The Badness Never Ends

The funny thing about bad movies is that while many of the films I like would undoubtedly be classed as 'bad', there are still some bad movies that, to me, are simply bad.  It's like I was saying about The Nightmare Never Ends (1980) the other day, it is most definitely a bad movie, personally I can find nothing in it which might redeem it to the extent that I could like it.  Damn it, I continue to champion various Al Adamson films that everyone else seems too think are utter trash and I'm happy to recommend Derek Ford's micro budgeted last gasp The Urge to Kill (1989) to everyone I know.  (Hell, what's not to like about a film that stars UFO's Peter Gordeno as a groovy London swinging music producer menaced by a crazy computer that manifests itself as a green-painted naked woman?)  So why couldn't I take to The Nightmare Never Ends?  Possibly the fact that it seems to take itself far too seriously and thinks that it has something 'important' to say about the nature of evil is a factor, not to mention that it is far too long.  Perhaps it is simply because it is so poorly written and directed that it even seemed to defeat an experienced B-movie performer like Cameron Mitchell, who can usually be relied upon to deliver suitably eccentric performances in this sort of film.  Indeed, this is probably one of its biggest crimes in my eyes - I'm a big fan of Cameron Mitchell, who was actually a very good actor, but, for financial reasons, made a lot of very bad movies.  But he always seemed to know just how to pitch his performances in these films, often providing an oasis of classy entertainment in some otherwise excruciatingly bad movies.

Worst of all, though, is the fact that The Nightmare Never Ends, for all of its incompetence and incoherence, never manages to summon the flair to hit the heights of sheer lunacy that mark out the truly great and enjoyable bad movies.  The best of such movies have the feel of a fever dream about them - they leave a lingering feeling that you might actually have simply imagined them, they are so bizarre in some aspect.  Sadly, The Nightmare Never Ends never comes even close to this level, despite its insertion of various seemingly random elements - their sheer randomness being the problem as the barmiest and most enjoyable b-movies and exploitation flicks follow their own internal and utterly deluded logic, making every insane development feel both lunatic, yet somehow logical.  But The Nightmare Never Ends, perhaps because of having three different directors (all, apparently directing from different scripts), never manages to be anything other than halting and disjointed.  But hey, it is always easy to criticise low budget movies like this - it can be something of a turkey shoot, in fact.  Which is why I try to avoid writing about such movies that I really don't like.  Although I sometimes make exceptions for the likes of The Nightmare Never Ends or Honeymoon Horror, which often seem to be showing on every dodgy streaming channel I tune into, driving me to distraction.  In truth, we should reserve our ire and ridicule for those bigger budgeted, mainstream movies which, despite having all the advantages that low budget film makers lack, still turn out to be utter, irredeemable, shite.  Just now, for example, Talking Pictures TV was giving a rare outing to the 1974 David Niven horror 'comedy' Vampira - a glossy looking film chock full of familiar faces and with talented people behind the camera, it is not only bloody awful, but also offensive.  Films like that are fully deserving of our contempt.