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Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter
Katharine Coldiron dives headfirst into the mosh pit of trash culture and clears a bold new space for thinking and talking about the pleasures of cinematic crap… “Junk Film” is a smart and sneakily subversive read from a cultural critic with a magpie’s eye for glittering swill. — Ty Burr, film critic (“Ty Burr’s Watch List”) and author (Gods Like On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame)
I’ve always thought that if art is expression, can it fail? Katharine Coldiron does a wonderful job of examining this from both sides. She finds and analyzes a fascinating array of films . It made me laugh many times , and actually made me want to have a bad movie marathon! -- Greg Sestero, actor and author, The Disaster Artist
Bad movies have been very good to me - I've watched hundreds as a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax, and even voluntarily. Katharine Coldiron's examination of such movies names why I appreciate them so much - it's smart, insightful, and entertaining, and it's for film aficionados and snobs alike. -- Mary Jo Pehl, comedienne (Rifftrax, MST3K) and writer (Dumb Dumb Dumb)
Essayist Coldiron (Ceremonials) delivers an entertaining ode to cinematic duds. “Bad movies are teaching tools for making and studying good movies,” she contends, exploring what such films and television shows as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), Staying Alive (1983), and Showgirls (1995) accidentally reveal about the techniques of quality filmmaking. ... Coldiron's analysis of some of the stranger footnotes in cinematic history unearths unexpected wisdom about how movies work. Cinephiles will enjoy digging into this. -- Publishers Weekly
WELCOME TO JUNK FILM
Entire libraries of criticism study good art. Who studies bad art?
For the most part, bad movies have been buried by their creators, or have circulated in midnight screenings and Reddit threads. They've been used for humor by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Red Letter Media, and presented as outrageous spectacle by critics and commentators. Rarely have bad movies been studied.
JUNK FILM's thirteen essays explore the failures of specific works created between the 1940s and the 2010s. Each demonstrates a different kind of failure, from mixing incompatible genres ( Cop Rock ) to stacking a screenplay with sociopaths ( Staying Alive ).
The book uses a few basic theses about bad film and television to unpack these failures.
Importantly, it shows what students of film can learn from bad how to make art that works via watching art that doesn't.
Junk Film bridges film scholarship and pop culture criticism with wit and warmth.
Praise for Katharine Coldiron’s Plan 9 from Outer
A hilarious, super-detailed analysis of what goes wrong, scene after scene, [and] a generous appreciation of the skill and vision it takes to make an actual good movie. It’s great fun. -- Bill Corbett, MST3K/Rifftrax
An endlessly entertaining read…Coldiron expertly breaks down why Plan 9 is so unique. -- Dana Gould, The Simpsons , Creepshow
A genuine treasure for Ed Wood fans. -- Andrew J. Rausch , author of The Cinematic Misadventures of Ed Wood
About the Author
Katharine Coldiron's work as a film critic has appeared in Bitch, Bright Wall/Dark Room, ASAP/J, and elsewhere. She is the author of a novella, Ceremonials (Kernpunkt, 2020), and a monograph on Plan 9 from Outer Space (PS, 2021). Find her at kcoldiron.com or on Twitter @ferrifrigida.
I’ve always thought that if art is expression, can it fail? Katharine Coldiron does a wonderful job of examining this from both sides. She finds and analyzes a fascinating array of films . It made me laugh many times , and actually made me want to have a bad movie marathon! -- Greg Sestero, actor and author, The Disaster Artist
Bad movies have been very good to me - I've watched hundreds as a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax, and even voluntarily. Katharine Coldiron's examination of such movies names why I appreciate them so much - it's smart, insightful, and entertaining, and it's for film aficionados and snobs alike. -- Mary Jo Pehl, comedienne (Rifftrax, MST3K) and writer (Dumb Dumb Dumb)
Essayist Coldiron (Ceremonials) delivers an entertaining ode to cinematic duds. “Bad movies are teaching tools for making and studying good movies,” she contends, exploring what such films and television shows as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), Staying Alive (1983), and Showgirls (1995) accidentally reveal about the techniques of quality filmmaking. ... Coldiron's analysis of some of the stranger footnotes in cinematic history unearths unexpected wisdom about how movies work. Cinephiles will enjoy digging into this. -- Publishers Weekly
WELCOME TO JUNK FILM
Entire libraries of criticism study good art. Who studies bad art?
For the most part, bad movies have been buried by their creators, or have circulated in midnight screenings and Reddit threads. They've been used for humor by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Red Letter Media, and presented as outrageous spectacle by critics and commentators. Rarely have bad movies been studied.
JUNK FILM's thirteen essays explore the failures of specific works created between the 1940s and the 2010s. Each demonstrates a different kind of failure, from mixing incompatible genres ( Cop Rock ) to stacking a screenplay with sociopaths ( Staying Alive ).
The book uses a few basic theses about bad film and television to unpack these failures.
Importantly, it shows what students of film can learn from bad how to make art that works via watching art that doesn't.
Junk Film bridges film scholarship and pop culture criticism with wit and warmth.
Praise for Katharine Coldiron’s Plan 9 from Outer
A hilarious, super-detailed analysis of what goes wrong, scene after scene, [and] a generous appreciation of the skill and vision it takes to make an actual good movie. It’s great fun. -- Bill Corbett, MST3K/Rifftrax
An endlessly entertaining read…Coldiron expertly breaks down why Plan 9 is so unique. -- Dana Gould, The Simpsons , Creepshow
A genuine treasure for Ed Wood fans. -- Andrew J. Rausch , author of The Cinematic Misadventures of Ed Wood
About the Author
Katharine Coldiron's work as a film critic has appeared in Bitch, Bright Wall/Dark Room, ASAP/J, and elsewhere. She is the author of a novella, Ceremonials (Kernpunkt, 2020), and a monograph on Plan 9 from Outer Space (PS, 2021). Find her at kcoldiron.com or on Twitter @ferrifrigida.
188 pages, Paperback
Published April 28, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 5, 2023
Just because you enjoy a film doesn’t mean you think it’s good. “I’m not dragging things home from the junkyard to clean them up,” Coldiron clarifies. “I’m going to the junkyard and yelling at the assembled crows about what I see in the piles.” What's a bad film? One that “can’t hypnotize the audience,” so “the audience notices the motion of the hypnotizing agent: the pendulum, the 24 frames per second.” Anyway, I think this is a good book. One can write a good book about bad films. I shared some further ideas on Medium. (This is the unpaywalled friend link.)
September 27, 2025
This is just so great. It's funny, informative as hell, and a spectacular look at why bad movies are important to examine as bad art, what we can learn from them, and the various firms that "bad" can take. Sometimes it's incompetence; sometimes it's a gap between budget and ambition; sometimes these things are just a misfire and they don't work; and sometimes the movies are bad because they're disposable.
Coldiron ultimately makes the point that the assessment of "bad" is not a judgment, and that liking bad movies is no indication of character. We can like what we like without having to defend it. At the same time, she insists that looking at why we like these things, which we admit are bad, is a useful act, and looking at how they fail is a powerful tool for teaching.
I feel like almost every film student sees the greats and says "this is what movies should be" and, when making film, attempts to imitate that. JUNK FILM posits, among its other points, that seeing what NOT to do in film is vital, and more than that understanding why these films don't work.
I'm a little scatterbrained because coffee and anxiety today, but the bottom line of this ramble is this: JUNK FILM is fantastic and anyone who's a film buff should give it a look.
Coldiron ultimately makes the point that the assessment of "bad" is not a judgment, and that liking bad movies is no indication of character. We can like what we like without having to defend it. At the same time, she insists that looking at why we like these things, which we admit are bad, is a useful act, and looking at how they fail is a powerful tool for teaching.
I feel like almost every film student sees the greats and says "this is what movies should be" and, when making film, attempts to imitate that. JUNK FILM posits, among its other points, that seeing what NOT to do in film is vital, and more than that understanding why these films don't work.
I'm a little scatterbrained because coffee and anxiety today, but the bottom line of this ramble is this: JUNK FILM is fantastic and anyone who's a film buff should give it a look.
June 17, 2023
An astute, incredible and incredibly intelligent, often funny and always wise work of criticism. Coldiron does what she does so well and encouraged me to learn from bad art without venerating it but also without making fun of it; to take it seriously without reclaiming it. I am such a fan of her writing, her thinking, and her criticism.
August 20, 2025
An utterly horrid book, one that (and I rarely say this) I really regret spending money on. Take-away advice: beware of writers on film who have done just a little Cinema Studies long enough ago that they can now pretend to be experts, while nonetheless declaring themselves beyond having a use for that intellectual stuff. The premise of Coldiron’s awful book is excruciating: why do bad films matter? Because they help us appreciate good films! Almost every word, every judgement in this book is based on the most crippling, normative values of what constitutes a good, normal, well-made film. She only strays from this banal certainty (based, it must be said, on seemingly a very small experience of ‘classic’ cinema) when she entertains the thought that some ‘junk’ cinema might be considered ‘outsider art’. But avant-garde art, experimental art, B-cinema aesthetic, ‘acinema’, and everything else? Forget it. She cites texts like Matt Strohl’s vastly superior book on ‘bad movies’ and the B FOR BAD CINEMA collection, only to dismiss them as ‘irrelevant’ to her purpose. Her purpose is completely uninteresting, and the book, as writing, is a wearying, lumpy slog. Skip it, and save yourself the pain (and the expense).
August 19, 2025
A superb book, well worth re-reading. I did like having my opinions changed…well, stimulated, I suppose&hellipabout Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and her analysis of Plan 9 from Outer Space has encouraged me to watch the film again, as there are scenes she saw that I have missed even after a couple of dozen viewings over the years.
I wonder what her thoughts are on Robot Monster ?
I wonder what her thoughts are on Robot Monster ?
March 9, 2024
The book is a collection of essays surrounding what is generally considered as "bad movies", with some exceptions: it features a couple of "bad books" that have never been adapted to the silver screen.
Half of the book deals with the film "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The author assumes that readers may not have watched any of the movies discussed and explains them in plenty of detail, but this particular film occupies such a considerable number of pages that it may be advantageous to watch it beforehand. Nevertheless, if you're reading a book about bad movies, it's likely because you are somehow interested in eventually watching them.
The essays contain a certain critical weight, so one should not expect a fully unbiased analysis. The criteria applied are often subjective, and the author's taste influences the outcome. Some movies are overly criticized, while others are excessively praised.
Overall, it's a pleasant read with plenty of humor and a deep dive into B-movie / Z-movie culture.
Half of the book deals with the film "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The author assumes that readers may not have watched any of the movies discussed and explains them in plenty of detail, but this particular film occupies such a considerable number of pages that it may be advantageous to watch it beforehand. Nevertheless, if you're reading a book about bad movies, it's likely because you are somehow interested in eventually watching them.
The essays contain a certain critical weight, so one should not expect a fully unbiased analysis. The criteria applied are often subjective, and the author's taste influences the outcome. Some movies are overly criticized, while others are excessively praised.
Overall, it's a pleasant read with plenty of humor and a deep dive into B-movie / Z-movie culture.
February 3, 2025
Katharine Coldiron’s JUNK FILM is a book that was recommended to me for my voracious taste in tacky, unreliable, exploitative, and crap cinema. A collection of essays that cover perennial favorites such as Plan 9, Showgirls, Switchblade Sisters, and The Room, Coldiron also explores some lesser-known (to me) classics that I immediately went out and bought remastered physical media copies of films/shows like Cop Rock and Death Bed. Each of these essays are introspective love letters to the craft, presenting some of the more well-known facts besides some academic analysis that showcase the true vibrancy of the craft. Coldiron’s main thesis, which she defends expertly, is examining the difference between film that is so terrible it isn’t worth watching and film that is so wonderfully made with an intense burning devotion that, despite being garbage, we always return to enjoy at home or in screenings that sell out week after week over decades to beat mainstream industry films. It is clear that Coldiron truly loves these films the same way the rest of us do – and she can explain why they are so timeless and unforgivingly enjoyable with the eye of an expert. This was a great book, and after having finally seen everything I haven’t I can say I wholeheartedly agree that these are the junk we carry around with us from apartment to house to a sick day to a fun weekend with friends. Not everyone will get it, but boy, those of us who do remain bloodthirsty fans of the crap these visionaries set out to make with all their hearts.
June 1, 2023
Picked this up, expecting the usual defenses of The Usual Suspects, and got pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the Usual Thing - yes, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is featured, but not surprised after realizing Coldiron wrote one of the PS Publishing/Electric Dreamhouse monographs on PLAN 9; and more surprising, using the PLAN 9 essay to set up her main arguments for the book. And the essays ranged from COP ROCK, DEATH BED, AFTER LAST SEASON (!) and STAYING ALIVE/SHOWGIRLS, amongst others.
There's a lack of snark, which is really refreshing and the author takes the subjects seriously; there's no auditioning of (usually lame) stand-up material to make up for the lack of critical acuity - just good analysis.
One of the best new Film books this year and of the decade, so far. Highly Recommended!!
There's a lack of snark, which is really refreshing and the author takes the subjects seriously; there's no auditioning of (usually lame) stand-up material to make up for the lack of critical acuity - just good analysis.
One of the best new Film books this year and of the decade, so far. Highly Recommended!!
June 19, 2024
Coldiron explores bad movies and what we can learn from them, and why we love them, in a series of essays on different films over the past century of cinema history. Her biggest distillation explores Plan 9 from Outer Space, the now-infamous film by Ed Wood, and makes one appreciate the failings of the film and Wood in a way that neither drags it down nor tries to elevate it beyond its means.
Her other standout essay is the book's last, "What We Like" in which Coldiron tries to understand within herself what she likes about two particularly bad movies and tries to distill the essay's larger points into one thesis: we like what we like. Anyone who likes movies and films enough to read a book about bad films, invariably also has films they enjoy that the majority of people classify as not good, but like them anyway. We find something interesting in those films despite those flaws.
Her other standout essay is the book's last, "What We Like" in which Coldiron tries to understand within herself what she likes about two particularly bad movies and tries to distill the essay's larger points into one thesis: we like what we like. Anyone who likes movies and films enough to read a book about bad films, invariably also has films they enjoy that the majority of people classify as not good, but like them anyway. We find something interesting in those films despite those flaws.
November 21, 2023
I love this book. It hits so many notes that resonate with the way I think about bad film, but also about storytelling.
It's structured as a collection of essays of varying length, though many of them overlap thematically. They can be read in any order, which makes it a great nightstand or coffee table read. But regardless of order there's a strong authorial voice running throughout, and the work as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (And honestly, those individual parts are damn strong.)
It's structured as a collection of essays of varying length, though many of them overlap thematically. They can be read in any order, which makes it a great nightstand or coffee table read. But regardless of order there's a strong authorial voice running throughout, and the work as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (And honestly, those individual parts are damn strong.)
August 19, 2023
Having relished watched almost every bad film on every bad film list over the past 55 years of my life, this book just didn't hit the mark (or even reference the majority of those wonderfully terrible films). Missing from the book, besides a more comprehensive look at the genre in whole (as opposed to a deep dive into Plan 9 followed by a trail of incredibly obscure choices) historically, thematically and practically, it largely misses the fundamental joy of it all.
June 2, 2023
Coldiron makes the excellent point that bad movies are much more instructive than the classic movies, as they showcase what can go wrong. The long essay on Plan 9 From Outer Space is excellent, probably worth the price of the book, but some of the other chapters suffer a bit when Coldiron goes into the details of movies that are incredibly obscure and essentially impossible to find.
March 18, 2023
Tour de force criticism that only I could write.
October 28, 2023
Would have rated this higher if it ACTUALLY HAD a Neil Breen chapter and didn’t spend the first 80 pages on Plan 9.
April 3, 2024
Lots of good stuff here, but very inconsistent. Was hoping for more.
August 28, 2024
Very fun, easy read. Heavy snark factor.
April 30, 2025
If it wasn’t for bad films, how would we recognize a good one?
July 7, 2023
If you're one of the fortunate souls who got their hands on Katharine Coldiron's slim book-length essay on "Plan 9 from Outer Space" for Electric Dreamhouse's Midnight Movie Monographs, you know that her Bad Movie Lover bonafides -- not to mention her incisive intellect in deconstructing such works of (anti?) art -- need no further introduction. If you didn't, well, you're in luck, because "Junk Film" includes that essay plus many others on subjects ranging from long-reclaimed trash art like "Showgirls" to neo-cult objects like "Death Bed" to conceptual dumpster fires like "Cop Rock".
What separates Coldiron's work from that of many aficionados of the Flawed, Bad, and Outright Terrible is her serious, methodical approach. She isn't afraid to crack wise or marvel at the sheer stupidity of her subjects, but she approaches even the most slipshod and baffling works from a place of honesty, generosity, and curiosity. She doesn't just declare that "Ruby" or "Attack of the 50 ft. Woman" suck and then take easy potshots at them. She tries to untangle *why* they suck, and her writing has an easygoing but thoughtful style that makes it feel like we're going on that analytical journey with her. And when she's firing on all cylinders about her enthusiasm for something -- as in, say, her essay on why "Switchblade Sisters" totally rules, which I'd say gives anything in Tarantino's 1970s exploitation gush-fest "Cinema Speculation" a run for its money -- she makes you want to go out and see the work in question right then and there.
What separates Coldiron's work from that of many aficionados of the Flawed, Bad, and Outright Terrible is her serious, methodical approach. She isn't afraid to crack wise or marvel at the sheer stupidity of her subjects, but she approaches even the most slipshod and baffling works from a place of honesty, generosity, and curiosity. She doesn't just declare that "Ruby" or "Attack of the 50 ft. Woman" suck and then take easy potshots at them. She tries to untangle *why* they suck, and her writing has an easygoing but thoughtful style that makes it feel like we're going on that analytical journey with her. And when she's firing on all cylinders about her enthusiasm for something -- as in, say, her essay on why "Switchblade Sisters" totally rules, which I'd say gives anything in Tarantino's 1970s exploitation gush-fest "Cinema Speculation" a run for its money -- she makes you want to go out and see the work in question right then and there.
July 4, 2023
I'm not entirely sure when I discovered the concept of "bad film," but I do remember devouring "The Golden Turkey Awards" around the time it was published, so let's say freshman year of college in the early '80s. And since then, I've wondered quite a bit about why I deliberately watch such abominations, and I've never been able to fully answer that question. (I'll also note here that I haven't revisited "Golden Turkey" in decades, and I have a feeling it hasn't aged well. Certainly, at least one of its authors has not.)
Katharine Coldiron tackles the topic here with insight, and I enjoyed this book very much.
I particularly liked the last essay, which contains this passage: "It may seem foolish for me to reference one of the grandest ideas in the philosophy of aesthetics to finish out a book about bad movies, but that's precisely how I feel about 'Girl in Gold Boots': I like it and it is bad, and both of these things are true, which is a mystery."
Ah, yes, the eternal mystery of bad films. Long may they intrigue and entertain us.
Katharine Coldiron tackles the topic here with insight, and I enjoyed this book very much.
I particularly liked the last essay, which contains this passage: "It may seem foolish for me to reference one of the grandest ideas in the philosophy of aesthetics to finish out a book about bad movies, but that's precisely how I feel about 'Girl in Gold Boots': I like it and it is bad, and both of these things are true, which is a mystery."
Ah, yes, the eternal mystery of bad films. Long may they intrigue and entertain us.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews