Based on a collective look at various critics and reviews, the worst movies of all time are as follows - The Maniac (1934), The Babe Ruth Story (1948), Glen or Glenda (1953), The Creeping Terror (1964), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Heaven's Gate (theatrical version, 1980), Troll 2 (1990), Battlefield Earth (2000), Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010), and 365 Days (2020).
Nothing is flawless, and performers are only presenting the director's and writer's point of view on the screen. Because there are so many, it is almost difficult to select the "worst movies of all time." However, I made an effort to organize my list from the 1930s to the present by decade.
Notable critics in varying media 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, the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, the Golden Raspberry Awards etc.
The Maniac (1934)
The exploitation-horror movie Maniac, often referred to as Sex Maniac, was made by Dwain Esper. The plot follows a vaudeville mimic who works as a mad scientist's assistant in a rough rendition of the Edgar Allan Poe tale "The Black Cat." Maniac was attacked for its excessive shots of women getting undressed and for stealing horror scenes from the 1922 silent picture Häxan, which was marketed as a documentary on mental disease.
Danny Peary considers Maniac to be the worst film ever filmed, Charlie. "There are those excursions into incompetence, like Dwain Esper's anti-classic Maniac, that defy all reason," observed Chicago Tribune reviewer Michael Wilmington of Dwain Esper's anti-classic Maniac, which he regarded as "perhaps the worst movie in history." Maniac was listed on Rotten Tomatoes' list of movies "So Bad They're Unmissable," Vanity Fair's list of the 20 worst movies ever, and John J. B. Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst.
The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
The Babe Ruth Story, a 1948 baseball biography starring William Bendix, Claire Trevor, and Sam Levene, is about Babe Ruth. The New York Times describes it as "the Plan 9 from Outer Space of baseball biopics." It was hurried out while Ruth was still alive. In one memorable incident, Ruth promises a dying youngster that he will hit two home runs. After Ruth fulfills her word, the youngster is cured of his afflictions. Ted Williams, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, thought it was the worst film he had ever seen. According to the Washington Times, it "may be the worst movie ever filmed."
The film was placed on the Spokesman-list Review's of the worst films of all time, and Paul Newberry of the Associated Press stated that its inclusion on "almost every list of the worst movies ever created" was "with good cause." According to Newsday's Jack Mathews, The Babe Ruth Story is "what many people believe to be the worst sports movie of all time." Newsday and The A.V. Club both rated it as one of the worst sports films ever made, and Moviefone and Spike rated it as one of the worst biopics ever made. The picture was listed in Michael Sauter's book, The Worst Movies of All Time, and Leonard Maltin described it as "absolutely terrible."
Glen or Glenda (1953)
In the movie Glen or Glenda, Ed Wood played Glen, a transvestite who dresses as Glenda. Wood served as the movie's director. Glen seeks help from psychotherapy to "cure" himself of his transvestism following a dream sequence.
Glen or Glenda is "perhaps the worst movie ever made," according to Leonard Maltin, and is worse than Wood's later Plan 9 from Outer Space. Wood's career was "singularly terrible," similar to Julien Allen of Reverse Shot, and this episode was "widely thought to be an atrocity" and "the most disastrous failure of [Wood's] career." According to Richard Barrios, Glen or Glenda is one of the funniest and worst films ever created.
The Creeping Terror (1964)
Vic Savage (also known by the pseudonyms A.J. Nelson or Arthur Nelson, but using his real name when acting credits were given) directed, produced, and edited the science-fiction/horror movie The Creeping Terror. In the film, a huge alien creature with the appearance of a slug terrorizes a small Californian town after it crashes on Earth. The movie is notable for its use of some cheap effects, such as stock footage of a rocket launch being played backward to simulate an alien spacecraft landing, and the "monster" appearing to be made up of a length of shag carpet draped over several actors. It's noteworthy that as the slow-moving monster approaches the victims, they strangely remain motionless.
According to ComingSoon.net, Plan 9 From Space is "a bona genuine magnum masterpiece" in comparison to The Creeping Terror, which is "widely regarded as the worst movie ever filmed." According to The Montreal Gazette and Dread Central, it is regarded as one of the worst films ever created. The film was featured in both The Golden Turkey Awards and Son of the Golden Turkey Awards, the book that followed it. The Creeping Terror was a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode from the sixth season, and the British cinema journal Total Film named it one of the 66 worst movies ever created.
Myra Brickinridge (1970)
The 1970 comedy film The Myra Breckinridge, directed by Michael Sarne and starring Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West, John Huston, and Farrah Fawcett, based on Gore Vidal's book of the same name, sparked controversy owing to a sequence in which Welch brutally sodomizes a tied man as snippets from several famous films play on screen. The picture was originally classified X until editing and an MPAA appeal reduced it to an R. It also employed the method of integrating snippets from Golden Age films into the conversation, giving it sexual connotations.
Time magazine said of the picture: "Myra Breckinridge is about as humorous as a child molester." Leonard Maltin awarded it a BOMB (the lowest possible score) and called it "as terrible as any movie ever produced." Herb Kelly of the Miami News named Myra Breckinridge the worst film ever filmed. It was also named one of the worst movies of all time by The Book of Lists, which declared that it had something to offend everyone. Similarly, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time and Vanity Fair both named it one of the worst films ever made. Gore Vidal disavowed it, calling it "a horrible joke" and blaming the film for a decade-long sales slump.
The Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Heaven's Gate, a Western epic partially based on the Johnson County War in 1890s Wyoming, was beset by the significant expense and production overruns, owing primarily to director Michael Cimino's meticulous attention to detail. He insisted on at least 50 takes of one scene and refused to begin filming for another until a cloud he liked swept over the sky. It cost more than $44 million but only made $3.5 million at the box office. The first version lasted over four hours but was pulled after only one week owing to negative reviews. It was then re-released in a 149-minute format, but the harm had already been done. Among other things, Vincent Canby described it as "an unequivocal failure." "The most shameful cinematic waste I've ever seen," said Roger Ebert.
Despite the negative feedback, the film's reputation grew over time. The restored director's cut premiered in the fall of 2012 at the New York Film Festival, where it had its notorious premiere. In sharp contrast, The Times (London) termed the restored version "a modern masterpiece" and the 1980 cut "one of cinema's greatest injustices." The Criterion Collection has also published the film on Blu-ray and DVD. The picture "has been branded a fiasco and a disgrace, yet also hailed as a masterpiece," according to Manohla Dargis of The New York Times.
Troll 2 (1990)
Contrary to its name, Troll 2 does not contain any trolls (the villains are really goblins), and it bears little resemblance to the 1986 movie of the same name, which received mixed reviews. It is "renowned as the worst movie of all time," according to NPR, and according to The A.V. Club, it is "a popular candidate for the worst picture ever created." ‘One of the worst movies I've ever seen’, according to Rumsey Taylor of Not Coming to a Theater Near You. It received one and a half stars from Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress, who said in his review, "There are some poor movies. There are certain films that are so awfully good. Then there is Troll 2, a movie that is beyond comprehension."
Additionally, Troll 2 is "truly as terrible as they come," according to TV Guide. The film's kid star, Michael Stephenson, produced a documentary on its making and following called Best Worst Movie, which was released in 2009 and received positive reviews. When Darren Ewing's character says that he would be devoured next in a scene, it goes viral on the Internet. The awful acting and words have become infamous for their camp value.
Battlefield Earth (2000)
John Travolta, Barry, and Forest Whitaker feature in the movie, which is based on the first part of L. Ron Hubbard's book of the same name. Although a sequel covering the second half of the novel was intended, it was scrapped due to negative reviews, dismal box office results, and Franchise Pictures' financial collapse. It received criticism for having weak writing, hammy acting, an excessive reliance on Dutch angles, monotonous dialogue, and several story flaws. Franchise Pictures, the film's producer, was ultimately pushed out of business after it was discovered that it had falsely exaggerated the movie's budget by $31 million.
It is among the top 10 movies with the worst reviews of the 2000s on Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 3% rating. The movie, according to Roger Ebert, "will remain the punch line of jokes about poor movies for decades to come." On his "most despised" list, Ebert also stated that the filmmaker, Roger Christian, "has learned from better films that directors often tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why."
Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)
Birdemic: Shock and Terror is an independently made movie that appears to be a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It chronicles the narrative of a romance between the two main characters, Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore, while their little town is besieged by birds—the birds don't arrive until 47 minutes into the movie—while also showing signs of being inspired by The Birds.
It was meant to be a "romantic thriller," but James Nguyen wrote, produced, and directed it. Reviews criticized its shoddy sound and editing; wooden acting; incomprehensible narrative; and, especially, its special effects, which mostly consisted of computer-generated eagles and vultures that performed physically uncomfortable airborne movements and exploded upon collision with the ground.
The movie, which cost $10,000 to create, was dubbed "really, one of the worst films ever made" by the Huffington Post and "one more in the pantheon of adored trash-terpieces" by The Village Voice. It was placed first on Flavorwire's list of the 50 worst movies ever made. While Salon described it as "a cult hit among bad-movie lovers" and Variety said the movie had "all the recognized markers of hilariously terrible filmmaking," Slate ranked it as one of the worst films ever produced.
365 Days (2020)
Barbara Biaows and Tomasz Mandes are the directors of the 2020 Polish erotic romantic drama movie 365 Days (365 Dni). It is based on Blanka Lipiska's first book of a trilogy. The story revolves around a Warsaw-born young woman who falls in love with a domineering Sicilian man and is forced to spend 365 days with him in a spiritless relationship. Don Massimo Torricelli is portrayed by Michele Morrone, while Laura Biel is portrayed by Anna-Maria Sieklucka.
Critics gave the movie overwhelmingly unfavorable reviews and harshly attacked its glorification of the Mafia, sexual violence, and softcore themes. Rotten Tomatoes gathered 16 reviews, categorizing 0% of them as favorable and assigning an overall rating of 1.9/10. It has reportedly been called one of the worst movies ever, according to The First News. It was the worst thing Taylor Andrews of Cosmopolitan had ever seen. There haven't been line readings this bad since The Room's third act, according to Kevin Maher of The Times, who also noted that it "makes the bonking puppets in Team America: World Police appear like a straight-faced documentary."
The movie received nominations for six Golden Raspberry Awards in March 2021, including the worst picture, the worst director, the worst actor (Michele Morrone), the worst actress (Anna-Maria Sieklucka), the worst screenplay, and the worst prequel, remake, rip-off, or sequel.
FAQs
Q. Was 365 Days a Hit Movie?
A. The film's initial Polish release was on February 7, 2020, and on June 7, 2020, Netflix began streaming it. Despite receiving incredibly negative reviews, the film quickly shot to the top of the list of most watched films, briefly ranking as the third most popular item on Netflix US and the fourth most popular item on Netflix UK, and it garnered interest from around the globe. It was also a success, with expected box office revenues of $8,964,000 in Polish theaters.
Q. How is it possible for a movie to be a hit yet a bad one?
A. Some movies are so awful that people pay tickets only to see them. However, it is a subjective viewpoint, and individuals seeing movies in theaters and a critical evaluation of the film by an expert are two very different things.
Q. What is the Golden Raspberry Awards?
A. The Golden Raspberry Awards are a satirical award ceremony that recognizes the worst in film underachievement. For four decades, the satirical annual Razzie Awards presentation has preceded its opposite, the Academy Awards, and was co-founded by UCLA film grads and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy.
