10 Movies So Bad, They Actually Ruined the Lead Actor for the Audience

There are films you love, films you hate and films you walk out of halfway through. But a terrible film can have the effect of ruining an actor for the audience.

Here are 10 examples of when this has happened:

10. Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)

You could take your pick from this movie when it comes to which actor it ruined. But the biggest star in it was the late, great Sean Connery. Running to just over 90 minutes, this dystopian load of crap felt like it went on for two weeks.

9. Cats (2019)

For a film with so much acting talent, this was one of the worst ever produced. The likes of Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and Jason Derulo should hang their heads in shame. But how on earth did Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench get involved in arguably the worst adaptation of a stage musical ever made?

8. The Mangler (1995)

Back in the 80s, Robert Englund was a bona fide horror star after bringing Freddy Krueger to our screens. But in 1995 he somehow ended up in a film about a killer laundry press. That's right, folks. It's a film about a possessed piece of laundry equipment. I can't imagine why it was so terrible.

7. Fantastic Four (2015)

Well, the title is half right; there were four of them. But to associate the word 'fantastic' with this movie in any way must be some kind of fraud. There were some big-name actors in this film who probably wish they'd just said no.

But I'd have to go with Toby Kebbell (Dr Doom) as the worst of the lot. But don't let that fool you into thinking his was the only bad performance. There's a reason he was panned by the critics.

6. Saving Christmas (2014)

When you watch this film (not that I'm recommending that you do), it's hard to imagine that the actor on screen is the same Kirk Cameron who won awards for his portrayal of Mike Seaver in Growing Pains.

You might think that playing a version of himself would have been a piece of cake. But it wasn't. This bizarre attempt to make a movie about the consumerism of Christmas completely misses the mark.

5. A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

All good things must come to an end. And the day this movie was released was a good day to stay home and not bother going to the cinema. It was a step too far for the franchise, and the whole father-son dynamic just didn't work.

Luckily for Bruce Willis, he had the previous films to fall back on. But this film made it absolutely certain that there would be no Die Hard 6.

4. Norm of the North (2016)

This is an interesting one, because you wouldn't think that an animated film could ruin an actor in the same way as a live-action one. But then again, you wouldn't think a filmmaker could make something as bad as this.

It was so bad, in fact, that fans couldn't help but find anything and everything Rob Schneider did a little offensive for a while, just because of his association with this film.

3. Battlefield Earth (2000)

Erm. What the hell was this? Badly written, badly acted and all in all just a hot mess, this film took a perfectly good premise for a dystopian sci-fi and utterly ruined it.

It's not always a popular opinion, but I don't like Grease. And I never thought I'd see John Travolta do anything worse. Especially after he redeemed himself in Pulp Fiction. But this? It's an affront to the industry and makes Grease look like it's up there with Pulp Fiction!

2. Son of the Mask (2005)

One of the main problems with a near-perfect production is that it sets the bar pretty high for any sequel. And one of the main problems with Son of the Mask is that it doesn't star Jim Carrey. Other problems are that the film is all over the place and just not funny.

That seems a bit harsh on lead actor Jamie Kennedy, as he didn't write the script and can't be blamed for how good Jim Carrey was. But the upshot of his performance, and indeed of the whole film, was a severe lack of Jim Carrey.

1. Holmes and Watson (2018)

Will Ferrell is a man who clearly understands comedy. So why he wound up in this supposedly funny film is not really clear. It was almost as if this was a spoof of a comedy about Sherlock Holmes. Of course, one of the things about comedies is that they can never be 'so bad they're good'. They're just bad. And this was a perfect example of how not to make a comedy.