Has Netflix just added a new "so-bad-it's-good" watch? It certainly could be the case with the addition of a movie that sits at just 24% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This movie is In The Lost Lands, and it was released in theaters around the world in March; you'd be forgiven for not knowing that because it only made an estimated $6 million back on its $55 million budget.
And now, as of Monday, August 18, the movie is streaming on Netflix in the UK (it's on Hulu in the US).
In The Lost Lands comes from director Paul W.S. Anderson, known for the Resident Evil movies and more recently Monster Hunter (his highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, at 44%). It's also based on a short story by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who doesn't seem to have much to do with its actual production.
The movie is set in a fantasy post-apocalypse world and after having read the plot description, I'm still not quite sure what it's about. It seems to center on two people going on an adventure in a dangerous wasteland.
These two people are played by Anderson's wife and stalwart star Mila Jovovich, and wrestler turned respected actor Dave Bautista.
As of writing this, the movie is the fifth most-watched film on Netflix UK, two spaces below a 2007 action movie called The Kingdom which was released a week prior and further below two Netflix originals but above My Oxford Year, Bend it Like Beckham and Taxi, all also recently added.
Given the Rotten Tomatoes score, the box office results and the track record of the director, it's possible that In The Lost Lands could become a popular "so-bad-it's-good" watch, with other Anderson movies hitting that sweet spot in the past. However, I'm still burnt out from recent War of the Worlds so I'm not planning on finding out.
Despite his films often being found on Netflix (they're generally not made by big studios, which have their own streaming services), In Lost Lands is currently the only Anderson movie on the streamer. But Dave Bautista fans can find plenty of his movies including My Spy, Blade Runner 2049 and Glass Onion: A Knives out Mystery, so there's something for his fans to see.
