Something that has always bothered me about being a podcaster is when we cover a bad movie that doesn’t have the advantages of its big budget contemporaries. It makes me feel like I’m punching down, which doesn’t make for good comedy. Comedians should always punch up at those in power. Even someone making a piece of trash is still putting themselves out there. And if it’s good, I’ll give the piece its roses.

But then there are the works that are just so bad and are the little engine that could that decided to just slam through a town at full speed. Leaving a wake of destruction in their path.

I mainly write about the Lifetime movies that we cover. They’re clearly cheaply made and seemingly mass produced so that all of them are roughly the same except for the part where the crazed killer character decides to go nuts for some reason or another. They have their own charm to them but there’s a part of me that always wishes they were a bit better.

The problem is that I know they could be. There’s always a lesser light in the world to show that it could be done for even cheaper. That’s not an excuse for these people to pay their people less, it’s for them to try harder.

Paranormal Activity is a horror movie that was made for 15,000 dollars and grossed about 194 million in 2007. Adjusted for inflation that’s 294 million today. It was made with a few cameras on tripods, about five unknown actors and just was well made from the jump.

Godzilla Minus One was made for ten million dollars. That is a drop in the bucket for studios like Marvel and Warner Bros and yet it’s stunning and well made. Look at the below image. You can tell they cared and wanted to make the best movie that they could.

It’s because these movies understood something. That poverty isn’t the death of creativity but where it’s born. There is a long tradition of this throughout the world of media. Monty Python wanted to make a movie making fun of the middle ages and Arthurian legends but couldn’t afford horses. What would be the funniest way to handle this? Have every knight have a squire that bonks two coconuts together. Have characters comment on it to make one of the funniest exchanges in comedy history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqtS9xyl0f4&ab_channel=3qui1i6riM

Mystery Science Theater 3000(MST3K), had to constantly make a nearly two hour show on a minuscule budget. Their puppets and set were clearly made of found objects. The puppets could barely move on their own. How did they make up for all of this? With excellent writing that was clearly positioned in their own Midwest slice of life.

And that’s what it all comes down to. The money in the end doesn’t matter. Passion can make up for it. If you believe in your piece of media and you want it to be the best it can be, it will be. That’s what I’m attacking. The fact that the filmmakers don’t care. I want to love their movie but the fact that they turned in something that’s only worth a C+ at best is going to stop me from doing so and I’m not going to stop myself from calling it out.