Why are bad films so enjoyable?

BAD NOVELS, bad plays and bad paintings are often swiftly forgotten, but bad films are another matter. The worst of them amass cult followings. They become the subject of podcasts and festivals. A long-running American television series, “Mystery Science Theatre 3000”, was devoted to them. Two all-time turkeys, “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (pictured) and “The Room”, have even spawned dramas about how they came to be: Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” and James Franco’s “The Disaster Artist” are good films about bad films.

“Junk Film”, a new book by Katharine Coldiron, contains a shrewd and sardonic series of essays on this curious phenomenon. The author reflects on why her favourite bad films are so bad and why it is that she cannot resist “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman”, “Showgirls” and “Staying Alive”. One reason is that “they upend audience expectations”, careering so far from the well-signposted route followed by most Hollywood films that they become thrillingly unpredictable. Another reason is that they are instructive as “what not to do” guides: they get so much glaringly wrong that they help you to appreciate what other films get right. A small tip for screenwriters and viewers: “Bad movies generally have many more scenes of cars driving and parking than good movies.”