Elizabeth Norman likes bad movies. The difference between her, and say, your aunt with the shelf full of Hallmark holiday DVDs, is that Norman knows that they're bad. The cringe-worthy, the badly-edited, the sloppily written: these are the bread and butter of Norman's movie-watching experience.
She likes bad movies so much that she is the founder of a club at the College of New Caledonia that is devoted to watching them.
Norman says she was introduced to the bad movie viewing experience during midnight showings in Calgary, and wanted to bring it to Prince George.
"I think they're fun because there's always something that went wrong; either it's supposed to be serious but is funny because of bad acting, or unintentionally bad. I think you can learn a lot (about what makes a movie good) from watching movies that get it totally wrong."
Norman says there is an endless list of bad movies available to watch in the past 20 years alone. She lists The Room, Sharknado, Jaws 4 and Batman and Robin as a few of the choice films.
"I think Batman and Robin is actually pretty good. If you watch it as a tribute to the Adam West Batman series, it's campy and enjoyable. Of course, if you compare it to the Keaton movies, it is terrible, but it's great from a child-like lens."
Norman says that some of the movies she picks may be considered contentious, as she thinks many bad movies manage to trick people into thinking they're good.
"There was a movie a few years ago that critics raved about, called Boyhood, that was just really boring. And it may be controversial, but I thought Wonder Woman was just really lackluster. ... It didn't think it brought anything new to the table in terms of superhero movies."
Norman's Bad Movie Club meets once a month at the College of New Caledonia. If you're interested in attending, check out the CNC events page, or search "Bad Movie Club" on Facebook.
— Jordan Tucker is a freelance writer for PrinceGeorgeMatters
