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May 12, 2008

So It Begins: The Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time

thumbnail icon: So It Begins: The Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time

Last night I watched Death Sentence. Shame on me. Actually, shame on Ricky first, for telling me to watch it, and then shame on me for doing so. If you haven't seen it, Death Sentence is a vengeance movie starring Kevin Bacon and directed by James Wan, who also gave the world Saw. James Wan is your boyfriend. Anyway, the basic story is that Kevin Bacon's son gets killed right in front of him in a "gang initiation murder" at a gas station. Oh, btw, he gets killed WITH A MACHETE. Instead of pressing charges, Bacon decides to take matters into his own hands (the only respectable thing about this movie) but it turns out the guy who killed his son, who he kills, is the younger brother of the gang's leader, so that starts a war with the gang. Right. Totally. It's basically what you read about in the paper every day but are TOO BLINDED by your MIDDLE CLASS existence to see, SHEEPLE.

Everything about this movie is ridiculous. For example, Kevin Bacon is a family man who works as the VP at some kind of investment firm, but it turns out he's also really good at close quarters combat. Like, at one point he's smashing a guy's face into a bar with one hand, and knocking someone unconscious with the other hand, which is wrapped in bandages. You know, dad stuff. He speaks really offensive colloquial Spanish all of a sudden when the movie's almost over but he needs some important information. He buys some guns but has to read the manual because he doesn't know how to use them, but as soon as he's done reading the manual HE'S SO GOOD AT GUNS. Did I mention that his son gets killed by a machete?

Not to mention the acting, which was just really aces from everyone involved. They read the manual on acting and the next thing you knew, they were so good at acting. And the neck tattoos. They should create an Oscar just for neck tattoos so that this movie can get the awards it deserves.

I don't want to spoil the movie, but I also don't want you to have to see the movie, so here is the ending. Please note the following: astonishingly realistic gun battle including super realistic "multiple fingers severed by single bullet", the deep significance of how when you murder someone's entire family it makes them shave their head and buy a gun and how that's basically what gang members experience on the street every day, THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND. But in all seriousness, this is the last 4 minutes of the movie, so if I'm really bad at my job and you are not convinced that you should save that spot in your Netflix queue for something, anything, other than this (DORA THE EXPLORER) then do not watch.

It's like James Wan was going to watch Taxi Driver but then just saw the poster and figured he got the gist of it.

And yet, after all of that, I'm not convinced that this is THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME. It might be. It's in the running. But I think there might be worse out there. So, I'm asking you to help me find it. First, let's lay out some ground rules:

  1. It cannot be intentionally horrible.
  2. It must have at least one A- or B-list movie star in it. (no "outsider art")
  3. It cannot be Glitter.

Second, let's do this. If you suggest a movie, I will watch it and catalog my findings here. We will take this journey of discovery together.

Posted by Gabe at 11:03 AM in ,
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21 Comments

icanread

I am not trying to defend this movie or anything, I believe you that it is the worst movie ever, but I would just like to point out that the usage of a machete is not that farfetched. Some kid got his hands cut off with a machete by a rival gang near my grandma's house. And I've heard about machete-related violence in my area.
Wow, I should move. That being said, the director probably just used the machete because it looked badass. Whether or not it did.
Worst movie ever... hmm.... Well, "Passion Fish" is this awful romantic drama set in southern Louisiana that's really long and never really resolves the love story-issue. It has David Strathairn, who was in The Bourne Ultimatum and Good Night and Good Luck (and has a total of 90 acting credits in IMDB. Holy sht, that's a lot of movies). It was actually nominated for two Oscars but didn't win. I can't believe that happened, but I guess bad movies get nominated for Oscars all the time (not making a Juno reference there or anything...).

Posted by: icanread profile link at 05/12/08 12:14 PM | Reply
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But will there be seven sequels, like there were for the Death Wish movies? Bacon is no Bronson, so I would guess no.

Posted by: Clown Coffee at 05/12/08 12:16 PM | Reply
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LADY IN THE WATER. There are a few movies that are so bad that being stone when you watch them actually makes them worse.

Posted by: Vince / Lance at 05/12/08 12:35 PM | Reply
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They sell machetes at Wal-Mart. That's funny.

Posted by: goathair at 05/12/08 1:27 PM | Reply
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There was a movie on the sci fi channel called "pterodactyl." Coolio was in it...that doesnt count does it?

Posted by: Jonathan at 05/12/08 3:02 PM | Reply
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Gabe

While great strides are being made in straght-to-cable film production thanks in large part to companies like HBO, which are putting enough money into buying the distribution rights to provide actual competition to the Hollywood machine, I think for our purposes here it has to have had a theatrical release.

Posted by: Gabe profile link in reply to Jonathan's comment at 05/12/08 3:15 PM | Reply
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umpteen repetitions and I still don't understand the "is your boyfriend" thing.

Posted by: Jord at 05/12/08 3:25 PM | Reply
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chipmunk fart

Rush Hour 3 (I can't speak for Rush Hour 2, although I can make an educated guess and would sooner die than see it). Had to see this movie at the THEATER with my weirdo mom.

And I would offer Jessica Simpson's "Blonde Ambition", but it was only released in EIGHT theaters so I'm not sure if I'm allowed.

Posted by: chipmunk fart profile link at 05/12/08 3:45 PM | Reply
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Shopgirl. Steve Martin is creepy, Claire Danes is moony, Jason Schwartzman spend the entire movie looking liked he needs to be punched in the neck.

Posted by: Jake at 05/12/08 4:13 PM | Reply
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Strangeland, the Dee Snider directed horror movie

Posted by: ricky at 05/12/08 4:22 PM | Reply
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Doom fuckin ate my balls
THE WORST MOVIE EVER
Me and my guitar player still bring it up when referencing shitty movies
"I didn't really like 28 Weeks Later"
"At least its not Doom"
"Good show, old man. gin & tonics all around!"

Posted by: NeoLudd at 05/12/08 5:12 PM | Reply
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Southland Tales made me want to punch everything on screen, Stiflers and Cheri Oteri and wormholes and BRMC and The Rock. Do you know how stupid you'd have to be to want to punch The Rock? Southland Tales made me that stupid.

Posted by: matt at 05/12/08 8:01 PM | Reply
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I think it was mentioned before, but The Boondock Saints is complete trash. But I still stand behind The Wicker Man as the worst. Nic Cage is the next James Woods.

Posted by: TigerMachine profile link at 05/13/08 9:03 PM | Reply
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Actually, Running Scared with Paul Walker is without a doubt the worst movie ever made. Either that or Van Helsing.

Posted by: Bolt at 10/14/08 3:03 PM | Reply
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Definitely LIFE AS A HOUSE is the absolute worst movie of all time.

Posted by: BN at 12/07/08 11:11 PM | Reply
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The movie that I think best describes what you're talking about was on TBS yesterday. It was called "The Weather Man". It had a good star, supporting actors(one who shouldn't ever attempt an American accent), a good screenwriter and director. But It just sucked. It tried to find existentialism in tarter sauce and camel toes.

Posted by: Jack at 12/17/08 2:40 PM | Reply
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Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is without a doubt the worst movie ever made. Considering the profile of it, the cost, the stars that were in it, the Bill Murray dissing it for poor dead Bernie Mac (curse?) it's not even really close to anything else. It openly HATES it's audience with a passion. Demi Moore uses her fucking sweater to glide like a flying squirrel! Do I need to say anything else? Not even Crispin Glover's weirdness can make this piece of shit watchable and it's by FAR the worst movie John Cleese is in.

Posted by: Dr. Zayaz at 12/21/08 7:05 PM | Reply
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I think we can do better than this. How about these movies:

North

Mars Attacks

Mary Reilly

Anaconda

The Hills Have Eyes (and any of its sequels)

House of Wax (remake with Paris Hilton)

But, by far, the WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME IS: From Justin to Kelly. Hands down.

Posted by: Linda Leseman at 12/26/08 6:45 PM | Reply
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Again, I just want to reiterate: THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME IS "FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY".

Posted by: Linda at 12/26/08 6:46 PM | Reply
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killahmcgillah

I was just stopping by to recommend "From Justin to Kelly" for consideration.

I smoked a LOT of weed before seeing this flick, expecting it to dull the pain, but instead it just allowed me to get super-focused on Justin Guarini's curls. To this day I still get a nervous twitch whenever I hear the Idol theme song.

Posted by: killahmcgillah profile link at 01/21/09 9:57 PM | Reply
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Are you kidding me, the worst movie ever!? Couldnt disagree more. Death Sentence is a great movie. Kevin Bacon is good, the music is awesome and the movie touch your heart. I mean his sons got killed (yes, by a machete, how is that weird) and take justice in his own hands. In the beginning he really is a rookie but as the movie progress the father gets sicker and sicker in mind and finally he doesnt care. And unlike The Punisher and Max Payne you see emotions in this film, I'm not an emotional guy but this movie made me feel very sorry for him and it also made you think about how it would feel to loose your own son.
You also complaine that he can fight and speak spanish. Just because he is a boss doesnt mean he once was a kid who maybe fought. He may also have been to Spain several times.
No, there are a lots of movies that are really bad and Death Sentence is not a bad movie. Critics always goes against the stream.

Posted by: Winther at 04/22/09 10:27 PM | Reply
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