Question of the Day

[Scott]

Here's a question for you. I like Sci-Fi/Horror films that are and aren't considered good, but why or how can a "bad" Sci-Fi or Horror film turn out to be entertaining and yet a "bad" Western (or any other genre) be simply boring?

[Brother Ragnarok]

I think some of it has to do with the visual aspect.  A bad horror flick like "Buried Alive" that has no real gore or monsters to keep you entertained is just as boring as a bad western or a drama.  A bad monster movie has at least the goofy costume to keep the jokes rolling, and bad sci fi movies have tons of crappy space ships, laser guns, and wobbly corridors to keep the viewer happy.

Brother R

[Scott0]

The real life believability of a western, where a man might ride into a town and stand in the town square for a couple minutes can be grueling to sit through. I'm sure there are lots of sci-fi movies that are like that as well, but sci-fi has the advantage of totally unbelievable situations involving alien planets, space ships, ray guns, and giant lobsters attacking small towns. A western pretty much has to stick to one location, during one time era, with limited stories to tell. I guess it would be the novelty of seeing stuff like "grave robbers from outer space!" that makes bad sci-fi more bearable to watch.

Scottie

[The Burgomaster]

I can think of some boring sci-fi.

DUNE, for example, is more painful to sit through than any boring western I have ever seen.

*
*
*

[Ken Begg]

One of my 'rules' of what constitutes a 'bad' movie is that it fails at what it's trying to do.  This skews the entertainment value of a bad movie to certain genres.  Horror movies are supposed to scare you.  When they utterly fail, the effect is comedic.  The same with films meant to awe you (sci-fi), make you cry (dramas), make you think ('message' movies), ect.

The worst genre to watch bad examples of is comedies.  They're meant to make you laugh.  When they don't, it's just painful.  Bad westerns are on that side of the fence, too, at least generally.  A western is usually meant to be an exciting flick.  Therefore the opposite of that is often just boredom.  Horror and sci-fi films can be just as boring, but usually there's at least a monster or something to look at.

[Bernie]

Ken, exactly!  A bad comedy is just worthless.  That's why one of the worst of the Rhino MST releases (IMHO) is Catalina Caper.  It just sits there, so smarmily (is that even a word?) pleased with itself.  Joel & the bots try their damndest but there's precious little they can do with it.

[Flangepart]

Oh, God yes! Never try to MST a comedy. It just lays there, and reeks. True, "Wild,wild world of Batwomen" had babes in, to quote Mike, "40 pounds of butt in 30 pound butt capasity pants"....but, man did they have their work cutout for them.
Still, when a film does not acheve its stated purpose (Scare-excite-be funny ect.), it leaves its self open for riffing. Lemons into lemonade, as the saying goes....

[Scott]

1) So the verdict seems to be that Sci/Horror has more to offer when things go wrong.

2) The intention of the filmmaker determines success and failure, but can result in good viewing if in the Sci/Horror catagory