2022 has been a pretty good year for movies overall, thanks to such critical and commercial successes as Top Gun: Maverick, Nope, and The Batman. But as is always the case, there have been a fair few stinkers too and it might be that you have had the misfortune to see more than a few of them.
Bringing together voices from our diverse team, hailing across all continents from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe, TheReviewGeek team reveal their worst picks for 2022 below. Do you agree with our choices? Or are there any other movies that you think should have been added to this list? Let us know in the comments below!
Hocus Pocus 2
The original Hocus Pocus didn’t get a lot of good reviews on its release, hence the 38% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But many audience members disagreed with reviewers and the movie gained a large following as a consequence. This is probably the reason why, almost 30 years after the first movie made its debut, a sequel eventually made its way to our screens.
The plot of Hocus Pocus 2, in which two teenage girls accidentally bring the Sanderson Sisters back to Salem, is not too dissimilar to that of the first movie. This is partly the problem with this unenchanting sequel as originality is nowhere to be seen and comedy manages to be elusive also.
The movie isn’t badly made, however, so it’s not as disposable as some of the clunkers on this list. But as it failed to impress many fans of the first movie as well as critics this time around, it can still be considered more trick than treat!
Men
In Alex Garland’s bizarre horror thriller, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) goes on a rural getaway to heal after the death of her husband. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get the peace and quiet she is craving as she is plagued at every turn by various men, each of whom played by Rory Kinnear. Each man is as toxic as the last and in their own way, they demonstrate the types of behaviour that have long put women down.
Now, the concept of this movie isn’t bad. The movie is ostensibly about the experience of women the world over and its themes are presented in a sometimes disturbing way. But the final result just falls flat! After a fairly decent opening where Garland creates a real sense of unease, the movie just goes nowhere.
It repeatedly hammers home the message that men are bad (although this message is clearly a major generalisation) without telling a decent story and the abstract narrative leads up to an unsatisfying conclusion. We called it a “pretentious, farcical movie with very little substance” in our review and if you have seen this movie yourself, it might be that you agree with our statement.
Prey For the Devil
There are hundreds of exorcism movies in existence but very few of them are as powerful or as scary as William Friedkin’s 1973 classic The Exorcist. In the majority of cases, most of these movies are utterly terrible but there are some that have managed to impress, including Daniel Stamm’s found footage movie The Last Exorcism. Admittedly, it pales in comparison to the aforementioned masterpiece but it’s suitably chilling at times with a reasonably satisfying payoff.
Stamm returns to the exorcism genre with Prey For the Devil, which tells the story of a nun who battles to save the soul of a young girl who has been possessed by a demon. The movie is similar to The Exorcist in this regard although there are twists in the tale that prevent it from being a copy of that horror gem. Sadly, these twists don’t equate to a good movie as the whole thing is a massive disappointment.
It’s not particularly scary for starters – a sin of any horror movie – and with a script that induces more yawns than screams, you will be praying for the film to end long before the final credits start to roll.
After Ever Happy
The terrible title is the least of this insipid movie’s problems! This is the fourth in the ‘After’ series and it’s just as bad as the other entries, with its badly-written characters, barebones plotline, and lack of emotional depth.
If you want to see a movie where two people fall in and out of love and endlessly bicker over almost the entire runtime, then fine. But if you’re looking for character development and a reason to stay invested in the relationship between Tessa (Josephine Langford) and Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), the feuding lovers at the core of this ugly tale, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
The ‘After’ movies are based on a series of erotic novels by Anna Todd, the first of which was released on Wattpad as a piece of fanfiction centring around Harry Styles! I don’t know how the narrative of her original story played out but on the basis of the movies I have seen within the After franchise (which, to my shame is all of them), I presume there was a lot of sex and arguing!
This really is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, enjoyed only by undemanding teens and fans of its two stars. A fifth entry – After Everything – is on the way. It’s supposed to be the last movie in the series which will certainly be good news for completionists who have stuck with the franchise, despite its many shortcomings.
The Next 365 Days
The Next 365 Days is the third of another terrible movie franchise that has somehow proven to be popular with certain audience members, despite the avalanche of negative reviews that have been written after each successive entry.
The movies follow the relationship between dominant Sicilian man Massimo, and Laura, a young Warsaw woman who (in the first movie) is kidnapped by the toxic brute because he wants her to fall in love with him. Not a great start to a relationship, I’m sure you’ll agree.
It can be assumed that people only come to these movies for the sex scenes, which are certainly plentiful. But those looking for relatable characters, interesting plot developments, and an emotionally engaging story are going to be left wanting. This is especially true with this third movie which is the worst of the series so far and quite possibly the worst movie of 2022 overall.
Thankfully, this is supposed to be the last movie in this tepid franchise so if you have been held captive by somebody trying to make you fall in love with the ‘365’ saga, you won’t have to worry about another instalment.
The Nan Movie
Catherine Tate’s iconic Nan character made her way to the big screen this year but we wish she hadn’t bothered. She was amusing to watch in five-minute bursts on Tate’s television show but at feature-length, her endless cackling, swearing, and overall rudeness eventually becomes grating. The comedy is strictly low-brow although calling this nonsensical farce a “comedy” is a bit of an over-statement as unless you find the sight of an old woman farting in her adult grandson’s face to be the height of comic hilarity, there is nothing funny here.
Tate can be funny, as evidenced by her turn as Donna Noble in Doctor Who, but this movie is far beneath her talents. She only has herself to blame as she was one of the writers on this crude effort that was later disowned by its director, Josie Rourke.
Even fans of the sweary pensioner will find little to like here as not only is the script devoid of laughs but it doesn’t tell a very good story either. The concept is certainly promising – Nan embarks on a road trip with her grandson to visit her dying sister – but after watching her journey, you’ll regret going along for the ride!
Sex Appeal
There have been quite a few teen comedies/romances released over the past year but very few of them have been very good. Still, hopes were high for Sex Appeal as the story hinged on one high-school girl’s journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening rather than being yet another “getting the guy” type-tale.
Unfortunately, the finished product fails to deliver. Avery, the main character at the heart of the movie, isn’t particularly relatable and neither are the other characters around her, including Larson (Jake Short) who becomes the test subject for an app she creates to help her reach sexual gratification.
This is just one of the movie’s problems but there are many others, including an unfunny script, cringe-worthy dialogue, and a lack of anything new to say, despite it’s attempts to be ‘progressive.’ Watch Sex Education instead if you want a funny and insightful look at teenagers getting to grips with sex and their sexual identities.
Last Seen Alive
Gerard Butler is a pretty good actor but he doesn’t always pick decent movies to star in. You will likely agree with this statement if you have seen The Bounty Hunter, London Has Fallen, and Geostorm. And if you have seen Last Seen Alive, which is probably his worst movie to date, you will also be inclined to agree.
The story has potential – Butler plays a man who searches for his wife after she goes missing at a gas station. But sadly, his wife isn’t the only one to go missing as plot logic has also disappeared from this nonsensical movie. The twists and turns in the story are as ridiculous as the dialogue that the actors are forced to speak and there is no suspense whatsoever. It’s scuppered further by the bad direction and wooden performances from the cast.
There are far better movies of this sort – Breakdown and Prisoners being two of them – so your time would be better spent with those, even if you have seen them before, as Last Seen Alive isn’t a movie that deserves to be found.
Moonfall
Roland Emmerich’s movies are rarely very smart but they are usually fun to watch. Whether it’s Will Smith facing off against an army of aliens or Dennis Quaid battling the freezing cold of the ice age, we can usually be guaranteed a good time, even if the majority of Emmerich’s movies revolve around the potential extinction of the human race.
The end of the world is nigh once again in Moonfall as the plot revolves around the moon which has somehow fallen out of orbit. This is the catalyst for a series of natural disasters that our protagonists have to go up against. But if you’re expecting awe-inspiring special effects and a few exciting action scenes, you are going to be disappointed.
This time around, the CGI is extremely poor and there is nothing to get the pulse racing as astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) fly out into space to save us. The ridiculous twist towards the end of the movie is just as dumb as the rest of this movie’s plotting so this really is, in every sense of the term, a disaster movie!
Morbius
Morbius suffered several delays on the way to the big screen but hopes were still high that the finished movie would be at least halfway entertaining. Sadly, all hopes were dashed when it finally landed in theatres as this latest movie in the Spidey-verse was just as disappointing as 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, if not more so. There was potential for a dark comic book tale that mixed superheroic action with a dose of gothic horror but what we received was a surprisingly bland movie that failed to deliver on almost every level.
Jared Leto stars as the half-human half-vampire antihero of the title and to his credit, he does the best with the poorly-written material that he has been given. Matt Smith also gives a pretty good turn as the flamboyantly sinister villain of the piece but like Leto, he is let down by the illogical plotting, cringe-worthy dialogue, and badly-edited set-pieces. Is this the worst Marvel movie ever made?
When compared to such flops as 2015’s Fantastic Four and 2020’s The New Mutants, probably not. But it still sucks so this can’t really be recommended, unless you’re happy to sit through 103 minutes of utter drivel.
So, there we have it, our picks for the worst movies of 2022! Let us know what you think of our choices in the comments below and remind us of any other bad movies that deserve a dishonorable mention.