15 Terrible Movies That Actually Improve Good Ones
Every silver lining has a cloud to make it sparkle...
Despite the problems with the idea of guilty pleasure viewing and the universality of film opinion (and everyone's right to love films no matter what they are), it would be fair to say that some films are just terrible. There's no getting around the fact.
But that's not always a bad thing.
An unexpected bonus of having such dirge fill the cinema screen is that sometimes... just sometimes they improve already good films by pushing them ever higher up on their podium. Just as having a particularly bad meal immediately inspires fond memories of a superior one consumed in the past.
It's not just absence that makes the heart grow fonder, and manure does genuinely make for more beautiful
And it happens surprisingly regularly: it's almost as if Hollywood has an agenda to reinforce how splendid it is when something goes wrong by casually releasing films that are barely watchable. Whether they make established talents look poor or take similar ideas and completely fudge them, these crocks actually do serve a purpose.
It's just probably not quite what their studios intended them to be...
15. RoboCop Improves RoboCop
The Bad
The beloved 80's zombie cop film was remade in 2014 with human blank-slate Joel Kinnaman as the titular law enforcer, surrounded by great Batman actors like Michael Keaton and Gary Oldman. Nobody was particularly excited for another reboot and that lacklustre feeling did not evaporate with the film.
A strictly middle-of-the-road affair filled with forgettable characters, phoned in performances and dull, lifeless action sequences this reboot would come and go leaving no lasting memories or impressions. Luke warm would be the most fitting description.
How It Improves RoboCop
A solid average is everything a RoboCop film should not be and the quality of the original 1987 film is only improved by how poorly fudged the remake was.
It also looked a hell of a lot smarter as the new version completely lacked any satirical commentary on American capitalist culture hidden under the guise of excessive violence. And the original is surprisingly smart and well-balanced especially when compared to the blatant comments on drones in the reboot.
Unlike the original the reboots Alex Murphy doesn't even properly die so gone is the Jesus allegory and the question of Murphy's humanity - an absence that made its importance in the original shine even brighter.