Here at Beyond The Box Set, we’ve covered a few questionable movies in our time. There was the time John had an epic meltdown over Claudette from The Room‘s cancer struggle. Harry’s 45 minute apology for making us sit through Knights of Badassdom and our mutual bewilderment at the horrifying implications of alleged romantic comedy Me Before You, to name but a few. But some shows are so dedicated to cinematic train wrecks, they choose to specialise in them – often with hilarious results. In honour of these brave, foolhardy cinephiles, we present our top ten Best Movie Podcasts about Bad Films.
The Ten Best Movie Podcasts about Bad Movies:
1. How Did This Get Made?
Arguably the daddy of all bad movie Podcasts, How Did This Get Made unites the considerable talents of Paul Scheer (The League, Fresh off the Boat), Jason Mantzoukas (The Dictator) and June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie) for a weekly deep dive into some of the strangest and most misguided movies ever made. The show has long since graduated from a standard podcast format to a hugely popular live show, attracting an impressive roster of celebrity guests and an enthusiastic audience of movie nerds. It’s the hosts that really set How Did This Get Made apart though, with Scheer’s boundless enthusiasm, Mantzoukas’ gleeful audience baiting and Raphael’s seemingly endless capacity for bewilderment and righteous indignation forming a frequently side splitting dynamic. Oh, and we’re still waiting for a film studio to green-light Nundercover…
2. The Flop House
One of the best movie podcasts in any genre, this hugely popular bi-monthly show takes a very loose and irreverent look at a series of box office bombs and obscure curios. United by their boundless enthusiasm and willingness to pursue strange, hilarious tangents, the talented trio behind The Flop House have also lent their creative skills to numerous TV and media projects, including satirical late-night US talk show The Daily Show. Clocking up over 240 episodes to date, there’s plenty of material here for new converts to wade through.
3. We Hate Movies
At over 300 episodes and counting, the team behind We Hate Movies certainly don’t hate podcasting. Practically a pocket industry at this point, WHM has evolved to include regular live shows, an extensive range of merchandise, several subscriber-exclusive spin-off shows and full length sync-able movie commentaries. It’s quite possible that they’re the hardest working men in Podcasting. Fortunately for us, they’re also among the funniest…
4. Bad Movie Fiends
What’s the difference between a good bad movie and a bad bad movie? Bad Movie Fiends aim to find out in this light-hearted exploration of the Hollywood reject bin. Rather than leaning entirely on snark, the show finds room for sincere praise if a movie genuinely entertains them, while still retaining the capacity to gloriously let rip on anything that fails on just about every level. Their themed seasons are always enlightening too – who knew that killer spa movies was such a crowded micro-genre?
5. Read It and Weep
As the title suggests, Read It and Weep doesn’t just limit itself to cinema trash – it also takes aim at low-quality TV and literature too. This expanded remit makes for a nicely varied listen, and the rotating team of hosts aren’t afraid to slaughter a few sacred cows along the way. The show has evolved over the years to a more general take on the pop culture landscape, but their tongue-in-cheek approach remains at the heart of the show no matter what they’re discussing.
6. Moviebitches
Technically a YouTube series rather than a traditional Podcast, no list of bad movie shows would be complete without a shout out to this hilariously irreverent series. In Moviebitches, L.A. natives Avaryl and Andrew provide a wine-fuelled weekly takedown on cinema sins past and present. Mixing an encyclopaedic knowledge of Hollywood trivia with a gloriously catty approach, it’s little wonder this show has rapidly become a cult favourite. Also, if you’re a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, their recap episodes are a must-watch.
7. One Good Thing
Snarking about a bad movie may be fun, but it can also pretty low hanging fruit. At One Good Thing, two cinema fans named Paul have set themselves the much more difficult task of finding at least one positive aspect to some of Hollywood’s most notorious turkeys. This warm and enthusiastic approach marks a refreshing spin on a well-trodden format, and offers food for thought on some films that are perhaps too quickly dismissed. Although it’s the episodes when they really struggle – such as their hilarious trudge through M. Night Shyamalan’s The Lady In The Water – that often yield the most entertaining results.
8. Video Negative
The 1990s was a golden era in cinema – but it also brought us some of the most bizarrely misguided movies ever committed to celluloid. Not only that, thanks to VHS and an expanded range of TV channels, many of these misfires enjoyed a longer shelf life than they could ever have realistically expected before. Video Negative is dedicated to exploring the most noteworthy – and notorious – flops of the era, from bizarre erotic thrillers to Hulk Hogan vanity projects. An absolute must for nostalgic millennials.
9. Stinker Madness
According to their mission statement, Stinker Madness aim to find ‘The Best Bad Movies of All Time”. In order to do this, they look beyond the established canon of film failures to explore a dizzying catalogue of obscure and misbegotten B-movies, in many cases offering closer analysis than anyone involved in actually making them would have contributed. A treasure trove of lesser known non-classics, buoyed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable hosting team.
10. Worst Idea of All Time
One of the most inspired oddities on the Podcast landscape, Worst Idea of All Time finds New Zealand comedians Guy Montgomery and Tim Batt committing to watching the same terrible movie once a week, every week, for a year. Having ploughed through Grown Ups 2 and Sex & The City 2 in previous seasons, their current project is ill-starred Zac Efron vehicle We Are Your Friends. You may question their sanity, but with over five million downloads since 2014 and a slew of celebrity endorsements, this monument to poor decision making has deservedly become a phenomenon.
Agree with our list? Think we’re missing out on an essential bad movies podcast? Let us know your picks for the best movie podcasts about terrible, terrible films in the comments section below – or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe to our show – in which we take classic standalone movies and compete to pitch the most ridiculous sequels, prequels and spin-offs to bring them back to the big screen. We’re sure the ideas we come up with would more than qualify for any of these podcasts…