Yep absolute unintentional brilliance right there, something that can only be seen in a bad film and nowhere else. Why do I like them though? I'm still trying to figure that one out myself but I've got a few ideas. Well I guess the first idea is the most obvious one; It's fun laughing at how bad someone else can be. It's a harsh concept and obviously isn't universal for all situations but it's a guilty pleasure I'm sure all of us share. The second idea is the one I want to really focus on though because it concerns the film industry as a whole and that is that bad films provide a pleasant release from the Hollywood conventions followed in the industry. It gives that sense of "I don't give a damn about what's needed to make a good movie, I could research it but screw you I'm going to make it my way" way of thinking. I don't know what other people think but I genuinely admire the cast and crews of these films, not in a mocking sarcastic way but sincerely. It helps me think of films as not needing to be good, we don't need to live up to any expectations. You know those videos on youtube that show an awesome guitarist playing wonderwall which can swoon a lady in seconds, that annoys me ever so slightly because it gives the impression that one should play guitar to be good rather than actually doing it for the joy of playing guitar and expressing yourself. Perhaps annoyed is not the word maybe depressed is more accurate, either way those types of videos make me feel jealous. These emotions are more felt in the back of the mind though, when I watch say newton faulkner doing his acoustic teardrop performance or Jake Shimabukuro playing while my guitar gently weeps I still say "wow that's awesome I love it". But in the back of my mind there's this feeling that if I ever started to play guitar or ukulele, I should try to "aim" to become as good as them. It's unfair of me to think this of course because I bet most excellent musicians are sincere in their love for their instrument but I still think it anyway, perhaps I'm just an arsehole, I don't know. Anyway good films have the same effect on me, it makes feel I HAVE to make a film solely for the purpose of being good. So Kitsch films counter this feeling for me, they help me cleanse those negative feelings I get in the back of my brain and help me really appreciate the art of film-making.
One thing I want to make clear though is that I'm talking about Kitsch and not camp style films. If I'm not mistaken Kitsch films are unintentionally bad whereas camp is a style that is purposely...not necessarily bad but ridiculous. Take riki-oh: the story of ricky for instance:
It was made to be over the top, it got good reviews (89% on rotten tomatoes I think), your not meant to take it seriously, so it's not really kitsch. I advise you watch it by the way it's an excellent film. I do like the camp style though, look at Tarantino for instance it's always fun to watch his homages to aspects of cinema that contain a bit of camp in them.
What I find interesting though is that for some films, I think they're unintentially bad to begin with then find out later on that they're purposely meant to be bad. Take this clip from mega shark vs giant octopus:
When I first saw it I thought "man this clip is hilarious" but when I found out it was intentionally meant to be bad it lost a lot of it's humour for me. So here's what I think: A film that uses camp to try to purposely be a bad film is not funny, a film that uses camp yet still tries to be good can be good or bad. Camp is a style and is independent on whether or not a film is good, which is what differentiates it from kitsch.
I am literally making this up as I go along writing this so this page is probably going to be changing a lot, especially as I'm not 100% sure on the terminology. Thing is as well not every "Kitsch film" I've seen is one that I've enjoyed. I guess it depends on how over the top the film is and whether or not it can provide a spectacle in the way that I talked about before. I'll think over this some more in the future and see what I can come up with, I hope that regardless whether or not this page is written bad I'm still able to express my thoughts I'm not good at putting them into words you see.
Also make sure you at least watch 'the room' and 'birdemic', they're at the top of my list of my favourite "so bad they're good" films. Check out 'Mystery science theater 3000' as well:
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