10 Terrible Movies That Inspired Their Own Cult Followings

9. Reefer Madness

A cautionary tale originally produced in the 1930s by a church group entitled Tell Your Children, Reefer Madness takes parental hysteria surrounding marijuana abuse to dizzying heights. The film asserts that smoking reefer is the cause of all of the main characters' problems and crimes, from paranoia to a hit-and-run, rape, suicide and murder. Though still sensationalist, the original cut of the film was not intended to be exploitative. But shortly after Reefer Madness was completed, savvy producer Dwain Esper acquired the film and added salacious scenes to add to its appeal and began showing it on the exploitation circuit between the late '30s and '50s. It was rediscovered in 1970s by advocates of drug policy reform as a laughable satire, but it wouldn't be until the late 20th and early 21st century until Reefer Madness really found its audience: the true fans of truly bad movies. The tone of the film is so over the top and its logic so childlike in its simplicity that it has become easy fodder for parody, from Rifftrax commentaries to musical adaptations for both the stage and screen. In 2004 20th Century Fox even released "the grand-daddy of all "Worst" movies", newly colourised, on DVD.