I woke up last night and couldn’t fall back to sleep, leading me to be able to declare with some authority that “Cult of the Damned” is the worst movie ever made.

But this is an honor it shares we several other films, including “Head,” starring the Monkees and written by Jack Nicholson. In fact, there’s a cluster of bad films made in the 60s and embodying the 60s ethos. No surprise, for the properties of that epoch — a drug-assisted sense of humor that insisted that any random juxtaposition must be funny, an unshakable belief in one’s own profundity, and a belief that talent and craft are forms of despicable elitism — are just what’s required to make truly awful movies.

The only other period in living memory so productive of bad movies was the late 70s when fear and patriotism led to a spate of stupid, predictable, jingoistic macho movies. Then, of course, the streams crossed and we got the two worst successful movies in history: “Platoon” and “Dances with Wolves.” But I’d rather not discuss them. They’re still too painful to contemplate.

Categories: Uncategorized dw