Updated June 15, 2019 24.5k votes 4.9k voters 411.9k views
Voting Rules
Movies adapted from video games themselves, not just movies about video games. Resident Evil is welcome here, but not Wreck-It Ralph
If the old adage about history tending to repeat itself holds true, then the video game movie forecast looks grim to say the least. Though there are many films based on video games, the God’s honest truth is that we have simply never had a single great video game movie. Not even one. There have been attempts, but Hollywood just hasn't nailed it yet, as this list of bad video game movies will show you. So what are the worst video game movies?
If you think about the sheer probability of it all, it just doesn’t add up. There have been well over 50 video game movies that have hit theatrical release internationally, and while certain countries like Japan have amassed a secret stash of surprisingly decent exports like their adaptation of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, an odd statistical truth becomes apparent. You’d think with so many hands on so many projects, at least one would rise to the top and be great. One that would give us hope that maybe, just maybe, video games can translate well into films. We don't need Neo here, just something to renew the faith.
With that being said, we might as well revel in the slop that we’ve been given to work with until a good video game movie comes along. While it’s really not saying much to call a video game movie bad, there are some so blatantly awful that they rise to the top — or the bottom — and stand out as especially heinous examples. From Super Mario Bros. to whoever thought Need for Speed was a good movie idea, these are some real terrible films.
This list ranks the absolute worst, most cringeworthy, and offensively off the rails video game movies of all time. Vote up the bad video game films you hate the most below and, if you feel differently, see how they rank among the best video game movies of all time.
The first Mortal Kombat movie was awesome. Hilariously bad, but somehow still endearing enough to make it watchable.
The 1997 followup Annihilation, however, gets no passes. Where the first movie's shoddy dialogue and terrible CGI could be rectified by some fairly entertaining action sequences, Annihilation has about zero redeeming qualities.
Directed by: John R. Leonetti
Actors: Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, James Remar, Sandra Hess, Lynn "Red" Williams
If you can square your soul away with the fact that you're knowingly watching Mario and Luigi flush 104 irretrievable minutes of your life down the nearest toilet in an attempt to make plumbing a relevant issue, then you're finally ready to talk about Super Mario Bros.
It's the golden goose of terrible video game movies, what more needs to be said? But in the loving words of LeVar Burton, "You don't have to take my word for it."
Directed by: Rocky Morton
Actors: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis, Fisher Stevens
Has Uwe Boll ever actually played a House of the Dead game? You see, the classic arcade shooter is about a spooky old mansion packed with zombie hordes to shoot. And that's about it - not a particularly exhaustive amount of ducks to keep in a row. But leave it up to the House of the Dead movie to whisk us away to haunted island for a mid-afternoon "rave" gone horribly wrong.
Why did they even bother?
Directed by: Uwe Boll
Actors: Jonathan Cherry, Tyron Leitso, Clint Howard, Ona Grauer, Ellie Cornell
Tara Reid. As a scientist. Real believable stuff there, guys.
Alone in the Dark was Uwe Boll's classically horrendous crack at ruining an otherwise beloved video game franchise. The fact that Alone is the Dark is one of those "so laughably awful that it's sort of entertaining" things is its only saving grace, and even still, those moments can be few and far between.
Directed by: Uwe Boll
Actors: Christian Slater, Tara Reid, Stephen Dorff, Frank C. Turner, Matthew Walker
Even for kids, still forming their opinions about the world of film, after a 10th or 20th screening of Double Dragon, many probably came to their senses and thought "I'm better than this."
For the sake of everyone's general well-being, it's perhaps better to just move forward in life without this terrible, terrible movie.
Directed by: James Yukich
Actors: Robert Patrick, Mark Decascos, Scott Wolf, Kristina Wagner, Julia Nickson
One of many bad video games movies from director Uwe Boll, none are quite as awful as BloodRayne. Sitting pretty with a whopping 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is truly a vicious cycle of abuse: get to a cringeworthy fight scene, wish it was over, trudge through filler until you're actually hoping for a another fight scene, fight scene arrives, rinse and repeat.
Directed by: Uwe Boll
Actors: Kristanna Loken, Michael Madsen, Michelle Rodriguez, Ben Kingsley, Udo Kier
