your favorite guiliy pleasure movies

[Zack Burner]

We all have movies we love that even though they aren't high art, you can't help but admit you enjoy them. I'll start with mine:
- The Monster Squad (1987) - Cult Classic of kids thwarting universal studios monsters, a nice mix mosh that's irresistible since I love monsters, think of it as a precursor to Stranger Things.
- The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) - With Lily Tomlin how can you go wrong, both funny and captivating, the sets are imaginative.
- The Stuff (1985) - A monstrous dessert? How can you not love that concept?
- Space Jam (1996) - the greatest basketball star of all time with the greatest cartoon characters is something I can't resist, though some will dismiss it as just another Air Jordan commercial.
- The Mummy (1999) - I'm not a fan of Brendan Frasier, but I liked him in this, the CGI fits like a glove to it's cheesy premise. Even Roger Ebert liked it. Vastly better than the dud version with Tom Cruise.
- The Beastmaster (1982) - A cult fantasy along the lines of Conan the Barbarian Marc Singer looks and does a better job than Arnold, and who could forget Rip Torn as Maax?
- Mars Attacks (1996) - Tim Burton's ode to invasion movies is a real hoot with a nice all-star cast
- The Blob (1958) - Steve McQueen in a monster movie? Hey it works! The special effects are nice low budget and do the job.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) - the first and still the best in the series courtesy of Jim Henson's magic and staying the closest to the comic book for best results.
- Austin Powers the Spy who Shagged me (1999) - I could have picked any of them, but the 2nd one has a lot of magic to me, and provides the best laughs, I even remember seeing it in theaters one summer day after swim practice suggested by Mom, I'm glad I agreed!

[jon]

I can't stress this enough. Don't listen to movie critics at all.

1) Out of Reach (2004): A Steven Seagal movie where he tries to rescue an orphan from a human trafficking operation. Pretty much panned by most people, there are a few people who "get" it. It's an incredibly touching story because things like this happen. I mean the term human trafficking exists for a reason. This is an incredible movie. Even most Seagal diehards dismiss this movie for a lack of a lot of action.

2) Black Dawn (2005): Another Seagal movie, this has great locations around Los Angeles and he tries to stop Russian terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Another one panned by critics.

3) Killing Season (2013): De Niro and Travolta play a U.S. Veteran of the Serbian Bosnian Conflict and Travolta plays a Serbian who De Niro shot and left for dead. Travolta 18 years later find out his name and where he lives, some place in the Southern Appalachian Mountains around Northern Georgia or Tennessee and comes for revenge. This is another perfect example of how no one should ever listen to any movie critic.

[matmico399]

The remake of Red Dawn. It is nowhere close to the original and I didn't know anybody who really cared for it. But when I saw it I immediately realized it was a guilty pleasure for me. They changed just enough things up to make it a bit interesting. Yes it is a bad movie but it is still fun to me. I grew up on the original as I was a teenager when it came out and it is held in high regard despite a somewhat silly storyline. But I still thought the remake was fun.

[BlasteroidAli]

Turkey Shoot aka Bloodcamp Thatcher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOlOF7vJsro Mad Max style prison drama/escape

The amazing Mr No legs aka Mr No Legs aka Gun-fighter Classic grindhuse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is4pklBVOTY Some incredible kung fu going on.

The Silver Key. Not a movie but anything by Lovecraft is a guilt pleasure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqpsnRuqXg8

[Matchstick]

Any ninja flick with Sho Kosugi

[DaHeckIzDat]

I can't think of any movies that fit that category for me, but there are a couple of tv shows.

Yugioh. I know, I know. Everything everyone says about this show is true. And since my parents were so strict when it came to banning shows in our house, I can't even use the excuse that I grew up with it and it's nostalgic. But there's something about a world where every conflict is resolved by playing a game that intrigues me. When the audience understands the rules that the characters are forced to adhere to, it can lead to some really interesting stuff. The best parts are when they use the same deck but employ different strategies that the audience could turn around and use in the real life game. Too often, though, they fall back on the boring "And now I'll draw THE CARD THAT INSTANTLY WINS THE GAME!" deus ex machina.

Pro wrestling. Wild horses probably could pull this out of me anywhere that people who know me IRL could hear it. I know it's fake and 100% scripted, but dang it, sometimes it's fun to watch two massive dudes pretend to beat the crap out of each other! Luckily, I only feel the urge to watch it a couple times a year, if that. And I can only watch individual matches, usually on YouTube. Sitting through an entire hour of that nonsense is too much even for me.

[Zack Burner]

Speaking Pro Wrestling, time for another guilty pleasure movie to add to my list. "Santo and Blue Demon vs The Monsters". A mexican B-movie featuring Rodolfo Huerta Guzman as the wrestler known as El Santo (the saint) with his frenemy Blue Demon against the following monsters: Vampire, Lady Vampire, Frankenstein, Mummy, Cyclops, and a Wolfman created by an evil genius and a hunchbacked dwarf to rescue a good scientist and his daughter who loves Santo. Alas at one point Blue Demon is put out of action and replaced with an evil replica though thankfully the real one returns for the climactic showdown. There is some wrestling action at some points, as at one point Santo takes on the Vampire in one match and makes him tap out to one of his moves the La de a caballo (Camel Clutch). The monsters are pretty cheap, especially the Wolf Man who just looks like an old man with elongated fangs, and the cyclops who is just as convincing as any Power Ranger monster. Even so, it's impossible to not like the premise, I don't however recommend little kids watch this as it's surprisingly bloody and there's even a severed head at one point complete with bone and veins showing.

[BlasteroidAli]

Zack, how about the remake of The Blob from 1988? That was superb. I agree the 50s one with Steve McQueen was absolutely superb. Variations on them include Slimer by Harry Adam Knight, which was made into a low-budget British movie, if you can find it. Pretty good. Also Phantoms by Dean Koontz, also made into a film but the book is so much better. Plus, I guess you could say the Raft by Steven King also made into a movie, as a segment of Creepshow 2.

[Teddybear]

Plus, I guess you could say the Raft by Steven King also made into a movie, as a segment of Creepshow 2.

On more than one occasion (before streaming days) I'd play my Creepshow 2 DVD just to watch this segment. It is excellent!

[Zack Burner]

Getting a fix of what I call "Japanese Jitters" meaning Japanese horror/fantasy flicks with a touch of cheese factor and here are two:

"Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare" (1968) - an ancient Mesopotamian demon arises from the work of grave robbers and comes to terrorize Japan with some vampirism. The only ones who can stop him are yokai creatures ranging from a Kappa (River Sprite), a Kasa-Obake (a cyclopean umbrella with one leg), a Rokurokubi (a woman with a stretchable neck), an Abura Sumashi (dwarf with a stick wearing straw clothes), and a clay like Nupeppo. The costumes are cheesy and there is some blood that looks more like candy apple syrup.

"The Great Yokai War" (2005) - more contemporary version with yokai creatures but with better costuming and some makeup though still with the cheese factor most notably in the use of CGI. The villain is a demon in the form of a black suited businessman who is resentful of humans. A boy who becomes an ancient warrior with a magic sword leads some yokai creatures, only more of them including the Yuki-Onna (snow woman), a floating flame, a living umbrella, the Kappa again (who's a bit of a comic relief with some cartoony shenangigans), a Seto Taisho (general crockery) and many others. I watched the dub version of this, the kid's voice is awfully whiny, though you can't help but like him, and the evil businessman sounds like the other side of Yugi Moto (Atem/Yami Yugi).