Madame Web and 3 Other Movies That Are So Bad That They Are Brilliant
These movies top the lists of worst movies in history, proving that sometimes the path to immortality is through spectacular failure.
The history of cinema includes not only masterpieces, but also phenomenal failures that have achieved cult status over the years. They are characterized by a lack of logic, absurd dialogues, terrible special effects and confusing acting.
1. Cats, 2019
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats has been a successful Broadway musical for decades. But what happened when Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper decided to bring it to the big screen? A disaster.
With a star-studded cast including Judi Dench, Idris Elba and Taylor Swift, and a budget of $95 million, the movie was supposed to be a holiday blockbuster. Instead, audiences got a nightmare gallery of creatures that look neither human nor feline.
The CGI is so bad that in some scenes you can see human hands without fur. The actors look lost in the chaos – Judi Dench and Ian McKellen seem to wonder how they even got there.
2. Madame Web, 2024
Once upon a time, the title of worst superhero movie of all time was hotly contested by Catwoman with Halle Berry and 2015's Fantastic Four. But in 2024, Sony Pictures released Madame Web, which won that dubious title hands down.
With the talented Dakota Johnson in the lead role, the creators of Madame Web managed to create a story without a beginning, middle or end. The plot about a nurse who gains the ability to see the future feels more like a lengthy advertisement for upcoming movies.
The dialogue sounds like it was written by AI encountering human speech for the first time. The main antagonist stalks three random girls because of a nightmare in which they kill him in the future – perhaps the most ridiculous motivation for a villain in the history of comic book movies.
3. The Room, 2003
There are movies in the history of cinema that are so bad that they become brilliant. Tommy Wiseau's The Room is the undisputed champion in this category, earning less than two thousand dollars at the box office but becoming a cult phenomenon, a kind of Citizen Kane of bad cinema.
The story of bank teller Johnny, whose life is destroyed by his fiancée's betrayal of his best friend, becomes a surreal experience in Wiseau's hands. The dialogue sounds like it was written by an alien, and the acting is reminiscent of a school play where no one memorized the lines.
4. Son of the Mask, 2005
If there were a manual on how not to make sequels, Son of the Mask would be on the cover. Eleven years after the original Jim Carrey movie, the studio decided that the world desperately needed a sequel, but without Jim Carrey and the original characters.
Jamie Kennedy in the main role looks like he was dragged onto the set. The CGI face of a baby with magical powers is a sight to give adults nightmares.
Even the talents of Alan Cumming as the god Loki and Bob Hoskins as Odin couldn't save the situation. The special effects, which obviously cost a lot of money, look like unfinished sketches. The Golden Razzie for the worst sequel was just a formal confirmation of the obvious.