Badmovies.org Forum

I am a writer and film buff that is new to this group. I wanted to introduce myself and would like to start a discussion on who you think is the worst actor and director of all time. I see a lot of discussions on these boards about what is the best/worst movie(s) of all time, but I have a particular interest in those who have contributed to the most ghastly (yet side splittingly funny) movies on a consistent basis. 

I am so interested I even wrote a book on the subject. Cheesy, Sleazy Mixed-Up Astro-Zombies: The 100 Worst Actors and Directors of All Time (2008 Publish America) is a chronicle of the lowest of the low in the motion picture industry. I would like to see how my rankings match up with other bad movie lovers.

Now indulge me for a second and allow me to plug my book. If there is any chance you would be interested in reading it, please check out http://www.kirklodes.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.publishamerica.com or email me at klodes@sbcglobal.net.

Now that I got the sales pitch out of the way, start nominating your favorite bad movie icons…

Hmmmm . . . as far as mainstream actors whose reputation far exceeds their actual talent, I can think of two . . .

Richard Gere

William Shatner

On the low end of the cinematic spectrum . . .

Everyone who has ever acted in a Brain Damage Films release.

Well, as far as directors and actors that are "bad" but whom I love,

Jim Wynorski has always been one of my favorite directors.  He's made his share of stinkers, but he also turns out plenty of so-bad-they're-good stuff.  Chopping Mall, Not of this Earth, Sorority House Massacre II, Raptor, Project Viper, Cheerleader Massacre, Curse of the Komodo, Hard to Die...pure cheese filled fun  :teddyr:

Charles Band of course.  Plenty of stinkers, but some real b-movie genius as well.  I'll be kind and not give a long list of his stuff that I like.

For actors, Melissa Braselle - best boob job in the history of plastic surgery.  Not a half bad actress either.  Janet Tracy Keijser - she's been in a few zero budget things I've seen, she's got a special cuteness I like.  Still meaning to check out The Halfway House, which she stars in.  Melissa Moore, she's in my avatar.  Man, just plain hot.  Every all-American boy's dream.  

Directors?

Michael Bay - Good at constructing scenes, bad at putting them into a cohesive whole. The only memorable movies he has made are the really bad ones; other than that, his best films fall into the category of being momentarily entertaining, but nothing you'll even bother to remember.

J.R. Bookwalter - Dear god; somebody take the cheapass video camera out of his hands. There are actually people who like his stuff. There are also people who would probably like being smacked in the face with a 2x4. Same difference.


Actors?

Julie Strain - Apparently when she hears the word 'action' she takes that to mean 'read lines and get naked'. With as many films as she has been in (scuse me, videos) you'd figure some acting ability would rub off on her; nope.

Nothing like watching Julie Strain stand there with her 40 lbs. of silicone hanging out, reciting lines as if reading from the encyclopedia.  Or sometimes she'll throw a completely random emotion on various lines, going from monotone to angry to sweet in the space of three sentences.

I have a review for "Battle Queen 2020" pending for July, and she is not an actress I like to see in a film.  "Day of the Warrior" might be my favorite of her stuff, and she is not terribly prominent (meaning screen time) in that film.

Doris Wishman is a director who always bears mentioning.  Just reviewed "Bad Girls Go to Hell," so her name immediately jumps to mind.  Seeing one of her films, I constantly ask myself "Didn't she know that she was making a movie?"

As for directors (mainstream, that is), I think Michael Cimino is at the top of the list.  He made the great DEER HUNTER and also THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (which I like mostly because of the performances by Jeff Bridges and George Kennedy).  Other than that, he is reponsible for some really miserable crap like THE DESPERATE HOURS and THE SICILIAN . . . not to mention one of the biggest money-losers of all time: HEAVEN'S GATE.

Not far behind is J. Lee Thompson, who was responsible for some classics like THE GUNS OF NAVARONE and the original CAPE FEAR, but then went on to direct some pretty bad movies including a string of flimsy Charles Bronson flicks at the end of his career.

I'll agree with Andrew that Doris Wishman is bad, real bad, worse than Ed Wood bad. She pasted away in 2002 at the age of 90 ... still making bad films up to 5 year after she died. That's talent!
Naturally, Uwe Boll, Michael Bay, Paul W.S. Anderson, Renny Harlin, Guy Ritchie, George Lucas (yes I said George Lucus), Russ Meyer, Woody Allen and few other lesser known offenders.

Of the better known actor ...
Keanu Reeves
Tara Reid
Ben Affleck
Christopher Lambert
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Jean Claude VanDamme
Sylvester Stallone
David Hasselhoff
Steven Segal
David Caruso
Will Smith 
Brendan Fraser
Tom Green

There is a endless list of b-movie no name actors that are bad but many of them know it and only have a film or two to there credit.

Actors come and go for me.  There's no one particular actor that I can say is complete s**te.  It's just too easy to nominate people like Tom Cruise.

As for directors  - ANG F*&^%ING LEE.

That man should not be allowed to within 5 feet of a film canister.  That's why I'm looking forward to the new Hulk movie.  It HAS to be better than that first lot of dreck he directed.

Heck, even Jackie Chan movies have a more cohesive look about them!

For director:

Ted V. Mikels

Honestly, if "The Astro Zombies" is the *best* movie you ever made ...

What about Akdov Telmig? *snicker*

Hey Jack,
 Don't forget Wynorski also directed Death Stalker 2, which is the finest of all the Death Stalker films :smile: He also unfortunately directed the Witches of Breastwick, which is not anywhere near as fun as it should have been. This is the best part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdOau19aE0g

Re.  Witches --
Oh, man, that is one funny-bad clip!!  You gotta love how the "actor" runs over and poses with the knife when "attacking" the witches -- Good gawd . . .
* * *
Me, I'm a classicist on bad actors and bad directors:  Give me Ed Wood, Phil Tucker, William "One-shot" Beaudine -- all the usual suspects.
On actors in the main mainstream, I still don't get John Wayne.  Working with John Huston, he turned in a good performance in "The Quiet Man", but just about everything else I've seen him in is the same squinty-eyed monotone.
peter johnson/denny crane

bad actors---

will smith

tara reid

chuck norris  ( i know i'll probably catch flack for that)

Divine (but you can't help but love him/her and the fact that she/he found their niche in John Waters where bad can be so gooooood!!!)

oh, i forgot... jeremy sisto

Worst Director: Andy Milligan

I still haven't checked out Deathstalker 2, been meaning to forever.  Witches looks comical - such realistic dialogue!  And I've heard that theme music in about 6 other Wynorski films  :bouncegiggle:

A thread about the worst directors of all time goes two pages before Ray Dennis Steckler gets mentioned?

I guess everybody else just thought that was too obvious to bother to mention it.

Love how the guy can walk around Las Vegas with a video camera taping three idiots basically just walking around as well and call it a movie. Is that talent or what?

Sadly, I should point out something I noticed:

A check of Google verified this.  The OP has posted a message like this on quite a few forums.  In a handful of cases, he posted one reply in the thread.  In all other cases, nothing.  He registered here, posted this about 3 minutes later, and has not logged into the forum since.  It is possible that he is monitoring responses via email, but the other facts support the hypothesis that this is just a marketing post.

Still, as to be expected from everyone, it is a good discussion.

For really bad acting, I would like to nominate CIA Agent Roy Turner from "Octopus."  Hated the character, and the actor was part of that disaster.  When the monster finally says, "Fine, I'll kill the bad guy, just because you are such a putz." there is a major problem.  Also, for some reason, Chris Lemmon is someone I cannot take.  He played the sidekick in the "Thunder in Paradise" films.

I think someone mentioned him before, but Uwe Boll is a terrible director.  Bloodrayne, House of the Dead, Dungeon Siege... those are all rotten movies.  A lot of bad directors have one good movie to their credit, but not him.

As far as bad actors, I would have to say Hayden Christensen, Steven Segal, Lori Petty and Lindsay Lohan ranks as pretty high up there.  :thumbdown:

Yeah, I'd have to say that Hayden Christensen and Keanu Reeves both are bad.. well, I kinda like Keanu, but he can't act..

Hello  All! My debut post here.  :smile:


In a discussion of bad directors, one name rises above all others to stand head and shoulders in total crapitudeness in my mind - Ron Howard.

He works only with experienced actors (and Tom Cruise), highly trained technical staff and has the pick of scripts in Hollywood and he STILL manages turns out something less exciting that a two day old bowl of porridge every time.


As for bad actors: 

Nicholas Cage. You can tell old Nic is really trying to act when he STARTS SHOUTING. Horrible.

Madonna - I dare anyone to sit through Swept Away without losing the will to live.

Welcome, Black Kitty!

I can see where you're coming from on Ron Howard.  To me he's just sort of bland and makes the type of lowest-common-denominator movies I would never choose to go to see.  But, he is techgnically competent, which gives him a leg up on the Wishmans, Stecklers and Milligans of the world.  Still, I like the way you think!

I don't really notice good or bad acting much. I've seen acting called "bad" that I was totally comfortable with, I only notice it if it's hyperemotivness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1fEnhawu_k) or the cliche "reading lines" stlye.

Out of all the rap stars turned to movie stars, heck out of most "more-than-one-movie" actors, Busta Rhymes is probably the one who most embodies the latter style of bad acting. I've seen him in two movies, "Halloween Resurrection" and "Finding Forrester", in both he tries to make a convincing philosophical-sounding speech, with very amusing end-products.

Thank you!

I have to say though, to my way of thinking Ron Howard is far worse than your average schlock film maker. The Wishmans, Stecklers and Milligans of this world have something of an excuse for the stuff they churn out - they're just oafs lumbering around a film set. But the Howards of this world are so much worse because they should be producing something worthwhile but somehow can't (or won't). 

There's something decent and honest about the crappiness of an Ed Wood film.

Agreed - and your first 'karma' point (don't ask...)!

I can almost always find something entertaining in a Milligan, Wishman, Polonia Brothers, etc. film, but the films by white-bread directors like Ron Howard always feel to me that every bit of imagination and uniqueness has been sucked out them.  Aunt Bee (or Fonzie) would not be proud of lil' Opie (or lil' Ritchie).

On a similar note, does anyone else think the TV spots for "The Latest Film by the Director of THE SIXTH SENSE and SIGNS" are really strange and seem to have been over PR'd to the point of absurdity?  The ads never mention his name, pointedly do not mention THE VILLAGE and A LADY AND SOME WATER (whatever), and make a big deal about the fact this is a R rated film. 

I just quite frankly think you girls like big targets because they are easier to hit.

You compare Howard to Milligan and Wishman and call Opie the loser?

If you gave Milligan and Wishman a budget of a 100 million, a competent crew, good actors, they'd still produce the same crap they always produced. Howard may be middle of the road, nothing spectacular or really bad either, but he isn't part or parcel of the crapfest company in which you included him.


Back to your all's little...girly talk.

Doris Wishman, Andy Milligan, Don Dohler, John Waters, The Polonia Brothers, etc. worked with mostly non-actors and no budgets and usually managed to turn out some wildly entertaining work.

Howard has all of Hollywood at his disposal, and still manages to consistently turn out predictable ,bland, and ultimately forgettable dreck.

That's all my opinion, naturally.

As the late Brother Dave Gardner used to say, it's all a matter of perspective.

"James Lewis, get away from that wheelbarrow! You know you don't know nothin' 'bout machinery!"

I have always called Coleman Francis the work filmmaker of all time IMO.

Yeah, he only made 3 films (and I own the non-MST3K versions of all 3  Beast of Yucca Flats, Skydivers, Red Zone Cuba) but I still don't think that I've ever seen  anything else that has caused me to want to beat my head against a wall like when I see one of his flicks.   

(http://www.horror-wood.com/franci3.jpg)    

Hold on...just started "Black Thunder" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118732/) with Michael Dudikoff so I may have something this you in a bit

Angela Bettis is a terrible actress; but i can't help but love her. I once seen an interview with her when she stated that the reason she sticks to horror movies is because they are so much fun and she loves to overact. I really enjoyed May and Toolbox Murders but I was disappointed in Sick Girl. I like most of them because they are so 'over the top' and hilarious. I thought she did a wonderful job directing Roman. I liked the way it was shot and the story line, even if the main chick made me want to strangle her with her own pretentiousness. Angela Bettis makes you want to just invite her into your house for some wholesome cookies and a bit of mutilation.

Coleman Francis!  How could I have forgotten Coleman Francis!

Just lucky, I guess.

I always nominate any filmmaker who's made an anti-South African film while ignoring their own country's problems and choosing to focus on South Africa instead. Here I class people like Richard Donner, Chris Menges, Euzhan Palcy, Richard Attenborough and John Avildsen.

Phillip Noyce (Catch A Fire) is excused from this lot, because he made Rabbit Proof Fence which highlighted the racial injustice perpetrated against Australian people.

Rabbit Proof Fence was an excellent movie and one i only recently discovered.

One that hasn't been mentioned and maybe that's because he so bad people don't even know him; Tim Kincaid.
Maybe best known for his gay-porn Kincaid has also produced some horror/action/something,something flicks.
The ones I've seen are Breeders and The Occultist. Lousy static shots, bad editing, worse soundtrack, and almost no storyline > gay-porn.
Luckily there wasn't any male-nudity in these movies and a lot of female, but still they were unenjoyable.

I have never seen anyone give a worse performance than Anna Nicole Smith in Skyscraper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4l-1JFW59A