What makes a movie bad? While it’s hard to pinpoint to one particular aspect, many bad movies have several characteristics in common, including poor acting, lazy scriptwriting, and general incompetence on the parts of the filmmakers. And while critics and audience often diverge in their acceptance of a movie, some films reach such a level of awfulness that just about everyone agrees they’re bad.
These are motion pictures that by some confluence of circumstances cause audiences to react with anger, confusion, and boredom. Thousands of movie fans go online to give these films low ratings, hoping to prevent fellow moviegoers from suffering the same viewing fate. In these cases, critics agree with moviegoers, generally panning the flick.
24/7 Wall St. has determined the 50 worst movies of all time, based on a number of metrics, including audience and critic ratings.
Almost all of the films featured on the list were released relatively recently, with only four titles debuting before 1990. And while the films cover nearly every genre, over half are labelled as comedies on IMDb. There are also quite a few horror and sci-fi movies,which often tend to flop thanks to terrible makeup and less-than-dazzling special effects.
Many of these bad films star extremely popular actors, including Sandra Bullock, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone. While some of these films’ directors had short stints in the movie industry, others have had long, prolific careers. Some directors are even responsible for multiple films on the list, including Jason Friedberg, Bob Clark, and Uwe Boll.
Click here to see the 50 worst movies of all time.
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To determine the worst movies of all time, 24/7 Wall St. created an index based on each film’s Rotten Tomatoes average critic rating, Rotten Tomatoes average audience rating and Internet Movie Database average user rating, To be considered, each film needed to have at least 10,000 IMDb user ratings and 10 approved tomatometer critic reviews.
We averaged the user ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb and weighted by the number of votes for each. The combined user rating was then averaged with the Rotten Tomatoes critic rating.
Items included on this list were selected based exclusively on this methodology. This article includes affiliate links, and 24/7 Wall St. may get a share of the revenue from sales.
50. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
> Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
> Director: Joe Berlinger
> Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Barker Turner, Erica Leerhsen
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49. The Emoji Movie (2017)
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Director: Tony Leondis
> Starring: T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris
48. The Apparition (2012)
> Genre: Horror, Thriller
> Director: Todd Lincoln
> Starring: Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan, Tom Felton
47. Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
> Director: Jan de Bont
> Starring: Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe
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46. Fair Game (1995)
> Genre: Action, Crime, Romance
> Director: Andrew Sipes
> Starring: William Baldwin, Cindy Crawford, Steven Berkoff
45. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
> Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
> Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
> Starring: Kristin Kreuk, Neal McDonough, Michael Clarke Duncan
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44. Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
> Director: Courtney Solomon
> Starring: Justin Whalin, Jeremy Irons, Zoe McLellan
43. Street Fighter (1994)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
> Director: Steven E. de Souza
> Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, Ming-Na Wen
42. The Fog (2005)
> Genre: Horror
> Director: Rupert Wainwright
> Starring: Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair
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41. Jaws 3-D (1983)
> Genre: Adventure, Horror, Thriller
> Director: Joe Alves
> Starring: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale
40. Vampires Suck (2010)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
> Starring: Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Diedrich Bader
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39. Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
> Genre: Comedy, Family, Romance
> Director: Tom Ropelewski
> Starring: John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, David Gallagher
38. The Devil Inside (2012)
> Genre: Horror
> Director: William Brent Bell
> Starring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth
37. Stan Helsing (2009)
> Genre: Comedy, Horror
> Director: Bo Zenga
> Starring: Steve Howey, Diora Baird, Kenan Thompson
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36. The Avengers (1998)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
> Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
> Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, Sean Connery
35. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
> Genre: Action, Comedy, Family
> Director: Roger Spottiswoode
> Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Estelle Getty, JoBeth Williams
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34. Bio-Dome (1996)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Jason Bloom
> Starring: Pauly Shore, Stephen Baldwin, William Atherton
33. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Troy Miller
> Starring: Derek Richardson, Eric Christian Olsen, Eugene Levy
32. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
> Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
> Director: Wych Kaosayananda
> Starring: Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Talisa Soto
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31. Catwoman (2004)
> Genre: Action, Crime
> Director: Pitof
> Starring: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt
30. Mr. Magoo (1997)
> Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
> Director: Stanley Tong
> Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Kelly Lynch, Matt Keeslar
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29. BloodRayne (2005)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
> Director: Uwe Boll
> Starring: Kristanna Loken, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Rodriguez
28. Caddyshack II (1988)
> Genre: Comedy, Sport
> Director: Allan Arkush
> Starring: Jackie Mason, Robert Stack, Dyan Cannon
27. Feardotcom (2002)
> Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller
> Director: William Malone
> Starring: Stephen Dorff, Natascha McElhone, Stephen Rea
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26. Fifty Shades of Black (2016)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Michael Tiddes
> Starring: Marlon Wayans, Kali Hawk, Fred Willard
25. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
> Genre: Comedy, Action, Sci-Fi
> Director: Ron Underwood
> Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jay Mohr, Randy Quaid
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24. The Master of Disguise (2002)
> Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
> Director: Perry Andelin Blake
> Starring: Dana Carvey, Jennifer Esposito, Harold Gould
23. I Know Who Killed Me (2007)
> Genre: Mystery, Thriller
> Director: Chris Sivertson
> Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough
22. Barb Wire (1996)
> Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
> Director: David Hogan
> Starring: Pamela Anderson, Amir AboulEla, Adriana Alexander
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21. The Hottie & the Nottie (2008)
> Genre: Comedy, Romance
> Director: Tom Putnam
> Starring: Paris Hilton, Joel David Moore, Christine Lakin
20. Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
> Genre: Adventure, Horror, Thriller
> Director: Joseph Sargent
> Starring: Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles
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19. Baby Geniuses (1999)
> Genre: Comedy, Crime, Family
> Director: Bob Clark
> Starring: Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd, Kim Cattrall
18. Epic Movie (2007)
> Genre: Adventure, Comedy
> Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
> Starring: Kal Penn, Jennifer Coolidge, Fred Willard
17. Rollerball (2002)
> Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Sport
> Director: John McTiernan
> Starring: Chris Klein, Jean Reno, LL Cool J
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16. Meet the Spartans (2008)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
> Starring: Sean Maguire, Kevin Sorbo, Carmen Electra
15. Glitter (2001)
> Genre: Drama, Music, Romance
> Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall
> Starring: Mariah Carey, Eric Benét, Max Beesley
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14. Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Tom Brady
> Starring: Nick Swardson, Don Johnson, Christina Ricci
13. From Justin to Kelly (2003)
> Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance
> Director: Robert Iscove
> Starring: Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Katherine Bailess
12. Son of the Mask (2005)
> Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
> Director: Lawrence Guterman
> Starring: Jamie Kennedy, Traylor Howard, Alan Cumming
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11. Kazaam (1996)
> Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
> Director: Paul Michael Glaser
> Starring: Shaquille O’Neal, Francis Capra, Ally Walker
10. Disaster Movie (2008)
> Genre: Comedy
> Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
> Starring: Carmen Electra, Vanessa Lachey, Nicole Parker
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9. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
> Genre: Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
> Director: Bob Clark
> Starring: Jon Voight, Scott Baio, Vanessa Angel
8. Alone in the Dark (2005)
> Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
> Director: Uwe Boll
> Starring: Christian Slater, Tara Reid, Stephen Dorff
7. The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015)
> Genre: Comedy, Horror
> Director: Tom Six
> Starring: Dieter Laser, Laurence R. Harvey, Eric Roberts
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6. Gigli (2003)
> Genre: Comedy, Crime, Romance
> Director: Martin Brest
> Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha
5. House of the Dead (2003)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror
> Director: Uwe Boll
> Starring: Jonathan Cherry, Tyron Leitso, Clint Howard
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4. Battlefield Earth (2000)
> Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
> Director: Roger Christian
> Starring: John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, Barry Pepper
3. Saving Christmas (2014)
> Genre: Comedy, Family
> Director: Darren Doane
> Starring: Kirk Cameron, Darren Doane, Bridgette Cameron
2. Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)
> Genre: Horror, Romance, Thriller
> Director: James Nguyen
> Starring: Alan Bagh, Whitney Moore, Tippi Hedren
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1. The Hands of Fate (1966)
> Genre: Horror
> Director: Harold P. Warren
> Starring: Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Adelson
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