Sometimes it’s just fun to watch a bad movie. Although some movies and shows are horribly produced, viewers will continue to watch them and possibly even enjoy them. This could be for a variety of reasons, to list a couple: a viewer may have already invested their time into beginning the movie and may just want to finish it, or others may find it so awful that it’s just amusing to continue watching. Whatever the case may be, watching a good bad movie may not be the worst way to enjoy some free time.

But what specific element makes a bad movie or show good? The answer to that question is different for every person depending on their personal preferences.

For US English Teacher Andrew Inchiosa, there are a few different things, “I really enjoy thrillers or dramas that have a lot of exciting things going for them, but there’s something that went wrong in the making of the movie or performances that’s really entertaining.”

There are various elements that could go wrong when producing a movie. It could have to do with the casting of characters, bad special effects, unclear plotlines, holes in the story, unrealistic or unexplained occurrences, to name a few.

“An example of a good bad movie is Lethal Love; it’s on Netflix. I thought It was a good bad movie because the plotline is just about this man who begins a romantic relationship with both a mother and a daughter who together want to run a bakery. It’s not clear what he’s doing, it’s part of his scheme, but it’s not really clear what the scheme is…There’s this sense that he is closer in age to the mother than the daughter in the film, but clearly, the actor is closer in age to the daughter. So they keep saying, this is an age-appropriate relationship, or they make sense together, even though they’re maybe 25 years different in age. It was very funny because it didn’t work, but other parts of it were suspenseful, so I laughed a lot as I watched it, for that reason and others,” Inchiosa said.

So what differentiates a bad movie from a good bad movie? The ability to make the audience keep watching. This can be done using humor, whether it’s intended or not, by suspense, or by having a meaningful plot. Those elements keep viewers watching despite issues that a certain production may have.

Sophomore Nadia Degnan said, “There’s this movie called He’s All That on Netflix that has Addison Rae and is pretty cringey, but I still liked the concept that they were going for, which made it kind of good.”

While bad movies and shows often have a boatload of factors not going their way, they can still turn out to be good. Bad movies and shows can leave you questioning the decisions made by directors and producers, making it pretty entertaining despite not being insanely good by most people’s standards.