There are always an abundance of average and forgettable films released every year, but it seems this year there were more films than ever that were far worse than this. These were films that truly got under my skin as watching them was an excruciating, laborious experience that left a vile and bitter taste in the mouth. Most of these films were not just middle-of-the-road, forgettable and average, they were made with the most nasty, cynical and hateful intentions and were a true insult to cinema.

As there were so many of these hideous films this year a simple top (well bottom) ten didn’t seem enough, so I have decided to go for fifteen. However I have to admit it was very difficult putting numbers 1 – 6 in any kind of order as they were all equally hideous. I have of course not seen all films this year and there may well be even more in this league, but of the films I have seen this year, I would implore anyone yet to see any of these fifteen crimes against cinema to give them a very wide, eternal berth.

15. Fifty Shades of Grey

Though turning the dreadful book into a good film would have been a minor miracle, the most depressing fact is that it doesn’t matter how good or bad the film was ever going to be; it was destined to make a lot of money. Though it is admittedly very well put together by director Sam Taylor-Johnson and her crew (especially the cinematography), the dialogue and story is so bad that it actually bypasses being potentially the unintentional comedy of the year and is a painfully dull and often cringe worthy film that is about as erotic as dust.

To read my full review, click here

14. Outcast

Oh Nicholas Cage! When you are being acted off the screen by Hayden Christensen it is not a good sign of where one’s career is heading! Outcast takes a painfully generic story, tells it very badly with hideously clunky dialogue and throws in some poorly put together fight sequences. Christensen is of course poor, but at least tries, while Cage’s angry (sort of) English accent has to be seen to be believed and proves that he really will turn up in anything and not even try to be good!

To read my full review, click here

13. Age of Kill

There are straight to DVD action B movies released on a weekly basis, but this low budget British effort has to be one of the worst for a long time. It naturally looks cheap, is told very badly, often borders on being racist and the performances are abysmal, but worst of all; we are supposed to be surprised when the true identity of the bad guy is ‘revealed’! Someone should have told the makers of this rubbish that they have chosen an actor with a distinctive voice, and so perhaps may want to disguise his voice a bit better!

To read my full review, click here

12. Hot Tub Time Machine 2

The original was no masterpiece, but watchable enough, however I do not believe anyone ever demanding or expecting a sequel. John Cusack looked bored in the first one but could not even be bothered with this abysmal sequel. The overacting cast are irritating, lowest-common-denominator script never funny and the writers seemingly making the plot and general rules of time travel up as they go along is insulting to the intelligence of all sentient beings.

To read my full review, click here

11. Insidious 3

After Saw, it seems Insidious may be yet another James Wan film that spawns countless sequels. There is admittedly plenty that can be done with the initial concept, but this third instalment and attempted prequel is a turgid effort and is just 90 minutes with no thrills or scares, no interesting characters and a story that is very poorly put together. I never reviewed it because giving up 90 minutes of my life to watch this pointless nonsense was more than enough time wasted.

10. Pitch Perfect 2

I will happily admit that for all its incredible cheesiness and predictability, I did enjoy Pitch Perfect. No one quite expected it to do as well as it did, and of course big profits spawn sequels. Big profits also spawn extreme laziness and complacency, and this hideously cynical sequel lacks any of the first film’s charm and pretty much has no plot with just random scenes and subplots thrown together with no due care and attention. The comedy is non-existent and even the dance sequences lack any real flair. Even the cast look bored, making me think that their inclusion was simply contractual.

To read my full review, click here

9. The Interview

What is the most depressing thing about all the huge controversy this film caused is that if anyone had bothered to see this film first and realised just how bad it is, they would have realised there was nothing to get annoyed about. The most controversial thing is that producers keep on giving the greenlight to these lowest-common-denominator stoner comedies where everyone involved seems to think that extreme overacting and being as crude as humanly possible counts as comedy.

To read my full review, click here

8. Pixels

Any film with Adam Sandler that comes out these days seems to emerge as a contender for worst film of the year, but the reasons why Pixels is on this list is more than just down to Sandler. He is of course very poor in this film (as are the rest of the cast – even Sean Bean!), but what is even worse is how everyone involved managed to mess up a great concept so spectacularly. The comedy itself is non-existent, but amateurish is an understatement at describing just how badly the actual plot is put together.

To read my full review, click here

7. Ted 2

After the dreadfully unfunny mess that was A Million Ways to die in the West confirmed Seth MacFarlane needs to stick to voice acting, he decided to go back to more familiar territory with his swearing teddy bear. However it is also still sadly familiar territory for the rest of us as MacFarlane still seems to have absolutely no understanding of feature length narrative structure, while his ‘comedy’ still consists of juvenile, puerile and childish humour.

To read my full review, click here

6. Entourage: The Movie

One of the fundamentals of the structure of a feature length narrative predominantly involves some kind of morality tale or character arc, well there is not even an attempt at that in Entourage: The Movie, and its central characters are actually in desperate need of this. Instead we are given a film that shares the misogynistic, shallow, greedy and quite frankly repugnant ideologies of its main characters and seems to think this is what all people should aspire to. If there were ever a film that were an insight into the vilest facets of human nature, it would be this, but the most vomit inducing thing is this film only seems to promote these.

To read my full review, click here

5. Seventh Son

Yet another fantasy action film made from a book, and it has as its basis a very generic and formulaic narrative. Of course if done well this can provide the platform to immensely enjoyable, thrilling and emotionally involving action romps. Or, it can produce Seventh Son, which just gets everything wrong in a very laughable way, even the cast of good actors embarrass themselves, meanwhile the less said about Jeff Bridges’ Gandalf impression the better!

To read my full review, click here

4. Mortdecai

Johnny Depp continues to set increasingly low standards for himself, but his Charles Mortdecai is surely his most offensively bad creation yet! His supposedly ‘loveable rogue’ is a lazy caricature that has as much charm and charisma as a rubbish dump, and watching this is film and its flat script and plot is a more unpleasant experience than visiting one. Even Paul Bettany cannot save this detritus of a film.

To read my full review, click here

3. Get Hard

Though the ideologies behind Entourage: The Movie are rather vile, the ones behind Get Hard are enough to make even the most tolerant and patient individual lose faith in all humanity. This could have been good if done well and with an element of satirical intelligence, but instead all the lazy gags are based on racist and homophobic stereotypes and put together with horrid cynicism. This is putrid filmmaking of the nastiest kind.

To read my full review, click here

2. Hot Pursuit

On paper this should have been a solid genre piece; a generic, tried-and-tested narrative starring two very likeable actresses who have previously proved they can have good comic timing. However, crucially no one bothered to put any effort into the script, and instead we get 90 hideously unfunny minutes of offensive stereotyping of both genders, a lazy and episodic plot of dull set pieces and irritating overacting.

To read my full review, click here

1.Unfinished Business

A worst of the year list would not be complete without an entry starring the one and only Vince Vaughan, and his latest shameful effort has to go down as one of his very worst yet, but what is most disappointing is that he has managed to drag the usually exceptional Tom Wilkinson down to the dark depths of his level. The dead-eyed Vaughan gives his usual bland, comatose performance, while the ‘humour’ of this supposed ‘best business trip ever’ involves the usual lowest common denominator humour of repeating gags that are not funny at the first time of use and of course crude humour. What the usually likeable Nick Frost does with his genitalia is not only a new low for his career, but sums up the level of humour and creative standard of the entire film.

To read my full review, click here

Other (dis)honourable mentions: Assassin, Hitman: Agent 47 (review), The Gunman (review), Fantastic Four (review), Automata (review), Focus (review), Taken 3 (review), Poltergeist