Tomb

So, whose turn is it to make the world's most ridiculous cinema this year? Will it be Germany? New Zealand? Canada?

World cinema is a fascinating thing. From time to time, the film industry of a particular country will undergo a boom period, producing so much high quality film that the rest of the world takes notice and applauds. Italy mesmerized audiences with neorealism in the ’40s, the French New Wave broke all the rules in the ’60s and Hong Kong showed the rest of us how to make kick-ass action movies in the ’90s. Right now, I'd peg South Korea as the film industry to watch. Films like The Host (2006), Oldboy (2003) and The Chaser (2008) manage to be exciting, unpredictable and completely original.

However, some countries also experience a different kind of boom — one that they're slightly more embarrassed about, and in which they make ridiculous crap. A sort of “camp renaissance,” in which that country's film industry becomes associated with things like crime-fighting masked wrestlers (Mexico) or gigantic rubber monsters (Japan). Most of the time, these nations are still making good movies, but the films that get the most attention are the silly ones. Let's take a quick look at a few of my favourite crap bonanzas:

• Hollywood (Sci-Fi/Horror: 1950s): The U.S. has always been and remains the source of the most widely distributed films in the world. Hollywood movies pretty much define the mainstream. Even still, Hollywood has gone through dozens of camp periods in its history (some argue that it's always in one), but special attention must be paid to the ’50s. Film noir was dying out, the new permissiveness of the ’60s hadn't yet arrived, and audiences started eschewing cinema in favour of television. Plenty of utterly brilliant films were being made, yet we can't help remembering all those goofy space monsters and flying saucer pictures. Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Robot Monster (1953), The Angry Red Planet (1959) and, of course, the immortal Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) — these films fascinate with their poor special effects, sexist attitudes, and bombastic narration.

• Italy (Various Genres: 1980s): How astonishing it is that the birthplace of Vittorio De Sica, Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini should be reduced to making stuff like Rats: Night of Terror (1983)! By the ’80s, the Italian film industry was grinding out the silliest, most derivative genre fare imaginable for the international home video market. Hunters of the Golden Cobra (1982) ripped off Indiana Jones. Devilfish (1984) ripped off Jaws (1975). The Humanoid (1979) ripped off Star Wars (1977), and just about everything else ripped off Escape from New York (1981) and The Road Warrior (1981). These Italian knock-offs are cheaply made, written in haste, filled with sex and violence and completely without artistic merit. They are also completely awesome.

• Turkey (Action: late 1960 s-early 1980s): Turkish cinema is unique in that almost its entire output can be said to be a camp renaissance. The best examples of Turkish genre fare are likely to be the most ridiculous movies you've ever seen. They were astoundingly popular on their home turf back in the day, and they were cranked out with incredible speed and vigour but without much finesse. Many of these films also enjoyed the benefits of being made in a country without enforceable copyright laws. In Three Mighty Men (1973), Spider-Man (yes, that Spider-Man) is a criminal psychopath whose crime spree can only be stopped by the combined efforts of fellow Marvel superhero Captain America and Mexican wrestler El Santo. In The Man Who Saves the World (a.k.a. Turkish Star Wars) (1982), plenty of stolen Star Wars footage and Indiana Jones music is thrown into a ridiculous extravaganza filled with plywood swords, garbage-can robots and killer muppets. The industry pretty much died in the ’80s, but for camp enthusiasts, it was glorious while it lasted.

• Australia (Sexploitation, horror, action: 1970s-1980s): Weirdly enough, Australia's peak output of ludicrous genre flicks (or “Ozploitation”) came at the exact same time as the “Australian New Wave,” in which the continent's more highbrow fare was enjoying global praise. Some say that the reason Australia started making celebrated art films like Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and My Brilliant Career (1979) was partly to cover up the embarrassing fact that they also made stuff like The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) and Alvin Purple (1973). There's plenty of juicy trash available from this period: Check out Fantasm (1976) for the sex, Patrick (1976) for the telekinetic coma victim and Razorback (1984) for the giant killer pig. Or just rent the awesome documentary Not Quite Hollywood (2008) for a sampling of the best moments from this fertile period.