Bad filmmaking isn’t just limited to Hollywood: it’s a widespread international phenomenon. Throughout the years, some of the worst movies ever made have come from places outside of the U.S. Whether they’re so-bad-they’re-good gems or films that are just plain awful, these examples of international badness are proof that lackluster cinema can come from anywhere on the planet.
There are plenty of things that can make a film bad.A nonsensical story, uninteresting characters, dull directing, or a cheap qualityare all elements that, if present together, can collaborate to make a movie truly, indefensibly bad. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the film is unenjoyable (although it sometimes does); simply that its level of quality doesn’t compare to something that’s produced with actual competence.
10’Santa Claus' (1959)
Country: Mexico
Between the mid-1930s and mid-1960s, the Golden Age of Mexican cinema made the country’s film industry become one of the biggest and most important in the world. After the end of this era, however,more and more movies of poor quality started to be made. Case in point: The family comedySanta Claus, where Santa Claus gets Merlin’s aid to defeat the Devil before he ruins Christmas.
Santa Clausis like a drug-induced trashy nightmare. Some may find that appealing, some certainly might not.
Full of racist stereotypes and ideas so wild that they feel like they’ve been pulled straight from aDavid Lynchmovie—if David Lynch movies were bad—,Santa Clausis like a drug-induced trashy nightmare. Some may find that appealing, some certainly might not, but the fact of the matter is that this hyper-niche Mexican cult classic is of tremendously low quality in pretty much every sense.
Watch on FlixFling
9’Devil Story' (1986)
Country: France
In the Nazisploitation slasherDevil Story, a deformed man living with his mother in the countryside roams the woods killing indiscriminately. When a couple decide to spend the night nearby, the wife goes through a nightmarish experience. Repetitive and painfully slow for a trashy slasher,it’s one that not even cult cinema fans have been willing to resurrect from the dumpster. Frankly, it’s hard to blame them.
The narrative and tone of the film are utterly incongruous and absurd. “Creative” elements are thrown in for no apparent reason, the characters make decisions that don’t make any sense, and the action and gore move at such a snail’s pace that they come across as dull instead of nail-biting.Devil Storyis one ofthe worst slashers ever made, boring even for those who typically enjoy these kinds of films.
Watch on Troma NOW
8’Guardians' (2017)
Country: Russia
Soviet cinema is one of the most important and influential in the history of the art form. Russian cinema isn’t without its fair share of phenomenal films, too, but it also has stinkers of the caliber of the superhero filmGuardians. Don’t let its thrilling trailer fool you: This movie about a team of heroes who had gone into hiding having to come back to protect the world is by no means any good.
Guardiansis one ofthe worst superhero movies ever made. The visual effects are awful, the acting is amateurish, the characters are incredibly one-note and boring, and the story is plagued with issues.None of the action set pieces work when the audience cares so littleabout what’s going on, and none of the dramatic moments have any kind of emotional payoff.
Watch on Amazon Prime
7’Pinocchio' (2002)
Country: Italy
Roberto Benigniwas on top of the world when hisLife is Beautifulearned him a Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 1999. Like Icarus, his hubris led him to fly too close to the Sun, and the result wasPinocchio. It’s a uniquely disturbing take on this classic tale about the wooden puppet whose curious spirit leads him into one wild adventure after another.
There is, of course, lots of potential inPinocchioon paper, but the way Benigni executed it is so horrifying and unfunny thatthe movie comes across more as nightmarish than as innocent. For starters, Benigni casting himself, a full-grown middle-aged man, in the role of a little wooden boy is as creepy as it sounds. On top of that, the on-your-nose portrayal of the story’s themes and the overproduced visuals lend the movie a further air of “horrible vanity project by a man whose Oscars got to his head.” It’s one ofthe worst films of the 2000s, and it’s not even that close.
Watch on Hoopla
6’United Passions' (2014)
For many years, FIFA has been proven time and time again to be a deeply flawed and corrupt organization. But of course, since the English-language French productionUnited Passionswas financed by them, the movie portrays them as a paragon of virtue and soccer heroism. It’san atrocious biographical moviefollowing the passing of the FIFA baton through three association presidents:Jules Rimet,João Havelange, andSepp Blatter.
The cast, led bySam Neill,Tim Roth, andGérard Depardieu, may lead one to believe that this is a high-quality production, but nothing could be further from the truth. Even aside from beinga pathetically self-aggrandizing monument of FIFA by FIFA, it’s an incredibly dull drama with absolutely nothing fun to offer, like watching a match between the two worst teams of a random country’s fourth division. Its mere existence is evil, and fans of the sport have tons of infinitely better options to choose from if what they want is an entertaining soccer movie.
United Passions
5’The Man Who Saved the World' (1982)
Country: Turkey
The legendarily bad and yet still surprisingly obscure Turksploitation gemThe Man Who Saved the Worldis known by some as the TurkishStar Wars, considering its unauthorized use of footage, music, and sound effects fromGeorge Lucas’s iconic classic and other beloved sci-fi movies. It’s a low-budget martial arts film about two space cadets who crashland on a desert planet, where an evil wizard seeks the ultimate power to take over the planet.
It is, of course, of abysmal quality, even when literally stealing stuff from good movies.
For those who love trashy midnight cult classics,The Man Who Saved the Worldis a delightfully entertaining must-see. It is, of course, of abysmal quality, even when literally stealing stuff from good movies. Butsci-fi, more than perhaps any other genre, is allowed to be cheap and campy, and those are two things that TurkishStar Warsdefinitely is.
The Man Who Saved the Worldis currently not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.
4The ‘365 Days’ Trilogy
Country: Poland
There areno worst-written romance moviesthan the deplorable Polish trilogy365 Days. They are the twisted love story of Massimo, a member of the Sicilian Mafia, and Laura, a sales director. After falling in love with Laura, Massimo kidnaps her and gives her 365 days to fall in love with her. This may sound like a solid set-up for a terrifying psychological thriller, but that’s precisely the issue.The365 Daystrilogy actually thinks that this premise is genuinely romantic, erotic, and irresistibly steamy.
Needless to say, it’s not. These movies are so horrifyingly tone-deaf and so shamelessly misogynistic that they’re borderline criminal. And just to really put the final nail in the coffin, they’re terrible films in every other possible sense, too. The performances are laughable, the characters are despicable, the visuals are uninspired, and the directing is as exciting and erotic as a pencil.
3’Nukie' (1987)
Country: South Africa
You’ve likelynever heard ofNukie. Believe this: it’s for the best. It’s perhaps the most horrible film that’s ever come out of the African continent, about an alien called Nukie searching for his brother, who has been captured by the American government.This abomination of anE.T.rip-off has long been considered a kind of dareby bad movie connoiseurs. Those bold enough to brave it are never the same again.
The visuals are cheap, the screenplay is composed of stupidly written scene after stupidly written scene, and the lack of quality of pretty much every single element ofNukieare what has made it a niche cult classic for those who like movies so atrocious that they cause them physical pain. It’s enough to make one’s eyes and ears bleed, as if an alien who had never seen a film before came to Earth and was given two days to make a movie.
Nukieis currently not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.
2’Titanic: The Legend Goes On…' (2000)
Quite bizarrely,James Cameron’sTitanichas spawned several cheap knock-offs. It’s perhaps the only movie based on a true story with this many spin-offs, and none of them are of good quality. The worst, though, is perhaps the Italian animated musicalTitanic: The Legend Goes On…, about a Cinderella-type meeting her Prince Charming on the titular vessel. Along for the ride are a rapping dog, other talking animals, and an assortment of weird people.
The Legend Goes On…is one ofthe worst animated movies of all time, one of the worst musicals of all time,and one of the worst things that have happened to modern Western society. Why are there animals on the Titanic? No one knows! Why is the dog rapping? No one knows! Why does the story (which has a happy ending, for some baffling reason) make absolutely no sense? No one knows! But the biggest mystery of all is why anyone would willingly choose to subject themselves to a film as atrociously boring, weird, and morally questionable asTitanic: The Legend Goes On…
Titanic: The Legend Goes On…is thankfully not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.
1’Troll 2' (1990)
Those who have never seen the 1986 horror comedyTrollneedn’t worry; they can watch the English-language Italian-American productionTroll 2freely, since it’s not actually a sequel toTroll. Or to any movie, for that matter. In fact, the main villains aren’t even trolls, but goblins, who disguise themselves as humans and attempt to eat a vacationing family arriving at a small town. With its iconically awful visuals, dialogue, story, and characters,Troll 2is one ofthe biggest so-bad-it’s-good horror classicsof all time.
Purely in terms of strict quality, there isn’t a single redeemable aspect aboutTroll 2.The directing is awfully amateurish, the acting is hilariously bad, and the visuals and music are cheesy and cheap. Even still, there’s an awful lot of fun to be had here for those who enjoy funny bad movies.Troll 2may be the bottom of the barrel when it comes to foreign movies, but that’s precisely what makes it charming.
