Sharknado isn't just stupid. It's bad for cinema.

Will our fixation with "so-bad-it's-good" lead to anything but more trash?

Sharknado

This week, an event of catastrophic proportions occurred. No, New York City wasn't actually ravaged by a series of freak tornadoes full of deadly, man-eating sharks. Instead, the internet was ravaged by the millions of people who watched SyFy's trashy made-for-TV sequel Sharknado 2: The Second One.

I'm not trying to be a killjoy. In theory, this sounds like a fun premise for a so-bad-it's-good movie, in the vein of cult classics like The Room, Miami Connection, and Troll 2. But there's an important difference between accidentally bad movies and purposefully bad movies. And that distinction is why Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One aren't just trashy movies — they're harmful to cinema as a whole.

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Matt is an arts journalist and freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He has written about film, music, and pop culture for publications including Washington City Paper, The American Interest, Slant Magazine, DCist, and others. He is a member of the Washington D.C. Film Critics Association.