100 essential bad movies, as chosen by you

[Rev. Powell]

Let's make our own badmovies.org list of the 100 Most Essential Bad Movies.

By essential, I mean movies that you believe are necessary for a basic literacy in the field of bad movies, not just movies that you happen to love.  Movies that would be required viewing if they offered a Ph.D. in bad movies.

To keep any one poster from dominating the list, please post only one title at a time, and don't make back-to-back posts: give someone else a chance.

Feel free to give an explanation as to why you chose it.

Please number your entry.

I'll start:

1. GLEN OR GLENDA (1953):  The movie that introduced Ed Wood to the world.  This pro-transvetite documentary with Bela Lugosi as some sort of omnipotent being, narrators narrating the story of narrators caught inside flashbacks inside of a flashbacks, and a demonic dream sequence featuring lesbian bondage that arrives out of nowhere, is one of the weirdest viewing experiences you'll ever see. 

-----THE LIST SO FAR (UPDATED 8/8)-----

1. Glen or Glenda?
2. Brainded (Dead-Alive)
3. Death Race 2000
4. The Maize: The Movie
5. Hell Comes to Frogtown
6. Manos: The Hands of Fate
7. Plan 9 from Outer Space
8. Super Mario Bros.
9. The Beast of Yucca Flats
10. Maniac (1934)
11. Torture Garden
12. Blood Freak
13. Sorority House Massacre II: Nighty Nightmare
14. Night of the Living Dead
15. Beginning of the End
16. The Toxic Avenger
17. Blood Feast (1963)
18. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
19. Return of the Living Dead
20. The Giant Claw
21. Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
22. Hercules in New York
23. The Beyond
24. The Brain that Wouldn't Die
25.  Evil Dead 2
26. Psychomania (1973)
27. Reefer Madness
28. Troll II
29. Carnival of Souls
30. Fantasy Mission Force
31. Eliminators
32. Faster p***ycat!  Kill! Kill!
33. The Valley of the Dolls
34. The Deadly Mantis
35. Bride of the Monster
36. Starcrash
37. Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity
38. The Abomination
39. The Creeping Terror
40. Flash Gordon (1980)
41. Robot Monster
42. Army of Darkness
43. Re-Animator
44. The Killer Shrews
45. The Giant Gila Monster
46. Dracula v. Frankenstein
47. The Blob (1958)
48. Phenomena (AKA Creepers)
49. Teenagers from Outer Space
50. They Live
51. Fright Night
52. Weird Science
53. Never Cry Werewolf
54. Straight Jacket
55. Sextette
56. Gamera v. Guiron
57. One Down, Two to Go
58. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
59. Abby
60. Godzilla
61. The Road Warrior
62. Myra Breckinridge
63. The Abominable Dr. Phibes
64. The Boxer's Omen
65. Spider Baby
66. Rock n' Roll Nightmare
67. Pink Flamingos
68. Killer Klowns from Outer Space
69. Tourist Trap
70. Hawk the Slayer
71. The Astro-Zombies (1968)
72. Nude on the Moon
73. The Champions of Justice
74. Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge
75. Santa Claus (1959)
76. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2
77. Terror is a Man
78. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
79. Ricki-Oh (The Story of Ricky)
80. Laserblast
81. The Terror of Tiny Town
82. Dolemite
83. Burial Ground (Le Notti del Terrore)
84. Clash of the Titans
85. Ninja Bachelor Party
86. Billy the Kid vs. Dracula
87. Robot Holocaust
88. Howard the Duck
89. Zombie Lake
90. Return of the Swamp Thing
91. The Asphyx
92. Deathstalker II
93. Freaks
94. The Lost Empire
95. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
96. They Saved Hitler's Brain
97. 3 Dev Adam
98. Megaforce
99. Creature
100. Eegah!

[Cthulhu]

2. Braindead (Dead-alive in north america) 1992
Super-gory horrorfilm with tongue in cheek humor, and the only film ever to feature the line: "I kick ass for the lord"

[Rev. Powell]

BRAINDEAD/DEAD-ALIVE is a great essential choice!

3. DEATH RACE 2000 (1975):  Maybe it's not classically bad (since Corman and Bartel made exactly the film they intended to) but its definitely cheap, and shows that you can do something VERY different in the low-budget exploitation scene.

[Doc Daneeka]

4. The Maize: The Movie (2004) - Minorly psychic guy spends hours repetitively wandering around in a corn maze, searching for his missing daughters whilst a stumbling-around redneck serial killer might or might not be looking for them...

Essential for being a modern example of ever-heightening(lowering?)-standards for "worst movies ever". Very little action (Mostly just the guy walking around the cornfield, yelling for his girls), bad acting (Literally like in those TV shows where "bad actor" characters sound like they're reading lines), confusing editing (Random jump cuts to previous or upcoming events), confusing, dull plot (guy walking in cornfield and about 10 other just as repetitive things), effects taken from Windows Movie Maker... There is really nothing good to say about this film, even if you're looking for a laugh (Unless you're as easily amused as I am :P).

[ToyMan]

5.hell comes to frogtown

[Cthulhu]

Thanks, Rev. Powell.
6. Manos: The hands of fate 1966
I had to do this. Often called, the "worst movie of all time", but after I saw it 4 times, it grew on me, and it WILL grow on you, too. There is no other movie like this. This is truly unique. It introduced us Torgo, the satyr (ok, the guy with the big knees) who is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) movie character of all time. The horrible acting, the pathetic excuse for a script, the terrible music, the dreamlike atmosphere, and the 10 minute long driving sequence at the beginning, make this movie unforgettable. It is so bad, it has achieved a status, that it cannot be criticized.It's not just "It's so bad it's good". It's something like: "it's so bad, it's so bad, it's good" . I enthuse this movie. And I know you do too.

[Patient7]

7.  Plan 9 From Outer Space, need I say more.  Arguably the worst movie ever made, low budget, cheesy special effects, a pathetic cover up of unexpected cast change a plot that makes no sense.  It's the bad movie of bad movies.  Probably the first lesson if there was ever a B-movie course in any type of school.

[Intangible Skeleton]

The Super Mario Bros Movie for a classic bad videogame movie.

[the master]

9.the beast of yucca flatts- has every thing a bad movie needs random breast shot
annoying narartor atomic monster and bad dubbing and a former wrestler. need i say more?

[Rev. Powell]

Good to see MANOS and PLAN 9 didn't get forgotten.    SUPER MARIO BROS. goes at #8.  (Thanks, Skeleton)

10. MANIAC (1934):  This is one of the most insane explotiation movies ever made, and I'd hate for it to get forgotten just because it was made so long ago.  Features horrible acting, eyeball gouging, a catfight with syringes, and black and white boobies.

[Doc Daneeka]

11. Torture Garden (1967) - Grown men and women curiously stumble into a carnival attraction, where they are shown visions of their respective demises by an eccentric showman played by Burgess Meredith, through the means of a stern-looking, hypnotic statue of Atropos.

One of the most perfect examples of the cult anthology film, done by the company (Amicus) that did 'em best. None of the segments are total stinkers, most are cliche morality tales, and each have classic b-movie qualities; "killer-animal", "conspiracy film", "Inanimate-object-gone-bad", "Poe-sploitation", and a "Minor-celebrity-vs-minor-celebrity" part for the tying segment. The film is heavy with 60s-70s budget-horror style, bright colors, hammy acting, and as I mentoned awesome plots... Did I mention there were 5 of them?

[RCMerchant]

12. BLOOD FREAK (1972)- Z budget madness.  A guy with an Elvis 'do and shades meets a Jesus Freak chick and her pothead sister. He smokes weed,eats a whole turkey,and turns into a monster with a pinata for a head. He kills people and drinks their blood. And he cuts a guys leg off with a buzz saw.  God cures him. Th' End.  It's even weirder and stupider than it sounds...if that's possible.  You may need to do drugs to sit through it. Or that may be too dangerous and damaging to your psyche.

[Jack]

Sorority House Massacre II - Nighty Nightmare.  People watch B movies to see boobs, and this movie aims to please.  One of my favorites by schlockmeister Jim Wynorski, written and filmed in 7 days.  Takes the slasher formula and has a ton of fun with it.  Tag line:  It's Cleavage vs. Cleavers and the result is Delta Delta Deadly!

[the master]

14-night of the living dead. need i say more?

[Dennis]

#15) Beginning of the End, Bert I. Gordon's masterpiece of giant grasshoppers eating Chicago.
        This was the first time in a theater that I actually said out loud "I can't believe I paid money for     
         this !!".