Feeling as if the decade only just ended yesterday, the 2010s saw the release of many exceptionally well-crafted films that defined and evolved the very medium, shaping it and reforming it with some of the most iconic films of all time. However, not every film released during the decade can lay claim to such a high regard, asthe decade also saw the release of several notoriously awful films that manage to fail on nearly every conceivable level.
The decade saw a wide variety of different types of terrible films, whether they were shockingly bad attempts to capitalize on previously existing IP or disastrous low-budget films that never had a chance in the first place. Several of these films have continued to live in infamy since their release as some of the most hated films of all time, quickly cementing themselves as some of the all-time worst films to be released. These films prove to be so bad that their very existence makes even films of average or below-average quality look like masterpieces by comparison.
10’The Emoji Movie' (2017)
Directed by Tony Leondis
Often considered one of the laziest and most corporate animated movies of recent memory,The Emoji Movieisa blatantly ineffective attempt to appeal to younger audiences without understanding why people like emojis in the first place. The film attempts to use theToy Storyformula for a story of emojis, seeing each emoji living out their lives inside a phone and going on a wild adventure, yet it doesn’t have any of the charm or originality ofToy Story.
The non-stop barrage of unfunny jokes, product placement, and incredibly generic characters make the film an absolute slog to get through. The film has little care about actually making an effective film, feeling largely content with telling an idiotic story and not giving younger audiences any respect towards their intelligence. The film quickly garnered a reputation as one of theworst animated moviesof all time, largely fading into obscurity and only brought up as the punchline for a joke about terrible animated films.
The Emoji Movie
9’Scary Movie 5' (2013)
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee
While they were far from being critically acclaimed highbrow cinema, the originalScary Moviefilms had a distinct charm and wit to them that allowed them to become fan favorites and cult classic comedies of the era. However, the series would gradually decline as it went on and lost its satirical edge and charm, resulting inone of the most unfunny parody movies of all timeinScary Movie 5. The film acts as a parody of the popular horror movies of the early 2010s, including theParanormal Activityseries,Mama, andBlack Swan.
Without the inherent charm that helped elevate the previous films, the raunchy comedy and abundance of pop culture references prove to be much more grating and annoying to sit through. It certainly doesn’t help matters that, in the era of internet comedy and parody, the types of jokes and satire that the film makes feel not only dated, but very surface level and uninteresting. It’s a genuine shame that the series went from being one of the most influential spoof movies of all time to one of many films that resulted in the genre’s death.
Scary Movie 5
8’Slender Man' (2018)
Directed by Sylvain White
Easily one of the biggest cases of missed potential when it comes to a horror film,Slender Mancompletelygets rid of all the suspense and allure of the original internet phenomenon to make a generic, jump scare-reliant slog. Considering just how impactful and widely beloved the source material was throughout the early 2010s, it stings that much harder that the film adaptation was so dull and uninteresting. The film sees a group of high school girls finding themselves as the latest targets of the infamous Slender Man after attempting to debunk his mythos through a ritual.
A lot of the issues that plagueSlender Mancan be traced back to the various cuts and changes that happened during its chaotic development, leaving the final product to be a completelyunwatchable horror film. The film’s neutered PG-13 rating removes any intrigue and depth to the story being told, feeling aimless and without care for the majority of the runtime. While there’s a lot of fun that can be found within especially bad films,Slender Man’s biggest problem stems from just being so incredibly boring, making it not worth watching for any reason.
Slender Man
7’Cats' (2019)
Directed by Tom Hooper
Catswas already a largely divisive musical when it was making massive waves and a massive success on Broadway in the 80s, yet the nightmare visuals and lack of cohesion ofTom Hooper’s film adaptation managed to make the musical even more infamous. Taking one look at the film makes it easy to see why it became an immediate contender for one of the worst movie musicals of all time.The film sports shockingly disgusting visuals that find a way to get more and more disturbing as the film goes on, never letting up on the unintentional nightmare fuel.
Even putting aside the nightmarish creatures that the film likes to pretend are felines,Catsas a core story was never about an actual narrative and instead a jumping-off point for impressive choreography, costume work, and memorable songs. However, the CGI-reliant visuals prove to remove all the impressive aspects of the original musical, leaving behind a strange, nonsensical story that is nigh-impossible to take seriously.
6’Smosh: The Movie' (2015)
Directed by Alex Winter
One of the biggest shakeups in term of entertainment and pop culture throughout the 21st century has been the rise of the internet and social media personalities as massive figureheads for culture. Considering both the massive influence of the internet combined with its distinct seperation from Hollywood, there were many attempts by both film and TV alike to use the biggest stars of the early internet for their ingrained audiences. This would result in many notoriously bad influencer films throughout the 2010s, with few more directly infamous thanSmosh: The Movie.
Based on the wildly popular sketch comedy YouTube channel,Smosh: The Movieshows that just because something can be effective and hilarious on the internet doesn’t mean it will be equally effective in a movie.What is quirky and lighthearted fun in a short 5-minute video proves to be grating and uninspired when stretched across 83-minutes, with no amount of cameos and references being enough to save the film. Theunfunny comedysimply never justifies its own existence, as one would easily get more mileage out of watching an 83-minute compilation of old Smosh videos.
Smosh: The Movie
5’Gotti' (2018)
Directed by Kevin Connolly
While the gangster genre has been home to some of the most triumphant and critically acclaimed cinematic achievements of all time,Gottiacts as nothing more than the reheated leftovers of these beloved classics. There isn’t a figment of originality within Gotti, as its attempts to bring a cinematic scope to the story of one of the most infamous New York gangsters of all time isnothing more than a lazy retread of the most overused clichés in the gangster genre.
While the film attempts to act as an homage and modern evolution of films likeThe GodfatherandGoodfellas, it has no understanding of the pacing and subtle characteristics that make those films so timeless.Gottisimply assumes that it can get by through an array of non-stop swears, wildly inconsistent soundtrack choices, and a comically bad lead performance fromJohn Travolta. The film reaches a level of such shocking ineptitude and mediocrity that it almost becomes comical, but not nearly enough to actually make it worth watching.
4’Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas' (2014)
Directed by Darren Doane
Often considered to be one of theworst Christmas moviesof all time,Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmasonly barely meets the minimum requirements for what could be considered a movie. The majority of content within the film acts as a sort of extended lecture about the connection between the modern-day celebration of Christmas and its connections to the facets of Christianity. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the messaging that the film is presenting, but the issue is thateverything surrounding this messaging is a chaotic, mind-numbing fever dream.
The loose story that attempts to connect the long-lasting messages byKirk Cameronproves to be some of the most strange and nonsensical storytelling in a Christmas film. From laughably bad performances, stilted pacing, and an overall lack of any actual stakes or tension, the film proves to be a test of one’s patience over a feel-good holiday experience. When a good 50% of the film is an elongated conversation that takes place in a parked car, it’s easy to say that the film’s priorities for making a family comedy are misaligned.
Saving Christmas
3’The Last Airbender' (2010)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Often considered to be one of the worst live-action adaptations of all time,M. Night Shyamalan’sThe Last Airbenderis a complete bastardization of the masterpiece that was the original animated series. While it would be difficult for any singular film to condense an entire season of television into a 103-minute film,the film’s complete butchering of the original story and characters is inexcusable. From overly relying on exposition dumps to explain things to the audience to some laughably downgraded action sequences, no part of the film even comes close to the quality of the original series.
While Shyamalan’s distinct filmmaking voice has allowed many different films over the years to find a distinct audience and charming edge, his style and the story ofThe Last Airbenderclash to the point of being a tiring, unenjoyable mess. It certainly doesn’t help matters when most of the film feels as if nobody cared about the original material, most egregiously with how the film would often mispronounce characters' names.
The Last Airbender
2’Cool Cat Saves the Kids' (2015)
Directed by Derek Savage
Easily one of the definingso-bad-it’s-good experiences of the 2010s,Cool Cat Saves the Kidsis the type of unbelievably bad film that simply has to be seen to be believed. The seemingly nonexistent budget, combined with the laughably strange performance and allure of Cool Cat as a character, proves to makea film whose entertainment value is parallel with its lack of quality. There’s little actual throughline between the different scenes of the film, which feel as if they were nonsensically shoved together until the film reached an acceptable feature length.
The film follows the titular Cool Cat going on all sorts of ventures around town, teaching various children important lessons about how to be kind and how to deal with bullying in their day-to-day life. What seems to be nothing more than an informational movie for young children enters the pantheon of so-bad-it’s-good legends thanks to its array of comically bad line readings, amateur filmmaking, and lackluster storytelling.
Cool Cat Saves the Kids
1’Birdemic: Shock and Terror' (2010)
Directed by James Nguyen
Consdering the medium of feature-length filmmaking has existed for over a century, it’s rather difficult for new releases to make a name for themselves as one of the worst movies of all time. Of all the various disasters that have released during the 2010s, the best contender for what could be considered the worst film of the decade and one of the worst movies of all time is easilyBirdemic: Shock and Terror. Birdemic is a film whose constant failures and ineptitude genuinely baffles the mind, asit constantly finds new ways to mess up in gloriously hilarious fashion.
From ear-piercingly terrible sound mixing to a non-stop array of awkward and stilted performances to pacing so bad that the titularBirdemicdoesn’t occur until halfway through the film,Birdemicis the gift that keeps on giving in terms of bad filmmaking. It’s hard to think of a single redeeming quality present withinBirdemic, as every aspect of the film features an egregious mistake that is detrimental to the film as a whole. It feels like the cinematic equivalent of a destructive car crash that you simply can’t look away from.
