Defunct annual awards show honoring the worst in film
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards logo
Awarded for
Worst in film
Country
United States
Presented by
Hastings Bad Cinema Society
First award
1978; 47 years ago (1978)
Final award
2006; 19 years ago (2006)
The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards (formerly known as theHastings Bad Cinema Society)[1] was aLos Angeles–based group of film buffs and film critics devoted to honoring the worst films of the year.
The society was founded by Mike Lancaster and Ray Wright, two formerushers who met in the late 1970s at what is now the Pacific Hastings Theater inPasadena, California (from which the society originally got its name).[2][3][4][5]
Lancaster and Wright offered the annual Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, which was a parody of theAcademy Awards. The Stinkers were similar to theGolden Raspberry Awards (the "Razzies"), which debuted four years after the Stinkers. Aside from the usual categories one might expect in an Oscarparody (Worst Picture, Worst Actor, etc.), the Stinkers offered other categories such as Worst Fake Accent,[6] Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy, Least 'Special' Special Effects and Worst On-Screen Hairstyle.[7][8] Unlike the Razzies, the Stinkers did not have an awards ceremony.[9]
The Stinkers' first ballots were handed out to the public in 1997. In the years that followed, the Razzies and Stinkers rarely agreed on a list of nominees or winners. The Stinkers initially opened their balloting to the general moviegoing public but soon discovered that most people surveyed hadn't seen many of the films on the ballot and often just voted for the person they hated the most, usually someone likeMariah Carey,[10] theSpice Girls or anyone connected with the filmGigli.[11]
In 2001 the Stinkers created100 Years, 100 Stinkers: The Worst Films of the 20th Century, a list that parodiedAFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list.[12][13] The next year the Stinkers made a special trophy of a miniature flushing toilet with film wrapped around it for comedian actorTom Green.[14] Green'sFreddy Got Fingered was nominated for seven awards and won Worst Film, Worst Sense of Direction, Worst Actor and Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy. That same year the Stinkers gave a special award toDavid Manning, the controversial Sony Pictures fictitious movie critic.[15] The Stinkers included in 2003 another special category for Worst Performance by a Child, dedicated to child actorSpencer Breslin.[16]
In 2004, the Stinkers went to a more selective way of obtaining votes. They dismantled their membership and offered ballots by invitation only to a small, select group of film geeks and critics, who had seen a majority of the films during the year.
In 2006, the Stinkers refused to nominate hotel heiressParis Hilton for her supporting role in thehorror filmHouse of Wax. Said Lancaster, "To get on the Stinkers ballot you are judged on your performance, not your tabloid persona. Anyone that would put Paris Hilton on a list of the five worst supporting actresses in 2005 didn't see a lot of movies in 2005. I could list twelve actresses who gave worse supporting performances than Paris Hilton."[4]
The next year, the Stinkers did nominate Hilton for Worst Actress for her performance in the barely releasedNational Lampoon's Pledge This!.[17]
In late January 2007, following the announcement ofthe year's winners, the Stinkers website announced it would be officially closed down after ten years on the internet.[18] On July 1, 2007, four months after the announcement of the worst of 2006 winners, the site was taken down.[citation needed]
