It’s embarrassing. No, really it is. The other day I was posting on yet another bad movie I’d watched and I realized that I should add a new Category (although I’m likely the only one who uses them) on this blog. Now, it’s a pain to add a new Category to a blog with over 5,000 posts. I reasoned that my bad movie watching, although a lifetime pursuit, really only appeared on this blog recently. I had to scroll through the existing Category, “Movies,” to remind myself of what I’d posted on. I found a few to add to my new Category, then a few more. Finally the number grew to embarrassing portions. I kept scrolling until it made me dizzy. I couldn’t remember whether I’d posted on The Room or not. It’s not a horror film, but it is very bad. So bad I watched a parody of it. Using the search function “The Room” brought up just too many hits and I was already woozy. Maybe I didn’t want to admit to that one.
There’s an aesthetic to watching bad movies. In fact, there are books written justifying the practice. I thought maybe I had started my bad movie watching posts with Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space, but no. No, it went back further than that. As someone who writes books about movies (maybe bad books about movies?) I need to do my homework. Not only do I write books on movies, I also write on them for Horror Homeroom on occasion. I’m scheduled to teach a class on a movie this fall. I’ve even presented on movies to church groups (they never invite me back to talk on that topic again, however). I know the reason lies much deeper, though.
Part of it derives from a childhood of watching bad movies. There’s nostalgia involved. More than that, however, I grew up poor. Unless you’re a rags-to-riches story (I’m not) that mentality stays with you your entire life. I’m always trying to cut costs, but I love movies. On weekends I look for what’s free, with or without ads, on Amazon Prime. They cater to bad movies, it turns out. And before long it becomes like an addiction. There’s a fascination to watching something so obviously poor that nevertheless ended up in theaters. In other words, hope glimmers through. My books are far too expensive to sell well. My name isn’t widely known. There is, in other words, a validation in watching bad movies. I’ve got a well-populated Category for them right here.