Top 10 Funniest Facts About Terrible Movies

“The Hottie and the Nottie” (2008)
We can all agree this film wasn’t exactly the next “Citizen Kane”. With a title like “The Hottie and the Nottie”, it’s no surprise. Sitting at a meagre 6% on the Tomato-meter, the film stars Paris Hilton as (you guessed it) the titular Hottie. She’s searching for a potential mate for her friend, the Nottie. The film predictably did not do well. So when it was released in the UK, the poster resorted to some pretty misleading advertising. It stated that it was “The Number One Film”. But if you stepped a little closer, you’d see that the fine print completed the apparent praise with: on “IMDB’s bottom 100”.

“Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” (2014)
No one told Kirk Cameron about the cardinal rule of the internet: never try to rally the troops. This film follows Cameron - a devout Christian - as he attempts to lift his brother-in-law’s spirits by reinserting “the Christ into Christmas”. However, it was panned across the board upon its release. Instead of taking it in stride, the actor took to his Facebook page and asked his fans to “storm the gates” of Rotten Tomatoes in order to raise the film’s rating. Of course, this backfired and led internet users to further lambaste “Saving Christmas”. In turn, Cameron held “haters and atheists” responsible for the bad reviews. Needless to say, Christmas was not saved that year.

“Troll 2” (1990)
The disastrously bad “Troll 2” was originally called “Goblins”. After all, it features goblins, and no trolls. The story behind what inspired the change is an interesting one. In 1986, a horror film called “Troll” was released to generally negative reviews. A few years later, Italian director Claudio Fragasso decided to make an English-language film despite not being a fluent speaker. The script was in broken English, the actors were inexperienced, and it certainly wasn’t a high-end production. As you’ve probably gathered, the end result was bad. In order to make some money, the title was changed to draw in “Troll” fans, despite it having nothing to do with the 1986 film. It didn’t work.

“Battlefield Earth” (2000)
There are countless stories regarding this film and what made it so terrible. One issue was the fact that it was based on a book by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction author who created Scientology. John Travolta, who starred in the film, has been a notable scientologist for decades. In a bizarre move, while promoting the film, the actor decided to autograph copies of the founder’s novel for fans. This contributed to worries that the project was just designed to promote Scientology and its teachings. Many even accused the movie of subliminal messaging. As it turned out, the movie was so bad that it probably did Scientology more harm than good.

“Fantastic Four” (2015)
There have been several attempts to do justice to Marvel’s first family on screen. 2015’s “Fantastic Four” movie saw director Josh Trank at the helm...sort of. He was reportedly quite isolated on set, even sequestering himself in a tent he set up around his monitor. But that’s not all. Sources on set claimed that when Trank did actually interact with the cast, his rigid directing style - telling actors when to blink and breathe - led to some pretty lifeless performances. Maybe stick to writing if you’re that much of a hermit!

“The Garbage Pail Kids Movie” (1987)
In 1985, the Topps Company released Garbage Pail Kids trading cards that spoofed the popular Cabbage Patch Kids. Their success led filmmaker Rod Amateau to cobble together a movie from a stack of stickers and cards. Unsurprisingly, the film tanked, as it was riddled with issues, one of which was the practical effects on the Pail Kids themselves. Their faces in particular were stagnant and lifeless. William Butler, a member of the special effects team, explained what went wrong. The use of acrylic paint - which solidifies fast - caused tears and splits in the puppet heads! Plus, actor Kevin Thompson recalled a strict limit of one head per Pail kid. Style and comfort were clearly sacrificed to avoid production delays, but at what cost?!

“The Last Airbender” (2010)
This film always shows up in “worst movies” lists, and ours is certainly no exception. There are a multitude of reasons why it was generally hated, but we’ll focus on the editing. It was decided at the last minute that the film would be presented in 3D, thus forcing the simplification of certain shots and scenes. Not only that, the movie was sent back to the editing room for a number of significant cuts. The result was an abundance of axed footage, and a final story many critics found underwhelming! Fans were also extremely disappointed, and many called for the release of the film’s extended cut. Director M. Night Shyamalan has often defended “The Last Airbender”, but public opinion has remained largely unchanged.

“Jaws: The Revenge” (1987)
Many actors will do films just for the hefty paycheck. However, they usually don’t let everyone know. Michael Caine, apparently, couldn’t care less. In fact, he openly admitted to not caring much about “Jaws: The Revenge” [SB: “I’ve never seen it but I’ve seen the house it bought my mother.” from Andrew Denton’s “Interview”].You’d think he’d be bitter, as the movie’s production schedule reportedly prevented him from physically accepting his Academy Award for “Hannah and Her Sisters”. But Caine seemed content just to collect his paycheck. He has been deemed a slight shining light in an otherwise terrible film, so that’s something. But all copies of “Jaws: The Revenge” should probably be fed to actual sharks.

“The Room” (2003)
If you send a script to Paramount in hopes of a distribution contract, they usually don’t respond right away. Yet it only took 24 hours for Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” to receive a big no. More shocking than this is that Wiseau put 6 million dollars into the film. Where did it go, you ask? He purchased equipment he could have rented, shot the film using two types of cameras at once, and used multiple understudies. Plus, Greg Sestero recalled the unconventional way he got the part of Mark in his 2013 book. Another actor had been cast, but Wiseau wanted Greg. Instead of firing the original Mark, they pretended Sestero was filming for a screen test. We can hear the dollar signs adding up!

“Cats” (2019)
The information here is a little second-hand, but let’s enjoy its hilarious plausibility. In 2020, a writer on Twitter asked for a tell-all book about “Cats” and got some interesting responses. Chief amongst them was the story of “The Butthole Cut”, which is exactly what it sounds like. Apparently, there was a visual effects worker who had the crucial job of erasing hundreds of cat buttholes from the movie, for reasons unspoken. You know when your cat sticks its butt in your face? How’d you like Dame Judi Dench to do that? The film also supposedly cut a scene in which a “cat” was urinating in a position that left little to the imagination. How’d you like Dame Judi... well, you get the idea.