25 Terrible Movies So Bad They Became Iconic

What are the particular qualities that make a bad movie so bad that people actually enjoy watching it? (And by people, I mean me.)

It’s an interesting question to consider. Hollywood releases dozens of bad movies every single year. Most wind up totally forgotten in a matter of months, if not weeks. But some bad movies defy those odds and become beloved. People treasure them for their flaws. They celebrate them for their failures.

The 25 films listed below are those sorts of movies. These are not just bad films. They’re not even films that are so bad they become good. These are films so bad they became iconic — forever remembered, viewed, and celebrated for their peculiarities and quirks.

You may be surprised by some of the omissions on this list. There are a few possible reasons for that. Keep in mind, first of all, that not all midnight movies or cult films are watched at midnight or considered cult objects because they’re bad. People love to go to late-night screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show where they dress up and recite the lines and dance. Does that make it a “bad” movie? No. That makes it a fun, participatory experience.

Likewise, there are some movies so bad they’re not good at all; they’re borderline unwatchable. These are the Marmadukes of the world, the Disaster Movies of the world; films so all-consuming in their stinkitude that there is no fun to be had in watching them or talking about them. As a result, they never quite reach the lofty heights of the famously bad movies listed below.