9 Films That Actually Benefited From Bad Reviews
1. The Room (2003)
We end with the original 'so bad-it's good' release from the misguided Tommy Wiseau.
Stories of the on-set madness that Wiseau inspired, with his unbridled enthusiasm, intertwined with sheer blind ignorance as to how a film was actually made, have become the stuff of legend.
Incredibly, the feature was promoted, pretty much exclusively, through one solitary billboard in Hollywood on Highland Avenue - the image being an extreme close-up of Wiseau's face.
Premiering in June of 2003, many of the audience in attendance spent the majority of the film laughing (for the wrong reasons) and most viewers asked for their money back - before 30 minutes of the movie was over.
Either through Wiseau's stubbornness in keeping his billboard in Hollywood up for over 5 years (at $5,000 a month!), or more likely the fascinating power of word of mouth, The Room has gone on to become a cult-classic with regular screenings taking place in theatres all over the world. Some fans even go as far as to dress up as their favourite characters for the events, throwing plastic spoons as a tribute to an unexplained photo of the cutlery, seen in the movie.
Proving how a movie this bad can benefit from a critical lashing, years after it's release, we are now forever forced to ask ourselves 'Why, Lisa, why, WHY?!'