On Friday night, I was treated to a delectable film viewing experience. Along with a handful of friends and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon, I watched one of the most reviled science fiction sequels of all time: Highlander II: The Quickening.

However, after experiencing all the laughter and mirth that was the result of this hilariously inept film, I was forced to take a step back and ask the question, “Why do we watch movies like Highlander II?”

This is as much a personal question as it is a query for all you purveyors of trash cinema out there. I can’t deny that I find a perverse enjoyment in watching films fall apart before my eyes. There’s a reason that I’m tempted to see a film like Season of the Witch even though I know my $11.25 will be wasted in the process. In fact, there’s a reason I’m drawn out to the cinema every time a new Nic Cage film hits theatres and that I have never regretted the decision to see his wondrously awful Knowing on opening night back in 2009. The reason is that the movie culture I belong to loves to watch a good bad movie.

But why do we find enjoyment in some bad movies and not others? Why is there little to no enjoyment to be had in movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or Patch Adams, but plenty from the likes of Batman & Robin, the films of Uwe Boll, or everyone’s current crown-jewel, The Room.

Ambition and self-importance seem to be large factors in determining a great bad movie. The Room is hilarious because it tries so hard to be a melodrama with the passion of Tennessee Williams and because director/writer/star Tommy Wiseau was convinced he was making a masterpiece.

Here in Saskatoon, we’ve experienced firsthand the current movement towards trash cinema. Bad Monsters Films’ Midnight Madness screenings at the Broadway Theatre have done much to bring out bad movie lovers all across town. Their monthly screenings of schlock cinema are some of the best times to be had on a Friday night in this Paris of the prairies. But for all their fun, what does it say about a film community when a double feature of Nightmare at Shadow Woods and H.O.T.S. can bring out 150 people and the recent Palme d’Ore winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives only brings out 15?

I can’t deny that I find a perverse enjoyment in watching films fall apart before my eyes. There’s a reason that I’m tempted to see a film like Season of the Witch even though I know my $11.25 will be wasted in the process.

As a film-going culture, have we lost our taste? Are we only capable of mocking and laughing at movies for their flaws instead of celebrating their virtues? Has the ever-increasing access to cult films spoiled our appreciation for prestige films? Has the grind house supplanted the art house? Or perhaps the questions I’m asking are of little importance.

Surely, the grind house can coexist alongside the art house; one need not overtake the other, right? Ideally, that should be true. But we increasingly live in a culture of extremes and excess, and the film-goer who appreciates a Mike Leigh film along with 1970s Italian horror movies is becoming harder to find. That’s not to say that kind of film-goer doesn’t exist, but modern movie lovers are more and more becoming cult movie lovers. If all a person watches are bad movies, how long before that person can no longer distinguish between a good movie and a bad movie?

There’s a reason I haven’t attempted to answer most of the questions I’ve raised in this article. The main reason is that I don’t know the answer. I’ve only recently become aware of a propensity within myself, and those around me, to gravitate towards trash cinema, and I believe it’s time for a little reflection as to why we do so. For all the enjoyment that a bad movie brings, I suspect there’s something wrong with a film-going culture that actively seeks out trashy films.

There’s nothing wrong with guilty pleasures or enjoying a bad movie once in a while, but I fear we’ve entered a time when a self-professed cinephile would rather watch The Room than Citizen Kane. If that’s the case, I think we need to take a step back and seriously rethink why we watch movies, because the day The Room is chosen over Citizen Kane is a sad day for the movies.