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For the most part, the last six years have been a great time for cinema. From genre-defining masterpieces like Dune: Part Two to Oscar-winning indie darlings like Everything Everywhere All At Once, the 2020s as a whole have offered some exceptional cinematic achievements. From 2021 until the present, however, there have also been some truly awful movies; shameful disasters that give the art form a bad name and prove that not just anyone deserves to be given the budget to make a motion picture. There are many reasons why a film could be awful, from clunky artistic direction to a poorly-written script, and the worst of the worst of the last six years checks all of those boxes and many more.
Some awful movies are even worse than others, however. As such, every year of the last six years has had an awful film that stands out above all the others as the bottom of the barrel of that year. From so-bad-they’re-good cult classics like War of the Worlds to embarrassing streaming originals like Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate, these films show just how unexciting, unappealing, unfunny, and uninteresting movies can be when done without any true semblance of passion or artistic competence.
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2021: ‘2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus’
Not many people have watched the English-language German film 2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus. Good. It really should stay that way. There are plenty of Christian films that are legitimately strong movies made by a team of creatives who clearly knew what they were doing, but this? It’s far and away one of the worst movies of the last 25 years, a beyond-incompetent disaster made by people who probably had never seen a single movie before in their lives. It’s a Christian persecution fantasy with zero artistic value, barely any semblance of a plot, and politics so confused that they’re almost dizzying.
All of this could perhaps be forgiven if 2025: The World Enslaved by a Virus were at least funny, but this is one of those instances of a movie being so bad that there isn’t even any ironic humor to find in it at all. Stupidly written, visually appalling, and complete with some of the worst acting that cinema has seen at any point during the 21st century, it’s entirely incompetent dystopian fiction that has nothing to offer beyond conspiracy theories that can be taken down with so much as a puff of wind.
5
2022: ‘Morbius’
Morbius is one of the saddest instances of a box office disappointment of the 2020s as a whole. Released by Sony in April, the film was a financial whimper that nevertheless became the target of countless memes mocking it on social media. Sony took this as a sign that they had a so-bad-it’s-good classic on their hands and decided to re-release the film in theaters in June, only for it to bomb a second time. This failure was entirely deserved, too: This complete mockery of the cinematic medium doesn’t even have the decency to be terrible enough to become a cult classic.
Instead, Morbius‘ biggest sin is that it’s boring. Complete with terrible performances, ugly visuals, one of the worst post-credits scenes of any movie, and a poorly-plotted story that’s nothing short of nonsensical, it’s everything that a comic book film should aim not to be in this post-Infinity Saga era of the genre. There’s no life, no heart, and no humor in this irredeemable slog, only CGI noise that doesn’t lead anywhere interesting or even remotely entertaining.
4
2023: ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’
Though some may call it divisive, Robert Rodriguez‘ Spy Kids franchise at least offered three iconic installments that many cinephiles hold as fond cinematic memories of their childhood. The franchise was never the same again, reaching its most abysmal point to date with the fifth main installment in the series, Spy Kids: Armageddon. Though a little more than half of critics on Rotten Tomatoes liked it well enough, earning it a 55% score on the Tomatometer, its 4.3/10 rating on IMDb and 1.7/5 rating on Letterboxd make it one of the lowest-rated movies of the decade on both platforms.
It’s no wonder this family spy romp was as much of a flop with general audiences as it was. The smallest members of the family are bount to find at least a few redeeming qualities to have some fun with it, but anyone over the age of 10 is going to inevitably have a difficult time with this trite, poorly-written cheesefest. Bad performances, terrible visuals, poorly-shot action, and no semblance of a sense of excitement whatsoever all make this the worst possible thing to play on the family TV on a Saturday night.
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2024: ‘Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate’
Back when it originally came out in 2010, Megamind didn’t receive much fanfare, even though it performed well financially. It was in the years following its release that it slowly started to grow more and more of a cult following, becoming one of the most beloved standalone DreamWorks movies ever. With this gradual cult resurgence, Peacock saw dollar signs. As a pilot to their series Megamind Rules!, the streaming platform ordered DreamWorks Animation Television to produce Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate, which is now the lowest-rated film of the decade thus far on Letterboxd.
By no means is this level of hate an exaggeration, but rather a fully-deserved reception for what’s essentially a visually atrocious, poorly written, shoddily directed cashgrab. Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is both an insult to fans of the original (who had been begging for a proper sequel for years) and an affront to the animated medium itself, a complete misfire without a single aspect worthy of even the slightest of praise. The animation? Awful. The humor? Awful. The voice acting? Awful. The story? Awful. There’s virtually nothing here for anyone who enjoys movies that actually have something of value to offer.
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2025: ‘War of the Worlds’
Typically, it takes some time for a terrible movie to start garnering a cult following with an ironic appreciation of it, eventually cementing itself as a so-bad-it’s-good disasterpiece. Such wasn’t the case with War of the Worlds. From the very moment it came out, this screenlife contemporary adaptation of H. G. Wells‘ 1898 literary sci-fi classic (if one can even call it an adaptation) immediately grew a reputation as one of the most hilariously awful movies of the decade.
Not only does War of the Worlds live up to the hype: It’s even worse than anyone who hasn’t actually seen it could possibly imagine, the sort of cinematic catastrophe that must be seen to be believed. It’s easily one of the worst movies of the last 40 years, with some of the most shameless production placement, awful acting, and dull writing that the modern cinematic landscape has ever seen. When done right, screenlife thrillers can be irresistibly entertaining, but there was virtually nothing in War of the Worlds that was actually done right.
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2026: ‘Mercy’
So far, 2026 has been a relatively good year for thrillers, but by no means does that imply that there haven’t been some duds. Case in point: Mercy, which came out at what’s probably the worst-ever time to release a sci-fi thriller that’s overtly and shamelessly in favor of Artificial Intelligence. Placing Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson in a position where they have zero chance to deliver anything of value or leverage any of their skill, it’s a film that (somewhat admirably) manages to mix bad politics, horrible aesthetics, and poor writing in equal measure.
There’s nothing original here, nothing fresh or exciting, nothing that delivers any kind of impact that will last beyond the credits. Mercy is more of a cheap knock-off of the infinitely better sci-fi thriller that was Minority Report, without any of the creativity, stakes, or heart. It’s emotionally shallow, narratively nonsensical, and way too ambitious for its own good. This year has offered some pretty awful movies, but so far, none have sunk as low as Mercy.
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https://collider.com/worst-movies-every-year-2021-2026/
Diego Pineda Pacheco
Almontather Rassoul
