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My whole view on bad movies flipped at a midnight showing of 'The Room' in Austin | Bad Movie Appreciation - Free To Speak

granthunt•5mo ago

My whole view on bad movies flipped at a midnight showing of 'The Room' in Austin

I was at the Alamo Drafthouse maybe 8 years ago, packed in with a crowd that knew every line. People were throwing plastic spoons at the screen and yelling at the awful green screen shots. That was the first time I saw a movie where the fun wasn't in the story, it was in the shared joke of how bad it was. Before that, I'd just turn off a bad movie. Now I actively hunt for stuff like 'Birdemic' or 'Troll 2' because the experience is totally different. It's not about the quality, it's about the weird charm and the people you watch it with. Anyone else have a specific theater or event that got them into this stuff?

5 comments

5 Comments

pat_moore5mo ago

Wait you guys had plastic spoons? Our crowd just used to yell "spoon!" at the screen. The whole prop thing is next level.

riverdavis5mo ago

Shared joke of how bad it was" is a whole thing, huh. Seems like a lot of effort for a movie that's just bad.

troy_price5mo ago

Read an article once about how these bad movie nights basically create a new piece of art. The crowd's reactions and the running jokes become the real show. Like, the movie 'Miami Connection' is just a weird, bad karate film on its own. But when a whole theater is chanting along with the awful songs and laughing at the terrible fights, it turns into something else. It's not about the movie anymore, it's about the event you're all making together. That shared feeling is what you're really paying for.

sethfoster4mo ago

A hundred people in a dark room yelling at a goofy movie isn't exactly high art, is it? It's more like a very elaborate excuse to not have a real conversation with the people you're with. Everyone's so busy doing the bits and yelling the jokes that nobody's actually watching the movie or talking to each other. Feels less like "creating art" and more like a bunch of people who are afraid of sitting in silence for two hours.

leo_black764mo ago

Gotta say I'm not totally on board with that take. Sitting through a whole bad movie just for the crowd reactions feels like making a night out of picking a scab instead of just letting it heal.