When the trailer for War of the Worlds (2025) dropped just days before its surprise premiere on Prime Video, audiences weren’t sure what to expect. Now they know.
This low-budget, ‘screenlife‘ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic landed on 30 July and promptly made headlines – not for its innovation, but for its catastrophic reception.
With a current 0% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Rich Lee’s War of the Worlds joins a shameful pantheon of cinematic disasters.
Starring Ice Cube as a Department of Homeland Security official too distracted by digital feeds and family drama to notice an incoming alien invasion, the film combines undercooked CGI with a muddled premise and inconsistent use of its screenlife conceit. Though producer Timur Bekmambetov helped popularise the genre with hits like Unfriended and Searching, this one does neither concept nor cast any favours.
In honour of War of the Worlds’ inglorious debut, we’re counting down the 10 worst-rated films of all time (according to Rotten Tomatoes, where all of these films have a 0% rating) each with their own flavour of failure.
War of the Worlds and the worst films of all time:
1. War of the Worlds (2025)
Director: Rich Lee
Genre: Sci-fi, Screenlife Thriller
Cast: Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Michael O’Neill
Synopsis: A U.S. government analyst monitoring virtual threats is blindsided by an alien invasion. Cue meteors, tripods, and a lot of blinking lights on a monitor.
Why it bombed: Critics and audiences alike were left bewildered by its awkward framing, uneven performances, and baffling narrative choices. As reported in The Guardian, it just ‘unfolds near Will’s computer screen’ – which is as damning as it sounds.
2. Pinocchio (2002)
Director: Roberto Benigni
Genre: Fantasy, Family
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Carlo Giuffré
Synopsis: A woodcarver’s puppet creation comes to life and dreams of becoming a real boy. Yes, again.
Why it bombed: Benigni cast himself – then 50 – as the wooden boy (read that one more time), in a film that plays more like a fever dream than a children’s classic. In Rotten Tomatoes, the critics consensus is that it’s an ‘unfunny, poorly-made, creepy vanity project’.
3. Gotti (2018)
Director: Kevin Connolly
Genre: Biopic, Crime
Cast: John Travolta, Stacy Keach, Pruitt Taylor Vince
Synopsis: The life and crimes of mob boss John Gotti, from street kid to Gambino family patriarch.
Why it bombed: Gotti attempts to mimic Goodfellas but ends up more like Grease 2. Critics derided it as a hagiography dressed up in bad wigs and worse dialogue. As Rotten Tomatoes put it: ‘Fuhgeddaboudit.’
4. Left Behind (2014)
Director: Vic Armstrong
Genre: Apocalyptic Thriller
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Nicky Whelan
Synopsis: Millions vanish in a Biblical rapture, and the chaos that follows is captured mid-flight by Cage’s bewildered pilot.
Why it bombed: Boring, bleak and awkwardly preachy, it tanked both critically and commercially. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it ‘hath begat a further scourge of devastation upon Nicolas Cage’s once-proud filmography’.
5. The Ridiculous 6 (2015)
Director: Frank Coraci
Genre: Comedy, Western
Cast: Adam Sandler, Taylor Lautner, Steve Buscemi, Will Forte
Synopsis: A white man raised by Native Americans discovers he has five outlaw brothers. Together, they embark on a wildly offensive quest.
Why it bombed: Lazy, tone-deaf and tedious. Critics saw it as a symbol of Netflix’s early content bloat – offensive without provocation, dull without remorse.
6. Dark Crimes (2016)
Director: Alexandros Avranas
Genre: Crime Thriller
Cast: Jim Carrey, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas
Synopsis: A detective investigates a murder that closely resembles the plot of a novelist’s book.
Why it bombed: Carrey goes dark – too dark – in a misfire that wastes its cast and its chilling true story roots. Critics slammed its cold, joyless tone and murky execution.
7. The Nutcracker in 3D (2010)
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy
Genre: Fantasy, Musical
Cast: Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro
Synopsis: Young Mary’s Christmas takes a magical turn with a nutcracker who battles rat soldiers in a dark alternate realm.
Why it bombed: This reimagining of the classic ballet had critics aghast at its tone-deaf direction and nightmarish visuals. One RT reviewer called it ‘a war crime against holiday cheer’.
8. Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
Director: Tom Ropelewski
Genre: Family Comedy
Cast: John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Danny DeVito
Synopsis: The Ubriacco family returns, this time with talking dogs instead of babies.
Why it bombed: Devoid of charm, jokes or point, this third entry felt like a straight-to-VHS cash-in. Rotten Tomatoes put it best: ‘Look away.’ On the plus side, it gave us this iconic gif:
9. Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Virginia Madsen
Synopsis: Immortals return … now as aliens … from a dying planet… or something.
Why it bombed: Like so many films on this list, this one sounds exceptionally fake. It’s my great displeasure to inform you that it is real. A franchise sequel so incoherent it sparked fan outrage. Even Mulcahy disowned it, and multiple cuts later, it remains infamous for killing the original’s mystique.
10. Armor (2024)
Director: Justin Routt
Genre: Action, Thriller
Cast: Jason Patric, Sylvester Stallone, Dash Mihok
Synopsis: A haunted ex-soldier dons a prototype exo-suit to protect his family from mercenaries.
Why it bombed: Low-rent CGI, limp action sequences, and wasted talent condemned Armor to late-night streaming obscurity. A misfire that even Stallone couldn’t save.
Whether it’s overblown vanity (Pinocchio), direct-to-streaming duds (Armor), or misguided franchise fodder (Highlander II), these cinematic catastrophes serve as cautionary tales.
And with War of the Worlds (2025) now leading the pack, it’s a reminder that sometimes, even alien invasions can be rotten.
