The 10 Worst Movies of All Time, According to Rotten Tomatoes

The absolute bottom of cinema's barrel, according to critics.
Image by Federico Napoli
The arts are always subjective, so what exactly constitutes the "worst movie of all time" is, for sure, debatable. After all, quality and worthiness are in the eye of the beholder. Still, it's undeniable that these particular stinkers are abysmally bad for myriad diverse reasons. What's most subjective, perhaps, is: are these movies so-bad-they're-good, or just so, so bad?
Even if they're ultimately enjoyed for all the wrong reasons, having nothing to do with the filmmakers' intentions, awful movies can have some value. The most hated movies can inform aspiring filmmakers of what not to do and can entertain audiences in a morbid, absurd way. Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes' metric on the Tomatometer, these are the ten worst movies in history with an abysmal 0% approval rating from critics.

10
'Jaws: The Revenge' (1987)

Director: Joseph Sargent

Steven Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece Jaws was the original summer blockbuster and as fine a suspense film as has ever been. The immediate sequel was unnecessary, occasionally exciting, and definitely not entirely awful. Jaws 3D is hilarious. However, the fourth entry alternates between hilarious (fleetingly) and it's mostly unwatchable.
Jaws: The Revenge sees the shark carrying a personal vendetta. This is the picture with one of cinema history's most infamous continuity errors, with Michael Caine's shirt appearing freshly tailored and dry right after he is submerged in the ocean. This is the one where the shark roars like the MGM lion. In short, Jaws 4 is terrible, but Michael Caine doesn't mind it; after all, shooting it allowed him to buy his mother a house.

Jaws: The Revenge

PG-13Release Date
July 17, 1987
Director
Joseph Sargent
Cast
Lorraine Gary , Lance Guest , Mario Van Peebles , Michael Caine , Karen Young , Judith Barsi
Runtime
89
WATCH ON NETFLIX

9
'The Last Days of American Crime' (2020)

Director: Olivier Megaton

This interminably long comic-book adaptation briefly trended on Netflix, and that's exactly where its accomplishments end. Taken 2 and Taken 3 director Olivier Megaton's nearly three-hour stab at Scarface is abrasive and even kind of pathetic. Good actors like Michael Pitt and Édgar Ramírez are given nothing more to do than pose and shout dialogue.
Critics unanimously agreed that The Last Days of American Crime was a crime against cinema. It's so desperate desire to be edgy that it becomes laughable. For The Last Days of American Crime, edginess just equals a lot of screaming and self-conscious camera work.
WATCH ON NETFLIX

8
'National Lampoon's Gold Diggers' (2003)

Director: Gary Preisler

National Lampoon's Gold Diggers follows two broke losers who enter a web of crime and scheming with rich old women who have nefarious plans of their own. Sounds like a decent enough premise for a vulgar, unassuming, lowbrow good time, right?
Here's the problem, or at least arguably the biggest among myriad problems: Gold Diggers is PG-13. Thus, it does nothing with its premise, not even the cheap, sleazy jokes fans might expect from such a vulgar premise. Gold Diggers is arguably the limpest enterprise under the National Lampoon banner and one of the all-time worst comedies, which is quite a notorious feat.
BUY ON AMAZON PRIME

7
'Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2' (2004)

Director: Bob Clark

Oof. The worst movie of one of the best years for cinema ever, 1999's Baby Geniuses was a critically panned exercise in misery. Impressively and infamously, the 2004 sequel (it's probably worth mentioning that 2004 was also an uncommonly strong year for great film overall) is considerably worse.
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 features toddlers trying to thwart a media mogul's (Jon Voight) nefarious scheme to alter minds. A few of the noteworthy offenders in this groaner are uncanny valley effects that will haunt your nightmares, halfheartedly crude gags and phoned-in adult performances. Baby Geniuses 2 is outright awful, a horrifyingly dumb movie that insults the intelligence of anyone watching.
BUY ON AMAZON PRIME

6
'Pinocchio' (2002)

Director: Roberto Benigni

2002's Pinocchio is a far cry from the 1940 Disney masterpiece - arguably the best animated movie ever. Roberto Benigni's follow-up to Oscar-winning, if divisive, Life is Beautiful comes off as a vanity project that should have been nipped in the bud.
The hero's journey of a young wooden puppet boy earning his stripes is incredibly touching when told right. However, 2002's Pinocchio has a grown man cosplaying as a child, coming off as off-putting in the extreme. Benigni's performance is questionable at best and repellent at worst, and the English dub, courtesy of a woefully miscast Breckin Meyer, does it no favors.
WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME

5
'Gotti' (2018)

Director: Kevin Connolly

It's really important to note that John Travolta has, in better films, given some of the best-loved performances in film history. It's not fair to pin this all on him. The ridiculous crime biopic Gotti is like The Godfather from a multiverse where every good filmmaking decision is replaced with a disastrous one.
Gotti is a disastrous effort from actor-turned-director Kevin Connolly. Confused, comically awful, and featuring a script that makes one wrong choice after another, Gotti is a colossal misstep on every level. A side note here: Released one year later, Fred Durst's The Fanatic was trashed by critics similarly, perhaps a dogpile inspired by resentment at admittedly terrible Gotti. Flawed but never less than entertaining and occasionally inspired, The Fanatic is definitely a superior film to Gotti. It's oddly worth watching.

Gotti

R
The story of crime boss John Gotti and his son.
Release Date
June 14, 2018
Director
Kevin Connolly
Cast
John Travolta , Kelly Preston , Stacy Keach , Pruitt Taylor Vince , Megan Leonard , Lydia Hull
Runtime
112 Minutes
WATCH ON HULU

4
'A Thousand Words' (2012)

Director: Brian Robbins

Eddie Murphy is one of the past century's most astonishing and revered comedic geniuses. However, A Thousand Words makes the fatal mistake of taking away his greatest asset as a performer: his voice. It's like hiring Channing Tatum for a dance movie where he sits in a chair for most of the runtime.
A queasily family-friendly magic-realism-heavy fable in the vein of (read: ripped off of) Liar Liar, A Thousand Words is arguably Murphy's worst film ever because it completely disregards the edge and verve that's always made him great. Epically misguided and reprehensible as a result, A Thousand Words is a considerable stain in Murphy's resumé.

A Thousand Words

PG-13Release Date
March 7, 2012
Director
Brian Robbins
Cast
Eddie Murphy , Kerry Washington , Emanuel Ragsdale , Jill Basey , Greg Collins , Robert LeQuang
Runtime
91
WATCH ON YOUTUBE

3
'Left Behind' (2014)

Director: Vic Armstrong

A few years before the Nicolas Cage renaissance with Pig, Mandy and more, the beloved, distinctly enigmatic Oscar winner was still stuck in mindless drivel like Left Behind. A mostly forgotten adaptation of the religious novels of the same name, it's a sci-fi-tinged tale that concerns the rapture and those left behind.
It really isn't fair to bash faith-based movies, especially because there have been many great Christian movies beloved by critics. Left Behind is boring, though, wasting an intriguing enough premise and the powder-keg potential of its lead. He flies a plane in the movie; that's it. Perhaps that is Left Behind's worst offense: reducing Nicolas Cage to an "okay" lead.

left behind

PG-13Release Date
October 3, 2014
Director
Vic Armstrong
Cast
Nicolas Cage , Chad Michael Murray , Lea Thompson , Nicky Whelan , Martin Klebba , Cassi Thomson
Runtime
111
WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME

2
'One Missed Call' (2008)

Director: Éric Valette

According to the Tomatometer, this is the worst horror movie of all time. And—yeah, it sucks. The runaway success of Gore Verbinski's The Ring led to a glut of uninspired J-Horror remakes in the aughts; this is arguably the worst. Unlike countless bad horror movies, it isn't even fun-bad; it's just monotonous. You could put this on your bedroom TV to help you sleep.
Based on 2003's Chakushin Ari, One Missed Call is a $20 million studio horror movie (where did that money actually go?) about a killer cell phone. It wants to be The Ring meets Final Destination and laughably fails; in fact, One Missed Call makes these admittedly flawed death-comes-calling movies look like top-tier Hitchcock.
RENT ON AMAZON PRIME

1
'Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever' (2002)

Director: Wych Kaosayananda

According to critics via Rotten Tomatoes, this embarrassingly incompetent cyber-espionage dumpster fire is the single worst movie ever made. World-class performers Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu are trapped in a box-office disaster that's technically an action movie but plays out like it's intentionally designed to lull us to sleep.
Is Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever worth seeing? Is it so bad it's good? The answer is probably not. With one of the all-time worst movie titles, incompetent action, a ludicrous premise, and production values that would give The Room a run for its money, Ballistic is truly terrible and massively boring. And that's just a damn shame.
BUY ON AMAZON PRIME
NEXT:
10 Box-Office Bombs That Became Classic Movies

Subscribe To Our Newsletter!

By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.

Link copied to clipboard
RELATED TOPICSROTTEN TOMATOES
ABOUT THE AUTHORSamuel R. Murrian
(40 Articles Published)
Editing/writing automaton.

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, sometimes LA. Forbes called me a "sneering critic" because I disliked Don't Look Up. Curated and wrote a list of the 100 best movies ever made, mostly while I had a Golden Retriever named Mister Chow on my head. About as cineliterate as a person can be, if not the most technologically adroit man alive. 

Julie Andrews once complimented something I wrote to my editors. Betty White once gushed over a photo of my late pooch, Beethoven. William Friedkin once jokingly called me "dad" at a screening of my favorite movie, The Babadook. Tons of A-list interviews over the years, none more wonderful than talking to the young cast of Stranger Things. 

I have beaten Resident Evil 4 (both versions) numerous times, playing on all levels including Hardcore and Professional. 

I usually win at movie trivia. I always win at Madonna trivia. Don't even try it.