Top 10 Signs That A Movie Is Going To Suck

While there are some notable exceptions to this rule, horror movie sequels tend to be at best not as good as the original, and at worst downright terrible. Classic horror films like “The Exorcist,” “Halloween,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “Friday the 13th” all have several terrible sequels within their respective franchises. Typically, horror movie sequels tend to suffer because the iconic villain from the first film is brought back to life in some ridiculous way, or because they decide to overemphasize the violence and gore. Either way, Jason and Freddy can only have so many quote unquote “final chapters.”

It’s never a good sign when a bunch of old actors get together to do a comedy. The plot usually revolves around these characters taking some sort of trip together to recapture their youth, and it almost always involves the same mishaps. It’s almost a guarantee that you’ll hear at least one joke about Viagra, and there will always be an extremely beautiful and far younger actress who is attracted to one of the main characters for some reason. All of the best jokes will be in the trailer, so if that fails to make you laugh, you can bet the rest of the film will fail as well.

While movie studio executives may, at times, value commercial success over critical success, they tend to know when a movie isn’t very good. They also know that poor critical success could ruin their financial goals, so they’ll put out an aggressive marketing campaign to get audiences to flood the theatres on opening weekend - before the negative reviews can circulate. This may include a huge billboard presence, particularly in Hollywood, and numerous trailers and TV spots in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. If it feels like a movie is being over-advertised, chances are it’s because it isn’t very good.

Pushing back the release date of a movie is never a good sign. This is especially true for summer blockbusters that may be pushed back to the fall, but also for films that are pushed from award season. There may have been some award buzz around the film in the initial stages, but upon realizing that the movie doesn’t really have a chance, the release date is usually pushed back to ensure a better turnout at the box office. Regardless of the reason, pushing back the release date is almost always bad news.

The point of a press embargo is to prevent any reviews from being released until a day or two before the film appears in theatres. While they don’t restrict what you can say about the film, they do restrict when you can say it, which can significantly impact the movie’s success, particularly on its opening weekend. Although this does encourage critics to take their time with their reviews to ensure quality, it also hints that the film may get bad reviews, and that the studio is attempting to prevent negative word of mouth.

This one may seem obvious, but it is generally pretty accurate. Several famous actors and actresses have seemingly never appeared in a good film, or at the very least haven’t in many years. When you see these familiar faces in a trailer or on a poster, you can almost tell that the movie won’t be very good. Of course, this isn’t always the case - many people criticized the casting choices of Gal Gadot and Heath Ledger for Wonder Woman and the Joker, respectively, but both surprised with terrific performances.

“Why does this exist?” It’s a question we all ask while watching practically every remake. In recent years, Hollywood seems obsessed with giving classic films a makeover, and most have failed to achieve the same success as the original. There are some films that should be considered untouchable by modern filmmakers because there is a certain vintage charm to them that is impossible to recapture. Although modern technology can give the special effects an upgrade, these classics should be left alone, as they have proven to withstand the test of time.

Generally, these movies revolve around some form of holiday. Although “Love Actually” was a success, later films that have tried to capture the same magic failed both commercially and critically. While these movies tend to feature huge casts with several famous actors and actresses, the plot is almost entirely the same, with all the characters connected to each other in some way or another. The lack of a main character hurts the plot and none of the characters receive enough development because there isn’t enough screen time to go around.

To say that video game movies have a tendency to be terrible is putting it politely. Almost every single movie based on a video game has been a disaster. Considering the fact that video games these days have a cinematic feel about them, it’s somewhat surprising this hasn’t translated into big screen success. Perhaps it’s because video games allow the user to feel like they are in control of the character and story. Even the releases of “Assassin’s Creed” and “Warcraft” in the 2010s were critical failures – and if games that popular can’t succeed, it’s Game Over for all of them.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable, or in this case, dishonorable mentions:
- There Are Animals That Talk

- It’s the Third or Higher Film in a Franchise

- There’s a Pun in the Title

Sometimes directors are given free rein to include or delete any scenes, plotlines, or characters they want. Other times, however, the studio interferes, forcing the director to remove or add certain details. This can happen for a variety of reasons, although in the early 21st century, it is usually done to set-up future sequels. This is often to the detriment of the film, however, as most studio additions tend to confuse the plot or add one too many characters to the film. The studio is paying the director to do just that… direct, and most of the time, they would be better served to adopt a hands off approach.