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Personal Worst. AKA the terrible drive in double features from our past.


old school

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I have worked on many a fine film and blessedly not to many turkeys, but If I had to come up with a double feature of my worst it would be "Stunt Rock" 1980  http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2589165568/tt0078335?ref_=tt_ov_i

and "Hollywood Knight" AKA "Hard Knocks" 1979

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130756/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

Both films are mostly unwatchable unless you love D- to F+ films.   I challenge all my fellow mixers to come up with the wall of shame pictures. I know you all got them.;~)

CrewC

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I have one of those behind me for sure.  I've worked on several features at this point from good to bad, but there Is only one I'd say enters the realm of offensively terrible.  They are re-editing it now (for the third time) and from my recent conversations with one of the producers, it's even worse than I thought it might be when we shot it.  I'll try and update this when it's out, should be mid summerish.

 

They somehow managed to sell the thing so it could get limited theatrical release across the US (digital distribution at the very least).  If anyone is the masochistic type, it might be a good torture outlet for you.

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I recorded a remarkable epic in Fiji called "The Tontine Massacre"

 

Shot on a handheld Sony camera worth $6K

 

(we had two of the latest Sony hi-def cameras but they were used for one scene and some plate shots!)

 

5 weeks of beaches and jungles, lots of wine and curries in the evenings to soften the blow.

 

Cast of many, ad-libbing and off camera too, no coverage or close ups!

 

Was never released although with Google you can find clips.

 

Oh well dollars earned, lessons learned! But what fun.

 

mike

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  • 2 months later...

These two are definitely my "Best Worst" and the most likely to be seen at a drive in double feature - which I think would get a huge crowd and actually be a lot of fun. Troma movies easily have the craziest working conditions but, like in any war, I made a few lifelong friends on these shoots and as a 21yr old production sound mixer I learned a helluva lot...

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087689/   "Massive Retaliation" 1984.   Incomprehensible.  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102070/     "Hudson Hawk" (2nd unit) 1990.  Idiotic.  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214901/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1   "Magic Boat" 1992  Pointless and stupid.

 

…and then there are the commercials….

 

p

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Oh, you've got to include Lost Horizon (1973), possibly the worst waste of a musical feature budget ever.

 

From Wikipedia:

After derided preview screenings[4] Columbia Pictures re-cut the film, but to no avail. Critic John Simon remarked that it "must have arrived in garbage rather than in film cans." The songs were written byBurt Bacharach and Hal David, whose long partnership hit rocky ground within months of this film's release. It was such a poor performer at the box office that the film was ridiculed as "Lost Investment."

 

Bette Midler alluded to it as "Lost Her-Reason" and famously quipped, "I never miss a Liv Ullmann musical." [5]

 

The film was selected for inclusion in the book 50 Worst Films of All Time, co-written by critic Michael Medved. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[6]

 

The first reel it doesn't seem to know whether it's a musical or a disaster movie(!). After that, as songs and uncoreography are introuduced, it goes downhill.

 

Ross Hunter ("Airport", plus some reasonable romcoms and musicals) produced it. Any similarity to Frank Capra's version is accidental...

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087689/ "Massive Retaliation" 1984. Incomprehensible.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102070/ "Hudson Hawk" (2nd unit) 1990. Idiotic.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0214901/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 "Magic Boat" 1992 Pointless and stupid.

…and then there are the commercials….

p

I loved Hudson Hawk !

Never understood why it got shat on so much.

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I got an email recently from a guy who is writing up one of the worst movies ever made, one I did as a teenager working as a camera assistant in the 1970s: Satan's Children. I was astonished that anybody even remembered this film, but they're doing a 2-part article on it for Fangoria magazine next month. Apparently, the movie has developed some kind of "Ed Wood" kind of bizarre credibility, and because I took some notes on it while it was being shot, that's being used for part of the history.

 

It's always awful when some terrible movie from your past comes back to haunt you on IMDB. But hey: I got paid, I was a kid, it was fun, and the people I worked with were terrific. The movie is unwatchable by humans. I caught it on DVD a few years ago and memories of the shoot came back like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist. 

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My first film job was an Italian low budget horror movie produced in Miami in 1988 called "Welcome to Spring Break". Dick Bomser was the Mixer and I recall he had 2 Mary Carter paint poles for booms. The dialog was in English then, now it is Italian. Set was run in Italian and I loved every minute of it. Great special effects guys. Terrible movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_Beach

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095740/?ref_=ttloc_ql

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