reddit.com/r/badMovies
It can happen that you see a movie that is really bad, but it keeps coming up in your mind and in the end you develop a soft spot for it. What I mean is even when you watch a bad movie, again and again, you might actually start to like it. On the other hand, there are also movies that are considered bad and poorly directed at first, but it turns out that they were ahead of their time and this led to their failure. I have been a huge fan of such movies where the first watch would be outright horror, but after watching it more than a couple of times, the title started to grow on me.
Today, we are reviewing the popular Bad Movies community on the internet, i.e., r/badMovies. I would urge you to read the entire review because I am sure you will drive home with valuable points.
My recent experience on r/badMovies
I had an interaction with a user on this subreddit 16 hours ago. DudderyDrok shared the poster of Hot to Trot (1988), and they suggested that he never imagined a movie with John Candy playing a talking horse would be so bad. I kind of agree with their statement because most of the time, our favorite stars take up unusual roles and are not able to do justice to it. But mind you, I don't consider them to be laughing stock. It's these weird decisions they make that make me respect and remember them more than for their usual blockbusters.
About r/badMovies - Community & Members
The subreddit "r/badmovies" is an official space for enthusiasts of movies that are notoriously bad. This overview of the sub is so hilarious in and of itself. Many viewers find fascination with poor content, and in some way, there's a thrill in finding redeeming qualities in these movies. I remember one time, I watched a weird movie on YouTube called ?Hook.? At first I hated it, but later on I started to like it. And r/badmovies is filled with such recommendations.
The community has 48,300 members. Out of these, 60-90 members are online at any given time. This subreddit was created on January 30, 2010. However, it has tanked in recent times. Most of the users in this community joined it a long time ago and aren't very active. You can understand the state, given that 50,000 members are there, but only 60-100 are active at any given time.
How to access r/badMovies?
If you're not already a Reddit member, to join the /r/badMovies subreddit you need to create an account and confirm your email address. Once you do so, you can follow subreddits, comment on posts, and even post anything on any of the subreddits.
Moderators of r/badMovies
I really appreciated the fact that this subreddit has a large number of moderators. It's great to see so many people who are dedicated to keeping the content on this community within the guidelines. At the time of writing this review, I counted eight moderators on r/badMovies - ?lake_troll,? ?gameofdestiny,? ?ebonythunder,? ?ShetlandJames,? ?rule2productions?, ?darthslug,? and ?BadMoviesBot.?
Why should you follow r/badMovies?
r/badMovies is a place where users can post amusing captions to movie clips. Some of these captions are funny because they are sarcastic, while others are not so much. However, there is sometimes content posted in r/badMovies that is actually worth watching. For instance, I browsed through this subreddit and found a post titled ?Bruno Matteri?s Predator ripoff Robowar is on Tubi in good quality.? I had always wanted to watch this movie, but thanks to this post, I now know that it is available on Tubi. This was just one example of content that is found on r/badMovies.
Community Engagement
I was expecting the post to not receive more than 2-3 upvotes. But on average, the top 10 posts receive more than 10-15 upvotes and even 8-10 comments. Thus, in terms of engagement, this weird community is right there with communities with more members. The comment section is as funny as the titles, and I'm sure you won't even realize that you've spent 10-15 minutes browsing various posts on this sub.
Browsing & Navigation
Since only 50 to 80 members are active at any given time, the sub works smoothly. The content on the sub is mostly text and image-based, so most of the time users are just sharing their experiences regarding a certain movie. Therefore, moving across menus and checking top, hot or new posts isn't much of a challenge. It's crazy how even for such a small community, the mods have added filters by flair so the users can find the content they are looking for using the filters.
Reddit Gold
Let's not talk about Reddit Gold, okay? Because it isn't there on this subreddit. I browsed almost 30 top posts and I couldn't find a single gold allocated to a particular title or the comments in any of the threads. That was a letdown, given that some posts had more than 50-70 comments, and they were quirky as hell. There's this one thread about Star Wars Holiday Edition, which is crazy. Make sure to check that out when you get time.
Filter by flair
As for the ?Shitpost? filter, I highly suggest you avoid using it unless you really want to ruin your day.
As mentioned earlier, I was surprised when I saw filter by flair options in the sidebar. There are four to choose from - Marathon, Review, Suggestion, and Shitpost. So, if you're adamant on streaming these ridiculously bad movies on the trot, make sure you use the Marathon filter so you can access an endless recommendation for bad movies. On the contrary, if you want to share some titles with fellow members, feel free to provide a suggestion. That way, anybody who uses Suggestion flair will be able to see your post. As for the Shitpost filter, I highly suggest you avoid using it unless you really want to ruin your day.
Important rules you must know before joining r/badMovies?
There are no rules you need to follow on r/badMovies. You're free to post any content and engage in the comment section without any repercussions. Though there are eight mods, I don't understand how none of them felt the need to lay down any ground rules for communicating on this sub. However, after browsing this page for over half an hour, I didn't find anything malicious or spammy, so maybe the mods have trust in the users of this community.
Design
I went into this subreddit with absolutely no expectations and that prevented me from being disappointed. The Saturn community icon followed by the default blue banner is not the highlight of r/badMovies. Other than that, there's "Filter by Flair?" - one of the positive aspects and a couple of ad banners in the sidebar - which are not so positive. Overall, this sub has a generic design that won't bother you much when you start checking out and interacting with the sarcastic users.
Most Upvoted Content on this subreddit
6. A bunch of deleted tweets from a user who only has 5 followers. - 297 upvotes
1. The king of bad movies reigns supreme on Reddit. 1,300 upvotes show his dominance. 2. I was tagged in this post and decided to publish it to see if it would receive any traction - 560 upvotes were received. 3. I covered some Cats screenshots with paint - this Christmas, Reddit! 482 upvotes show my creative flair. 4. A handmade movie poster from the Room caught my eye - apparently, in Ghana, all movies have gratuitous gore (468 upvotes). 5. Breen-19 received 429 votes, proving that even obscure bad movies have their devotees on Reddit. 6. A user with only 5 followers posted a few deleted tweets that garnered 297 votes in total
Most Upvoted Content 2020
But isn't it possible to kill Carole Baskin and be immortal? - 398 upvotes
I watch this movie twice a year - 395 upvotes
I should really fix the fact that I've never seen a Studio Ghibli film, but this movie has Billy Banks and Roddy Piper! - 348 upvotes
Browsing my library trying to decide what to watch like? - 340 upvotes
I've achieved great power. The Meg, Sharktopus, Raiders of the Lost Shark, Shark Night, and Shark Hunter. All at once. - 306 upvotes
Conclusion
Honestly, I appreciate r/badMovies because it features movies that are often overlooked and not well-received by the mainstream masses. Only a creator and a small target audience are able to see the amazing side of a creation which was missed by the mainstream masses. In my opinion, the best films often miss the radar and go unnoticed. These aren't the movies that grab headlines or awards but are watched by viewers even 20-30 years after their release. If you're anything like me, you have a soft spot for bad movies, and enjoying them is your guilty pleasure.