Hastings Bad Cinema Society

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The Bad Cinema Society (formerly known as the Hastings Bad Cinema Society) is a Los Angeles-based group of film buffs and movie critics devoted to honoring the worst films ever made. They offer the annual Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, which is a parody of the Academy Awards. The Stinkers are similar to the Razzies. Aside from the usual categories one might expect in an Oscar parody (worst film, worst actor, etc.), the Stinkers offer other clever categories such as Worst Fake Accent, Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy and Least 'Special' Special Effects. Unlike the Razzies, the Stinkers do not have an awards ceremony.

The Stinkers' first ballots were handed out to the public in 1997. In the years that have followed, the Razzies and Stinkers have 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 like Mariah Carey, the Spice Girls or anyone connected with the film "Gigli."

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.

The society was founded by Mike Lancaster and Ray Wright, two former ushers who met in the late 1970s at what is now the Pacific Hastings Theater in Pasadena, California (from which the society originally got its name) [1].

In 2006 the Stinkers famously refused to nominate hotel heiress Paris Hilton for her supporting role in the horror film "House 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."