The Hall of Infamy

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Trog (1970) -


Not much to get mad at with this one. Heck, aside from the design of Trog, there's not much to find campy or cheesy about it either. Rather, it's a fairly well-made film. It clearly knows what it wants to say and presents its themes relatively well. At its heart, the film is about the dangers of science when it's conducted at the expense of other people. Dr. Brockton wishes to look after the creature as, with the right care and trainers, she believes she can get the creature to not be violent, but barely anyone else supports her. This theme might've fallen apart if it was too one-sided, but fortunately, the characters are balanced enough so that you can see both sides of the argument. While it's clear that Trog behaves well under Brockton's care, the unpredictability of Trog and the damages it causes throughout the film are made as clear as day. Granted, I do think the writing of Murdock, the main person who was opposed to Brockton, could've been handled better as his sexism and constant interruptions during the courtroom scenes felt like ham-fisted attempts to get you to dislike him even more. Still though, the film gets more right than wrong with the characters. Also, some of the horror sequences were rather memorable. The scenes which took place in the caves looked really nice and came with some cool shots such as the cavers disappearing into the darkness in the opening. I also think the final act has some cool touches, like the presence of the young girl having parallels to an earlier scene of Trog playing with a doll (for the most part though, the final act is fairly unsatisfying since it takes a bit too much from Frankenstein to breathe). As I stated at the start, the design of Trog is the only cheesy thing I noticed about the film as you can clearly see it's just a person wearing a mask (also, was it wearing slippers?). However, I'd describe the design of the creature more as campy rather than bad. So, while this film doesn't break any new ground, I think it worked reasonably well and I could even see myself revisiting it sometime in the future.
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Anyways, this was a fun Hall and I enjoyed watching all the nominations. Also, it's cool that most people are already finished, so we might even finish before the deadline at this rate. Who knows.



I had more fun with this HoF than the last one I joined, the 19th HoF where Pulp Fiction won. Through the featured directors, I discovered a lot of other hidden and fossilized dung heeps among the quarry, and I'm hoping we start to do these as frequently as the original line of HoF's.




Krampus: The Christmas Devil (Jason Hull, 2013)

Yeah so I just about loved this, guess I'll get that out of the way. Modern "so bad they're good" movies are such a rarity as often they're a little too in on the joke or just are too self-aware in general to make it feel genuine at all. The thing that's extra bizarre is that this is the too self-aware bad movie and it somehow doesn't ruin it. It sucks in all the fun ways, be it via performances or technical gaffs but there's always something to get a kick out of. Literally the first word spoken cracked me up so I was definitely in the Christmas spirit early with this one. Surprisingly, the acting is like, kinda good?? Like just about everyone in this film is good enough to have a one-line part in a real movie, even though this looks like the kind of production that would just be filled with the director's buddies that have never delivered lines before. Its also surprisingly well paced and it never hits any extended dull patches and every scene has something to laugh at. I will probably watch the sequel at some point.



Like just about everyone in this film is good enough to have a one-line part in a real movie
*sniff* This is probably the nicest thing that's even been said about Krampus: The Christmas Devil.

I'm glad you liked it. Not, you know, the competitive side of me that wants to win this thing. But maybe the part of me that's liked some movies that have crappy ratings on IMDb.



OMYGOD three and a half stars for that!? HOW!? I understand it's scientifically plausible but how?
I also hated the film. Due to that, I'm never trusting Takoma for recommendations again! I can't believe she nominated such an awful film for this Hall.





I'll say this, the movie does not live up to its legacy of badness. It's bad...but not that bad.
Oh I beg to differ! You underrate the tedium inherent in the editing.



I didn't even know it had a sequel. I'm definitely staying far away from it lmao.
Until the next Hall of Infamy that is, mwahaha.

OMYGOD three and a half stars for that!? HOW!? I understand it's scientifically plausible but how?
I mean, I actually agree with a lot of what she called out, but we just had opposite reactions to it. There are decent enough acting moments in it (especially the guy who plays the escaped criminal), but for me that just made it worse because of the sense of waste. And I also agree that it's walking that line of being bad in a self-aware way, but for me it just whiffed on that front. I felt like it wouldn't commit to being good OR being bad on purpose, and just ended up a muddle.



Speaking of self-awareness in films, I considered nominating The Amazing Bulk for this, but it's clearly an intentionally bad movie and I wanted to go with something that was just an outright failure.

Also, I'm kind of surprised that no one went with a Neil Breen film. Then again, he does seem to have supporters out there, so maybe his films aren't bad enough for some people haha.



Out of curiosity, what's the single worst movie you guys have ever seen? Not necessarily from this Hall (unless you nominated your #1 least favorite film), but in general.



Out of curiosity, what's the single worst movie you guys have ever seen? Not necessarily from this Hall (unless you nominated your #1 least favorite film), but in general.

"The Day After Tomorrow"


Since the day it came out, saw it in the theater because I loved the premise. But Holy God, there is so much wrong here. I've written in the past on how bad this turd is. Wish I could find them.



Out of curiosity, what's the single worst movie you guys have ever seen? Not necessarily from this Hall (unless you nominated your #1 least favorite film), but in general.
Manos is the worst film I have ever seen. Other awful films I have seen include: Chairman of the Board, Samurai Cop, The Beach Girls and the Monster, Halloween Resurrection and Themroc.



"The Day After Tomorrow"


Since the day it came out, saw it in the theater because I loved the premise. But Holy God, there is so much wrong here. I've written in the past on how bad this turd is. Wish I could find them.
I actually enjoyed that one a lot.



My #1 most hated film is actually from this Hall. I gave it a 2/10. You'll all have to wait till after this Hall to find out what it is though!

I guess my first 1/10 rating will have to wait for another time. Maybe in the follow up to this thread.



For the next hall of infamy, I’m planning on nominating a comedy from the 60s with a cast of big stars that all give terrible performances.



For the next hall of infamy, I’m planning on nominating a comedy from the 60s with a cast of big stars that all give terrible performances.
OMG that almost sounds like my nom for the 30th HoF. Too funny if it was