The category of movies so bad that they’re good sometimes spawns the phenomenon of a movie about the bad movie. The Room, generally on the list of worst movies of all time, was followed by The Disaster Artist. Not exactly a documentary, it was a movie about the making of the movie. There’s a macabre fascination with films that dare to be so very bad. They’re released nevertheless, and if they’re the right kind of bad they grow a following. Ed Wood’s movies inspired Tim Burton’s movie Ed Wood—dramatized, but apparently not far from the truth. Troll 2 was followed up by Best Worst Movie, directed by the child star of the original, Michael Stephenson. Such movies are irresistible in their own right. So when I finally saw Troll 2 I turned around and immediately watched Best Worst Movie.
A few things stood out in this documentary. One is that being part of something larger, it’s not always clear what this larger thing will be. Most of the people in the movie (which was released directly to video) found out about the release by accident. Many of them never acted again but one thing they all knew: when they did see it, it was clear that it was a bad movie. The one person in the documentary who doesn’t accept this is Claudio Fragasso, the director. Fragasso is Italian and he still maintains that this is a great movie and everybody else is wrong about it. He skulks around the tributes made to the movie and insists to both actors and viewers, that the movie isn’t bad. They are wrong, he is right.
There’s nothing wrong with pride in achievement, of course. Sometimes, however, it’s more graceful to admit that you simply got it wrong. Best Worst Movie follows some of the actors to conferences where they expected huge lines and great attention, only to find a handful of disinterested spectators wondering what all the fuss was about. At the same time, there are screenings of Troll 2 in major US cities that draw sell-out crowds. Bad movies don’t appeal to everyone, of course. They can, however, serve some good and might even add some enjoyment to life. Best Worst Movie underscores that not all film fans have the same taste. It also shows that those who enjoy traditionally bad movies aren’t alone. There’s an aesthetic to being bad enough to be good, and even that can spin off sequels of its own. And please, Mr. Fragasso, don’t make the sequel you’re touting—this kind of magic only comes once, unless you’re a genius like Ed Wood.
