Netflix’s Sea of Lackluster Content: A Series of Painful Films to Pass Up

Photo Credit / Michael Chintalan
Dwayne Johnson's acting is spot on in this video game to move adaption, pulling in a whopping 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Michael Chintalan

A&E Editor

Quite often people ask the question, “what’s good on Netflix?” That answer is easy to give, but the swamp of cheesy flicks and rip-offs is hard to get through to find the gems that stand out on Netflix.

Even so, some people actively go out of their way to find the worst movies possible. Netflix has made it ever so easy to find bad movies and here’s a short list of the worst films I’ve encountered on my late-night Netflix binges.

 “DOOM (2005)”

Have you ever wanted to see the Rock turn into a beefy demon antagonist that has no other characteristics than being evil “just because?”

This really showcases how video games are hard to translate to full feature films, but there’s some cheesy goodness to get out of it.

Lots of awful jump cuts, cheesy dialogue, zooms, and all things gory litter this film. It’s perfect for a laugh, but don’t take it too seriously or you’ll be disappointed.

“The Bye Bye Man (2017)”

This movie was praised before its launch for sticking true to a “legend” and being a horrifying paranormal flick. People hyped it up but the film itself is nothing noteworthy.

After coming out, it gets slapped with a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and is one of the worst films out there that jump on the “based on a true story” cliche.

Absolutely nothing redeems this movie and it’s better off being considered a horror comedy film.

Characters make dumb choices despite being warned constantly about what will happen, a monster is really an old man who happens to torture people with awful jumpscares, and the attempt at anything truly horrific flops because the real horror is how this film came to be.

“Death Race (2008)”

A classic film commenting on glorified violence and the corrupt government turn into a sexist, almost homoerotic, and mindless film about sexy men and women blowing each other up in a product placement race.

It’s a fun watch when there’s nothing to do, but there’s nothing to take out of it other than it being a mindless action movie with no real point to it.

One other thing of note is the constant zooms and close-ups. At times it’s mind-bending how the director thought some of the close-ups were a good idea.

“2036 Origin Unknown (2018)”

Have you ever wanted to watch a film that has an artistic take on space, existence, and what our future may hold? If so,  you’re better off not watching this.

The premise of this movie is to create a low budget film that takes place mainly in one room where the main character, Mackenzie, faces the problem of understanding an alien artifact with unknown properties.

Accompanied by a cute AI that’s just about a copy of Hank from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) there’s nothing more to this film other than occasional calls from Mackenzie’s sister on Earth.

If you pay close enough attention to the special effects and bizarre showcases of how good digital effects look then you’ll notice numerous occasions where the same shots are either reversed or played again.

The “plot” is meant to comment on war and how humans and AI may eventually destroy themselves or each other. Of course, there’s nothing that happens throughout this one hour and thirty-minute film. Most of it is shown through little clips and montages of special effects.

The ending then becomes a bizarre deus ex machina with heavy inspiration from “A Space Odyssey” and heavy-handed moral “lessons” that are dull and uninspired.

This film, overall, is a good one to take a nap during. A majority of the film is slow paced and has no buildup or payoff at the end. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t even recommend this to fans of cheesy films.

Email Michael at:

mchintalan@live.esu.edu