10 Fantasy Movies That Are Hard To Watch All the Way Through
Since the dawn of cinema as a storytelling art form, audiences have been in love with fantasy movies. These stories have captured cinephiles’ imaginations for over a century, enticing them with magic, mythological creatures, grand world-building, or the presence of fantastical things in our boring, very-much-not-fantastical world.
However, fantasy is most definitely not an infallible genre—quite the contrary, in fact. Over the years, and especially in modern times, there have been some infamously abysmal fantasy films that have shown what the genre looks like when placed in the wrong hands. Whether they’re boring, poorly written, or just lacking in the inimitable magic of the fantasy genre, these movies are among the worst ever made.
10
‘Kazaam’ (1996)
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser
When athletes try to be blockbuster stars, things typically don’t go super well. It was particularly egregious, however, when Shaquille O’Neal tried his hand at being an actor. His first leading role was in the fantasy comedy Kazaam, where he plays a genie who’s released by a troubled kid and must grant him any three wishes he requests.
The film couldn’t even make back its budget of $20 million dollars at the box office, and it isn’t hard to see why. Poorly performed, poorly written, and full of ineffective juvenile humor, it’s one of the worst fantasy movies of the 1990s, one big genre cliché with about as much imagination and originality as a rock.
9
‘Left Behind’ (2014)
Directed by Vic Armstrong
Nicolas Cage has starred in plenty of forgotten, atrocious movies throughout the 21st century, but one of his most noteworthy (and not for the right reasons) is the Christian apocalyptic thriller Left Behind, which sports a whopping 0% approval from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Frankly, it’s hard to blame them.
Simply put, Left Behind (which is also one of the worst sci-fi movies ever made) is irredeemable. The effects are laughably bad, the performances leave lots and lots to be desired, and the concept of the Rapture being depicted on the big screen is completely squandered on this boring and watere-down mishmash of genres where not a single element works in proper conjunction with the others.
8
‘Cats’ (2019)
Directed by Tom Hooper
Cats needs no introduction. This adaptation of the cult classic Broadway musical wasn’t even courteous enough to offer itself up for a cult following. Instead, it’s so atrocious that it crosses the threshold that separates so-bad-they’re-good gems from films that are simply atrocious. Cats, one of the most notorious flops of the decade so far, falls into the latter category.
It’s hard to figure out where to even begin describing the movie’s quality (or lack thereof). It could be by mentioning the dodgy visuals, which give the movie a nightmarish quality. Or perhaps the stacked cast of talented artists and legendary thespians delivering some of the most pathetic work of their careers. There’s also Tom Hooper‘s lifeless direction, the random song-and-dance numbers, and the lack of any interesting characters or plot points. No matter the starting point for talking about Cats‘ badness, the point is that it’s not any good.
7
‘The Crow: Wicked Prayer’ (2005)
Directed by Lance Mungia
1994’s The Crow is largely remembered for Brandon Lee‘s unfortunate on-set death; but even setting that aside, it’s a fantastic revenge film. The franchise that it spawned, on the other hand… A lot less so. The Crow: Wicked Prayer, the fourth installment in the series, is the worst of the bunch. Its theatrical distribution was limited to one week in Seattle, and after that, it was dumped straight to video. Even DVD is too good a medium for Wicked Prayer.
It’s one of the worst fantasy movies of the 2000s, a dull and incoherent cash-grab with a dumb script, bad performances, and no distinguishable direction to speak of. The pacing is terrible, the story makes no sense, and none of the characters offer anything of interest. There’s nothing here to make this experience worth having even once.
6
‘BloodRayne’ (2005)
Directed by Uwe Boll
No list about the worst genre films is ever complete without at least a passing mention of Uwe Boll. His filmography is actually quite admirable, insofar as it’s filled with film after film after film that’s consistently just as bad as the others. BloodRayne, an action horror film based on the video game franchise of the same title, is one of his worst.
A poorly paced, ludicrously written, preposterously silly action flick that offers no thrills or excitement in any of its action scenes.
A gargantuan box office flop, BloodRayne features an elegant cast, including the likes of Ben Kingsley and Michael Madsen, but wastes them all on a poorly paced, ludicrously written, preposterously silly action flick that offers no thrills or excitement in any of its action scenes.
5
‘Son of the Mask’ (2005)
Directed by Lawrence Guterman
1994’s The Mask is an iconic high-concept comedy with a terrific Jim Carrey performance. Its sequel, Son of the Mask, certainly isn’t. One of the lamest superhero movies ever made, it’s a loud and unfunny film that’s too crass for younger audiences but too stupid for grown-ups. Stuck in a limbo of not knowing who its audience is, it’s better off being watched by no one.
The visual effects are terrible, the jokes feel like the writers didn’t even try to be funny, and the story is barely even worthy of mention. The film is just a string of nonsensical events coming one after the other in insufferable succession, with none of the elements that made the original charming. It isn’t funny, it isn’t clever, and it doesn’t have Carrey’s manic magic.
4
‘Titanic: The Legend Goes On’ (2000)
Directed by Camillo Teti
Throughout the years, there have been plenty of movies that have tried to be the next Titanic. Of those movies, Titanic: The Legend Goes On is perhaps the worst of the worst. This animated Italian musical done in very poor taste tries (and fails) to emulate the tone and magic of Disney movies. Instead, it’s just unenjoyable in every imaginable way.
Poorly written, poorly animated, and silly in all the worst ways, it’s a massive disservice not just to the victims of the Titanic‘s sinking, but also to anyone unfortunate enough to have ever had to sit through this whole ordeal of a film. Many terrible animated films have garnered cult followings over the years, but not this one. There’s a reason for that.
- Release Date
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September 15, 2000
- Runtime
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70 minutes
Cast
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Francesca Guadagno
Angelica (voce)
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Francesco Pezzulli
William (voce)
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Valeria Perilli
Geltrude (voce)
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Eliana Lupo
Ortensia (voce)
3
‘Dragonball: Evolution’ (2009)
Directed by James Wong
The Dragon Ball franchise is one of manga and anime’s most iconic and beloved. As such, people knew when a Hollywood live-action adaptation was announced that the result would probably leave a lot to be desired. However, they definitely weren’t expecting something as notoriously terrible as Dragonball: Evolution, the lowest-rated feature film on Letterboxd.
It’s the kind of nonsensical film that you don’t want to watch more than once—or, ideally, ever. It’s a horrible adaptation of the source material, the effects are bad, the script is terribly written, and the actors look like they’re not even trying. For Dragon Ball fans and non-fans alike, this is one of the worst things that have ever happened to the Seventh Art.
2
‘Troll 2’ (1990)
Directed by Claudio Fragasso
Unlike many other terrible movies, Troll 2 could reasonably be called a disasterpiece, in that it’s magnificent and exquisitely fun in just how unbelievably bad it is. This Italian production isn’t actually a sequel to Troll, nor does it even feature a single troll. Why is it titled Troll 2, then? It’s a mystery as head-scratching as the experience of watching this beautiful mess of a film.
Troll 2 has terrible visuals, wooden acting, and a script that feels like it was written in a day by someone who had just been told what movies were a day earlier. It’s a failure of a motion picture in every way imaginable, but that’s precisely the source of its charm. Fantasy rarely gets any worse than this, but for those who like having fun with that sort of film, this is a must-see.
1
‘Foodfight!’ (2012)
Directed by Larry Kassanoff
There are the Troll 2s and The Rooms of the world; films that are hilariously awful, but you can still see through their badness and understand that that is a movie made by humans who had no clue what they were doing. Foodfight! is different. Referred to by many as the single worst film of the 21st century so far, it’s a movie so atrocious that it’s easier to think of it not as a product of human labor, but as a force of nature that one day came into being to terrorize humanity for the rest of its days.
Though some find the movie’s awfulness highly rewatchable, others prefer to just experience it once and move on with their lives, hoping that they’ll be able to forget. Foodfight! is just that bad. The visuals are nightmare fuel, the voice acting (featuring some shockingly high-caliber names, like Charlie Sheen and Eva Longoria) is terrible, and the script is more than incomprehensible. As far as fantasy movies go, this is about as bad as it gets.
