When it comes to entertainment, the best genre isn’t sci-fi, fantasy, or drama. It’s the guilty pleasure. Sure, “guilty pleasure” isn’t an official genre as just about anything can fall into the category, but it’s a subset of movies and television that we love to turn to when we’re wanting to just sort of turn off our minds and relax, enjoying entertainment for entertainment’s sake. One of the best pockets of guilty pleasure watching might just be the “so bad its good” sort. Particularly with movies, these are the films that might feature outlandish stories or really cheesy productions but are still just so much fun to watch that it doesn’t matter if they aren’t going to win any awards for greatness.
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As “so bad its good” goes, disaster movies are an absolute goldmine. Part sci-fi, part action, all wild, these hot messes of disaster flicks are almost universally a good time. Even better, streaming has made access to these movies easier than ever, so much so that there are many such movies that you can stream right now. Here are five of the best of the “worst” currently available across different streamers, both free and paid.
5) Sharknado (Prime Video, Peacock)
Sharknado might be the ultimate example of a movie that is so bad it’s good—after all, the made-for-TV movie first debuted in 2013 and went on to spawn an entire franchise with a new crossover into the world of anime just announced. If for some reason you have managed to not indulge in the chaos that is Sharknado, the film stars Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, and John Heard and has a pretty straightforward general premise: as the result of a hurricane, a waterspout occurs that lifts sharks out of the ocean and drops them on land, specifically Los Angeles. Chaos ensues as the bad weather causes even more tornadoes that toss even more sharks around, hence “sharknado.” Throw in some bombs and a chainsaw as methods by which to combat the sharks and sharknadoes and you’ve got an insane movie that is honestly a hoot to watch.
4) The Core (Kanopy, Paramount+)
The Core is one of those guilty pleasures that is sort of deceptive. The 2003 sci-fi disaster film has an impressive cast, featuring Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, D.J. Qualls, Richard Jenkins, Tcheky Karyo, Bruce Greenwood, and Alfre Woodard. It also has a fairly interesting premise: the Earth’s core has stopped rotating leading to the degradation of the earth’s magnetic field. If the core doesn’t restart, the consequences will be dire. Where it goes off the rails is that the plan is to drill into the center of the earth and set off nukes. No, we’re not making that up. That’s the plan. The film is completely unhinged and what makes it even more insane is that it is so earnest. The film really tries to be serious despite the bonkers nature of it all. It’s largely considered one of the worst sci-fi films ever made—but honestly, it’s kind of great.
3) Geostorm (Tubi)
Gerard Butler may be this era’s king of action films and might just be dominating HBO Max’s streaming charts right now so it should be no surprise that one of his movies has landed on this list. In fact, several of his movies could fit on this list (we’re looking at you, Plane) but our choice is Geostorm. Released in 2017, Geostorm follows satellite designer Jake Lawson (Butler), who tries to save the world after climate-controlling satellites that were designed to prevent catastrophic natural disasters malfunctions and triggers a massive storm of global proportions. The movie’s visuals aren’t great, the characters aren’t particularly well-written, and the real disaster is the movie itself, but there’s just something about Butler that makes this wild ride worth taking—especially since it’s streaming for free on Tubi.
2) Plan 9 From Outer Space (Tubi)
We are throwing a real classic in on this list that if you haven’t seen before, boy howdy are you in for a terrible treat. Released in 1957, Plan 9 From Outer Space is produced, written, directed, and edited by the legendary Ed Wood and is a bonkers alien story that follows extraterrestrials who want to stop mankind from creating a weapon that has the potential to destroy the entire universe. Their plan? Resurrect the Earths’ dead, a so-called “Plan 9” that would create chaos and, hopefully, cause humans to stop and listen to their concerns and if that fails, the aliens will use their new zombie army to kill everyone. This movie is widely considered to be not just the worst sci-fi movie ever made but the worst actual movie ever made and absolutely defines the idea of “so bad it’s good”. It’s terrible, and it’s an absolute treat.
1) The Day After Tomorrow (Hulu)
Director Roland Emmerich is no stranger to sci-fi disaster films. 2009’s 2012 just hit streaming earlier this month and is an exciting apocalyptic film that goes all “what if” with the Mayan idea that 2012 would be the end of the world. However, 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow, while a massive box office success, is one of his films that falls into the so bad its good category—one critic even describe the movie as “the Weather Channel on steroids.” Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, and Dennis Quaid, the movie follows the arrival of a new ice age after disruption of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation triggers extreme weather and thus, massive climate change. While there’s a lot of interesting things that could be discussed about the film in regard to climate change, the movie is full of cliches. The effects are pretty great though, making it a fun watch despite the bleak, cold story.
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