Australian Cinema > worst

Worst Australasian Films

See also my best film list.

Just for fun, I thought I'd list some of the 'worst' films ever made down here. Obviously, this is merely my opinion - and that of a couple of friends: I haven't even seen all of these yet. The list should perhaps include all of Garnet Mae's films, but I haven't seen any yet, and they might not be bad enough.

Ascendant (Antaine Furlong, 2021) scored 3.5 on IMDb.com
Aussie Park Boyz (Nunzio La Bianca, 2004) WA, and its sequel
Bouncer, The (Derek Hobbs, 2006) WA
Breathing Under Water (Susan Murphy Dermody, 1992)
Candy Regentag (James Ricketson, 1989) aka Kiss the Night
Cosy Cool (Gary Young, 1976)
Cubby House (Murray Fahey, 2001) actually not too bad; Belinda McClory's performance is good
Dark Lurking, The (Gregory Connors, 2010)
Daydream Believer (Kathy Mueller, 1992)
Fragment (Andrew Miles [Andrew Broughton?] 2009)
Houseboat Horror (Kendal Flanagan, Ollie Martin, 1989) thought by some to be the worst, and therefore 'so bad it's good', like Plan 9 from Outer Space
I Am Bish (Dave Bishop, Khrob Edmonds, 2009)
In the Red (Glenn Ruehland, 1999)
Intermezzo (Jasna Krsmanovic, 1999) wr. prod. Jasna Krsmanovic; starring Jasna Krsmanovic as 'Director'; IMDb score: 3.8 from 85 votes
I've Come About The Suicide (Sophia Turkiewicz, 1987)
Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse (Declan Shrubb, 2015)
Melvin Son of Alvin (John Eastway, 1984)
Outback Vampires (Colin Eggleston, 1987)
Pandemonium (Haydn Keenan, 1989)
Smoke 'Em If You've Got 'Em (Ray Boseley, 1988)
Sons of Steel (Gary L. Keady, 1989)
Subdivision (Sue Brooks, 2009)
Video Fool For Love (Robert Gibson, 1995)
Yackety Yak (Dave Jones, 1974)
Zombie Brigade (Barrie Pattison, Carmelo Musca, 1988) aka Zombie Brigade From Lizard Gully, aka Night Crawl, WA; arguably good in a moral sense


Peter Morrow has a list of 25 'worst' Australian films. It's in a very long page of 'best' films, so I may be justified in putting it here for your convenience. You should read his explanation (bottom) of how it's arrived at, as it's quite different in intention from my list above. Peter Morrow:

The Worst 25 Australian Films based on a survey of 78 Australian and International Critics and Film Websites

Somebody has to come at the bottom of the list, and these 25 rarely seen films were unlucky enough to be the ones, that drew the ire to the critics. Remember that 1 star is often the lowest rating that most critics give, though some go as low as 0, hence two films rated less than one star. There is a tie for bottom place.

800. A Dangerous Summer (1982) (Quentin Masters ) [4] 0.88
799. Plugg (1975) (Terry Bourke wr.) [4] 0.88
798. Pacific Banana (1981) (John D. Lamond) [4] 1.00
797. Melvin Son of Alvin (1984) (John Eastway) [4] 1.25
796. A Few Less Men (2017) (Mark Lamprell) [13] 1.31
795. Slate, Wyn and Me (1987) (Don McLennan) [4] 1.44
794. Back of Beyond (1995) (Michael Robertson) [6] 1.46
793. The Nun and the Bandit (1992) (Paul Cox) [4] 1.50
792. Dear Claudia (1999) (Chris Cudlipp) [8] 1.50
791. Fistful of Flies (1996) (Monica Pellizzari) [6] 1.58
790. StalkHer (2015) (John Jarratt) [5] 1.60
789. Dawn! (1979) (Ken Hannam) [4] 1.63
788. Alvin Rides Again (1974) (David Bilcock & Robin Copping) [4] 1.63
787. Street Hero (1984) (Michael Pattinson) [5] 1.70
786. Spin Out (2016) (Tim Ferguson, Marc Gracie) [10] 1.70
785. The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (2020) (Dean Murphy) [9] 1.72
784. Garbo (1992) (Rob Cobb) [4] 1.75
783. Sky Pirates (1986) (Colin Eggleston) [4] 1.75
782. Breakfast in Paris (1982) (John D. Lamond) [4] 1.75
781. The Survivor (1981) (David Hemmings) [4] 1.75
780. Touch and Go (1980) (Peter Maxwell) [4] 1.75
779. Luigi’s Ladies (1989) (Judy Morris) [6] 1.75
778. The Pirate Movie (1982) (Ken Annakin) [6] 1.75
777. Black Water: Abyss (2020) (Andrew Traucki) [5] 1.80
776. The Flip Side(2018) (Marion Pilowsky ) [8] 1.81

Peter Morrow's Notes on the Worst list:
The ‘Worst’ list is more problematic than the ‘Best’ list, due to the fact that many unsuccessful films do not even receive one review or a rating, let alone the four ratings necessary to make this list. In fact up to 1000 Australian films released in the last sixty years have not been given a rating by any of critics or websites below, and do not appear at all on this page.
There are a large number of other Aussie films which are just as bad, or even worse, than the films listed, but which did not get enough ratings to make the list. There are over 70 other films with between one and three ratings which have average ratings under 1.6 stars – check the bottom of each of the critic’s lists below and you’ll see which ones I mean. The fact that half the films on the list above only had the minimum four ratings, shows that poor films garner few ratings from critics.


Garry Gillard | New: 15 November, 2011 | Now: 18 September, 2023