Terrible Independent Film

[ErinD]

I don't know much about this movie, other than it was made independently (the writer, director, producer and star are the same guy) over many years (I think 10 or more) and the character's appearance changes dramatically. I know the film has a website where you can buy it online for $10, but I can't remember the name! It's allegedly as bad as The Room.

Any ideas?

[frank]

The first guess would be Bad Taste by Peter Jackson. I think it's public domain now, so it can be legally downloaded at the internet archive. Although a proper copy would still be worth 10 $.

[claws]

The first guess would be Bad Taste by Peter Jackson.

Seriously? Because:

 

I know the film has a website where you can buy it online for $10, but I can't remember the name!

Anchor Bay released Bad Taste on DVD in the states. Bad Taste the movie or Peter Jackson didn't have a website selling Bad Taste. At least none that I know of.

It's allegedly as bad as The Room.

Bad Taste is bad ass. The Room is unintentional hilarious. There is a difference ;)

[frank]

The first guess would be Bad Taste by Peter Jackson.

Seriously? Because:

- It is the only movie I can think of with the same person as producer, director, and actor (there are definitely others though).

- I think I remember that it was filmed over a pretty long time stretch (don't know if it was 10 years though).

- As I remember, the appearance of the actors changed during the film.

- It is quite popular.

Above are the main reasons for my suggestion.

I have no idea if the movie has a website distributing it. Frankly, I just didn't bother looking it up, but decided the above mentioned was worth a shot.

[ChocolateChipCharlie]

Sounds a little bit like Eraserhead, but not enough - Lynch directed but he wasn't the actor.  It did take like 10 years for him to finish though.

If you've never seen Eraserhead, do yourself a favor and never see it.

[claws]

If you've never seen Eraserhead, do yourself a favor and never see it.

Ouch, that hurts. Eraserhead is my all time favorite movie 

[Mofo Rising]

If you've never seen Eraserhead, do yourself a favor and never see it.

Ouch, that hurts. Eraserhead is my all time favorite movie 

I also quite like Eraserhead.

This movie doesn't sound like it, the lead character does not change in appearance too much over the film. (Well, he does, but not in that way.) Besides, David Lynch is not selling Eraserhead for $10. If he did I'd buy a copy.

There are a lot of really bad independent movies like the one described, they just rarely pop up in the mainstream. It kind of sounds like something the guy from American Movie would have directed. Mark Borchardt. Then there's guys like Todd Sheets, who's been putting out micro-budget films for years.

[ChocolateChipCharlie]

I like some of Lynch's other movies - Dune and Mulholland Dr. come to mind.  But Eraserhead was just plain awful, and not in any of the fun and endearing ways that would land it on this site.

When you make a movie, things must happen.  And they must happen more than once every 15 minutes.  Eraserhead failed this test for me.

I don't want to bag on anyone who actually likes it, because there's no accounting for taste.  But man, do I hate that movie.

[Flick James]

I'll provide my support for Eraserhead as well.

Charles Bukowski, who was notorious for hating movies in general, loved Eraserhead. If that's not a ringing endorsement I don't know what is.

[M.10rda]

Unrelated to the O.P., which seems insoluble maybe, but since this is Badmovies.org and the conversation here evolved around the assertion that ERASERHEAD is a bad movie that the O.P. should do himself the favor of never watching........

ERASERHEAD is one of my top 10 favorite films, and I've seen it at least a dozen times in 30 years... including at least 1-2 times a year since 2016 for classes of students. I will acknowledge that many students hate it (and hate Zulawski's POSSESSION, sigh), and that a common complaint is along the lines that "nothing happens" etc. To some extent I could have sympathized with the sentiment that the film is slow-paced... the first 3 or 4 times I watched it. Actually, having seen it (and led discussions about it with groups), I think you'd be hard-pressed to name a lot of movies where a LARGER number of things, or at least remarkable things, happen in just under 90 minutes. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN certainly has ERASERHEAD beat for eventfulness, but it's 2+ hours. (And, admittedly, as frantic and imaginative as any film ever made.)

But I digress - try this exercise. Watch ERASERHEAD, be bored if you feel like being bored, but then after the movie, make a list of everything that happens. A LOT OF WEIRD AND SIGNIFICANT STUFF happens in that relatively brief film. The impression that it is slow or uneventful may be an initial reaction to the first 10-12 minutes, which are intentionally slow-paced. I used to recall those sequences as being, like, the first half hour of the film - they're not. The opening sequence in "The Planet" inside Henry's mind is about 3-4 minutes long. That excruciating sequence where he's walking through the city? Same. He gets to the hotel, enters his apartment... still slow, yet things begin to happen.

Then we seque into the Dinner scene at Mary's house. Long scene, deliberately paced, lots of pauses and silence, though also a lot of dialogue and action. Watched this scene WELL over a dozen times (sometimes I cue up the film JUST to watch this scene) and I insist it is MASTERFULLY paced............ for dread and horror, but even moreso, for COMEDY. Two or three of the biggest and most enduring laughs in the history of cinema are in this film - 1-2 are in this SCENE alone. (Really the funniest scene in the film, and one of my favorite moments of comedy full-stop, is much later, with Paul the overeager desk clerk.)

Anyway - David Lynch is a genius. Mentioning him in the same conversation as Todd Sheets....... not a good look. Keep things in a realistic (or at least magically realistic or surrealistic) perspective...