Badmovies.org Forum

I share a suite on campus with a total of six guys, three of whom are B-movie junkies like myself.  During a screening of "The Beast of Yucca Flats," we started joking about taking a drink every time the narrator said the word "Progress."  That joke then began to evolve in to a drinking game, as we compiled a list of B-movie (especially 1950s and 60s B movies) tropes, the idea being, pop in a movie, and take a drink (not a shot; we're not suicidal -- additionally, we're not exactly part of the drinking and partying culture at the college) every time one of these tropes appeared in the movie.  I used badmovies.org as an aide in developing the list. 

Here's the list so far -- I was wondering if any of you fellow junkies had any suggestions for the list.

TAKE A DRINK IF...
--Recycled footage of atomic testing is used.
--You can see the strings holding up the flying saucer.
--You can see the zipper on the monster.
--The title of the film has some variation of "Atomic" or "Outer Space" in it.
--The title of the film contains made-up words. (Thanks to Andrew for drawing my attention to this)
--The hero's shirt comes off.
--"Dinosaurs" are represented by lizards, caimans with fins glued on them, or armadillos.
--A woman disobeys an order (i.e., "Get in the car and stay there!")
--An ordinary animal "rampages" through a model train set.
--A foreign scientist has all the answers.
--There is an ominous opening narration.  Criswell's opening to Plan 9 from Outer Space counts. 
--A fire extinguisher is used as a weapon, even though a REAL weapon is plainly visible.
--A precocious brat knows more about the monster then the scientists do.
--The monster goes after the leading lady, or the female character with the perkiest breasts.  If these are two different characters and the monster goes after both, take two drinks.  If the leading lady has the perkiest breasts, only take one drink.
--"Atomic Energy", "Radiation" "Genetic Engineering" or “Hormones” are used as a scapegoat to explain something utterly and completely ridiculous, usually the origin of the monster (but possibly why a woman isn’t in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the male lead).
--A Jacob's Ladder or beakers of colored liquid and dry ice are used to show that "Science" is going on.
--"The End" is followed by a question mark.
--There's a sheriff wearing a 10-gallon hat.
--A witness is disbelieved due to being drunk.
--"Thematic Mood Lightning"
--A woman’s nipples are visibly erect, even through the bulkiest of sweaters.  Bullet Bras don't count.
--The scene abruptly and inexplicably switches back and forth between day and night.
--A bottle of “Jack Daniels” is prominently displayed. (Thanks Andrew for drawing my attention to this)
--The film contains some sort of thinly veiled (if not openly remarked upon) moral about the dangers of sexually liberated women.


What do you folks think?  The plan, once we finalize the list, is to print it as a big poster and put it next to our communal TV, and then once a week (in additional to our usual weekly creature feature) play the game. 

Additionally, we're considering a variant game in which we each have one can of cheap beer (because it would be wrong to spend more on alcohol than was spent on the production of the film), and time how long it takes us to finish the can compared to the running time of the film.  And keep a running ranking of films based on this. 

Yeah, we're pretty geeky. 

If you rented the video and the title still caught you by surprise...well, you may not need that extra drink. :drink:

--Rather than taking an obvious escape route (a.k.a. running away), when approached by a moster, or otherwise, the would be victim just stands there and screams.
--In a perilous situation, a female character is miraculously saved by someone who came out of nowhere to distract the monster/killer. Two drinks if it is a black man who sacrifices himself to save someone else.
--A perfectly running car, previously, now has trouble starting as danger approaches.
--Shadows fall toward the lamp in a scene rather than away from it.
--A cat, other animal, or drunk suddenly jumps out from somewhere.

-- A walking killer still manages to catch up to a running woman.

-- It ends with some guy claiming that this could happen to the audience.

Menard -- Oh man, how could I have forgotten about victims who stand and scream! That's a classic.

As for titles, I think those movies will probably be reserved for nights where we want to get a little wasted -- for example, after a major exam. 

Patient7 -- Yes! The walking killer is always good.  And someone at the end...that sort of thing always has me in tears laughing.  When watching Plan 9, I can barely make it through any of Criswell's scenes. 

Pretty good list(s).

-- Hero, while in the open, shoots and kills 50 bad guys shooting at him from cover; he's never hit.
-- Hero's gun fires FAR too many bullets without reloading.
-- Military leader involved in trying to solve the problem disbelieves the scientist about some fact or solution.
-- Someone previously depicted as clueless suddenly has all the answers to the great mystery going on; corollary, someone finds a book that explains everything.
-- You may have some fun with how often folks in those old 50's movies light up cigarettes.  Of course, you could get pretty hammered that way!!   :bouncegiggle:

How about...


- Someone is surprise attacked by someone(something) coming from offscreen who is invisible to the audience but should be easily visible to the characters


Actually that happens generally enough...not just attacks but sudden surprise 'stings' that the characters should see even if the audience can't

My girlfriend and I tested this last night, as I introduced her to THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and THE KILLER SHREWS.  Since neither of us was particularly looking to drink alcohol last night, we used Dr. Pepper. 

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER warranted eight drinks.  One for an ominous opening narration, two for the sheriff repeatedly wearing a ten gallon hat, one for the French girl disobeying the singing hero, two witnesses disbelieved due to being drunk, and two for scenes of ordinary lizards rampaging through a model set. 

THE KILLER SHREWS earned, in our estimation, six drinks.  One for an ominous opening narration, which was followed immediately by "Thematic Mood Lightning", one for a foreign scientist having all the answers, one for "genetic engineering" being responsible for the creation of the monsters, and then while there was some debate, we counted two lightning scenes as thematic mood lightning instead of just being a reminder of the fact that there's a storm. 

All in all, we each polished off two cans of soda. 

--everytime some one smokes or drinks cough*thekillershrews*cough take a drink of your
own!

Anytime a car bursts into flames for reasons that, well...would not result in a car bursting into flames.
Anytime a character previously thought to have been killed turns out to be alive.
Anytime something explodes much, much larger than it should.  Hand grenades don't actually blow up like a gallon bucket of pyrotechnic charges.
Anytime a car hits something, resulting in it being vaulted way up into the air.

-- "Flying battleship"

This is a variation of the "Stands and screams" item, any time the female lead, usually a scientist, doctor, reporter etc., who has repeatedly stated that she's just as strong and capable as any man, especially the male lead, gets hysterical and goes to pieces at the first sign of danger.

Thank you! Play the 'Big as a  :wink:battleship' drinking game, end up on yer a$$ before Mitch blows up the lab!

Oh man, I have a feeling that so many rules would come up that it'd be impossible to remember them all. But it's a tight idea.

 :bouncegiggle: glad the evening was enjoyable.

In addition to the other female stereotypes mentioned:

The woman who is educated, competent and an equal member of the team who still cooks and cleans up after the men.

Every time boobs are shown for no apparent reason, take TWO drinks (one for each).

Every time a person "dodges" fire from a laser or other beam-type weapon, take a drink.


Take TWO drinks if they just fall to the ground.

Every time you see blood that is thin as water and as translucent as kool-aid, take a drink.

Every time you see a person with clothes soaked in blood, and in the next camera shot they are noticeably less bloody, take a drink.   

Every time you see the movement of a person's body from them being shot out of sync with the deployment of the special effects showing the impact of the bullets, take a drink.

Every time you hear or see reference to a scientific impossibility, take a drink.
(ie. "The temperature will drop to thousands of degrees below zero", or a 200lb man pulling DOWN on a rope that goes over a pulley, resulting in him lifting several tons, WITHOUT a block and tackle.)

Every time a government official is shown to be lazy, dishonest, or incompetent, take a drink.

Every time a guy shows a picture of his girl, then gets killed, take a drink.

Every time you see a policeman eating a donut, take a drink.

Every time an astronaut talks about what kind of food he's going to eat when he gets back to earth

Every time the resident scientist comes up with a spot-on theory about what's happening, based on virtually no information

When a round, slender rocket turns out to have a big, square control room

When a fictional rocket turns into stock footage of a Redstone, Atlas, Saturn, V2 or other real rocket shortly after launch

When the same rocket lands by running the stock footage in reverse

When a rocket's door is in the side of the tail, presumably leading into the engine

When a rocket's layout leaves no room for fuel

When a rocket seems to have the dimensional properties of a TARDIS

When a rocket in space gives off smoke that goes "up" or sparks that go "down"

In old sci-fi, anytime the spaceship/space station crew is all dressed in uniforms except the female lead, who's in some sexy skin-tight number.

Anytime they have a teletype machine on a space station.

Anytime they make a point of having a scene where everyone's weightless, yet for the remainder of the movie there's obviously normal gravity.

Anytime an apparently rocket or jet powered car is seen going 35 mph down the highway.

Anytime alien computers can be figured out and reprogrammed in less than 5 minutes.

Every time an intelligent character tries to convince someone of a threat in the least believable, dumbest-sounding terms possible. Examples include "Doc Hallen was killed by a monster," "We dug up Jason and he came back to life," and "There's these dwarves and they're gonna get me."

Any time the monster has a large, exposed brain, or is a disembodied brain. 

Whenever spacecraft controls or other advanced technology is represented by a bunch of ham radio equipment on a wooden table

Every time someone says "earthling"

Every time aliens announce that they will destroy us because our atomic weapons are a threat to them

Every time aliens ignore or laugh in the face of our crude atomic weapons

If the aliens "speak" telepathically

Whenever a spacecraft that is far bigger and heavier than it needs to be has lightening holes in its structural supports

From the ham radio equipment to the "square room in round spaceship" to the earthling business to wooden tables ---
According to AndyC's rules, anyone watching "Plan 9 From Outer Space" would die of alcohol poisoning, as it seems as if EVERY SINGLE ONE of his rules apply to that film!!
Seriously, I can count 15 drinks just by skimming --
peter johnson/denny crane

Funny, when I was typing most of those, I was thinking of, among other things, Robot Monster, Angry Red Planet, It! the Terror from Beyond Space, Creeping Terror, When Worlds Collide and a few others. They're pretty common clichees. Actually, from the rules applying to space travel, It! or Angry Red Planet might be pretty hazardous to your liver.

The meteor shower threat is in nearly every sci-fi space movie.........

And for some reason, it often comes soon after launch.

If a killer is searching a room for a person, then just as they leave they stop and come back into the room for no apparent reason.  :tongueout:

I don't drink that SATAN in a bottle stuff, that evil vile liquid sin.

Out demon, OUT! Heal thyself sinner, heal.

My God have MERCY on your soul!

Don't worry, a few years ago a very nice man turned me on to this stuff called "Jesus Juice," it's quite good and the man was rather friendly, maybe too friendly.  I got his picture though.


(http://www.aolcdn.com/red_galleries/michael-jackson-400a052307.jpg)

No problem, I'LL personally make sure your share gets taken care of. .  :twirl:

Take a drink everytime when:
-Bela Lugosi is in a role of an evil genius
-the minority/minorities die
-you think someone deserved to die for their stupidity  (in a slasher flick)
-teenagers go into the asylum/haunted mansion/cemetery to have sex
-you can clearly see that the monster is just a puppet
-the director/writer makes a cameo
-someone looks in the camera

Hmmm.. dunno if I should add to this thread, or place it in the more current "Movie Drinking Game" thread...

Ah, well.

Here's a good one for zombie movies:

Take a drink every time:

Someone shoots a zombie in the chest, or some other ineffectual spot
TWICE if said person should already know that zombies can only be killed by a headshot.
CHUG if said person is a soldier/military officer

Someone hesitates in shooting a recently reanimated loved one/relative

Zombies are used as obvious political/social commentary.

Some idiot just stands there rather than RUNNING from the dead.
TWICE If this person isn't female.

Headshot!

You hear a zombie moan or groan.

Someone gets bit.

Some movies were tailor made for drinking games.

I remember many a night in college playing the Evil Dead 2 drinking game. Rules are simple: Take a drink every time Ash hits his head. I don't know of a person that lasted longer than Ash's hand.

whenever Dolemite says "Putcha weight on it!"

Take a drink whenever a monster appears to require the victim's assistance (for example, climbing into its mouth, wrapping him/herself up in its tentacles, shaking about as if being ravaged.

Take two drinks if the victim is actually making the monster move, such as pretending to wrestle with a dummy.

Take a drink if a lone drunk sees the monster, aliens, etc. and swears off drinking for good.

Take a drink if a famous landmark appears (such as Hoover Dam, the Capitol Building, the Roman Coliseum, etc). Two drinks if it's destroyed.

Take a drink if the monster is something normally very small that grows very large. Take another drink if the cause turns out to be a scientist with good intentions.

When watching Superstition (1982):

Take a drink everytime the guy yells "Artie"

would seeing these items in a movie warrant a drink?

1.when a car does an awsome ramp, and you can see the partially hidden pipe ramp
2. major down hanging boom mike action.(i saw a chuck norris movie once,and an actor in the scene actuall ran into a low hanging boom mike)
3.blood or injuries on an actor or actress that appear in one scene and disapear in another.

this is the drinking game me and my friends play,to find the mistakes.strangly,they won't watch old dukes of hazzard episodes when the bar is open

This one is more suited towards Jungle Hell and Frogs:

Take a shot everytime you see stock footage of specific animal (For J.H. elephants, for Frogs frogs!)  It's the best way to get drunk.

- Take a drink everything a plot point is introduced, but never mention or basically forgotten (Works only with movies you have already seen before).  This is great game for Cool World

- Take a drink for every musical number that is stupid and annoying.  For best results, watch a 90s Don Bluth movie (I recommend Rockadoodle)

take a drink when you see a boom mic
take a drink when you see a camera man smoke