Top 10 Movies with a 0 Percent Rating on Rotten Tomatoes That You Should See Anyway

Steven Spielberg’s aquatic masterpiece changed not only horror cinema, but also arguably the entire film industry. “Jaws” is considered the first summer blockbuster ever released. With the original sitting comfortably at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and widely cited as one of the greatest films ever made, it’s kind of shocking to see where the franchise wound up. 12 years and a couple sequels later, the fourth instalment, “Jaws: The Revenge,” unceremoniously sent the franchise to a watery grave. The film isn’t just a diluted retread, it gets downright silly. But from a film history perspective, it feels like an important one to watch - even if just to understand how far an iconic shark fell.

AKA… the film with no good reviews. The title tells you everything you need to know - or so you would think. In watching, you quickly realize that there is so much more going on in this low budget sci-fi than two heads being sewn onto one body. You’ve got a racist white doctor’s head getting sewn onto the body of a black convict, and it goes just about as well as one might expect. It’s the odd couple trope at its most extreme and unselfconsciously cheap. But… the odd blend of blaxploitation and science-fiction does make for a truly one-of-a-kind B-movie. This two-headed beast needs to be seen to be believed.

You may remember this horrifying piece of cinema from our list called the “Top 10 Movies So Bad They Were Pulled From Theaters.” And believe us… we stand by everything we said in that video: no child or adult deserves to be subjected to it without proper warning. If you go into it expecting it to be the family movie it looks like, it’s pure freaking torture. Go into it expecting a trainwreck of bad jokes and revolting puppets, however, and you’ve got the recipe for an interesting night. Masochists out there have come up with a variety of movie drinking games to pair with it, so why not assemble a crew and get weird?

To be clear, this isn’t a “Lake Placid” style horror flick about an overgrown alligator. No… as made clear by the uncompromisingly awful poster, Burt Reynolds IS Gator. This is actually a sequel to the 1973 film “White Lightning,” which, believe it or not, was a solid movie. The follow-up, however, which saw Reynolds claim the director seat for himself… is awful. Honestly, “Gator” wouldn’t have made this list if it weren’t for one influential man - Sterling Archer. His love of “Gator” adds a much-needed bit of meta-comedy to the viewing experience - making it a hilarious must-watch for any “Archer” fan out there.

For any B-horror movie junkies out there who were disappointed to find out that “Gator” is a southern action/drama, don’t worry… we’ve got you covered too. “Slaughter High” has got it all - a vengeful nerd, piss-poor acting, too many bad decisions made by the characters to count, and, of course, needlessly elaborate kills. The nice thing about “Slaughter High” is that it’s an unabashedly derivative 80s slasher… and that clearly didn’t bother the filmmakers one bit. It plays out like a checklist of slasher clichés, or better yet - a visual aid to the “Slasher” page on TVTropes.com. So sit back, make yourself a checklist of your very own, and just enjoy the ride.

Yeah, we’re giving you two horror flicks back-to-back, but don’t you worry, there’s nothing redundant about this. “Slaughter High” was absurdly by-the-books, but “Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2?” It feels like it was made by someone with only the most cursory understanding of what a “movie” is, let alone what a horror comedy is. It liberally borrows footage from the preceding film (a laughable move in and of itself), but the real legacy of this sequel is the performance given by Eric Freeman as killer Ricky Caldwell. It’s hard to describe… but suffice it to say, Freeman’s alternative take on the concept of “acting” makes for a fascinating viewing. Look at those eyebrows go!

You surely recognize Anthony Michael Hall from such unforgettable John Hughes films as “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club.” Unfortunately, “Johnny Be Good,” despite being made in the decade in which Hall peaked, is not counted alongside those aforementioned classics. Though Hall’s heyday ended shortly after this film was released, the same cannot be said for his supporting cast, which notably included a young Uma Thurman and Robert Downey Jr. among others. The narrative is boring, the jokes bland, and the film wildly unremarkable, but it’s worth watching for the very simple and novel pleasure of seeing these stars, best known for their later work, playing your run-of-the-mill high schoolers.

Highlander is a sprawling sci-fi/fantasy franchise that people tend to love or hate, and one that has spawned multiple TV series, novels, comic books, and films. The fact that anything happened with this franchise after the second movie, however, is a testament to the property’s tenacity - because boy oh boy was this follow-up ever a doozy. “Highlander II: The Quickening” gets off to a rough start with that silly title, and then quickly proceeds to earn it. It undermines its predecessor’s narrative, is nearly impossible to follow and deeply illogical. But once you give up on it as a serious film, it becomes an absurdly fun ride.

This much-maligned franchise is (dare we say it)… sorely misunderstood. From its very first cinematic outing, “Leprechaun” was critically panned, but they just kept churning them out, taking the franchise in increasingly bizarre directions, and to interesting effect. By this logic, the first film is actually the most forgettable, as it appears to (at least partially) take itself seriously. Both “2” and “4” delivered the goods by embracing the outlandishness of the character, but “Leprechaun 3” is the real franchise standout. Why? Because it’s arguably the most balanced and self-aware. “Leprechaun 3” is bad, and it seemingly knows it, opting to deliver the sort of campiness and humor that we love to hate-watch.

For our number one entry, we could say it all with two words - “Paul Rudd.” Yes, thanks to a long-running gag between the actor and talk show host Conan O’Brien, this third-rate “E.T.” lookalike enjoys a wholly undeserved spot in the contemporary pop culture conversation and mainstream consciousness. But hey, if a joke has been running for over a dozen years, don’t you think it’s about time you got in on it? Seriously... despite being irredeemable as far as its own merits are concerned, “Mac and Me” is a part of cinematic history, so give it one half-distracted viewing. At the very least, it’ll make you REALLY appreciate “E.T.”