Getting a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes has become a badge of honour. Look at the fuss people made of movies like Lady Bird and Paddington 2 achieving the score.
But just because a film achieves a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't mean it's perfect – it just means that the individual reviews that Rotten Tomatoes uses to gauge the critical response to a film have all been overwhelmingly positive.
That can include a three-star review if it leans towards liking the film. As long as the critic says its worth seeing, it's considered a 'fresh' review. 100% films are the movies that only got 'fresh' reviews.
It's a pretty good system, but some odd stuff slips through the cracks. Stuff like this lot.
1. Death Race 2050 (2017)
Produced by low-budget legend Roger Corman, Death Race 2050 is a belated sequel to his 1975 cult hit Death Race 2000. For some reason, this trashy B-movie connected with critics – we'd like to have been at that particular festival screening – with everyone who reviewed it lavishing it with (passive-aggressive) praise.
"Yes, it's all incredibly stupid and shoddily-made, but also pretty loony and funny," said Screen Anarchy.
According to We Got This Covered: "Death Race 2050 will not be for everyone – or many – but they just don't make exploitation cinema like this anymore."
Audiences agreed with the latter review: it's got a 32% audience score on RT, and 3.7 on IMDB.
2. Creep 2 (2017)
It's not often that super low-budget direct-to-netflix horror sequels unify critics in a positive way, but that's exactly what happened to Creep 2, which strips out the shocks of the original to create a far creepier streaming experience.
The story of an awkward and weird dude who invites random strangers to his home so he can kill them, it's surprising that so many critics dug it – but then it is the work of mumblecore darlings Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass, which explains a lot in terms of the response.
It's still streaming on Netflix, so you can make up your own mind by watching it.
3. 24: Redemption
One of the biggest elements of surprise here is that Rotten Tomatoes actually covers TV movies, which doesn't feel within its remit. Then there's the fact that they really loved this utterly average action flick, which was the lead-in to 24's ninth season.
Seeing Jack Bauer get this much critical love is basically as weird as seeing an Oscar campaign for Die Hard 23. But dig into the reviews, and you see the paradox when it comes to Rotten Tomatoes – proving the point that a film can get 100% from a bunch of average reactions.
"24: Redemption amounted to: a sweaty, very extended and occasionally rather soupy trailer for the new series that begins in January," The Independent said. "A serviceable although not exceptional place-setter," according to unclebarky.com.
4. Bad Biology (2008)
This is absolutely bonkers. We love director Frank Henenlotter, he's the genius behind creature classics including Brain Damage and Basket Case, but even those are divisive movies. As for Bad Biology (aka Sex Addict), it's the age-old story of boy meets girl – except here it's a woman who kills her partners through sexual intercourse, who finds love with a man with a sentient killer penis.
So, while we don't expect to see it turn up on the Criterion Collection any time soon, it did please critics who were on the hunt for something original – and who were probably also pleased to see Henenlotter returning to directing after a 16-year absence.
Still, watch the trailer and tell us how this is so highly recommended by the RT lot. Even The Dark Knight, released in the same year, doesn't have a 100% score!
5. Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
Speaking of Batman... Yep, Rotten Tomatoes also covers direct-to-DVD releases, which really is the surprising thing here. The film itself is one of the most deserving 100% movies on this list – even if it isn't exactly the sort of thing that gets a wide audience outside of its fanbase.
It features Batman tangling with a new villain – someone he has a personal connection to.
Taking a cinematic approach, this wouldn't have felt out of place on the big screen, it's one of the few entries where the audience almost matches the critical reaction, with a 92% score from fans. It's still weird that it's regarded as a better film than the entire Dark Knight trilogy by RT critics, though.
6. Kenny (2006)
Okay, so everybody liked it when it was first released, but when did you last settle in for an evening with Kenny? Not recently, right?
That's because this entirely average mockumentary about a hard-working Australian plumber hasn't exactly stood the test of time.
It's sweet enough, but we prefer the other Kenny – the 2017 Kenny Dalglish documentary (which doesn't have a RT score, but is brilliant).
7. An Evening with Kevin Smith (2002)
It's probably an understatement to say that not everyone's into Kevin Smith. Even amongst his own fans, he's divisive. And as this glorified stand-up comedy routine is so tied to his personality and career, it's shocking to see this get a perfect score. Even Chasing Amy and Clerks are stuck on 88%! We guess only those already predisposed to him reviewed it…
8. Wild Zero (1999)
This trash classic Japanese horror movie / action flick shouldn't really be something everyone agrees on, mainly because it's one of the weirdest things you'll ever see.
Part of the risk of making something like this is that not everyone's going to like it; well, except for the reviewers assembled on Rotten Tomatoes. Crazed punks (starring real-life band Guitar Wolf), weird aliens and an army of zombies, this has the same rating as Citizen Kane, according to Rotten Tomatoes. And rightly so.
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (1989)
A bunch of friends get together to remake Spielberg's action classic on VHS, using a pocket-money budget, and manage to achieve a perfect critical score most big budget blockbusters can only dream of. Brilliant.
10. The Witches (1990)
All right, all right, this is a really entertaining movie, but it's not exactly Toy Story 2. Call us a bit cynical, but this definitely isn't one we expected to show up on the perfect score list.
Not that we're upset about it, it's a fairly creepy horror film about a kid that gets turned into a mouse by a gang of witches. But still, as Roald Dahl adaptations go, not even Matilda has a 100% (it's close, on 90%).
11. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
This is basically a compilation of old cartoons with a few new bits mixed in. You'd expect critics to come down hard on such a cynical marketing ploy, but never underestimate the power of nostalgia.
This was released in 1979, hitting that sweet spot for grown-up critics who grew up on this stuff. Pity poor old Space Jam, which tried to do something new with the characters, and ended up with a 38% score.
Freelancer writer
Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
