ONTD Original: Terrible movies with great soundtracks
Sometimes, as the title implies, an awful movie ends up with a confusingly good soundtrack. Maybe the director/producer had connections. Perhaps it was a big-budget movie that had the ca$h to blow on the rights to use the music, but the movie itself was butchered in post. Or they used black magic. Who knows.
However it happened, these soundtracks still slap, even if the film flopped.
For this post I had two criteria:
1) A soundtrack, not a score. The list would have been endless otherwise.
2) The movie made me feel like I lost precious hours of my life that I would never get back.
Put on your headphones on and let’s dive in, shall we?
TWILIGHT SERIES
The UR example. The one everyone thinks of. How in the world did this pile of garbage get Muse, Paramore, The Killers, Florence Welch, freakin’ Bruno Mars on the soundtracks?
We know author Stephenie Meyer is a fan of Muse, yet it seemed rather unlikely (at the time,) that they would feature in a film about sparkling vampires who stalk high school girls. But against all odds, the soundtracks ended up being the best part of this series of movies. Along with the memes. So many memes.
Listen:
[Videos (& more examples under here)]
Muse- Supermasive Black Hole
Paramore - Decode
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
If you were a nerdy, misfit teen in the early 00s, you know as well as I do that this soundtrack blew your whole world. The film itself? Look other than Aaliyah being the sexual awakening for many of us bisexuals and lesbians, this movie should be damned to hell.
Many of the songs were written by Jonathan Davis of Korn fame, and performed by some of the biggest names in the alt music world: David Draiman of Disturbed, Chester Bennington (RIP) of Linkin Park, Wayne Static of Static-X, and more.
Listen:
David Draiman - Forsaken
Jay Gordon - Slept So Long
UNDERWORLD SERIES
Here we have another series about vampires and/or werewolves. Is there something about the fantasy genre that just creates good soundtracks? Because I don’t remember what these movies are about, nor do I know anyone who saw the latest one.
But I do remember two things: one, that it proved to my friends that I have questionable taste in men, and two, the soundtrack is basically a poster for every metal/alt festival that exists. I'm particularly fond of the 2nd and 3rd movie's soundtracks.
Listen:
Combichrist - Today We Are All Demons (Beneath the World mix)
Lacuna Coil - Our Truth
MARIE ANTOINETTE
I know. I KNOW. Don’t come for me. I actually love this movie, but we must all admit that it’s basically a 123 minute Vogue spread. There’s an entire scene just about trying on shoes and looking at fabric! Who knows how big the costume budget was for this movie, because every two minutes they’re wearing something new!
(I tried looking it up, but couldn't find specifics. I'm going to say it was a LOT because Manolo designed shoes for the film.)
The soundtrack itself mixes modern music with classical pieces, supposedly to make modern audiences understand how Marie was a young, frivolous teen just like the rest of us were.
Anyways bring back the guillotine.
Peep the whole "I Want Candy" shopping scene:
SUCKER PUNCH
This movie was so bad I had erased it from my memory until I asked a friend what movies she thought had good soundtracks.
Unfortunately I paid to see this in theaters.
According to Wikipedia, Oscar Isaac is in it.
Honestly I have nothing to say about this movie. I almost didn't put it in.
Listen:
Emily Browning - Sweet Dreams
WATCHMEN
OK, some people really liked this movie. It’s technically certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critic score of 65% and viewer score of 71%. Based on the best-selling graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen let Zack Snyder do what he does best: make things dark and gritty. Except he kind of played it straight, like it was an action movie, which was not at all the point of the graphic novel.
It also gave us a really awkward sofa sex scene between Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson with Leonard Cohen’s version of “Hallelujah” playing. So uncomfortable. I don’t have the words to describe how I think this movie fed into inc*l culture, but I’m sure plenty of you know a lot of self-proclaimed geeks, nerds and generally socially inept misogynist men who idolized Rorschach. The “whores and politicians” speech seems to be a running favourite.
Listen:
Honestly the whole soundtrack is worth it. But let's go with two.
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee
My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row
SRCS: 1 | 2 | 3
4 | 5 | 6
7 | 8 | 9 | 10
11 | 12 & song
13 | 14
15 | 16 | 17
+ my brain
What movies do you think I should have added, ONTD?
However it happened, these soundtracks still slap, even if the film flopped.
For this post I had two criteria:
1) A soundtrack, not a score. The list would have been endless otherwise.
2) The movie made me feel like I lost precious hours of my life that I would never get back.
Put on your headphones on and let’s dive in, shall we?
TWILIGHT SERIES
The UR example. The one everyone thinks of. How in the world did this pile of garbage get Muse, Paramore, The Killers, Florence Welch, freakin’ Bruno Mars on the soundtracks?
We know author Stephenie Meyer is a fan of Muse, yet it seemed rather unlikely (at the time,) that they would feature in a film about sparkling vampires who stalk high school girls. But against all odds, the soundtracks ended up being the best part of this series of movies. Along with the memes. So many memes.
Listen:
[Videos (& more examples under here)]
Muse- Supermasive Black Hole
Click to viewParamore - Decode
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
If you were a nerdy, misfit teen in the early 00s, you know as well as I do that this soundtrack blew your whole world. The film itself? Look other than Aaliyah being the sexual awakening for many of us bisexuals and lesbians, this movie should be damned to hell.
Many of the songs were written by Jonathan Davis of Korn fame, and performed by some of the biggest names in the alt music world: David Draiman of Disturbed, Chester Bennington (RIP) of Linkin Park, Wayne Static of Static-X, and more.
Listen:
David Draiman - Forsaken
Jay Gordon - Slept So Long
UNDERWORLD SERIES
Here we have another series about vampires and/or werewolves. Is there something about the fantasy genre that just creates good soundtracks? Because I don’t remember what these movies are about, nor do I know anyone who saw the latest one.
But I do remember two things: one, that it proved to my friends that I have questionable taste in men, and two, the soundtrack is basically a poster for every metal/alt festival that exists. I'm particularly fond of the 2nd and 3rd movie's soundtracks.
Listen:
Combichrist - Today We Are All Demons (Beneath the World mix)
Lacuna Coil - Our Truth
MARIE ANTOINETTE
I know. I KNOW. Don’t come for me. I actually love this movie, but we must all admit that it’s basically a 123 minute Vogue spread. There’s an entire scene just about trying on shoes and looking at fabric! Who knows how big the costume budget was for this movie, because every two minutes they’re wearing something new!
(I tried looking it up, but couldn't find specifics. I'm going to say it was a LOT because Manolo designed shoes for the film.)
The soundtrack itself mixes modern music with classical pieces, supposedly to make modern audiences understand how Marie was a young, frivolous teen just like the rest of us were.
Anyways bring back the guillotine.
Peep the whole "I Want Candy" shopping scene:
SUCKER PUNCH
This movie was so bad I had erased it from my memory until I asked a friend what movies she thought had good soundtracks.
Unfortunately I paid to see this in theaters.
According to Wikipedia, Oscar Isaac is in it.
Honestly I have nothing to say about this movie. I almost didn't put it in.
Listen:
Emily Browning - Sweet Dreams
WATCHMEN
OK, some people really liked this movie. It’s technically certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critic score of 65% and viewer score of 71%. Based on the best-selling graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen let Zack Snyder do what he does best: make things dark and gritty. Except he kind of played it straight, like it was an action movie, which was not at all the point of the graphic novel.
It also gave us a really awkward sofa sex scene between Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson with Leonard Cohen’s version of “Hallelujah” playing. So uncomfortable. I don’t have the words to describe how I think this movie fed into inc*l culture, but I’m sure plenty of you know a lot of self-proclaimed geeks, nerds and generally socially inept misogynist men who idolized Rorschach. The “whores and politicians” speech seems to be a running favourite.
Listen:
Honestly the whole soundtrack is worth it. But let's go with two.
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee
My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row
SRCS: 1 | 2 | 3
4 | 5 | 6
7 | 8 | 9 | 10
11 | 12 & song
13 | 14
15 | 16 | 17
+ my brain
What movies do you think I should have added, ONTD?