If there's any decade that's becoming increasingly known for its weird kitsch, it's the 1990s. From Hammer pants and Memphis-school design at the start of the decade, to N'SYNC and nu-metal at its tail end, almost nothing that was popular in the '90s has truly remained trendy. Even now, as nostalgia for the decade reaches a fever pitch, most of the things that were most popular during the decade have fallen by the wayside in favor of less-appreciated artifacts of the time period.
With this, however, comes ironic enjoyment. While some kitschy films of the 1990s are simply regarded as awful, other failures of the decade have taken on a life of their own above and beyond what anyone expected. Some of these time capsules, while not outstandingly good in any objective sense, are a boatload of fun to revisit, if only to point and laugh.
9 Batman and Robin (1997)
In this Joel Schumacher trainwreck, Batman and Robin (naturally) find themselves fighting Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), along with their henchman, Bane. In addition, Batman uses a Bat-credit card and all the male characters have unsettlingly emphasized nipples on their costumes.
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While this film has received heat for attempting to bring a campy tone back to Batman, with nearly 30 years of distance, it's hard not to love Batman and Robin at least a little. It's overloaded with some of the worst puns known to humanity courtesy of Schwarzenegger, borderline eye-searing visuals, and absurd camp; while Val Kilmer may have passed on it, any fan of Cats or John Waters' filmography owes it to themselves to check this out.
8 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
In this sequel to the 1990 smash hit, the Ninja Turtles find themselves contending with mutants Tokka and Rahzar, in the employ of Shredder, now resurrected as Super Shredder after his fall into a trash compactor in the previous film.
There are very few intellectual properties with as wide and as bizarre of a quality curve as TMNT. Some entries, like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the 1990 film, are very well regarded and worthy of the praise they receive; others, like TMNT: The Next Mutationand the third live-action film, get absolutely annihilated by fans, and for good reason. The Secret of the Ooze occupies an odd place in the rankings, as it's by any objective standard a terrible movie, but also an undeniable cultural touchpoint for those of us of a certain age.
7 Space Jam (1996)
In this Michael Jordan vehicle, the basketball star finds himself press-ganged into an intergalactic B-ball game alongside the Looney Tunes. For the fate of the earth, he and Bugs Bunny must battle the "Monstars" on the court.
Space Jamis an utterly ridiculous movie, from its core concept up. In no way is it possible to take seriously, and its comedy doesn't really land as intended, either. However, in its sheer absurd kitsch, this movie manages to achieve a level of meme value most movies could only dream of. Very few other movies have inspired the level of Internet devotion that Space Jam has, while being as terrible as Space Jam is, and that alone demands respect.
6 Demolition Man (1993)
In this Sylvester Stallone action flick, a police officer frozen in cryogenic prison finds himself thawed out into a post-cyberpunk, hyper-sanitized future. Soon, he finds out that he was released to deal with a terrorist from his time (Wesley Snipes) causing more chaos than the peaceful world can handle.
Demolition Man is a shallow movie with ugly politics; in many ways, it directly reflects right-wing fears about "the liberals" making everything politically correct and sanitized, and that's really its only point of satire. However, if one can turn that part of their brain off, the film is honestly too ridiculous not to love. From Stallone's monosyllabic performance, to the sheer level of commitment to the bit the film displays with the hyper-PC future society, Demolition Man is more fun than it has any right to be.
5 Mars Attacks! (1996)
In this throwback to the classic 1950s alien invasion films, Mars attacks Earth to harvest human beings for experiments, exactly as it says on the tin.
Nobody truly understood Mars Attacks! when it was released; the film infamously disappointed at the box office and released to mixed-at-best critical reviews. However, over the years, the film has developed a strong cult following for its sheer sense of fun. While it's somewhat plotless (the film can more or less be summed up with its title), it's hard not to love watching the little green men rip and tear across America.
4 Hard Target (1993)
In this John Woo shoot-em-up, Jean-Claude Van Damme, poorly pretending to be a Cajun, finds himself hunted through the Louisiana backwoods by Lance Henriksen.
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Hard Target is one of the most absurd action movies ever committed to film. When one watches a John Woo film, they expect to see doves and slow-mo and bloodshed, and there's certainly plenty of that. What one does not expect is JCVD putting in an absolutely hilariously awful performance and an action sequence involving Wilford Brimley shooting explosive-tipped arrows from donkeyback while hooting incoherently in Cajun French.
3 Spice World (1997)
In this vehicle for the infamous British girl group, the Spice Girls must attempt to make it to a massive show at Royal Albert Hall. Meanwhile, a sinister tabloid owner who most definitely isn't Rupert Murdoch attempts to ruin their reputation.
There is little more defining of 1990s kitsch than the Spice Girls. While they've received some re-evaluation in recent years (partly thanks to The Boys), and Spice World along with them, it's impossible to miss that they embody everything ridiculous about the decade. Similarly, Spice World does almost everything wrong, and does it so wrong that it loops back around to hilarious camp.
2 Deep Blue Sea (1999)
In this horror film, scientists in an underwater research facility are menaced by super-intelligent sharks bred to somehow fight Alzheimer's.
There are few genuinely great horror films about sharks (Jawsbeing the obvious pull). Deep Blue Sea is decidedly not on that level. It's ridiculous, unevenly acted, and has a rap song about evil sharks over the end credits by LL Cool J. However, for all of these reasons, it's hard not to love this movie, and audiences are starting to come around to that.
1 Alien: Resurrection (1997)
In this chaotic attempt to revitalize the Alien series, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs a script by Joss Whedon involving a resurrected, cloned Ripley teaming up with mercenaries to fight off a Xenomorph infestation.
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While the film may sound standard on paper, it turns out that getting the director of Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children to make an Alien film written by the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly is a very, very odd mix. Alien: Resurrection is an almost stylistically incoherent movie at times, taking nearly every big swing Jeunet could think of. However, for that same reason, the sheer creative energy of the film is hard to deny. Resurrection deserves a resurrection in the eyes of Alien fans, even if not an entirely unironic one.
