5 Worst Dinosaur Movies Ever, Ranked by Letterboxd Users

In mainstream American cinema, “dinosaur movies” are often treated as if they begin and end with the Jurassic Park franchise. When trailers for standalone prehistoric thrillers such as “65” or “The End of Oak Street” appear in theaters, someone inevitably wonders aloud whether they are tied to John Hammond’s dinosaur theme park. But across global film history, dinosaurs have roamed far beyond the shadow of Michael Crichton’s blockbuster creation. A quick look at some of the strangest dinosaur movies from around the world proves just how varied—and bizarre—the genre can be.

There are plenty of dinosaur films outside the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World universe. The downside, of course, is that a crowded prehistoric playground also leaves room for plenty of duds. The five lowest-rated dinosaur movies on Letterboxd offer a revealing glimpse at what happens when filmmakers squander the built-in excitement of giant reptiles. Rather than delivering awe, suspense, or creature-feature fun, these titles left even committed dinosaur fans struggling to stay engaged.

Because these movies vary widely in plot, tone, and style, there is no single creative mistake that explains all of their failures. What they do share is a harsher lesson: not even dinosaurs, with all their primal cinematic appeal, can rescue a truly dreadful film.

Anyone nostalgic for the 2008-to-2015 wave of American found-footage horror may be forgetting just how rough that period could be. The era produced a flood of inexpensive genre films packed with frantic camerawork, bafflingly abrupt endings, and very little actual fun. Movies such as “The Devil Inside,” “Devil’s Due,” and “The Gallows” missed what made the strongest found-footage horror entries so unnerving in the first place. For a particularly bleak example of the trend, there is 2012’s “Tape 407,” which is also listed as “Area 407” on some platforms.

Directed by Dale Fabrigar and Everette Wallin, “Tape 407” follows survivors of a plane crash who realize they have landed in territory populated by dinosaurs. On paper, that premise sounds like it could support a scrappy, entertaining B-movie. Its 1.8 average rating on Letterboxd, however, suggests that the execution went badly off course. Many users point to the characters as a major problem, describing them as grating and difficult to endure. Just as common are complaints that the film spends far too much time on awkward dialogue and far too little on dinosaur-driven chaos.

The film’s amateurish performances and thin production values have only added to its wave of poor Letterboxd scores. Somehow, “Tape 407” currently sits with an average rating that is narrowly worse than the far more notorious 2012 found-footage horror film “The Devil Inside.”

Most films in this category are low-budget efforts that seemed destined from the start for SyFy-style programming or bargain-bin distribution. “Theodore Rex,” released in 1995, has a stranger legacy. Although it ultimately went straight to VHS, it was initially intended for theaters before its quality reportedly led distributor New Line Cinema to send it to home video instead. It is safe to say that “Theodore Rex” is not among the great direct-to-video success stories. This buddy-cop oddity, pairing T-Rex Theodore Rex (George Newbern) with human police officer Katie Coltrane (Whoopi Goldberg), is now remembered as an infamous misfire.

Some widely panned movies eventually find second lives as cult favorites on Letterboxd, but “Theodore Rex” has not enjoyed that kind of rehabilitation. It currently holds a 1.8 average rating on the platform. The most consistent complaint, both in Letterboxd reviews and in the film’s broader reputation, is that the movie is shockingly dull. Despite a premise that sounds proudly absurd, “Theodore Rex” is strangely lifeless, failing even to generate memorable chemistry between its mismatched leads.

The bizarre attempts at social commentary, repetitive slapstick gags, and generally feeling like it stretches on for an eternity despite running “only” 92 minutes are further fixtures of negative reviews. Decades after its debut, the costly failure “Theodore Rex” continues to fascinate for all the worst reasons.

It took shockingly long for The Asylum to show up on this list. This production outfit is famous for its cheap, quickly-produced movies typically emulating major theatrical releases (like “Atlantic Rim” riffing on “Pacific Rim”). Many, though not all, of these titles feature prehistoric beasties, both fictional and those drawn from reality. One of these dino-centric titles is “100 Million BC,” which hailed from go-to DirecTV Cinema filmmaker Griff Furst (responsible for “Lake Placid 3” and “Trailer Park Shark,” among other gems coming soon to the Criterion Closet).

“100 Million BC” is a convoluted enterprise that uses time travel, Navy SEALs, and a rescue mission to get to its central hook: a massive dinosaur causing mayhem in 21st century Los Angeles. Michael Gross, Christopher Atkins, and Marie Westbrook anchor a movie that has a pitiful 1.8 average rating on Letterboxd. How could “100 Million BC” be anything but reviled? Common problems plaguing so many Asylum movies are lambasted in Letterboxd reviews, including the dismal CG dinosaurs and the film’s minuscule budget ensuring that the prehistoric creatures are only on-screen for a sliver of screentime.

Even the very worst “Jurassic Park” or “World” movie would be preferable to the tedious “100 Million BC.” The only way this production excels is as a microcosm of the cynical and slapdash tendencies permeating nearly all of The Asylum’s output.

Let’s all go back in time, to a decade that greatly preceded the days of The Asylum or “Theodore Rex.” Heck, this next movie even debuted before scientists solidified that an asteroid was what killed the dinosaurs. This movie was none other than “King Dinosaur,” a 1955 B-picture about Earthbound astronauts traveling to a planet that’s arrived in Earth’s solar system. Upon arriving, they discover that this terrain is populated by dinosaurs. Said dinosaurs are represented via household iguanas that the film pretends are massive towering beasts. 

These “King Dinosaur” visual effects techniques aren’t underwhelming because they look shoddier than 2020s CGI. At the time, they were even a drastic step down from the stop-motion dinosaurs of 1925’s “The Lost World.” No wonder “King Dinosaur” has only a 1.7 average rating on Letterboxd. Reviews delve further into its endless artistic shortcomings, including the film’s insipid camerawork and lifeless deployment of archival footage. Even Letterboxd reviewers who often find schlocky entertainment in ’50s B-movies expressed disdain for this production.

An obliviously creepy finale that portrays randomly nuking planets full of living organisms as “heroic” would normally be the defining fault in most bad movies. Instead, it’s just one of many shortcomings constantly creeping into this movie’s Letterboxd write-ups. One of the 10 best movies of the 1950s, this was not.

If you’re seeking out a hotel in the world of movies, there’s endless options at your disposal, from “The Grand Budapest Hotel” to “Hotel for Dogs” to “Hotel by the River.” On first glance, 2021’s “Hotel Dinosaur” would seem to offer an ideal vacation destination. Even if these ancient beasties are out to eat you, who can resist spending time with dinosaurs?

Alas, the 1.6 Letterboxd average rating of Jack Peter Mundy’s “Dinosaur Hotel” should make it clear that this 2021 motion picture is the cinematic equivalent of getting stuck in a run-down motel. The Letterboxd reviews for “Dinosaur Hotel” express this notion vividly, particularly over its dismal child acting and sleepy pacing. Any movie called “Dinosaur Hotel” cannot, above all else, be boring. Unfortunately, that’s the word so many Letterboxd write-ups resorted to. Only the unintentionally hilarious bad dinosaur CGI and some weird production design shortcomings provided fragments of entertainment to those trapped watching “Dinosaur Hotel.”

The worst movies of 2021 kicked off this new decade of cinema on a sour note. For anyone looking for both another dismal movie from that year and the worst possible cinematic hotel experience, “Dinosaur Hotel” has you covered.