Worst Ensemble Cast.
This one goes to Squirm. Everyone in this movie is so hideous to watch. From the creepy sheriff to the beanpole sister, yikes. And not one of them shows any acting skill.
Hmm. LOTS of good choices here, but I am going to go with one many of you may not have seen. It’s the cast in the movie in episode 105- THE CORPSE VANISHES. Everybody in this movie is either hopelessly over the top or completely terrible. All the newspaper characters think they’re in a community theater production of “The Front Page” and poor Bela doesn’t quite know if he’s Dracula, or what.
What movie would you pick?
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Worst ensemble cast? Too many candidates for that title, but if I have to pick one it will have to be HOBGOBLINS. Atrocious beyond belief, especially when the actors are trying to cute or funny. The whole movie has a sleazy feel to it and the acting only enhances the horrible atmosphere.
This one’s easy:
Hobgoblins.
Everyone’s vile in this movie, from our ‘hero’ to his shrew of a girlfriend to their hateful friends to the puppet villains. Vile as characters, and vile actors, to boot.
I mean, it’s not often you want to line up the whole cast and crew of a movie and smack each one over the head with a rolled-up newspaper.
This is that time.
Bob —
That is TOO funny. Great minds, and all that…
:lol:
Ring of Terror. There was a bunch of college kids in this movie and I can’t remember any of their names or anything about them.
Sorry Sampo, I have to disagree with you. It’s not that your wrong about the Corpse Vanishes, its just that it was made not too long after the silent films. and the industry was still adjusting to new technology. Silent films required ‘extreme emoting’. Most of the directors and actors were experienced silent film veterns. The movie that has no excuse is The Girl in Gold Boots. The entire cast was greasy, smarmy and moronic. I don’t believe anyone ever appeared in anything noteworthy, good or bad afterward. Thank God!
I’ll have to agree with Hobgoblins, although it’s kind of funny since the guy who was Road Rash was also in Pulp Fiction as the store owner who’s friends with Zed. Interesting pair of movies to have minor roles in.
Also, the femmy MC guy went on to do the voice Cosmo on the FairlyOdd Parents amongst others.
This is probably well know stuff on here, but I still think it’s pretty interesting
I’m gonna go with Joel, Frank, Trace and Kevin. Ye Gods, those guys were terrible.
Oh wait…
I’ll put in another vote for Hobgoblins, and cast one for Skydivers as well. BoYF and RZC are such muddled messes, but Skydivers is borderline coherent, which makes the amateurishness of the actors all the more glaring.
The best ensemble, however, goes to Space Mutiny. At least they managed to find actors who were all the same shade of pale (Calgan’s spray tan excluded, of course).
Mitchell and Final Justice. The lowest common denominator is of course, Joe Don Baker. It does not matter who else is in the movie. If JDB was in Citizen Kane, Orson Wells would be compared to Ed Wood or Coleman Francis. He is like a big, fat, greasy ankor pulling all down. Even MST3K was in danger of being pulled down by JDB.
In so many words…Manos Hands Of Fate
Wow, LOTS of contenders here. And while several prime choices have already been mentioned, I’m going to add a couple more for consideration.
*The “cast” of The Creeping Terror, which is my choice.
*Second choice, Bride of the Monster.
*Also, Track of the Moon Beast & Future War deserve to be highlighted for their amazingly bad ensembles.
Don’t forget Wurlwolf!
Agree with Hobgoblins and Werwalf.
Don’t forget:
Angel’s Revenge
Zombie Nightmare
Red Zone Cuba
Space Mutiny
Red Zone Cuba and Manos both have awful casts.
I have always thought that the worst acted films they have ever done were Werewolf (when your best actor is Joe Estevez, you have serious problems) and Robot Holocaust. If I can only pick one, it’s Robot Holocaust — every actor is so incredibly awful from the stars to the bit players.
I’m gonna put my vote for THE ATOMIC BRAIN. The girls may look alright, but their acting is terrible, and the old lady is just flat out creepy.
Dishonorable mentions:
THE TOUCH OF SATAN
TEENAGE STRANGLER
ROBOT MONSTER
THE SINISTER URGE
Uh-uh, the worst ensemble cast is Soultaker, episode 1001. I love watching the ep ’cause of Joel and Frank’s return, but suffer through the craptastic movie. Estevez is supposedly the “star,” but looks in pain/constipated throughout, and everyone else, ugghh, I can’t even write anymore, ’cause thinking about the movie just gets me in a bad mood.
The Dead Talk Back. The “acting” in that one is beyond wooden, more of a particle board or veneer.
Hobgoblins, of course, is a clear favorite here, but I think I’ve already done my fair share in b!tching and moaning about how satanic that freak show is. So I’m going to mix it up a bit and choose Wild, Wild World of Batwoman for this award. Man, was everyone in that film dropping acid?! And I love when I occasionally see people trying to defend Batwoman herself as some kind of oasis of sanity and grace in a desert of perversion and filth. Really? We’re looking to a woman in fishnets, stilettos, a fluffy mask, and feather-lined bathing suit for elegance and maturity? Wow. Sorry, no one in that film gets a pass – they were all terrible.
One of my favorites because the acting is so bad is Hellcats. Everyone in that movie is so terrible and they are all led by Ross Hagan.
It has to be a tie between “Arizona Werewolf” (or, Wahr-wilf) and “Hobgoblins”.
With “Werewolf”, you have a bunch of European actors who are trying (very badly) at pretending that they are Americans. “Hobgoblins” just has a bunch of bad actors who were presented as more than unlikable characters along with ugly puppets.
The above mentions are all definitely ones that came to my mind as well. For some reason one rises above the rest though:
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
I can’t think of one redeeming perfomance in that movie.
Well, I’m off to my charity walk for:
Hi Everyone, Let’s Pitch In ‘N Get Cracking Here In Louisiana Doing Right, Eh? Now Then. Hateful Rich Overbearing Ugly Guys Hurt Royally Everytime Someone Eats A Radish, Carrot, Hors-d’ouvres, And Never Does Dishes. Eventually Victor Eats Lunch Over Peoria Mit Ein Nauesburger Tog :grin:
Lot of good choices already mentioned here! But since I hate to repeat other people, I’ll put the word out there for The Starfighters. Not only is the acting ability virtually nil all across the board, but nobody’s even very pleasant to look at (“Is your face odd? Misshapen? Join the Air Force!”). It’s entirely possible that most of the people in this movie were real fighter pilots. I think Crow put it best when that guy with the sunglasses strolls up and delivers his line with all the subtlety of a sequoia: “NOT an act-or.”
beast of yucca flats. poor tor and um?
Nice category! Here’s my early rundown:
MANOS – well, duh!
RING OF TERROR – Too old, too irritating. Especially the jerk who tries to pull of different accents.
But without a doubt, my #1 pick:
TEENAGE STRANGLER – From the janitor reading his lines off the ground to Mikey’s squirmy squeals, this film should be the textbook example of amateur filmmaking.
Man, any time I think of one, it’s already named here, like “The Dead Talk Back,” “Skydivers,” “Incredibly Strange Creatures…,” “Starfighters,” “Girl in Gold Boots” and “Batwoman.”
So how about “Pod People?”
Horror at Party Beach.
The monsters were even better actors than the cast.
As far as worst “ensemble” goes, Sinister Urge and The Violent Years are right up there. Never has there been so little being done by everyone in the given scene.
Manos also had a cast with no chemistry.
And what about the cast of Incredibly Strange Creatures.
Geez. We might have an easier time picking the BEST cast!
I give Angels Revenge gets the nod because of the number of once-credible actors and performers doing supporting roles for such a terrible movie. Jack Palance, Peter Lawford, Jim Backus, Pat Buttram and Arthur Godfrey were all stuck in down periods in their once-respectable careers when they appeared in this turkey.
Fortunately for Palance he would go on years later to earn an Oscar in City Slickers. I’m sure this movie would not be how he or the rest of the real actors prefer to be remembered as they appear as though they were just showing up to get a pay check.
Palance and Lawford both seem to be putting forth little effort, while Backus appears genuinely embarrassed in the role of the racist bigoted bumbling militia leader.
And those “actresses”! Their looks were obviously the only reason they got the roles as their acting skills singly and collectively were atrocious. Not for nothing Mike wonders early in the film if Johnny Wadd is going to make an appearance as the “actresses” look and act as though they just stepped off the set of a porn film.
Sure, it’s easy to pick low budget turkeys whose no-name ensemble wouldn’t go on to do anything of note, but seeing once-respectable actors forced by their personal circumstances into working on such a crappy movie being upstaged by a bunch of talentless bimboes makes this the worst ensemble cast for me.
Definately either TISCWDTSLABMUZ….we have a shrewish fortune teller,a gawky college kid,some girl,a friend,and we cant forget our trust henchman Ortega and the Rockettes moms XD
Or what about Ring of terror..All these college kids and a 35 year old student..doest realy fit…
The best cast,imo,Was the cast for I accuse my parents…not th ebest acting,but ok..either that or catalina caper.
The first movie that came to mind (besides Manos) was Teenage Strangler.
You have someone laughing at the scene of the crime, for one. The janitor also seems WAY out of his league as well.
The clincher? The fact that Mikey’s performance became more whiny as Betty’s performance became more embarrassingly overdramatic – one bad performance made the other that much worse and vice versa.
With teamwork like that, Teenage Strangler HAS to have the worst ensemble cast.
>It’s not that your wrong about the Corpse Vanishes, its just that it was made not too long after the silent films. and the industry was still adjusting to new technology. Silent films required ‘extreme emoting’. Most of the directors and actors were experienced silent film veterns.
Oh, c’mon – 1942 is hardly “not too long after the silent films.” The Jazz Singer happened 15 years earlier!
At any rate, I add my voice to the chorus of Hobgoblins selectors.
All of the above with an emphasis on The Starfighters (I’m a corn de-tassler!) :???: and Angel’s Revenge.
Might I also suggest Catalina Caper, Futurewar, and (shudder) one we just reviewed: Racket Girls.
Oh, and might I add Outlaw to the mix? Cabot! Cabot!! Cabot!!!!
The absolute worst is just too hard to pick from such a well of choices.
Attack of the Giant Leeches!!! Attack of the the Eye Creatures!!
“Did the actors do their own skydiving?”
“I think the skydivers did their own acting…”
The acting was truly terrible in Robot Holocaust. Another really bad cast is Starfighters. There’s hardly the trace of an emotion of any kind in any performance in that film. It’s like a bad documentary made with only people who have never been in front of a camera before.
I think we have a problem here. Is everyone on the same page regarding the definition of “ensemble cast?”
According to wikipedia: “An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows for flexibility for writers to focus on different characters in different episodes. In addition, the departure of players is less disruptive to the premise than it would be if the star of a production with a regularly structured cast leaves the series.”
With that in mind, I’m sorry Sampo, but I don’t think “The Corpse Vanishes” is a film with an ensemble cast. The star reporter is clearly more important than most of her fellow good-guys, and the evil side of the equation all revolves around Bela. “Hobgoblins” is definitely closer.
Now, as far as films that definitely have ensemble casts, such as “SST-Death Flight,” “The Rebel Set,” “The Crawling Hand,” “Fugitive Alien” and “The Giant Spider Invasion,” which is the worst cast? I’d vote for the Giant Spider Invasion, because there isn’t one redeeming actor in the lot. I don’t think we can count “Fugitive Alien,” bad as it is, because it’s hard to say how good or bad the acting was before the dubbing made it worse.
Good Category! My picks would be…
1. Catalina Caper= that whole bit with the dancing to Little Richard and the beach scene where all the girls are jealous of ‘Creepy Girl’…terrible. Those crazy kids.
2. Laserblast= What the heck? From the creepy girlfriend to the lonely cop on a mission, I have no idea as to where they wanted to go with this.
3. Devil Doll= this one isn’t out on DVD yet and I’m dying for it to be released. It’s so horrible.
Hobgoblins. HANDS DOWN. It has to be hobgoblins.
After that, Manos. I can’t even watch that movie mystied. I only made it once.
After that it would have to be the Mitchell. Baby oil. *shiver*
Followed by the Brain That Wouldn’t Die. It should be called the Movie that wouldn’t but should die. :mad:
Future War. Period. The bizarre extra’s like the genteel gang members and the off-putting cops, the strange government guy that tries to take over the case and is immediately blown up, the fey guy that says “Captain Polaris”, the overacting Captain Polaris, and I’m not even going to talk about the tip of the iceberg that is Daniel Bernhardt and Travis Brooks Stewart. Just a weird cast. Oh yeah, and the Rick Rude-looking “Chadwick”.
Batwoman has a few hideous characters but all of those hot chicks dancing in bikinis kind of cancel them out for me. In Squirm, the characters were supposed to be weedy rural inbreds, so from that perspective the cast was ideal.
Isn’t it funny that some of the most uncharismatic characters are the director appearing in his own movie? I mean it’s bad enough that they made the movie. Who directed this piece of crap? Oh, that ugly fat guy who strangled his own grandmother. And don’t sweat the make-up, honey, just give me a nice coat of Pam and shake a comb at my hair.
While there are many “worthy” candidates Angels’ Revenge has to be near or at the top (bottom?). Even amiable Arthur Godfrey comes across as irritating. But of course, remember that this was the seventies, where you could run with a brilliant vocal theme like “Shine, shine, shine, shine, shine…”
Btw, how about a future thread on worst song?
I think Outlaw deserves a mention. It’s not necessarily the worst cast, but it did feature Watney “Cabot!” Smith and the beautiful but unbearably shrill Queen Lara. Also, I have a suggestion for a future thread: was there ever an episode that you didn’t like at first, but a while later, you saw it again and enjoyed it? For me, two episodes like that were Riding with Death and Blood Waters of Dr. Z. Dr. Z’s opening “Sargassum” rant gets funnier every time I hear it.
Too many choices. Brain hurting. :???:
Oh yes, I second the request for a thread on worst son. So many contenders, so few eardrums to shatter.
“son” = “song”. Though a thread on worst son could be amusing, too. :)
Has there ever been a Weekend Discussion Thread on the episodes that put you to sleep the fastest? I’ve got a few episodes that are the equivalent of a warm glass of milk…
Easy.
Aldo Farnese and the gang from “The Dead Talk Back”.
Not an actor to be found.
The first one that came to mind for me was Boggy Creek II, but so many other good choices have been listed here that I’m not sure which one I’d pick as absolute worst.
It’s so easy it’s not even close, “Manos, the hands of fate.” Talent, not in this movie !!!!!!!
C’mon Eegah #48 Jimmy Clemm was a master Thespian !!!!! lol.