The Worst Worst Movie

Let's talk about bad movie. I love them, honestly a truly terrible movie is something to behold, something that transcends boundaries and becomes entertainment despite all points towards the contrary. There are a number of films which fit under this category of so bad it's good, including the infamous Trolls 2 which was featured in the movie the Best Worst movie. There are in fact a number of bad movies that I would watch rather than watching what may be considered a 'good' film, and I'd watch just about all of them and be more entertained than any number of average films. I'll go over a few of the most famous ones and explain what makes them good, bad, and ugly.

The first film that people like to talk about is the Room, a cult classic from the early 2000's written, directed, financed, and starred in by one guy named Tommy Wiseau. He is a vaguely European fan of unidentifiable origins, who made his money through a number of endeavors which were probably illegal, the most reputable being selling Korean made jackets. The film itself is a drama, a self-styled Citizen Kane by the director. It is often called the Kane of bad movies, because it manages to get everything wrong. The script is awful, the best actor is the mother because she's so overly dramatic, and side-plots appear and disappear with alarming regularity.

An entire essay could be written about what is wrong with the film, because it plays like a textbook on how not to make a film. There is also a strange obsession with playing football, including one scene where everyone is in Tuxes for no discernible reason. That is also a scene where one character disappears, never to be mentioned again. One of the strangest elements is a number of badly green-screened scenes on a rooftop, not only does it look bad but the budget of the film was 6 million dollars, most of which must have been used when Mr. Wiseau fired the entire cast and crew, twice. What makes it great is nothing goes right, it's the best kind of disaster. It's the same for a lot of these kind of films, but each one has something that is unique.

In this case it is the director and main actor. He is completely and utterly insane, both in character and out, including interviews and midnight screenings. He also overdubs some of his interviews, and lines in the movie, with terrible synching, and even more nonsensical responses than his original lines. Sometimes it is the creator of these movies that make them so unique, like the case of Manos: The Hands of Fate. Made on a bet by a dirt farmer he had no equipment, no actors, and no money, but still set out to make a movie because 'how hard can it be?'. It turns out it can be pretty damn difficult.

Manos was an unmitigated disaster, so much so that the cast and crew were laughed out of the first screening. The camera they had could only record 30 or so seconds of footage, and only video or sound, not both, meaning every line was overdubbed. One of the actors they hired also broke her leg during filming, and threatened to sue if she wasn't in the film, so throughout the film there are several scenes of her and guy in a car, making out. They never meet the main cast, excluding a few police officers, and never have any impact on just about anything.

Also of note is the opening ten or so minutes are simply the main characters driving, with very little dialogue or explanation. There would have been opening credits, but it turns out editing is tough as well so there are actually no credits anywhere. After this boring stretch we're introduced to Torgo, one of the main antagonists and one who's actor was on acid throughout the filming process. This leads to very strange behavior and movement from him, not entirely intentionally. But none of these elements by themselves would make it a good bad film, it's the combination of everything, from the low production values to a nonsensical script that make it great.

The film has so much heart behind it, so many unique elements mostly out of ignorance. The film is also completely public domain because no copyright was ever filed, enabling anyone to make a remake or a parody or what have you, leading to limitless possibilities to retell the honestly kind of original story. The actor playing the villain also got the part because he had his own costume, what production values, they are terrific. Honestly the movie as a whole can be watched over and over because of how many mistakes and errors were made. I've done quite a bit on just these two films so I'll stop for tonight, but remember don't just consider good films for any given film watching occasion, consider the truly shit of the shit for they can be amazing as well.

Cleavleand Screamer

Let's look at the Scream series.

Created by the master of horror Wes Craven it restarted a dying genre by doing something unique, which everyone promptly forgot when the dozens of imitators popped up. The original Scream did something that was already tried in the financially failed but critically successful New Nightmare, the final Nightmare on Elm Street movie. It was meta, it referred to genre traditions and stereotypes and played with them while still embracing them. That's what made the first two films great.

They used the humor elements from later Nightmare movies while still keeping the horror because the humor was mostly ironic or in separate scenes from the main villain. It also established Ghostface as a credible threat, a faceless entity who could appear and disappear seemingly at will. It also had a great twist at the end which was not just a jump scare. Because the killer was unknown for so much of the movie it became kind of a murder mystery or who done it which added to the appeal.

The final selling point was casting known and popular actors instead of the no-names traditionally cast. This helped make the film seem current and unlike most attempts by movies to seem hip it actually worked because of director Craven's knowledge of both horror and pop culture. So with all these elements the franchise started off a revival of the classic slasher genre, but what movies did it actually inspire?

The list of good slasher, or hell, horror films from the 2000's is shockingly low, especially if you restrict it to just American made pictures. The late 90's had films like I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequels which did relatively well at box office but failed to impress critics, and that was one of the better ones. Most of the shitty ripoffs have faded into obscurity, and though it also brought back some classic villains with the likes of H20 and Jason X nothing really very good come out of it.

The problem with many of the slashers was they didn't have an identifiable villain. The reason we remember Halloween was because of Michael Myers, who started off a trend that also brought Jason and Freddy as well as bringing to the forefront older villains like Leatherface and Pinhead. These icons were what defined horror of the late 70's and 80's, and the 90's simply didn't have it. Ghostface was the only memorable face, excluding things like Chucky which were not so much imposing as stupid.

So the Scream series started a so called 'revival' but in the end it floundered again until horror was brought up again with torture porn like the Saw franchise, at least in the States. The first two Scream films showed a ray of hope on what had been a dying genre, but like all villains it kept coming back, even after it should have settled in for a final death. Slasher movies simply can't be made anymore, as the remakes to old franchises show audiences don't appreciate it as much and critics still don't like them. For now I think Slashers should lay dormant, resting on the laurels of the past instead of shitting on them with countless sequels and remakes.

The Woman in Black

     The woman in black is a fucking bitch. Seriously she just keeps killing kids for almost no reason, and even after her son is brought to rest she doesn't stop, though she does pretend to just to troll everyone. With a soulless villain like that you have the beginnings of a decent film. What makes this a decent film is firstly it wasn't made in the Noughties, which produced very few to non decent horror films, and secondly it tries to evoke a more gothic type of horror, which can be very effective when coupled with a decent director and actors, and besides Daniel Radcliffe they are.

     Now with Harry Potter as the lead actor it is a little bit strange, but it works alright after maybe 10 or 15 minutes, you even sort of forget that Daniel is the lead actor. As a character he is kind of a blank slate, but he does have a driving motivation of his son, so he has like maybe 2-dimensions, which is not bad for a horror protagonist. Our villain is a fairly standard ghost, bringing back other ghosts, though they don't seem to affect anything physically, just mentally scarring the townsfolk. The people themselves are standard cliches, fearful of foreigners and ominous about the location of the film.

     The location of the film is great for a horror film, a mansion in the middle of nowhere, with rolling banks of fog, a path which disappears when it is convenient to the plot, and even a dark forest if you need that. The house itself is a great example of a Victorian haunted mansion, with lots of candles, hallways, staircases, and creepy children's bedrooms. Apparently the toys of the era where absolutely terrifying, with the whole range of creepy, clowns, monkeys, the blank stares of dolls, and good old fashioned self rocking chairs. The whole gamut really.

     The main question of any horror film is of course is it scary, which I can answer with a resounding probably. It's got some good images, a fairly scary lady ghost, and a good amount of creepy children, with a array of different murder methods. There is also a good sense of desolation with Harry being the sole person in the house for much of the film, including just about all of the actual horror stuff. There are a few cheap jump scares, but overall it is mostly atmosphere, and fairly well done at that. Admittadely they could have done more with the environment, and probably should have given its roots, but you take what you can get.

     There are a few things that don't work, such as the downer ending not really making too much sense. They could have had a nice simple ending, ghost defeated and all that, but no it is a horror film so has to have a shocking ending. Also they forget about the dog that was in the house which was kind of weird. They made a point to include it, then just kind of, forgot. Also Harry's acting is a little bit okay, I mean he's never been great, and it's on show here as he has to do a good 80% of the acting. Overall though it's a decent horror, with a few scares, and an actual decent finale, an issue that many horrors have a lot of trouble with.

Evangelion 3: The Search For Love

          

          Despite the fact that she calls him an “arrogant bastard” who expects her to “come when he calls” she still obeys him, though not completely. She slips in a self-destruction program but it is ultimately defeated by her mother’s mistakes, a common theme throughout the series as her mother chooses her lover over her daughter, choosing Gendo over everything else. Despite Ritsuko’s repeated statements that she doesn’t want to be her mother in the end she is led to her downfall by both of their mistakes, and ends up dead for it, just like her mother.

            Misato arrives at the command deck and takes control, very decisive even with everything that has been going on in her personal life she is still cool and collected in a time of high stress. She forgets about everything else when the time comes that she needs to be a leader effectively ignoring everything else, pushing it to the back of her mind and bottling it up until the current conflict is done, resulting in her crashing in her personal life and her relationships destroyed because she doesn’t really understand her emotions outside of combat.

            The sole computer that remains is Casper, the personification of the lover, as opposed by the mother and scientist. The others are also named for one of the three original wisemen, Balthasar and Melchior. The computers stand as the voice of reason more than any human being, and their destruction or take over is treated as one of the worst possible things, worse than losing any single person. For Ritsuko however it is much worse, it is losing the last thing her mother left to her, and in fact essentially losing her mother again, which is why she is so adamant in defending it even though it means working for someone she hates. As she leaves the bowels of the machine she comments how she will see her mother again, knowing her death is soon at hand.

            Soon after there are some beautiful images of the greenery outside of Tokyo, but it is disturbed by armed forces rushing in and destroying near everything, indicating that the end has begun for NERV, and at the hands of humans not the eldritch abominations they were fighting. It is ironic that the last Angel, Kaworu is arguably more human than these military soldiers who are nameless and wear identical uniforms. Kozo comments that their “final enemy is man” as opposed to the spectral incredibly deadly angels, and that is actually who they lose to, fellow humans.

            Makato when confronted by the fact that the human soldiers will soon be assaulting them says he wishes that they would acknowledge that they are all humans, and should not be fighting amongst one another. Despite this he is still willing to fight and kill when it comes down to his life or others. The soldiers are then shown mercilessly slaughtering members of the NERV defense force who are almost unaware of what’s happening, and definitely not prepared for any of this kind of violence. This is shown clearly as guards are assassinated or mercilessly destroyed before they have a chance to retaliate.

            The control station descends into chaos as the enemy forces begin to invade. Misato shouts orders and is in her element, collected even with all the madness that is going on around. This is the only place she actually feels right, and may actually be enjoying it as her last hurrah, since NERV is soon to be disbanded. She attempts to secure the pilots safety above all else, as the children are the only people capable of operating the Evas, the ultimate weapons. However Rei is missing, Asuka is comatose, and Shinji has lost all hope.

            Rei is bathing in LCL, the lifeblood of Lilith. She is naked, but at peace, completely unaware of what is going on around, all the violence and death, merely content with her life. Rei may be some incarnation of Lilith, cloned from part of Yui’s body and created for Gendo’s needs, both sexual and emotional. She was essentially a puppet for him, and created to help him meet with his one true love, Yui. Unfortunately through Shinji’s affections and Asuka’s fiery personality she created a personality of her own, far from Gendo’s original plan, which leads to the Third Impact occurring quite differently from his vision, flawed as it was.

            In the next scene Shinji is shown in an extremely vulnerable position, unable to move or do anything due to everything piling up and pushing him past the breaking point, almost for good. The shot of him is followed by every barrier in the headquarters closing representing how Shinji has closed himself off completely from everyone, as his descent into total depression is complete and he believes no one can save him, or help him. Now some of the walls are being destroyed, but not in a productive way, but by extreme violence, as his walls are broken down only through the explosive situation he is in, and even then only partially and in no way permanently.

            Gendo has realized that any defence they have is pointless, and that their defeat is “inevitable”. With this he decides that the only solution is the final solution, to use the ultimate weapon to create a new world. As he leaves Kozo says to give his “regards to Yui” as he knows what Gendo intends to do, and agrees with it. He loved Yui but could never show it as she did not return the feeling, and he was her teacher and mentor meaning any relationship would be deeply flawed, not that that stops many relationships in the series, but in this case Kozo knew that nothing good could come of it, though perhaps in his last moments he could allow Gendo and Yui some happiness.

            The soldiers are shown to be incredibly efficient as the world burns around them, and they slaughter any and everyone, killing some soldiers who were hiding with no mercy or empathy. To the audience they are dehumanized not only by their actions, but also by their masks covering much of their upper faces, making them essentially mindless drones to the audience, impossible to empathize with even if they were trying to stop the end of the world, though it’s unclear who are the good and the bad guys here, or if there really are either. At this point there are simply the characters that the audience empathizes with, and those that they don’t.

End of Evangelion part 2: Unknown Ceilings

         

             Cut to title sequence and three minor characters talking about the fallout from the end of the angels and the Evangelion program. There are a few things to note about this scene; first it adds a bit more depth to the people who are not movers and shakers, but essentially grunts doing some of the dirty work. They just want to live and do their jobs, nothing more, but as they find out later it is very much who you work for that determines what you will be forced to do. It also foreshadows Maya’s love for Ritsuko, unrequited like so much in the series. Finally it hints at the instrumentality project, which is explained more fully in the next scene.

            We then cut to Misato staring out at a purple sea, contemplating the end of human’s evolutions, and the Instrumentality project, realizing that the Evas are the ones that will cause the end of the world. She mentions how that all of making are “separate entities” foreshadowing Instrumentality when every human becomes one. The tools that humanity had created, and what caused the near extinction of the species are what will cause it to evolve into a new form. The scene also shows her depression over losing Kaji and how he actually knew what was going on unlike just about everyone else in the series.

            The next scene is one of many mysterious scenes involving the organization SEELE and Gendo, both master planners though Gendo has direct control over the Evas resulting in his plans coming to fruition while SEELE’s flounder in the water. There is much discussion of evolution and god and death, but in the end the only notable aspect of their rantings is that they effectively refer to the Evas as God, as well as the pinnacle of what mankind has created. In the end the Evangelions have become even more powerful than the nuclear weapons they represent in modern society. 

 

            Nuclear weapons can be considered the pinnacle of weapon technology, but the Evas are something very different, they are the pinnacle of science and evolution, transcending the boundaries of humanity and nature to become something beyond both, and they can bring about the end of the world even more so than a nuclear war would. Despite the apocalyptic intentions of both groups Gendo says that “Death creates nothing” because he is still mourning for his wife after all these years. The relationships between Gendo and his wife, as well as Rei, will be examined later because they both drive the series so much, especially the conclusion of this film.

            The counsel ends by telling Gendo “you deserve death” which seems like a petty insult but given their plans they actually intend to ascend him essentially, so though he deserves nothing more than nothingness he will get the same as everyone else, though what exactly that is may be unassailable. He responds by saying that we exist because we “have the will to live” a call-back to what Misato said about the final angel, and him “giving up” the will to live, because we as humans have a determined survival instinct, against all odds. He then references Yui, though indirectly, because everything he does is because of his love for her.

            The next shot is Rei just waking up, and as she is partially a clone of Yui the parallel is obvious. The shots of the moon seek to represent her as a moon goddess, as she has the soul of the second angel, or the first female human/angel, Lilith. Again gods are brought up, though not in any traditional Christian sense, despite the imagery present throughout the series and the motto of NERV. The gods that humanity has created can be destroyed, though not by humans, but by the things that have evolved beyond them, the Evas. Only Gods can kill Gods essentially. 

            The final shot in the scene is of Gendo’s destroyed glasses from the first episode, crushed by Rei finally. This shows that she is not simply a puppet, but has developed into a human personality. This only happens once she has lost all of her clones and is the only one left, but it was not a direct physical confrontation that caused her to betray Gendo, but her realization that he is cruel to Shinji, and in fact to just about everyone, betraying Ritsuko and her mother, as well as manipulating the counsel he was supposedly working for and lying to everyone including her. In the end it all comes back to Yui and her initial sacrifice, but that will be detailed later.

            Again we see Shinji at essentially the lowest he has been, lying in darkness staring blankly at a wall unable to listen to the music that had been comforting him for the rest of the series, as his player has run out of battery. Shinji at this point has lost his mother figure, lost all confidence in his father, lost his friends almost killing one, lost his purpose in life and finally lost Asuka, instead being left with a broken doll. The one person who he could relate to, who was in a very similar situation, had broken down and given up essentially on life, and with what Misato had said to him he is confused about his feeling for Asuka, considering giving up on her as she has.

          Misato has gone off on her own to investigate what is really going on with the Evas and the second impact, but the entire complex has come under attack. She reveals she expected something like it to happen and prepares a firearm for battle. When she does this she kicks over a can of beer, her alcoholism a constant problem for her only exacerbated by the loss of Kaji who had been her sole confidence. It is likely she drove Shinji further away with here drinking as well, increasing their separation. Further scenes expanding upon the invasion are next, showing that first SEELE is attempting to infiltrate the computer system, requiring them to recruit Ritsuko back after she was put in prison for destroying all the Rei clones.

            The scene begins with Ritsuko in complete darkness, in complete despair. Gendo requests Ritsuko and she comes along, knowing that her love of him is self-destroying and that he doesn’t want her at all, he was merely using her. She still denies this fact consciously but her overt act of violence against Rei was a demonstration of her subconscious telling her what she will never have, repeating the same mistakes as her mother. Gendo has always manipulated the women in his life, aside from Yui and by extension Rei whom he actually cared for, even displaying open affection for them, something he did with no one else including his son.

Part 3 is here