki are brought before the tribal chief Sangoma and are banished for bringing Nukie into their midst. The two later reunite with Nukie, who expresses disappointment over their banishment. Tiko
6125-592: The World's Worst Film Festival in Ottawa, Canada , which reportedly delighted Bradley. It has been featured in The Golden Turkey Awards and Canned Film Festival , and has been spoofed on The Simpsons multiple times. A loose spoof of the 1966 Batman television series cited as one of the earliest examples of a pornographic parody film , the presumably-1970s pornographic film Bat Pussy has been described as
6250-452: The alien planet in which an automobile is visible driving past). Leslie Halliwell described Fire Maidens from Outer Space as "a strong contender for the title of the worst movie ever made, with diaphanously clad English gals striking embarrassed poses against cardboard sets". British film historian I.Q. Hunter included it in his list of candidates for "the worst British film ever made". The DVD Talk website's review claimed it "may be among
6375-459: The aliens which were poorly constructed and designed to be worked by small children who could only wear the suits for three to four minutes at a time before risking suffocation. By the time the film had finished a lengthy post production process, Pakleppa's own company refused to release the film and instead went directly to television while also having its foreign rights sold off to various distributors. Witney Seibold of /Film writes that " Nukie
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#17330927262966500-456: The best film ever made about a mutated catfish". Critic Jeffrey Kauffman said, "this is the sort of film Ed Wood, Jr. might have made—on a bad day" and added, "Lovers of fantastically bad films rate Zaat one of the worst". Patrick Naugle of DVD Verdict stated, "The acting in Zaat is below subpar. Actors seem to be whispering their lines and trying hard not to fully comprehend that they're in one of
6625-456: The biggest disasters in cinematic history." Rolling Stone described the film as the worst decision in movie history. Hughes, one of the world's wealthiest people at the time, had previously produced the successful dramatic films Hell's Angels , Scarface , and The Outlaw . After viewing The Conqueror , Hughes bought every existing print for $ 12 million and refused to let the film be seen on TV until 1974, reportedly out of guilt over
6750-442: The camera, a character complaining about it getting dark while the sun is brightly shining, and the character Torgo, a satyr with overly large thighs, that three women attempt to massage to death. The film gained notoriety and cult popularity by being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , and was the show's most popular episode. The film has a rare 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes , and Entertainment Weekly says
6875-457: The climax of the movie, as soldiers prepare to confront the mutated astronaut, he abruptly vanishes and the narrator informs the audience, "there was no monster", and that the astronaut has, in fact, been in the Atlantic Ocean the entire time. All Movie Guide calls the film a "surreal anti-masterpiece". It was also featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , where writer Paul Chaplin called
7000-607: The cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (alongside spinoffs Cinematic Titanic , The Film Crew and RiffTrax ), and the Golden Raspberry Awards (aka the "Razzies"). Films on these lists are generally feature-length films that are commercial / artistic in nature (intended to turn a profit, express personal statements or both), professionally or independently produced (as opposed to amateur productions, such as home movies ), and released in theaters, then on home video. Maniac , also known as Sex Maniac ,
7125-445: The decision to shoot at such a hazardous location. This was the last film Hughes produced. Fire Maidens from Outer Space , a low-budget British space opera film (known in the US as Fire Maidens of Outer Space ), is about a group of astronauts visiting an all-female society on a moon of Jupiter . This film developed a negative reputation for its poor special effects (including a scene on
7250-461: The dialogue "garbled beyond recognition". The entire cast of the show later stated it was officially the worst movie they had ever seen. The low-budget horror film Manos: The Hands of Fate , made by El Paso insurance and fertilizer salesman Hal P. Warren, concerns a vacationing family kidnapped by a polygamous cult of pagans . The film was conceived after Warren bet Academy Award-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant that anyone could make
7375-464: The dramatic scenery available in rural KwaZulu-Natal , particularly the Drakensberg region. KwaZulu-Natal also served as the location for historical films such as De Voortrekkers (1916) and The Symbol of Sacrifice (1918). American filmmaker Lorimer Johnston directed several films in the area in the late 1910s which starred American actresses Edna Flugrath and Caroline Frances Cooke . Despite
7500-414: The epitome of cinematic awfulness. And that's why so many people love it." Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com and The Radio Times Guide to Films each described it as the worst movie ever made, and IGN wrote: " Plan 9 from Outer Space was the undisputed best worst movie ever made for decades until films like Troll 2 and The Room got notorious, and it's still a legitimate contender". It holds
7625-411: The film before its theatrical release. Unbeknownst to Bogdanovich, a studio editor who preferred the director's first cut constructed his own based on the test screening version that he once had access to. This version subsequently aired on cable TV and streamed on Netflix in place of the theatrical cut. When news of this reached Bogdanovich, he contacted Fox and made a few finishing touches, resulting in
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#17330927262967750-450: The film has been dubbed "the epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema" and has gained a cult following since appearing in The Golden Turkey Awards . My Year of Flops author Nathan Rabin wrote that: "It's hard to overstate the role Plan 9 From Outer Space and its eccentric creator have played in the birth and evolution of bad movie culture... Plan 9 was the original best worst movie." BBC writer Nicholas Barber wrote that "it stands as
7875-483: The film having some "halfway decent" elements, such as the film's title and screen presence of actors Tor Johnson and Maila Nurmi , while film historian Rodney F. Hill considers the film to be a "campy, cult masterpiece" with a "minimalist avant-garde aesthetic". The science-fiction/horror film The Creeping Terror was directed, produced, and edited by Vic Savage (under the pseudonym A.J. Nelson or Arthur Nelson, but kept his name when credited as an actor). The movie
8000-441: The film in 2008). The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (sometimes shortened to The Incredibly Strange Creatures ) is a 1964 American monster movie written and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler . Steckler also starred in the film, billed under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg". In the film, three friends visit a carnival and stumble onto a group of occultists and disfigured monsters. Produced on
8125-417: The film in his book, The Worst Movies of All Time , and Leonard Maltin called it "perfectly dreadful". No Orchids for Miss Blandish , a British gangster film adapted from the 1939 novel by James Hadley Chase , received a very hostile reception from the press. This was mainly due to the film's high (for the time) level of sexual and violent content, but also because its attempt to portray Americans using
8250-508: The film to be "the absolute nadir of pornography, period. Not just Batman-themed pornography. ALL pornography", deriding its "obese redneck " cast as rendering the film " wank -proof". PornParody.com , a website dedicated to the genre, acknowledged its status as "the worst adult movie of all time", describing Bat Pussy as "renowned for its technical ineptness and anti-eroticism" due to its "physically unappealing" actors. AV Maniacs contested Bat Pussy ' s categorization as pornography on
8375-547: The film was "low points for all concerned". A Place for Lovers was included as one of the choices in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, and Vanity Fair listed it as one of the 20 worst movies ever made. They Saved Hitler's Brain is a science fiction film directed by David Bradley . It was adapted for TV from a shorter 1963 theatrical feature film , Madmen of Mandoras , and was lengthened by about 20 minutes with additional footage shot by UCLA students at
8500-434: The film was abandoned. Herschell Gordon Lewis , who reportedly needed a second feature to comprise a double bill, purchased and completed it for a minimal amount of money. Several of the film's actors were unable to return, so Lewis simply replaced their parts with new characters who mysteriously appear and fill the roles of the missing characters. One of the actors Lewis managed to rehire had gained weight, gone bald, and grown
8625-553: The film's "over-the-top combination of outré aesthetics [and] exploitation-film tropes" has gained it cult status over time, and in 2024, Thomas Negovan released an extensive re-edit, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut , incorporating alternate takes and unused footage from the Penthouse archives to enhance narrative coherence while shortening the film's overall length. In a review in The New York Times , Elisabeth Vincentelli said that it
8750-478: The first film, Linda Blair reprised her role as Regan MacNeil , who is revealed to have healing powers, and Richard Burton stars as Father Philip Lamont, who believes that the demon Pazuzu targets those with healing abilities. Blair agreed to return for the sequel as long as she did not have to wear the possession make-up from the first film, leading to the use of an unconvincing stand-in, while Burton read his lines off cue cards. Despite his character dying in
8875-401: The footage into the film and cast Tom Mason as Lugosi's stand-in; Mason, a personal acquaintance of Wood, bore little resemblance to Lugosi and played his scenes holding the character's cape in front of his face. Although Golden Turkey Awards author Michael Medved credits Lugosi's top billing with its enduring legacy, The Independent listed various other shortcomings: "A UFO dangling in
9000-741: The funniest and worst movies ever made". Robot Monster is a science-fiction film produced and directed by Phil Tucker and originally shot and exhibited in 3D . Its title character, which is "a man in a gorilla suit wearing what looks like a diving helmet sprouting TV antennae", was given the Most Ridiculous Monster in Screen History award in The Golden Turkey Awards . It is also featured in The Book of Lists ' 10 worst movies list, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time and Michael Sauter's book The Worst Movies of All Time . Robot Monster
9125-426: The grounds of the lead actor's visible erectile dysfunction and instead labeled the film "anti-porn", asking "How else do you categorize an adult film that completely and utterly fails to elicit even the minutest amount of arousal in its viewers?" The book The Many More Lives of Batman by William Uricchio and Will Brooker also labeled Bat Pussy "the worst porn film ever made", criticizing its poor adaptation of
9250-458: The head of a Catholic mission, is contacted via radio to inform her that Dr. Harvey is on his way. Nukie comes across Charlie, a talking chimpanzee , who speaks to Nukie but he claims he does not know about America. The Corporal attempts to shoot Nukie, but he teleports out of harm's way and saves Tiko and Toki from a mountain lion. The boys then agree to help Nukie find America. Nukie attempts to commandeer Dr. Harvey's helicopter but crashes it. At
9375-473: The humans that they have to leave. Charlie asks to join them, and the three turn into balls of light before flying away. Michael Pakleppa, a distributor of films in Germany, optioned Nukie long before it was shot and without reading the script but was impressed by the poster which gave the impression of E.T. but in an African setting. Upon seeing the film, Pakleppa was flabbergasted by the end product and said of
9500-429: The intense negative reception from some critics, the film has a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with IGN critic R.L. Shaffer arguing that whether the film is repulsive and exploitative or ingenious depends on what the viewer wants from the movie: "Admittedly, I Spit on Your Grave is a gruesome, deplorable little exploitation picture that, on the surface, seems to enjoy its rape sequences just as much, if not more, than
9625-571: The modernity of a falling Coke bottle. The late Jamie Uys , who wrote and directed The Gods Must Be Crazy , also had success overseas in the 1970s with his films Funny People and Funny People II , similar to the TV series Candid Camera in the United States. Leon Schuster 's You Must Be Joking! films are in the same genre, and were popular among the white population of South Africa during apartheid . Another high-profile film portraying South Africa
9750-534: The most uncreative and tone-deaf pieces of anti-cannabis propaganda". The Terror of Tiny Town , directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Jed Buell , remains the only musical Western with an all- dwarf cast. The film was pulled from obscurity as a camp classic after appearing in college and midnight screenings in the early 1970s. In 1978, it was included in Michael Medved 's book, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time , and has since been listed as one of
9875-493: The movie is "widely regarded as, quite simply, the worst movie ever made". Even Warren himself would later admit his film was one of the worst ever, suggesting it might make a passable comedy if redubbed. The film was later restored and released on Blu-ray in 2015. A Place for Lovers is a French-Italian romantic film directed by Vittorio De Sica (a filmmaker known for acclaimed neorealist works, such as Umberto D and The Bicycle Thieves ), starring Faye Dunaway as
10000-743: The movie professionally graded, while the others were destroyed using a woodchipper to inflate the graded tape's value. The graded tape was then auctioned off on eBay with proceeds going to charity, selling for $ 80,600. The results of the auction made Nukie the most expensive VHS tape in history. Cinema of South Africa The cinema of South Africa refers to the films and film industry of South Africa. Films have been made in English and Afrikaans ( List of Afrikaans-language films ). Many foreign films have been produced about South Africa, including many involving race relations. The first South African film to achieve international acclaim and recognition
10125-507: The movie's value: "This flick doesn't just rebel against, or even disregard, standards of taste and art. In the universe inhabited by The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies , such things as standards and responsibility have never been heard of. It is this lunar purity which largely imparts to the film its classic stature. Like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and
10250-495: The original film, Max von Sydow returned for flashback sequences set in Africa, where Lamont flies to on the back of a locust . The Daily Telegraph notes that some consider it the worst film ever made. British film critic Mark Kermode called the original film his favorite film of all time but he believes the sequel to be the worst film ever made, stating: "This is a film that trashes a work of art. It's like someone deciding to do
10375-458: The participation of Johnson, Flugrath and Cooke, these were South African productions featuring local actors and stories. A notable theme in early South African cinema was the ethic confrontation between Boer and British South Africans stemming from the Second Boer War . Sarie Marais , directed by Joseph Albrecht , the first South African sound film and Afrikaans-language sound film,
10500-462: The request of the distributor. In the film, Adolf Hitler 's head was severed from his body at the end of World War II and the head plans to rule over a new Third Reich from South America . It has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on five reviews from critics, with an average rating of 1.3/10. TV Guide called it "One of the all-time worst", while Danny Peary said it was "A legitimate candidate for Worst Film Ever Made title." In 1979, it won
10625-480: The restored director's cut. In stark contrast, The Times called the restored version "a modern masterpiece" and its 1980 cut "one of the greatest injustices of cinematic history". The film has also been released on Blu-ray and DVD by the Criterion Collection . Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said that the film "has been called a disaster and a disgrace, yet also anointed a masterpiece." In 2023,
10750-601: The sale of the original book. Directed by Don Barton, Zaat was also known under various titles including Hydra , Attack of the Swamp Creatures , Legend of the Zaat Monster , and The Blood Waters of Dr. Z (the name under which it was lampooned on Mystery Science Theater 3000 ). The film follows a Nazi mad scientist who injects himself with a formula that turns him into a mutated catfish. Florida Times-Union critic Matt Soergel quipped that Zaat "could very well be
10875-560: The scarf on the female lead's head disappearing and reappearing, and an insect bumping the camera lens. The film was shot with a camera that could not record sound and had a 32-second maximum shot length. All dialogue was later dubbed by Warren and four others, including a grown woman who dubbed the voice for a seven-year-old girl. Manos opens with nine minutes of monotonous driving scenes reportedly intended to be overlaid with opening credits that were never added. The movie includes dialogue spoken while all characters are facing away from
11000-451: The script, distanced himself from the film, and actress Maria Schneider , who objected to the nude scenes, walked off the set and was replaced with then-unknown Teresa Ann Savoy . Upon its release, Vidal stated that it was "easily one of the worst films ever made". Caligula also received strongly hostile reviews from critics, who denounced its extreme scenes of sex and violence and lack of narrative coherence. Roger Ebert gave Caligula
11125-407: The sky has been variously said to be either a car hubcap or a paper plate. Actors read from scripts on their lap; sound microphones wobble in and out of shot. Fake trees and cemetery headstones wobble as the actors brush past them. Characters go into scenes when it's night time and leave five minutes later into daylight. ... the plot itself appears to be the product of insanity." Emanuel Levy notes
11250-601: The slow-moving monster approaches them. ComingSoon.net declared it "widely considered the worst picture ever made", calling Plan 9 From Outer Space "a bona fide magnum opus" compared to The Creeping Terror . Montreal Gazette and Dread Central also report that it has a reputation as being one of the worst films ever made. The film was featured in The Golden Turkey Awards , and its follow-up book, Son of Golden Turkey Awards . Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured The Creeping Terror in its sixth season and British film magazine Total Film included it on its list of
11375-436: The source material. The 1970 comedy film Myra Breckinridge , based on the book of the same name by Gore Vidal , directed by Michael Sarne and starring Raquel Welch , Rex Reed , Mae West , John Huston and Farrah Fawcett , provoked controversy due to a scene in which Welch forcibly sodomizes a bound man while clips from various classic films play onscreen. The film was initially rated X before edits and an appeal to
11500-449: The testing range, truckloads of the red sands were transported back to the studios for interior scenes and by 1980, 91 of the 220 (over 41%) cast and crew members had been diagnosed with cancer. The film made the ten-worst list in The Book of Lists , appears in Michael Sauter's The Worst Movies of All Time , and was among those listed in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time . Additionally,
11625-441: The three films he made, "the worst was Fire Maidens from Outer Space ...which is often cited as one of the ten worst movies ever made". Ed Wood 's Plan 9 from Outer Space , a science fiction film about aliens resurrecting the dead, was labeled the "Worst Film Ever" by The Golden Turkey Awards in 1980. Wood shot only a small amount of unrelated footage featuring top-billed star Bela Lugosi before his death. Wood incorporated
11750-488: The two of them try flying away. They manage to fly some of the way, but Nukie collapses from exhaustion and crashes. Toki wishes for his family as well as Miko and Nukie to be with him. Following his wish, Tiko, their mother, and Sister Anne arrive. Tiko explains that Nukie is not a bad omen as the tribe claim, but a friend who is in need. Nukie then appears in his light form, and Dr. Harvey lands in his helicopter bringing Miko with him. Miko and Nukie greet each other and inform
11875-408: The two tried to make a new edit of the film in the hopes of removing the racism, but after the process they only had about 40 minutes worth of usable footage. Pakleppa then made several trips to South Africa with a small crew and worked with the film's writer and director Sias Odendaal to try and salvage the film. The crew encountered many issues with the production specifically with the animatronics for
12000-545: The value of the original film and called it "the worst piece of shit I've ever seen" and "a fucking disgrace." Eventually, the film garnered so much hate that Boorman disowned it. In an interview with Bob McCabe for the book The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows , he confessed, "The sin I committed was not giving the audience what it wanted in terms of horror." A third installment into the Exorcist franchise , The Exorcist III: Legion ,
12125-433: The vengeance-filled finale. But on a more subtle level, the film is a surprisingly well-executed revenge story that plays like a brutally raw nerve – a terrifyingly stark view of the real horror of rape, painted by bizarre, skewed cinematography, gory violence, and a keen sense of creeping atmosphere and dread." The 1979 erotic historical drama Caligula , directed by Tinto Brass about the infamous Roman Emperor Caligula ,
12250-416: The viewing experience: We thought we'd all die. There was no South Africa. There were hardly any extraterrestrials. We basically just saw discussions between a nun and a helicopter pilot, who were going on and on about how stupid Black people are, or something. Imagine that again and again and again, at extreme length, and nothing else. After discussing the experience with executive producer Gregory Cascante,
12375-455: The website Film Critics United, stated, "Dollar for dollar, this could very well be the worst movie ever made." In 2011, Sean Bell of PopMatters wrote of its enduring legacy: "in the same way much of our attention-deficit civilisation may go through life vaguely aware that Citizen Kane is a masterpiece without ever seeing it, ... we know that Caligula is awful, usually without ever finding out for ourselves." Although widely criticized,
12500-487: The worst The films listed below have been cited by a variety of notable critics in varying media sources as being among the worst films ever made. Examples of such sources include Metacritic , Roger Ebert 's list of most-hated films, The Golden Turkey Awards , Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide , Rotten Tomatoes , pop culture writer Nathan Rabin 's My World of Flops , the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards ,
12625-463: The worst film ever made, saying that it "defies belief". Readers of film magazine Empire later voted Heaven's Gate the sixth-worst film of all time, and Vanity Fair included it in its list of the worst films ever made. Despite the vicious reviews, the film's reputation improved over time. In fall of 2012, the New York Film Festival , the venue for its infamous opening, premiered
12750-401: The worst film ever made. It was also included in The Book of Lists ' worst movies of all time, which claimed that there was something in it to offend absolutely everyone. Likewise, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time and Vanity Fair also listed it as one of the worst movies ever made. Gore Vidal disowned it, calling it "an awful joke", and blamed the movie for a decade-long drought in
12875-539: The worst film of the 1980s and James Livingston wrote in The World Turned Inside Out that it was "a terrifically bad movie". Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club called it "one of the era's most abhorrent pieces of exploitation trash" and Patrick Naugle of DVD Verdict stated, "It's one of the most soulless, vile, and morally reprehensible things I've ever had to sit through." Roger Ebert gave the film no stars, referring to it as "A vile bag of garbage ... without
13000-551: The worst films ever made", while Michael Rubino of DVD Verdict also claimed, " Zaat may be one of the worst films ever created". NPR called it a "sci-fi fiasco" when it became "the winner — er, loser —" on IMDb's Bottom 100. Zaat appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , which gave it significant exposure, and was also featured on RedLetterMedia 's show Half in the Bag where the hosts called it one of their favorite " so bad it's good " films. Total Film included it in their list of
13125-466: The worst films ever made, by Flavorwire , Rotten Tomatoes, and The Golden Turkey Awards . Melvin Defleur referred to it as "Perhaps the worst film of all time", and critic Gabriel Ricard listed it as the worst film ever made; stating, "not only is it pretty terrible, but Tiny Town is also pretty endearing." In 1986, The Terror of Tiny Town was the first film featured on Canned Film Festival ,
13250-521: The worst kids movie ever made and one of the worst science-fiction films ever made. HUMO also included it on a list of the worst science-fiction movies ever made, while AlloCiné listed it as one of the worst films of the 1980s. An article by Screen Rant argued that Nukie should be "in the conversation" regarding what is the worst movie ever made, but that its relative obscurity to other contenders hinders it from being designated as such. Simon Abrams of Politico compared Nukie to another E.T.
13375-420: The worst movie musical of this – or any – decade". Meanwhile, Buffalo News film critic Jeff Simon wrote, "About 45 minutes in, it became apparent to one and all that this was one of the worst and most embarrassing major-talent turkeys of all time." Bogdanovich, who was also the screenwriter, sent press releases to newspapers across the country apologizing for the film. CNN later noted that it had attained
13500-481: The worst movies ever made". The Milwaukee -based production company Red Letter Media spent nearly a decade collecting Nukie VHS tapes after fans began mailing them copies of the film. Despite this, they never watched the film until December 2022, when they released a special episode about the practice of grading VHS tapes following a VHS copy of Back to the Future auctioning for $ 75,000. The group had one copy of
13625-528: The worst pornographic film ever made due to "some incredibly unarousing sex and a general attitude of awfulness". Possessing no credits or copyright information, there is no known record of Bat Pussy ' s existence prior to the mid-1990s, when it was discovered in the storeroom of an adult movie theater in Memphis, Tennessee , and subsequently released on home video by exploitation film distributor Something Weird Video . Gawker Media ' s io9 proclaimed
13750-561: The worst-ever professionally produced science fiction films". Paul Welsh of the Borehamwood & Elstree Times wrote that it was "probably the worst [film] ever produced". In his book Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies , David L. Robb wrote that the film's director Cy Roth is "widely regarded as one of the worst filmmakers of all time", adding that, out of
13875-516: Was District 9 in 2009. Directed by Neill Blomkamp , a native South African, and produced by The Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson , the action / science-fiction film depicts a sub-class of alien refugees forced to live in the slums of Johannesburg in what many saw as a creative allegory for apartheid . The film was a critical and commercial success worldwide, and was nominated for four Academy Awards , including Best Picture , at
14000-499: Was "savaged by critics at the time and viewed as one of the worst films ever". Richard Brody of The New Yorker compared it to the later critical failures of Heaven's Gate and Ishtar , writing: "critics of the time heaven's-gated [ At Long Last Love ], leaving Bogdanovich ishtarred and feathered". Such reviews included Hollis Alpert 's, in which he said that "This failure is so dismal that it goes beyond failure", and Esquire critic John Simon 's, who said that "it may be
14125-505: Was a box-office failure and was excoriated by reviewers. On its UK release, The Sunday Times described The Swarm as "simply the worst film ever made". Leslie Halliwell described it as a "very obvious disaster movie with risible dialogue". The Guardian article on The Swarm stated, "You could pass it all off as a sick joke, except it cost twelve million dollars, twenty-two million bees, and several years of someone's life." Barry Took , reviewing it for Punch , stated, "the story
14250-552: Was being "billed by critics everywhere as one of the worst films ever made". The Hamilton Spectator later referred to Caligula as "possibly the worst movie ever made". Joe Holleman, in an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discussing historical films set in Ancient Rome, argued, "two of the worst movies made in the 20th century were ancient Rome pieces ... Cleopatra and Caligula ". Christopher Armstead, reviewing Caligula for
14375-520: Was considered a knock-off of Steven Spielberg 's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and is also considered one of the worst movies ever made . Two aliens, Nukie and Miko, crash on Earth and are separated. Nukie ends up in the African savanna while Miko falls into the hands of the Space Foundation in the United States of America . Miko reaches out to Nukie telepathically and informs him that he
14500-523: Was criticized for its oddity and poor special effects. It is also known for starring a very young Pia Zadora . BBC critic Nick Cramp described it as "possibly the worst film ever made". The film is cited on a 10-worst list in The Book of Lists and in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time . It has been featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 , Canned Film Festival , Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic (another spin-off of MST3K that revisited
14625-407: Was described by British film reviewer Leslie Halliwell as a "hilariously awful gangster film ... one of the worst films ever made". Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide states that No Orchids for Miss Blandish "aspires to be a Hollywood film noir and misses by a mile." Glen or Glenda starred Ed Wood as Glen, a transvestite who cross-dresses as Glenda. Wood also directed the film. After
14750-628: Was echoed by Josh Olson in IndieWire . Ben Hartman of The Jerusalem Post stated the film was "surely one of the worst films ever made in Israel, or beyond". Nana 10 said it claims the title of "worst Israeli film and most amusing". At Long Last Love was renowned director Peter Bogdanovich 's musical homage to great 1930s Hollywood musicals. It features songs by Cole Porter and stars Cybill Shepherd and Burt Reynolds . Film Threat wrote that it received "the most withering reviews any film ever received", while The Guardian reported that it
14875-591: Was featured in an episode of the movie-mocking TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 , as well as Canned Film Festival . The film is remembered fondly by horror novelist Stephen King , who quotes, and agrees with, a review in Castle of Frankenstein magazine ("certainly among the finest terrible movies ever made", "one of the most laughable poverty row quickies"). Chris Barsanti in The Sci-Fi Movie Guide writes: "[ Robot Monster ] gives Plan 9 From Outer Space
15000-421: Was in part financed by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione . The film, featuring a prestigious cast ( Malcolm McDowell , Helen Mirren , Peter O'Toole , and John Gielgud ) is notorious for explicit scenes of sex and violence, including six minutes of hardcore porn footage filmed by Guccione and another editor without Brass' approval. Caligula earned some pre-release controversy after Gore Vidal , who had written
15125-454: Was initially unable to find a distributor until 1980 when it received a wider release. Luke Y. Thompson of the New Times stated, "Defenders of the film have argued that it's actually pro-woman, due to the fact that the female lead wins in the end, which is sort of like saying that cockfights are pro-rooster because there's always one left standing". Critic David Keyes named I Spit on Your Grave
15250-399: Was pulled from release after only one week due to scathing reviews. It later resurfaced in a 149-minute version, but by then the damage was done. The film effectively ended not only the existence of United Artists as an independent Hollywood studio (its parent firm sold the company to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , where it operated until 2019), but also, largely, Cimino's career; initially considered
15375-600: Was released in 1931. Subsequent sound releases such as Die Wildsboudjie (1948), a 1949 Sarie Marais remake, and Daar doer in die bosveld (1950) continued to cater primarily to white, Afrikaans-speaking audiences. African Film Productions produced four musical films from 1949-1951: African Jim , The Magic Garden , Song of Africa and Zonk! The 1950s saw an increased use of South African locations and talent by international filmmakers. British co-productions like Coast of Skeletons (1956) and American co-productions like The Cape Town Affair (1967) reflected
15500-471: Was released in 1990 and would in later years gained a cult following, with author Nat Segaloff writing that, "The first rule of Exorcist III is: you do not talk about Exorcist II ." The Swarm is a 1978 horror film about a killer bee invasion of Texas , directed and produced by Irwin Allen . Despite its all-star cast (including Michael Caine , Henry Fonda , Richard Widmark and Olivia de Havilland ), it
15625-527: Was the 1980 comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy , written , produced and directed by Jamie Uys . Set in the Kalahari , it told the story about how life in the community of Bushmen is changed when a Coke bottle , thrown out of an airplane , suddenly lands from the sky. Despite the fact that the film presented an incorrect perspective of the Khoisan san people, by framing them as a primitive society enlightened by
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