My Top 10 Worst Movies of 2024
- Pierce Brenner
- Feb 10
- 6 min read
2024 may have been a chaotic year in a lot of ways, but it was a pretty great one for movies. Even with the headwinds of 2023's SAG and WGA strikes, we were still blessed with an embarrassment of cinematic riches, and plenty of digital ink has been spilled writing lists commemorating the films that made the year worthwhile.
This is not one of those lists.
In every aspect of life, we must take the good with the bad, and believe me, there were plenty of horrible movies this past year. Some were just plain forgettable, others memorable in how thoroughly they drained me, and others still were tons of fun because they were so outlandishly awful. I'm writing about my picks for worst before the best because (1) I firmly believe that things should get worse before they get better, (2) all films are works of art that many people poured every fiber of their being into, and deserve to be recognized even when they don't work, and (3) negativity can be fun! So, strap yourself in. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.
10: Kraven the Hunter
Sony's latest take on a Spider-Man villain may have been lambasted by critics and ignored by audiences, but to tell you the truth, I had a lot of fun with Kraven. Don't get me wrong, it's a horrendous movie, with an absurd plot, terrible dialogue, and sloppy editing, but putting it all together gives you one of the most unintentionally funny superhero movies since Batman & Robin. This may be on my worst list, but don't let that scare you. I highly recommend streaming this and inviting all your friends.
9: The Crow
The Crow is an intriguing comic series, and I'm a fan of the 2024, but this reboot has been in development hell for so long, with so much turnover of directors, writers, and stars, that I knew not to get my hopes up. However, I had no idea how stunningly inept this movie would be, and there were times in the second act when I thought this might be a contender for worst movie of the year. Some entertainingly brutal action sequences liven things up later on, but let's just say Bill Skarsgård is lucky his follow-up to this was Nosferatu.
8: Megalopolis
It may be true that legends never die, but they sure as hell can lose their luster. Francis Ford Coppola's sci-fi epic Megalopolis is certainly ambitious, but has the vibe of a big budget student film. The story is has no structure and feels like their are chunks missing, the characters are paper-thin caricatures at best, and the dialogue thinks it being deep and insightful but ends up being empty fortune cookie-isms. I respect Coppola for putting his passion project out there, but Megalopolis proves that passion can be blinding. Here's hoping he's got one more movie left in him.
7: Borderlands
We've finally gotten some good video game adaptations in recent years, so of course Borderlands had to come along and remind us of what used to be. With a couple exceptions, the characters are either bland and nondescript or stunningly irritating, and none of them get a lot of development. The world of Pandora also feels very artificial, with everything from the sets to the costumes feeling like a museum exhibit rather than a real place. But where the movie falls down the hardest is the humor: when not even Jack Black can get a laugh out of me, you done messed up. Not the worst film I saw in 2024, but probably the most annoying.
6: The End
A post-apocalyptic drama about a family sealed in a bunker who encounter a stranger for the first time in twenty years...and it's a musical? Weird combo, but we've seen stranger things work very well. Where The End goes horribly wrong is in being drier than the Mojave desert. Everything from the frigid pacing, to the flat, emotionless acting, to the pointless musical numbers come together to create a dull, difficult sit, made worse by the fact that it drones on for an endless two-and-a-half hours. There were plenty of movies in 2024 that made more mistakes on a technical level, but this one earns a spot here for being the punishingly boring.
5: Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
As a lifelong proud, unashamed SpongeBob fan, I put off watching The Sandy Cheeks Movie for as long as I could after I heard how awful it was, but curiosity got the better of me. There's plenty of SpongeBob content that fans hate but I like, so maybe it could be alright. Or it could be bad in a memorable way. I just had to know. People, you were right to skip this one, and if you weren't, you deserved better. It's not even bad enough to be a conversation piece. I was mostly speechless while watching it, only working up a groan at some of the most insulting moments. Just a total dead zone in every way.
4: Imaginary
Blumhouse has made quite a few quality films over the years, but just when it looks like they've got it all figured out, they have to shit the bed. Imaginary is one of those movies that had potential to be interesting, and seems to want to say something about the terrifying possibilities of repressed memories. Sadly, it wastes all that potential on the worst kind of cheap jump-scares and horror movie cliches. At least it was good for a few unintentional laughs.
3: The Strangers: Chapter 1
Well, I certainly didn't expect another crack at making The Strangers a franchise, much less a trilogy shot back-to-back. Perhaps Lionsgate should've pumped the breaks a bit, because Chapter 1 is one of the worst slashers I've seen in a while. The movie is shot in overproduced TV movie style, the protagonists are unlikable, and worst of all, it's just not scary. I never felt an ounce of suspense or worry for anyone. If you're gonna break such a cardinal rule of horror cinema, why even show up to work?
2: Madame Web
'Cause Sony's Marvel franchise just had to make two appearances on this list! Like Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web is a throwback to early 2000s superhero movies, but is missing what made the best ones as successful as they were. It has all the same flaws as Kraven, except even this (admittedly talented) cast can't sell their lines with the gravitas of Russell Crowe. But it also has many of the same charms, and is almost cute in its ineptitude, like a bad school play where you just say to yourself "awww, they're doing their best. Go, baby girl!" Sony may be throwing in the towel on making their own live-action Spider-Verse, but I almost hope they keep going. Madame Web and Kraven are some of the funniest big-budget blockbusters I've seen in a long time.
1: Not Another Church Movie
When setting out to make a spoof movie, everyone involved should ask themselves "can this be as funny as what it's parodying?" Clearly, no one who worked on Not Another Church Movie gave that any thought, because this film doesn't have anywhere near the number of laughs, intentional or not, as a typical Perry flick. But what really earns it the number one spot on this list, gives it that extra oomph, is just how cheap it is. It's not like Tyler Perry is known for his production values anyway, but everything about Not Another Church Movie looks like I could've made it for five figures I raised off IndieGogo. The only hint of a bigger budget is the presence of Jamie Foxx as God, who must have taken about a day to shoot in front of a dime store green screen.
Hollywood, always take the time to remember...only parody what you can make funnier than the source material.
Dishonorable Mentions
The Exorcism
Night Swim
Reagan
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver
Y2K
Well, there you have it! I'm sure your lists will be quite different, and there may be some movies that are notable in their absence from mine. Stay tuned for my best of 2024, and a post going over who will win/should win at the 97th Academy Awards.
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