The Legend of Sorrow Creek (2009) and Forgettable Movies

Sometimes when I watch a movie, I have a lot of trouble coming up with something to write about it.  Maybe I don’t completely understand the material that was presented during the movie.  Sometimes I’m so blown away by what I saw that all I can think of is “I loved it.  Loved it.  Lurrrrrrrved it.”  Other times, I’m stunned by the final moments and the ending eclipses any thoughts I had about the movie beforehand.  And that’s just on the good side of movie watching.

When it comes to bad movies, I can usually find something good to say.  That’s because even if the movie is downright terrible, it likely has a lot of interesting stuff in how terrible it is.  There are odd choices made by the film makers, or there is potential in the idea that is presented.  They simply don’t become the best movies that they can be.  But then there are the bad movies where I can’t think of anything to write.  They are forgettable movies that leave little to no impact on me.  I lose interest in them partway through the movie because they aren’t captivating.  They become background noise even though they are in the foreground of my attention.

One of the worst kind of movies is the forgettable movie.  It has absolutely zero redeemable qualities because it does not have anything that sticks in the mind of a viewer.  Everything happens and disappears from memory just as quickly.  It’s as though you never even watched the movie.  You can barely recall anything that you witnessed.  You don’t know the characters, you don’t know the story, and you don’t know any of the big beats in the story.  As a viewer, you have no idea what you just watched.  You wouldn’t be able to describe it to anyone.

A perfect example of a forgettable movie is The Legend of Sorrow Creek.  I recently watched this movie and am having a difficult time thinking of anything to say about it.  What I know happened was that some sort of ghost of a suicidal woman was terrorizing people in a remote house.  And I’m not entirely sure that was the actual story of the movie.  That is how much I have already forgotten about the movie.

A forgettable movie such as The Legend of Sorrow Creek is the worst kind of bad movie.  Why is that?  It’s because there is nothing to really say about it.  There is no meat to sink your teeth into.  When I watch a bad movie, I want to be able to discuss things about it or about bad movies in general.  If the movie is utterly unremarkable, what is there to say about it?  There is nothing.

Now, to help elaborate on my point, I’m going to look at a few of the previous entries in the Sunday “Bad” Movies and explain why they are still in my mind, or why they breathe discussion that isn’t about how forgettable the movie is.

Starcrash

This was the first movie I ever watched for the Sunday “Bad” Movies, and there are many things about it that are memorable.  First and foremost is that it is a movie made to cash in on the success of Star Wars.  Everything about it seems influenced by Star Wars.  The plot involves some smugglers helping to save a prince and stop an evil warlord type of figure from seizing control of the universe with his large spaceship.  There are laser guns, laser swords, there is a planet covered in snow, robots, and swipe edits.

Other things about Starcrash that are interesting to look at include an early appearance of David Hasselhoff, a low point in the career of Christopher Plummer, the ineptness of the movie that helps to make it charming, and the fact that it is entertaining.

Hansel and Gretel Get Baked

One thing that stood out to me about this one is the title of the movie.  The title is bad from a marketing standpoint.  Nobody would ever take a movie with this title seriously if they saw it while looking for something to watch.  It makes you think “stoner comedy involving Hansel and Gretel.”  That’s not entirely true.  It’s not a stoner comedy as much as it is a dark comedy involving drugs.  And the title, though a turn-off to people who haven’t seen it, manages to encapsulate the movie with a double meaning.  The title could be based upon the ending of the classic Hansel and Gretel tale, or it could be a joke on the drugs.  Really, it’s a little bit of both.  Even when you look beyond how entertaining the movie ended up being, the title gives enough discussion to make the movie worth the time.

Jack Frost

This one actually provided a bunch of discussion.  When I first watched it, I wrote about direct-to-video movies.  It came up again when I watched The Gingerdead Man and began thinking about movies in which a serial killer dies and gets brought back to life in some other object (in this case, a snowman).  The fact that Jack Frost has been brought up in multiple posts about different subjects should be testament enough to how it is memorable.

There are also a few things in the story of the film that are memorable too.  There’s a carrot rape, there is the moment where the snowman gets melted with hair dryers, and there is an early appearance by Shannon Elizabeth.  That last one is not part of the story but it is still worth noting.

A Nanny for Christmas

This is one of the least memorable movies in terms of story that I have ever watched for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  A nanny falls in love with the coworker of her boss.  The coworker is played by that guy from Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place who isn’t Nathan Fillion or Ryan Reynolds.  Oh, and it happens around Christmas.  That’s basically all I remember of the story.

The movie still provides more to chew on than The Legend of Sorrow Creek, however.  The cast includes Richard Ruccolo (the coworker), Emmanuelle Vaugier (the nanny), Cynthia Gibb (the boss), and Dean Cain (the boss of the boss).  That’s right.  Superman is in this movie.  Knowing the cast from some of their other work at least gives this movie a slight edge and makes me remember little bits and pieces of it.  It’s still close to being as forgettable as The Legend of Sorrow Creek, but this is a case in which the cast actually helps to save the movie a tiny amount.

Area 407

This is another almost entirely unremarkable movie that is helped by a couple of things that keep it above the unforgivable level of mediocre that The Legend of Sorrow Creek is.  First is the well done plane crash sequence.  From an inside the plane point of view, we witness what happens as the plane goes down in the unknown area.  As a viewer, you feel as helpless as the main characters.  This is helped by the found footage aspect of the movie.

The other major factor that stands out for the movie is a collection of somewhat defined characters.  As irritating as the characters are, at least you know who each person is.  This is lacking in The Legend of Sorrow Creek.

Most of the movies in the Sunday “Bad” Movies repertoire have some sort of redeemable quality that can be discussed in a post.  Most of the movies have a quality that makes them memorable.  There was nothing about The Legend of Sorrow Creek that stood out.  It was boring, it lacked anything interesting, and I almost instantly forgot everything that happened in it.  I’m lucky I was able to write anything about the movie at all in this post.

Bad movies come in all shapes and sizes.  Yet, many of them tend to show hints at things beyond just being bad.  There is the potential for a story told in a bad way to be told in another, better form.  There are things done so poorly that they teach other filmmakers about what not to do in their movies.  There are insights into the movie business.  There is effort put into effects, performances, or humor that make up for shortcomings.  The music is entertaining.  The story is entertaining.  The movie is entertaining.

The movies that lack any of this stuff are some of the worst that there are.  The movies that don’t leave any impact.  They don’t further the art form and they end up being a complete waste of time.  These movies are the ones that make watching bad movies a difficult chore sometimes.  They are the movies that give a bad name to bad movies.

There are a few notes, obviously:

• Since I mentioned the movies, I have to give the links to those posts.  Here’s the one for Starcrash.  And here’s one for Hansel and Gretel Get Baked.  He’s a link to the post for Jack Frost.  And here’s a link to the post for A Nanny for Christmas.  Finally, I’ve got a link to the post for Area 407.
• I don’t expect you to have any comments about The Legend of Sorrow Creek since it’s so forgettable.  But you may have comments on movies that you think are bad.  You can leave those below.
• The hundredth week is only two Sundays away.  I have more than one post coming for that week.  Of course, you get my post about the two Birdemic movies.  You’ll also get a retrospective about the 100 weeks.  There’s going to be two or three other posts as well.  And the poll will open for what movie I watch on the two year anniversary.  That could be any movie I watched between posts 51 and 100, excluding The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure.  I’ll rewatch one movie for the two year anniversary.
• If you have a movie you think I should watch for the Sunday “Bad” Movies, you can leave that suggestion in the comments.  Or you could contact me on Twitter and tell me there.  I take any movie suggestion under consideration when making the schedule.