- 13 minutes ago
These films shocked us - in a good way!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Not to mince words, but film directing is a difficult line of work.
00:04Whilst internet ghouls such as ourselves make bread and butter from dunking on disastrous directors,
00:09the fact is that sometimes the talents of even the most dismal Helmer yield great results.
00:14So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, and here are 10 great films from bad directors.
00:20Number 10, The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan.
00:24Okay, fair enough, this one's a little tenuous.
00:27M. Night Shyamalan can't be considered a truly bad director, hence the high placement on this list.
00:32But measuring up the average quality of his filmography does not yield flattering results.
00:37Responsible for total turkeys like The Last Airbender, Shyamalan's cinematic output has statistically been more negative than positive.
00:45Whilst he has seen a slight return to form in recent years with the excellent split, the okay glass,
00:51and the above average depending on who you ask old,
00:53he is still a far cry from his early genre efforts like Unbreakable and Signs.
00:58With that in mind, we posit that The Sixth Sense still stands head and shoulders above the rest of his work.
01:03It's easy to forget the sheer impact this film had at the time of its release,
01:07netting several coveted award nominations such as the Academy's Best Picture and Best Director categories.
01:13Not only did The Sixth Sense sport an excellent script, brilliant direction and tense atmosphere,
01:18but it also gave us one of the greatest plot twists in cinematic history,
01:23making Shyamalan a household name practically overnight.
01:26There were even some claiming him to be the next Steven Spielberg,
01:29deep into the ground.
01:34Over 20 years later, it's still by far his best movie.
01:37Despite receiving mixed reviews at the time of its release,
01:43Pretty Woman has unquestionably reached classic status over the years.
01:47Telling the tale of charming sex worker Vivian and her corporate client Edward,
01:51the plot follows their descent into mutual love.
01:54Pretty Woman is a joyful tale of good chemistry, good humour,
01:57and learning to trust those close to you.
01:59As retold in Netflix's brilliant documentary series The Movies That Made Us,
02:043000, as it was originally titled, was meant to have a much darker, more realistic tone.
02:09Had it not been for the inexperience of director Gary Marshall,
02:12as well as his blatant disregard for the script, this is a film we would have gotten.
02:17Marshall opted to record several takes of each scene with wildly different tones in each,
02:21and also let lead actors Richard Gere and Julia Roberts simply improvise many of their scenes.
02:26This risky manoeuvre paid off in dividends,
02:29as letting the lead's natural chemistry speak for itself is arguably what made the film so great.
02:34Its romantic conclusion was all the more satisfying when the characters themselves
02:38were given the breathing room to endear themselves to the audience.
02:42And for that, we have Marshall to thank.
02:44Number 8. Star Wars Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, by Irving Kirshner.
02:50Widely regarded as one of the best Star Wars films ever made, even the best by some,
02:55it's easy to forget that our second foray into a galaxy far, far away wasn't actually helmed by
03:01creator George Lucas. Following on from the events of A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back continues the
03:06story of the Rebel Alliance and their attempts to undermine the Galactic Empire. Along the way,
03:11Luke trains with Master Yoda, discovers the truth about Daddy Vader, and loses an entire limb in a
03:16lightsaber duel with said father. Praised for its incredible action set pieces and overall darker tone,
03:22the Empire Strikes Back remains a firm favourite among Star Wars aficionados and casual fans to
03:28this very day. Director Irving Kirshner's other work? Not so much. The Barbra Streisand starring
03:34stinker Up the Sandbox and the disappointing Robocop 2 both spring to mind when examining
03:39Kirshner's very mixed filmography. Whilst 007's spoof Never Say Never Again could be considered
03:45something of a cult classic, this wasn't due to Kirshner's directing abilities, and The Empire
03:50Strikes Back remains his greatest ever effort behind the camera.
03:547. Event Horizon by Paul W.S. Anderson
03:58Perhaps best known these days for his mixed bag of a Resident Evil franchise, Paul W.S. Anderson
04:04is a bad director who can at least be said to make some really fun movies. The first Alien vs.
04:10Predator is a campy action horror that deserves way more praise than it gets, and 1994's shopping
04:15was surprisingly slick for a directorial debut. Far and away, the director's best work was
04:2097's Event Horizon, a sci-fi horror that went massively underappreciated upon release. Event
04:30Horizon has grown beyond a cult film into a bona fide sci-fi horror classic. Concerning a rescue
04:37crew sent to investigate the reappearance of an experimental warp ship, the situation aboard
04:42the Event Horizon quickly goes south as the crew succumb to terror, madness, and perhaps
04:47the trappings of hell itself. Also out of character for Anderson, the film doesn't feature a single
04:52scene of Mila Jovovich naked. Very strange. A somewhat typical ghost ship story coloured
04:58with tinges of cosmic horror, Event Horizon was rightfully reassessed as a flawed masterpiece
05:03in the years since its home video release. Anderson supports this view, saying he was immensely
05:08proud of the work he and the crew put in, and that the film didn't get a fair shake at its initial
05:13debut.
05:146. The Mummy by Stephen Summers
05:17A childhood classic for many, and an awakening for bisexuals the world over, 1999's The Mummy
05:23was a swashbuckling take on the classic universal monster property that managed to reinvigorate
05:29the action-adventure genre at the time. Following the world's greatest librarian, Evie, as she enlists
05:34the help of tomb-raiding stallion Rick O'Connell to find the lost fortune of Hamanaptra, the
05:40group instead awakens a cursed mummy by the name of Imhotep.
05:43Now, we're on the list of greatest films ever for 90s kids, and we have director Stephen
05:57Summers to thank for that. Much like Paul W.S. Anderson, Summers makes some really fun movies.
06:02Deep Rising and Van Helsing are low-key cult classics in their own right, but none of
06:08his work has ever reached the heights of this Brendan, literal Angel Frazier vehicle.
06:13Summers doesn't attempt anything too flashy with The Mummy, instead letting the fun script
06:17and excellent cast do the heavy lifting. This isn't to say his work was complacent, as
06:21often times it's very difficult for directors to step back and let their films breathe as
06:26Summers did here.
06:275. Donnie Darko by Richard Kelly Donnie Darko was a critical and cult hit for
06:33the ages. Launched in the career of star Jake Gyllenhaal and convincing an entire generation
06:38of edgy teenage cinema-goers, they were properly, like, so intellectual, dude. Following troubled
06:44teen Donnie as he witnesses visions of his death, a cursed rabbit with apocalyptic messages,
06:49and commitment to various crimes while sleepwalking. The film gives little away, instead encouraging
06:54the viewer to seek out their own answers, as well as rewarding repeat viewings.
06:58On a first watch, this all seemed like it was guided by the careful hands of a true film
07:03auteur. Richard Kelly's intense and abstract directorial style appeared to be responsible
07:07for the arguable masterpiece we all ended up watching, but, to our disappointment, this
07:12was not the case.
07:14We've discussed this here before, how it was actually studio interference that crafted the
07:19original cut of Donnie Darko into the excellent film we all loved, but it was mainly Kelly's
07:24follow-up efforts that exposed the director as a bit of a hack.
07:28Southern Tales was a confusing mess that seemed to be trying to one-up Darko as being weird
07:33for weirdness' sake, and The Box was a tedious Twilight Zone adaptation that didn't set any
07:37worlds on fire. At least we'll always have Gary Jules' mad world.
07:424. Speed by Jan de Bont The most 90s thriller to ever thrill in the
07:4790s, this Keanu Reeves action vehicle is a much-beloved relic of late-century action cinema.
07:54Speed follows maverick cop Jack Traven as he boards a speeding LA bus that will explode if
07:59it goes below 50 miles per hour. Featuring excellent performances from everyone involved,
08:04particularly Dennis Hopper as the unhinged terrorist responsible, Speed blew up at the box office,
08:09increasing nearly ten times its original budget. It did well critically, too, even netting
08:14a couple of Oscar nods for its trouble. The film's impact has seen it lovingly parodied
08:19in everything from Robot Chicken to Father Ted, which makes you think the director of the work
08:23must be a real talent, no? This was actually Helmer Jan de Bont's directorial debut. No small feat,
08:29given the film's runaway success, and should have charted an excellent career for the young
08:34Dutch director. Alas, de Bont never helmed anything of note ever again, returning for the much-lampooned
08:39speed 2 Cruise Control, the limp 1999 remake of The Haunting, and the disappointing Tomb Raider
08:45Cradle of Life sequel. Sometimes, beginner's luck really counts for a lot, and this appears
08:50to be the case here. De Bont appears to have retired from Hollywood altogether, with his
08:55last credit as a cinematographer being in 2012.
08:583. Independence Day by Roland Emmerich
09:02During the late 90s, two genres reigned supreme, the disaster movie and the sci-fi action movie.
09:08In 1996, Roland Emmerich blew the doors off both genres with Independence Day.
09:13Set on present-day Earth, as the world is devastated by a highly advanced and hostile alien race,
09:19we follow humanity banding together to destroy the alien threat.
09:22To say Independence Day was epic would be an understatement. Never before had audiences ever
09:28seen action set pieces of this scale, with the world monument's destruction scene being both
09:33terrifying at the time and utterly iconic. What's more, we had an excellent cast of human interest
09:39characters to keep the simple plot moving forward, particularly Will Smith, Captain Hiller,
09:43Jeff Goldblum's quirky scientist, and Bill Pullman as the greatest big-screen US president
09:48we've ever seen. The Independence Day speech scene is simply chef's kiss.
09:53What makes this classic bit of action cinema all the more intriguing is that director Roland
09:58Emmerich never got close to repeating his success. Despite his name becoming a byword for big-budget
10:04disaster movies, most of his filmography is sadly lacking. His Godzilla remake was universally panned,
10:10nobody on Earth saw Anonymous, and his most recent effort, Moonfall, has been lampooned across
10:15the whole internet as an utterly silly affair. Even 2004's The Day After Tomorrow, which is widely accepted
10:22as an okay movie, failed to create that perfect marriage of character, story, and spectacle he
10:28reached with Independence Day. And the less said about its sequel resurgence, the better.
10:32Number 2. Darfur by Yuva Boll
10:35Do not wash out your ears, do not consult a doctor, you did in fact hear me correctly.
10:40Legendary turkey Yuva Boll actually has a decent film to his name. The German director is infamous for his
10:47long line of terrible video game adaptations. Not satisfied with ruthlessly butchering games that
10:53showed narrative promise, Boll also had a tumultuous relationship with his critics, regularly calling
10:59them out on Twitter, blog posts, and challenging them to literal boxing matches. Despite being a far
11:04better boxer than he is a filmmaker, Boll has bravely forged on with his chosen career. Likely through the
11:11laws of averages, rather than a sudden burgeoning talent, Boll managed to create Dafur in 2009.
11:17When a talentless, exploitative filmmaker like Boll decides to helm a biographical piece about real-life
11:23conflict, alarm bells start to ring. Thankfully, Dafur is a decent movie that handles its sensitive
11:28subject matter pretty well. To say it's a masterpiece would be a huge stretch, but considering the bar is
11:33at the Earth's core when it comes to Yuva Boll movies, this is actually quite impressive.
11:38Both Billy Zane and Edward Furlong are also on point as the movie's leads, and Amnesty International
11:43even reported being impressed by the film's quality and credibility. Unfortunately, this film was
11:49released back in 2009, an interim in which Boll had managed to helm a whopping 13 stinkers since then,
11:55truly obliterating any good faith this work gave his directorial abilities.
12:001. The Room by Tommy Wiseau
12:03Could it really have been anyone else?
12:05Tommy Wiseau's unhinged melodrama is commonly cited as the Citizen Kane of bad movies.
12:11So utterly detached from reality is Wiseau's vision, it regularly feels like a work coupled
12:16together from an AI forced to watch 10,000 hours of hallmark romance films.
12:21Serving as the film's writer, director, producer, and lead actor, Tommy himself seems to be a singularly
12:26gifted filmmaker in the area of bad movies. Plotlines appear then vanish into thin air,
12:31the camerawork sometimes looks out of focus, the script is littered with non-sequiturs,
12:36and everyone's line delivery feels like it was beamed directly out of the actors' mouths by an alien force.
12:41And yet, truly, The Room is a great film. It's great for all the wrong reasons, but great nonetheless,
12:47enchanting viewers the world over, and often selling out cinemas re-screening the film.
12:52The Room has captured hearts all over the world, based purely on its demented execution,
12:56plastic spoons and all. There is absolutely no doubt that no one but Tommy Wiseau could have
13:03made a film this entertaining, intentionally or unintentionally.
13:07And that concludes our list. If you can think of any other examples, then do let us know in the
13:11comments below, and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
13:16Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
13:19just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day,
13:24and I'll see you real soon.
Be the first to comment