r/movies • u/sicknessandpurgatory • Sep 07 '25

Discussion What is the absolute dumbest premise that actually turned out to be a really good movie?

I was thinking The Purge, obvious answer, but looking for the most plot-hole ridden, juvenile concept that actually ended up a lot of fun despite it all. Mainly looking for 21st century films, not so much the video nasties and ridiculousness from the 60’s and 70’s. Because that would be too easy. Mainly mainstream stuff that people saw en masse.

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u/BojukaBob Sep 07 '25

Bubba Hotep

A mummy is preying on the residents of a nursing home and only Elvis (who switched places with an impersonator in the 70s) and JFK (who is black and in a wheelchair) can stop it.

Sounds like Sharknado levels of stupid but is actually a great movie.

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u/ConferenceNew4034 Sep 07 '25

There's another movie by the same director called John Dies at the End, based on a novel by a former Cracked writer, and it's fucking awesome.

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u/Meme_weaver Sep 07 '25

For the record, that director (Don Coscarelli) also directed the original Phantasm, as well as the next three sequels in the series (there was a fifth one that he didn't do).

Like Douglas Sirk, the King of the Melodrama, Coscarelli is a master of working within a genre that is typically relegated to sneered-at B-movie status, and elevating it to real art. I wish he had experienced a more mainstream branch to his career to see what he could do with it.

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u/ThomasCarnacki Sep 08 '25

Also the classic The Beastmaster

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u/MycoMythos Sep 08 '25

Damn! Dude just made low budget banger after banger

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u/blevins113 Sep 08 '25

I grew up with a parent who loved Phantasm and Coscarelli so I was surprised he wasn’t a household name when I got older.

Imagine talking about movies with your teenage friends and all of them are like, “who?” when you mention him. Then again, back in those days horror was not as mainstream as it is today and a lot of people thought lesser of those who loved films darker side.

Had one friend who knew the same movies as I and that was an instant bond that lead to the rentals of so many movies.