Top 10 Best Worst Films According to IMDb (FEATURE)
IMDb (or the Internet Movie Database for the uninitiated) is a far more accurate review aggregator than Rotten Tomatoes and one that is closer to the truth in terms of how good/bad a film is based on the 000s of ratings from armchair critics.
However, even the masses are sometimes wrong and in scouring the bottom 250 rated movies, there's some diamonds in the rough and unfairly rated gems to be found. Here's ten of the best of the worst.
10. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION [1994]
IMDb score: 3.3
The 4th film in the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is a strange entry for not just the series but for horror in general. Starring a then unknown Matthew McConoughey and Renee Zellweger, directed by original writer Kim Henkel and is far more coherent than the higher rated TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE [2022].
Here, there's a pre-SCREAM spoof of the horror genre that was imply ahead of it's time - using tropes and murder masked under the guise of film making, it's hard to see why this entry gets so much hate, especially as there's no shying from the actual murder mayhem the series is famed for. It has a gloss of 90's era music and framing that now makes it somewhat nostalgic and while there's more blood and grizzly death than the tension soaked original, there's still a coherent purpose and relatability to the 1976 classic.
As far as franchise sequels go, the THE NEXT GENERATION is still the third best entry as the series delves into standard remake, boring slasher (LEATHERFACE) to incoherent mess (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE).
9. TROLL 2 [1990]
IMDb score: 2.9
No, we're not trolling you - TROLL 2 is a cinematic masterpiece. It's testament to how film should/not be done and how to make a cult film and embrace it as such. Documentary THE BEST WORST FILM shows how a really bad film has become a star making phenomenon and in doing so has given second life and a new audience to a film that actually deserves a lesser rating. As such, it's only fair that, like THE ROOM, that TROLL 2 gets to as wide an audience as possible and is there as a means of cinematic enjoyment, glory and general happiness that is to be celebrated.
8. FEARDOTCOM [2002]
IMDb score: 3.4
In the late 90s and early 00s, there was a phase of genre films that focused on new technologies. Unfortunately, the use of internet and the web as a genre trope is one not to age well in the fast changing world of the internet and often great visions lost behind dated CGI. One of the victims was FEARDOTCOM and 20 years after it's release it's time to not be so harsh on what is ultimately a great blend of grime noir and supernatural horror as THE RING meets SE7EN.
The streets are grizzly and a murderer who tortures beautiful women and streams it online finds the spirit of a cursed victim leads to the death of viewers within 48 hours leading to a race against time to uncover the truth.
With some of the best visuals of the decade and the grizzly torture scenes pushing the BBFC boundaries, FEARDOTCOM deserves a little more respect for sticking to its story and not holding back. The commitment to horror and the supernatural brings this above other detective films of the time that showed grim streets and even gorier bodies off the back of SE7EN and heck, Jeffrey Combs!
7. THE WICKER MAN [2006]
IMDb score: 3.7
It's never easy to take on a cinematic classic, let alone THE WICKER MAN but to do so by bringing in Hollywood legend Nicholas Cage was an even riskier gamble. At the time of release, everything about the remake was a sheer mistake however, over time, it has garnered a little more respect and like most things with Nicolas Cage, is heavily misunderstood.
Punching a bear, attacking an elderly woman and "oh no, not the bees" all stand a better watch in context to Cage's reign of mad performances and is up there with the likes of KISS OF THE VAMPIRE as an often meme'd but rarely understood transformation of alien horror that shows Cage as the stranger thrown into a situation that pulls on an outside sense of strangeness and bizarre nature that calls upon the performance that defy the momentary crazed frames that are forever imprinted as some of the out-of-context hilarities that fill mem boards.
Despite all this there is still a gripping story of finding a missing girl on a strange cultured island and while it's missing the emotional impact of the original's ending and great Christopher Lee in favour for Kathy Bates, the story remains the same and is still at least an entertaining venture and least boring remakes of the mid 00s.
6. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II [2011]
IMDb score: 3.8
While THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE sent shockwaves through the horror genre making a name for non-horror fans by hitting mainstream headlines. The concept of stitching up victims arse to face to form a human centipede is both intriguing and disgusting. For the sake of the first entry, it all felt a bit flat for seasoned horror fans with an interesting premise and villain but ultimately a real mid 2000's Hollywood horror feel that took away from a real sense of grit that the film promised. Not to take away from the fear but it didn't quite elevate itself above the likes of SAW and HOSTEL who were household names several years before.
The second film ramped it upto 11 and taking the original concept but playing very cleverly on the fact that the first film was just that. Filmed entirely in black and white, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II is a much more horrific and grounded horror film that gives every victim a sense of needing to be saved in the depravity that Laurence Harvey has entrapped them in a backstreet warehouse excelling the three persons of the original to a number closer to twenty. The effects are more eye-watering and a scene with a baby is sheer horror.
It's not for everyone but for seasoned horror fans, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II delivers on the shock that was missed with part one. This is one of the best body horror films ever made and as such puts Tom Six amongst the greats of David Cronenberg and Brian Yuzna, we just don't talk about volume 3.
5. 666: THE PROPHECY [2011]
IMDb score: 3.9
Of all the films on this list, on a personal level, this is the one that hurts the most. From Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II-IV, REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA) is a real magnus opus of angels and demons that matches the cinematic genius of Clive Barker and Richard Donner.
It's original title has much more significance as 11-11-11 relates to the date of the religious happening plaguing Joseph Crone's dreams. Backed by a stunning soundtrack by Joseph Bishara that beautifully accompanies the visual breaks of Barcelona amidst the demonic pleasures on screen. Criticism seems to be about the film not being a full on end of days type film but instead there's a more personal and surprisingly more grandeur story at heart about religion. All that consumed within a horror movie that feels like a horror film but one with much more depth than it is ever given credit for.
4. THE GALLOWS [2015]
IMDb score: 4.2
Beyond being 10 years too late for the found footage genre, THE GALLOWS is still one of the greatest the sub genre has to offer. Set on the production of a school play, it foretells the tale of an ancient spirit that may be back to haunt the participants of the production.
At times quietly brooding, others rampant with supernatural benevolence, THE GALLOWS may not blow the door wide open but is at least an entertaining and coherent horror film that is never dull.
3. ESCAPE ROOM [2017]
IMDb score: 4.2
This one is easy to see how many got confused in the same year Sony Pictures released a large budget film called ESCAPE ROOM but this low budget release actually has a lot more to rival the big studio rival.
Firstly there's the plot, unlike the Sony picture, this is more about the people, their interconnected stories and subsequently the reason for a deadly escape room to lead to their demise. The traps are realistic and never beyond belief and there's plenty of horror in the traps that make this quite possibly the better of the two.
While the budget is evidently lower and the cast not as impeccable as the teen focused bigger film, once Will Wernick's film gets going it's hard to escape.
2. JASON X [2002]
IMDb score: 4.4
This scene alone puts this in the top 3 FRIDAY THE 13TH films of all time and who can argue with Jason in space...
1. CELL [2016]
IMDb score: 4.4
How can a zombie film from Stephen King's novel starring Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack have fallen so low down viewers expectations. Probably because audiences were expecting a zombie filled extravaganza with Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack kicking ass. To be honest, it wasn't as great as it should have been but then how do you bring to screen a virus that is transmitted through mobile phone signals, a silly premise and a carbon copy of other zombie fare is probably why people wrote off this but it has so much more character than the swarmed and often imitated zombie tropes.
Watching two of this generations great actors fighting for survival against hoards of the undead is simply magic to the eyes and is more about the survival than the action. Amidst barren wastelands and abandoned homes, once the action kicks off, CELL is nothing more than a survival movie with shots fired at the rage inflicted victims and scares provided in the quietest of moments. But it is the powerhouse performances of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson that carry this above some of the other undead cinema that has been seen in recent years. Not being their first collaboration with King material, the duo team up with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 director Tod Williams to great effect. Where their previous engagement, 1408, bought a classic ghost story to life, CELL does the same for the apocalypse.
If we had our way, the pair would helm a complete re-run of all of Kings works and I doubt there would be little to complain about with whichever material they touched next.