Recommend films with an IMDb score of 5 and under.

Good under-5.0s usually skew towards horror. I’ll pick two for now.....

There’s a film writer-blogger Amanda Reyes who did this really great twitter thread last year called SlasherSisters where she unpacked the representation of female friendship in slashers — anyway, she brought to my attention these two horrors (pic from each in spoilers).

He Knows You’re Alone (1980) - IMDb 4.9 ; I’d go 7.5ish. While it sticks close to the Halloween formula, it’s actually well made, well written, cleverly uses locations, and the killer here is meaningful as a metaphor for the protagonist’s stress of her upcoming marriage to someone she doesn’t love. Also, Tom Hanks first movie!

Killer Party (1986) - IMDb 4.7 ; I’d go 8 but that’s largely bc I’ve rarely had as much fun watching a movie. Playful, witty, laugh-out-loud, a freaky mix of sorority slasher, haunted house, and demonic possession. Smart in how it reads the audience and twists our expectations. Three leads have effortless chemistry, and later on when their relationship is threatened, it’s affecting, actually scary, right to the chilling last shot.

The Room!!!! So bad it became legendary.

Vampire in Brooklyn, I agree.

Raoul Ruiz’s Shattered Image (1998). Peep that shit.

Sitting at exactly 5, Sebastian Silva's Magic Magic. I really liked it when it came out

When they are still in America it's a riot - one of my favorites lines is (although it's been a while since I've seen it) is when Beatty tells Hoffman his height and walk is great in picking up women - "like a sports car" and Beatty is too tall

The songs are a riot, particularly when one finishes a line the other starts

I also like some of the nonsense Beatty spews at Adjani - "come on kid, you can't be doing this, breaking into rooms and kissing people" (or something like that)....lol

"Dog Eat Dog" (2016)

I think Spring Breakers is the only film I like under 6.

I remember getting around to Ishtar about a decade ago after years of hearing about its reputation. I wasn't that engaged by it or anything, but the hate is so overblown. As for A New Leaf, that's one of my favorites... love it so much.

Everybody Wins (1990) rated 5.1 on IMDb - it was a box office failure (made $1.3m on $19m budget) and pretty much nobody praised it besides Pauline Kael. I rate it 7/10 but like it more than that and look forward to rewatching it....

Arthur Miller's first script since The Misfits, it could even be read as him parsing his relationship with Marilyn Monroe. It was the last directed pic from Karel Reisz, and like a lot of his work as the movie progresses it makes you rethink what you've already seen. It could be studied for its mise-en-scène use of the color green or how it bucks conventions of the noir/mystery genre. I also think it speaks pretty shrewdly about our 'defense mechanisms' - as a society (legal), as people (psychologically), how we manipulate guilt in ourselves and others (religion too). Most of these characters are in one way or another corrupt or on the verge of insanity. The title is ironic, as is its portrait of America's small-town social order and institutions.

And, Nick Nolte wears a lot of great overcoats! Anybody else see this movie????

Cosmopolis (2012)
Mythica film series (2014 - 2016)
Boarding Gate (2007)
The Dragonphoenix Chronicles: Indomitable (2013)
SAGA - Curse Of The Shadow (2013)
Demonlover (2002)