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Oct 24, 2023

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Cult sci-fi B movies feature the strangest alien invasions, the best worst visual effects in movie history, and more novelty than average cult films. While there are bad movies in every genre, sci-fi

Cult sci-fi B movies feature the strangest alien invasions, the best worst visual effects in movie history, and more novelty than average cult films.

While there are bad movies in every genre, sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good contain some of the most unusual and implausible premises on the fringes of the genre. To be fair, filmmaking is never an easy endeavor, and this is especially true in effects and production-heavy genres like science fiction. Apart from their unintentional comedic value, these movies typically offer substantially more novelty than other similarly charming movies from different genres. Though all movie genres have produced trainwrecks that are impossible to look away from, the most mesmerizing disasters typically hail from misguided, under-budgeted, or overly ambitious approaches to sci-fi.

When it comes to so-bad-they're-good movies, sci-fi failures are a different breed. This quasi-subgenre is home to the most ludicrous aliens in cinema, spectacular costume and production design, the funniest CGI and practical effects scenes, and often also the wackiest dialog to explain whatever's going on. While the majority of these films hail from the 20th century, more recent science fiction movies aren't immune to belonging in this special category. As objectively terrible as they are, these movies have also earned loyal cult followings. For audiences who appreciate the most ridiculous attempts at making science fiction films, here are 20 sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good.

Related: The 10 Best 'So Bad It's Good' Movies, According To Reddit

Where Steven Spielberg's crew seamlessly merged CGI with practical effects to bring dinosaurs back to life in the first two films, director Joe Johnston's poor use of CGI and green screen sequences nearly killed the beloved franchise. Also, with Sam Neill's Dr. Alan Grant being primarily motivated by money - just like in the first movie - Jurassic Park III seems more like fan fiction than an actual official sequel. However, even though the script even undermines its own potential for drama with consistently poor attempts at comedy, the movie nevertheless includes some great set pieces and remains an enjoyable dinosaur-heavy romp.

Upon the release of Mac and Me, audiences quickly recognized it as a ripoff of E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Yet, even if it wasn't, what really makes Mac and Me stand out among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good is the inadvertently hilarious terrible acting and bland script. These are further magnified by the confusing scoring, bad effects and production design, and the fact that the entire movie is literally an advertisement for McDonald's. Mac and Me is such a common example of a so-bad-it's-good B-movie that actor Paul Rudd has famously tricked talk show host Conan O'Brien into repeatedly showing its infamous wheelchair scene.

Related: The Paul Rudd And Conan Mac And Me Running Gag Explained

Terrible production, senseless plot lines, and great actors playing hammy characters all come together in the gloriously awful Battlefield Earth. While the consistent use of skewed camera angles throughout the entire movie adds to its overall novelty, this also makes it extremely visually jarring. However, from John Travolta's iconically bad performance, to the story involving aliens taking over Earth just to mine gold, Battlefield Earth stands tall among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good. The winner of 8 Golden Raspberry Awards - including Worst Picture of the Decade in 2010 - Battlefield Earth is one of the worst sci-fi movies from the 2000s, yet no-less entertaining for it.

In Roller Blade, society's only hope against a fascist warlord in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles is a cabal of sexy nuns who don't even rollerblade. Hilariously, the titular wheeled shoes are entirely missing from Roller Blade. However, the killer nuns do dole out some creative kills and moves that require serious roller skating skills. From Roller Blade taking every opportunity to show the nuns nude, to the movie's grotesque puppetry, incoherent plot, and overall garish look and feel, it's clear that this movie was never meant to be taken seriously. Roller Blade is a must-see for viewers searching for post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good.

Related: The 10 Best Cheesy '50s Sci-Fi Movies, According To Reddit

A drug lord hires a magician to summon Chinese vampires to protect him from the authorities. The only one who can stop the vampires is narcotics agent Tom Wilde, who's been resurrected as a silver comforter-clad half-robot after he was shot and killed in the line of duty. A hilariously failed attempt at ripping off Robocop, Robo Vampire's convoluted plot is bested only by its funny action sequences. As described in Chinese folklore, the vampires hop towards their prey - especially funny when they're fighting Wilde in his terrible costume. For a sci-fi movie that's so bad it's actually good, however, the vampires and gore are surprisingly well-designed and executed, adding to the entertainment.

Derek is a well-meaning alien who arrives on Earth to help his species find suitable places to grow their reserve food source: giant land-dwelling lobsters called Gargons. Although the other aliens consider themselves to be the "supreme race," Derek is more concerned with Earth's fate and learning about human culture. While wearing the blandest of costumes, the aliens are armed with plastic toy guns, which they use to instantly turn humans into skeletons. However, what really makes Teenagers From Outer Space a must-see is the stilted dialog, driven by a hilariously long-drawn-out and unnecessarily convoluted plot.

What makes Reptilicus unique among so-bad-they're-good sci-fi movies is that it's the only Danish kaiju film. In Reptilicus, a miner finds the fossilized tail of an ancient giant creature, and when it's brought to Copenhagen to be studied, the tail regenerates into the creature's full form. This leads to some of the worst creature effects in the history of cinema. Moreover, after an extremely troubled production involving a Danish and English version of the movie, the already laughable dialog and acting is made even more awkward by the English dubbing over Danish actors in the final cut. Few other movies that rip off Godzilla have cult followings like Reptilicus.

The police officers of a small town discover a giant spider living in a nearby cave. After the authorities knock out the spider with DDT gas, the high school science teacher convinces them not just to keep the monster alive for studying, but also to bring it to the school to be displayed. When students practice rock and roll songs for the upcoming school dance, however, the power of rock awakens the giant spider, who then terrorizes the town. Hammy acting, bad composite shots, and silly animatronics come together to make Earth vs. The Spider one of the earliest unintentionally comedic sci-fi horrors from the 20th century.

The title says it all - They Saved Hitler's Brain imagines an alternate fate for Adolf Hitler, one where Nazi high command preserves the führer's head and essentially makes him immortal. From the inverted (historically inaccurate) swastika serving as the centerpiece of the grandiose room from where Hitler's head screams commands, to the obviously fake head burning to death in the ending, there's a lot to love about this ode to Nazi super science. In fairness, the scenes where Hitler's head is carried around in a glass case are seamless - impressive for a movie from the late '60s.

Related: Worst Sci-Fi Movies According To Rotten Tomatoes

A true classic among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, Robot Monster is about the eight humans that survived the global genocide of Ro-Man, an intelligent alien with the body of a gorilla wearing an old-school diving helmet with antennaes. As Ro-Man carries out his directive of ridding the planet of human life, the alien and a human named Alice fall for each other, causing Ro-Man to ask, "how do you calculate that?" From Ro-Man's ill-conceived appearance to the montage where Ro-Man's overlords destroy Earth, Robot Monster seems like an amalgamation of leftover props, footage, and even plots from previous movies.

As the titular space adventurer, Jane Fonda's Barbarella is the fashionable, pin-up-inspired heroine tasked with finding the scientist Durand Durand across the planets. Barbarella changes into a variety of awesome outfits, gets attacked by evil dolls, rides a sleigh pulled by an alien manta ray, and even meets a blind angel. Alongside Barbarella's outfits, the movie's meandering plot makes it clear that it was just an excuse to feature the stunning Jane Fonda in several sexy costumes. For being more akin to a dream that Austin Powers once had than an actual film, Barbarella is a well-known standard among fans of sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good.

Even the star power of Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, and Danny Trejo couldn't bring life to Anaconda's ridiculously archetypal characters. Combined with the extremely fake-looking CGI and animatronics for the anaconda - which was nominated for Worst New Star at the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards - Anaconda is lovingly remembered as a definitive cheesy '90s action horror flick. The bad creature effects and forgettable main cast of Anaconda are also highly reminiscent of some of the oldest creature feature/sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, which explains its status as a modern cult B-movie.

When Dr. Bill Cortner's fiancée Jan is decapitated after a car accident, Bill revives Jan's head through advanced medical technologies. Despite Jan telling Bill to let her die, Bill sets out to murder a woman to provide the perfect new body for his future wife. While there are many 20th-century sci-fi movies with a similar concept, The Brain That Wouldn't Die is a popular example among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good. Thanks to its psuedo-intellectual philosophical inquiries and poorly produced but great gore, The Brain That Wouldn't Die has earned cult status.

An extremely ambitious epic sci-fi horror with a low budget, Plan 9 From Outer Space is about aliens raising the dead on Earth in a bid to stop humanity from developing a universe-killing weapon. The budget concerns force nearly all the violence and crucial events offscreen - except the bland, long-drawn-out battle where the military shoots at what are obviously model toy kit UFOs floating lifelessly in the sky. Hilariously, abrupt cuts throughout the film make its already strange dialog harder to follow. Even among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, few films are as notoriously and joyously terrible as Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Zardoz is known for Sean Connery's Zed and his risque red costume, but this is actually one of the least ridiculous aspects of this movie. An Exterminator chosen by Zardoz, the floating stone head god of the Brutals, Zed defies Zardoz and discovers the lavish but robotic lives of the immortal and psychic Eternals. Zed's passion and violent memories completely upends the Eternals' perfect society, culminating in a strange massacre where the Eternal victims are grateful for their deaths. A standard example when it comes to sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, Zardoz is a psychedelic, sexy, sociopolitical allegory that was way too ambitious.

Related: Zardoz: 10 Insane Facts About The 1974 Sci-Fi Movie

Aliens resembling disturbingly demonic clowns terrorize a small town in Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Funny, unapologetically campy, and filled with surprisingly slick over-the-top production design and costumes, Killer Klowns From Outer Space is an ode to 1950s creature feature sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good. From deadly cotton candy and shadow puppetry, to an alien clown twisting a balloon into a dog to go after some teens, Killer Klowns From Outer Space is infamous for its colorful, novel, and inventive antagonists. As the movie's cult following likes to point out, Killer Klowns From Outer Space also came out 2 years before Stephen King's It.

Produced in Argentina around the time of the country's economic collapse in the late '80s, the script and final cut of Highlander II: The Quickening suffered from the creative meddling of its financiers (via Houston Press), who tried to make it more marketable. Chief among the changes made was how the sequel completely changes Highlander lore by turning immortals into aliens. Nonetheless, combined with Michael Ironside's overblown antagonist and Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert's chemistry, the movie remains a wholly entertaining mess. Though none of the sequels can compare to the original movie, only Highlander II achieved the sweet spot of being a so-bad-it's-good sci-fi movie.

High-budget blockbuster filmmaking and soap opera writing collide in Jupiter Ascending, arguably the worst of the Wachowski sisters' movies. From Channing Tatum's genetically engineered half-canine soldier rescuing Mila Kunis' perpetual damsel in distress, to a plot that's essentially a fever-dream space opera rehash of The Matrix, Jupiter Ascending is a rare contemporary trainwreck that's actually rewatchable. The expensive CGI is stunning throughout, cleverly alien technologies make way for unique action sequences, and the sheer melodrama ensures laughs throughout the film. An underrated gem among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, Jupiter Ascending is an unforgettable disaster.

A satirical anti-war sci-fi action movie, Starship Troopers' lukewarm contemporary critical reception earns its inclusion on this list. However, whatever its reputation, the film's political commentary, enthusiastic violence, and sly comedy mean it is guaranteed to entertain. As the spacefaring human civilization attempts to colonize the intelligent Arachnids, United Citizen Federation's fascist stance against the aliens and Earth's globally militarized culture provides a hilariously bleak peek into humanity's future. Combined with special effects that still hold up today, extremely hammy dialogue and plot lines, and over-the-top gore and references to '80s action movie tropes, Starship Troopers ranks highly among sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good.

When the Earth's core stops spinning, a barrage of unnatural disasters is unleashed upon the planet. The Citizen Kane of sci-fi movies that are so bad they're actually good, The Core is actually an above-average movie if viewers can completely ignore scientific facts. From how the lightning storm in Rome specifically hits only national landmarks, to the movie's heroes "restarting" the core's rotation through nuclear explosions, science takes a well-deserved break in The Core. The pseudoscience in The Core is so bad that it led to the formation of the Science & Entertainment Exchange, which aims to align popular media with scientific research (via Salon) – a worthy testament to the movie's stupidity.