Truly great movies tend to endure, achieving a timelessness and status that enshrines them in the annals of cinematic history for decades to come. Truly terrible movies sometimes have a similar effect. The past century has seen no shortage of cinematic slop, and if great art in the form is to be judged with value, integrity, and honesty, then such disastrous duds must be acknowledged as such.
However, it is important to note that the purpose of this list is not to belittle low-to-no-budget movies that missed the mark. It is not to denigrate passionate, albeit misguided, inexperienced, and amateur filmmakers whose talent, financing, and resources couldn’t meet their aspirations (yes, that disclaimer includes even Manos: The Hands of Fate). Rather, it is to observe pictures that had every asset available to them in order to be somewhat decent yet capitulated in extraordinary fashion anyway. So, with that in mind, these are the absolute worst movies of the last 100 years.
25
‘Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever’ (2002)
Overblown, wall-to-wall action buoyed by an eye for mayhem and the impact of charismatic stars certainly has an allure that most people can appreciate. However, when it works, there is always something a little more to the fold, whether that be technical excellence, a screenplay of sharp subtlety, a dramatic, thematic idea, or a combination of all of the above. To see the pitfalls of an action extravaganza that lacks these undercurrents, one need look no further than Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever.
Even with Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu starring, the 2002 action flick fails to enthrall or entertain. Its complete lack of wit, emotional intrigue, action style, or narrative coherence may have been intended to come across with an air of pure bravado, but it sees it capitulate as an uninteresting and drab foray into genre formula that doesn’t even muster creative or original set pieces to keep viewers at least momentarily amused, which is sinful considering its $35 million budget. It is as bland and banal an action movie that has ever been made, even with Banderas and Liu trying to elevate it by being at their effortlessly slick best.
24
‘The Room’ (2003)
It’s the best bad movie ever made in the eyes of some, a masterpiece of so-bad-it’s-good cinema that, much like a train-wreck, is difficult to watch yet impossible to look away from. This quality may have made The Room an enduring hit in pop-culture and even an essential viewing experience, but its status as a cringe-worthy phenomenon does nothing to elevate it beyond the insipid nature of its presentation, defined by its woeful narrative progression, technical execution, and acting.
In some ways, Tommy Wiseau’s determination commands respect, especially as the writer, director, star, and producer mysteriously conjured $6 million from his own pocket to finance the movie, claiming that it gave him the leeway to achieve his vision without interference from studios or producers. Unfortunately, the film does exemplify why, on some occasions, oversight from such studios or producers is necessary. With its infamous and iconic standing in the context of 21st century cinema, The Room might be the only movie on this list that is truly a must-see for every film lover, if only to understand how painfully bad, unintentionally hilarious, and agonizingly unnatural it is.
23
‘The Terror of Tiny Town’ (1938)
When it was released in 1938, The Terror of Tiny Town was warmly received, heralded as an amusing and spirited novelty that drew laughs aplenty by depicting a Western narrative with a cast of little people, following the residents of Tiny Town as they are accosted by a malicious bandit of average height. Contemporary reviews have been far less forgiving of the cruel-natured gimmick, however, with many today regarding the 1938 Western-comedy musical as being a mean work of exploitation draped in a weak and uninspired story.
To be clear, the whims of political correctness have no real authority in cinematic evaluation. After all, movies are of their time and must be regarded, subjectively, as such, but that doesn’t make The Terror of Tiny Town any easier to stomach. It is a snide mockery of a physical condition that has long been laughed at and trivialized. While it plays its story straight, its inhumanity remains apparent in every gag and aside, making for a cringe-worthy viewing experience today and a prime example of how the changing of audience sensitivities over time can be beneficial and healthy from a cultural standpoint.
22
‘Glitter’ (2001)
Basically running as A Star is Born if every single aspect of it was handled with a complete lack of care and not even the slightest bit of interest in thematic depth or narrative detail, Glitter is a mercilessly bad music drama that proved to be a major misfire for Mariah Carey‘s ambitions to become an actress. Its story—following an aspiring singer who finds success after dating a disc jockey only for relationship problems to arise as she becomes a star—is blatantly derivative, yet it looks for glamour and pizzazz in its world rather than human complexity.
The end result is an immature mishmash of meaningless clichés that never conjures a second of originality or intrigue, flailing as a soulless mess of a movie that loses any semblance of contemplative drama in its endeavor to appeal to younger audiences. Were it to be a wide-eyed family fantasy of dreams and stardom, that would be fine, but Glitter loses control entirely as it marries this gutless approach with surface-level ideas that are never given any might. Couple this with its woefully sporadic direction, cinematography, and acting, and Glitter can only be considered a calamitous mishit of musical drama.
21
‘Maniac’ (1934)
When one thinks of 1930s cinema, the idea of gratuitous shock value and grotesque exploitative violence is far from the first thing they imagine. In some respects, it is impressive that 1934’s Maniac (later retitled Sex Maniac to capitalize on its controversial allure) has achieved a sense of vulgarity that has been so enduring, but the infamous horror film is still defined primarily by its heinous immorality.
Following a former vaudeville impersonator who takes up work as an assistant to a mad scientist trying to resurrect the dead, Maniac is 51 minutes of insensitive sensationalism depicting such horrific acts as rape, murder, manipulation, and even the consuming of a cat’s eyes with such little regard for the gravitas of its content that it goes beyond tasteless and becomes completely irresponsible and morally bankrupt. Its campy and schlocky presentation works awkwardly with its more disturbing material, making Maniac a misguided disaster that is heralded by many as being one of the worst films of early Hollywood.
20
‘Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw Disney kickstart their rule of live-action Star Wars projects with a familiar though emotionally uplifting push. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a bold departure from the status quo that proved to be venomously polarizing. Sadly, Disney catered to the most vocal and spiteful of fans who admonished Rian Johnson’s intriguing movie when it came to closing out the sequel trilogy, resulting in a disjointed, disingenuous, and sickeningly commercial attempt to win back fans with uninspired nostalgia bait and narrative beats that were so desperately designed to appease fans that it was nothing short of pathetic.
Its pandering is so intense that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker borders on being anti-art, a catastrophic misunderstanding of audience interests that goes so far as to abandon established plot threads, senselessly recall long-lost villains, and hope that its impressive CGI display can wallpaper over the many cracks in the story. It doesn’t. In the eyes of many, Star Wars has become a stale and stunted franchise, a recklessly consumerist entity hoping to cash in on how great the brand used to be. The Rise of Skywalker is the major reason for this, and it stands as the worst movie to have ever surpassed $1 billion at the box office.
19
‘Madame Web’ (2024)
The surging popularity of superhero cinema throughout the 21st century has provided many of the era’s most defining blockbuster spectacles, but it has also produced a few unforgivable flubs as well. While Morbius, 2015’s Fantastic Four, and Kraven the Hunter have all whimpered as major studio busts, it is 2024’s truly atrocious Madame Web that stands as the worst movie the genre has seen in recent decades.
It reeks of a disinterested creative team being given their pay checks, the IP, and big-name cast members, and absolutely nothing else. Madame Web is one of the most disingenuous and disrespectful films superhero fans have ever been presented, leaning on its tethers to Spider-Man as its only marketing point while delivering uninspired slop that fails so miserably with its editing and plotting that it becomes genuinely incomprehensible. The abysmal dialogue, stilted performances, and lackluster action certainly don’t elevate it either, making Madame Web the outright worst movie of the 2020s so far.
18
‘North’ (1994)
There is no argument against the fact that Rob Reiner was an astonishing filmmaker. He mastered comedy with This is Spinal Tap, fantasy-adventure with The Princess Bride, coming-of-age drama with Stand By Me, rom-com charm with When Harry Met Sally…, legal thrills with A Few Good Men, and even piercing psychological horror with Misery. However, even the all-time greats can have a misfire once in a while, and unfortunately for Reiner, his biggest mishit comes in the form of one of the worst and most painful viewing experiences to have ever hit the silver screen.
Intended as a family adventure-comedy, North stumbles as a charmless movie. Its comedy not only fails to garner even the most pitiful of chuckles, but it contributes nothing to the story, forcing its talented cast to strain so ridiculously to extract what little humor there is in the woefully written screenplay that it becomes cringe-worthy, while the cultural and racial stereotypes it tries to conjure laughs from flail as being nothing but recklessly naïve if not actively insulting. Ending on the ever-dreadful note of ‘it was all a dream,’ North hasn’t a single redeeming quality, and is viewed by many to be among the worst pictures Hollywood has ever produced.
17
‘Highlander II: The Quickening’ (1991)
1986’s Highlander famously ran with the tagline “there can be only one.” How painfully prophetic that would prove to be. Released in 1991 after suffering from extreme production interruptions that included director Russell Malcahy being removed as investors took over the production amid an economic crisis, Highlander II: The Quickening epitomizes everything that is wrong with the commercial endeavor to capitalize on a hit blockbuster with a haphazard sequel.
A limping, lacking, and special effects-laden disaster, the fruitless follow-up is a disjointed and incoherent mess that never has any idea of what it wants to be and resorts to relying on its underwhelming production value to bolster what the story lacks, a task that that particular department is ill-equipped to handle. Even some charming moments from Sir Sean Connery can’t elevate Highlander II: The Quickening to being anything more than an unwatchable and uninspired cash-grab, one that proved fruitless in the end as its $15.6 million box office haul fell well short of its $22 million production budget.
16
‘Gigli’ (2003)
While it wants to operate as a zany and energetic marriage of rom-com whimsy and crime wickedness, Gigli is bogged down by jarring tonal shifts, awkward chemistry between stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and a trite screenplay that isn’t anywhere near intelligent enough to make its premise pop the way it should. Revolving around a low-level mobster and the assassin hired to oversee him as he carries out a kidnapping, the 2003 disasterpiece awkwardly lurches from one strained scene to the next with no rhyme or reason, no pizzazz or class or elegance.
To be fair, Gigli doesn’t immediately strike viewers as being a bad movie; bewilderment and bemusement are far more instant sensations one feels. It is when those sensations subside that the viewer grasps how atrocious the movie is. It lacks the charm and sharpness such a genre-meshing desperately needs to stay afloat, and, most egregiously, it struggles to even extract a so-bad-it’s-good quality. An incessant bore bereft of inspiration, enthusiasm, and nous, Gigli is only really remembered for its “Bennifer” marketing campaign and its limp execution.