"Truly Bad Movie Meme"

OK, Ann Bartow has tagged me for the Truly Bad Movie Meme, and I am ready to rise (sink?) to the occasion.  I just watched 12 Monkeys on DVD last night, and that was probably bad enough to qualify, but I think I have a few worse ones.  For me, the movies that make the grade are the ones that I couldn’t even bear to sit all the way through (so if they miraculously became marvelous half way through, I confess I never found out).

One  of these is Northfork.  Being from Montana, I was initially intrigued by the background plot, which is the building of the Hungry Horse Dam, and its flooding of a town, not far from where I grew up.  But, alas, while a great movie could have been made from that premise, I found Northfork simply pretentious and, worse, dull.  After a while, I just could not stand the sight of the four weird angels that kept appearing in what I guess was supposed to be a dreamlike way.

But Dogville was also a real dog of a movie, probably more so.  Again, I may be influenced by my Montana roots, but how could a movie be based in the Rocky Mountains and not only fail to show the stunning beauty of that setting (at least the cinematography in Northfork was hauntingly beautiful), but actually fail to use any real setting at all?  There were just chalk outlines on the ground, and the actors pretended to turn knobs and open doors that were not there.  I kept hoping that this was a weird introduction and that a real movie would soon begin, but sadly it did not.

Wow… I have to say that when I initially discovered Ann had tagged me, I felt the vaguely sinking sensation I got as a kid receiving a chain letter.  But griping about bad movies is strangely cathartic.  Thanks, Ann!  (And thanks to my husband for reminding me of these awful movies.)  I tag Paul Caron.