Although 3D films are becoming increasingly popular, the movie industry is in the process of going one step further. 4D films, which are 3D films with an added physical effect, most usually smell, are becoming more popular, and we’ve created a list of the top ten worst-smelling movies.
Some amusement parks have special, short thrill rides that are in 4D, but full-length films are not typically created in 4D (Avatar and Journey to the Center of the Earth had limited releases in 4D). While initially 4D films sound intriguing, there’s a huge negative aspect to them: foul odors. There are many films that would be nice to watch in 4D – that is, if they’re full of fields of flowers, but it’s the memory-burning grotesque scenes that are the most memorable.
Featured below are a list of films that, frankly, we wouldn’t recommend watching in 4D. Whether it’s a constant odor that lingers with characters throughout the film or one particular scene that is especially repulsive, these films are probably the most rancid films in Hollywood, and we’re pleased by the fact that our nostrils have been spared the displeasure of viewing in 4D.
10. ‘Fight Club’ (1999)
A fantastically psychological film from the late 1990s would also be one of the most fantastically pungent films in 4D.
Fight Club features many half-naked men fighting in an isolated space. While it initially sounds incredibly inciting to watch, it wouldn’t be wonderful to catch a whiff of it. Dozens of men sweating to no end, fighting each other, with blood pouring out everywhere? That’s enough to make nose hairs stand on their ends. Fight Club is pretty much what a mens athletic locker room would smell like, with the added bonus of pools of blood. Lovely.
There’s also the scene where Tyler Durden pours the sodium hydroxide on the narrator’s hand. Not only would that be excruciatingly painful, it would exhort the smell of “searing flesh.” Clearly not required, an oxygen mask would assuredly be helpful in dodging the foul odor. At the end, the narrator stands with Marla and watches buildings destruct from bombs he set up. The after-smell of bombs and collapsed buildings surely cannot enhance the smell of the city.
Fight Club thankfully doesn’t have any abhorrently rancid scenes, but would still be unpleasant to watch in 4D.
9. ‘The Goonies’ (1985)
HEY, YOU GUYS! In case you didn’t know, the classic kid’s movie The Goonies features some rather smelly characters and scenes.
Sloth: one of the most interesting, unique, and memory-burning characters from probably any children’s movie ever made. Although not specifically noted in the screenplay, I can only imagine that Sloth’s odor is just as pleasing as his physical appearance. Who knows how long he’s been locked up in the abandoned restaurant. He seemingly hasn’t showered anytime in the recent past.
Not only is it Sloth who would make our noses want to fall off, but it’s also the dead person found in the freezer – decaying human corpses don’t have a wonderful scent (fortunately, I don’t have first-hand experience knowing that). Additionally, there’s the skeleton of Chester Copperpot, the old organ created from bones, and the musty pirate ship. All of those artifacts sitting in a cave for a period of time doesn’t help the probable unfriendly stench of the cave all-around.
Although The Goonies is a childhood favorite, we can spare ourselves from any enhanced viewing of the film. Even if an adorable and young Sean Astin stars as the lead.
8. ‘Cast Away’ (2000)
One of Tom Hank’s finest dramas is Cast Away, and it’s probably one of his most malodorous films, too.
After a very unfortunate plane crash in the middle of the Pacific, Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck, must learn how to survive on a deserted island. After four years on the island, he finally builds a raft, leaves the island, and returns to civilization. Four years on the island. While yes, the ocean was available to use to rinse off, there was still four years without a true shower, no soap, and no deodorant. Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone around to smell Chuck in those four years; they would have probably died from his odor. Chuck’s hair and beard is considerably and understandably longer after four years; imagine how lovely that smells without any shampoo.
Eventually, Chuck is picked up by a cargo ship and taken back to the U.S. I can only imagine the horror the ship workers experienced when they found out he hadn’t showered in four years. Who knows what types of bacteria and germs Chuck was infested with.
Cast Away is one of those films that makes one realize how wonderful showers truly are.
7. ‘Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back’
The Tauntaun scene from Empire Strikes Back is a winner for this list, as Han Solo even says, “and I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”
At the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, the rebels are on Hoth, an Artic-like planet. While taking patrols around their base by riding Tauntauns, unique camel-like creatures, Luke gets pulled into a cave by a Yeti-like creature, a Wampa. After escaping the Wampa, Luke wanders back out into the snowy abiss and nearly freezes to death. Han, realizing that Luke is in trouble, dangerously sets back out after sunset to look for Luke.
After finding Luke and realizing he’s close to death/hypothermia, and after Han’s Tauntaun decides to literally keel over and die, Han takes Luke’s lightsaber and cuts the Tauntaun open for warmth. Although finding warmth in the Tauntaun’s intestines is (unpleasantly) successful, it apparently (stated by Han) smells worse on the inside than it does on the outside. By examining how unattractive Tauntans physically are, we can only imagine how amazingly atrocious they truly smell on the outside.
Although The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars in general, hosts many appalling odors, the Tauntaun scene is by far one of the smelliest.
6. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ (2002)
Although Lord of the Rings is full of many ghastly aromas, there’s a lingering offensive stench that follows a specific race in Middle Earth: Orcs.
Gollum sums up Orcs in one perfect word: filthy. Doing Saron’s dirty work, Orcs live in caves, underground, who knows where, and are just overall disguisting creatures. Do they bathe? Probably not. They travel in large packs, are obtuse looking, hygienically unkempt, and tons of lice and pink-eye are undoubtedly being passed consistently through the troops of Orcs.
In one particular scene from The Two Towers, Orcs are camped out for a night next to a forest in Rohan, and argue whether or not to feast on Merry and Pippin because their starving stomachs can’t hold out. When the argument turns into Orc Fight-and-Feast Fest Third Age 3019/2002 C.E., we can only (fortunately) imagine how putrid the Orc-fest would be. Traveling for days, with the word “shower” probably not in their vocabulary doesn’t make a delightful combination. Based upon how yellow and fungus-infested their teeth are I don’t even want to think about how dirty their breath smells.
While there are many scenes with Orcs and other fantastically terrible smells in Lord of the Rings, this scene from Two Towers is downright one of the most repulsive.
Before moving on to the top five films, I’d like to discuss other films that would be considerably grotesque if seen in 4D, although unfortunately did not make the cut for this list. 101 Dalmatians is an honorable mention; 101 young puppies in a house presumably urinating wherever and whenever their hearts desire would be just as horrifying as having to manage 101 puppies. In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean carries Marius through the sewers of Paris to help him survive. Bless Valjean, but the sewers of Paris in the 1830s? The thought of that is simply revolting (pun intended). The amount of slimy human waste in an early 19th century plumbing system doesn’t sound like a party. Lastly, essentially any scene in Star Wars featuring Jabba. Seriously, Jabba’s a slug-toad-obese creature (specifically, a Hutt) that plausibly smells as unfortunate as he looks. There’s a scene in Return of the Jedi where Princess Leia is forced incredibly close to him, and rightfully turns her head away while he speaks. There are a plethora of other films that could qualify as an honorable mention (or arguable to be included on the top ten list), but superb problem is that there are simply too many fantastically nasty films to consider.
5. ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’ (1977)
A memorable scene from Star Wars: Episode IV is the trash compactor, and it would probably be more memorable if it was converted to 4D. Again, Han even curtly states, “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered.”
We all know the story: while rescuing Princess Leia from the Death Star, Luke, Han, and Chewie attempt to avoid Storm Troopers – and literally dive into a trash compactor to save themselves. Who knows what’s in this Death Star trash compactor – Storm Trooper stool (how does that work with their uniforms?), broken Droids, old and moldy nacho platters from their Destruction of Alderaan after-party, and maybe even corpses of troopers and generals that Vader terminated in pitiful outburts of anger.
There’s even the weird creature that swims around the liquid (what is that liquid?) in the compactor. Even if it didn’t habituate in the compactor, it probably wouldn’t exert a wonderful smell – but the fact that it lives, and probably thrives, in filth can’t make it any better. I hope Luke got a bath after they got back on the Millennium Falcon; after being underwater with that creature of filth, he probably smelled as nauseating as Jabba.
With all of the unique creatures and objects set in Star Wars all piled into a trash compactor, it’s very clear their scents together would not please the nostrils.
4. ‘Shrek’ (2001)
Few fictional creatures are smellier than an ogre.
Though clearly a fun and well-done film (it was the first movie to win “Best Animated Film” at the Academy Awards in 2002), that doesn’t mean it would be enjoyable to watch in 4D. Since I first saw the film 12 years ago, I’ve had the opening credits of Shrek forever burned into my memory. While considering taking a bath in mud, brushing teeth with insect feces, farting in a pond, his outhouse, I literally cringe thinking about these unfortunately disgusting habits in too much detail. When villages go on an ogre hunt to look for Shrek, it’s understandable they scream and run away – I would run at the whiff of an ogre, too.
If Fiona wasn’t under a spell to become an ogress every night, she probably wouldn’t have found Shrek attractive simply due to his odor (vain, but believable). Hygiene is an important and often forgotten aspect when considering a significant other – but Shrek is an excellent reminder of how important it is.
Shrek isn’t just a film about love and accepting others, it’s a movie about the importance of maintaining good hygiene, too.
3. ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ (2009)
Let’s be real: dead bodies in an isolated lake is a recipe for some of the foulest odors.
Inferi, for readers who need a Harry Potter brush up, are human corpses under a spell to perform puppet work for the respective witch or wizard. Specifically, Voldemort used inferi to help protect his locket horcrux. Voldemort programmed the inferi so that when the horcrux is tampered with, the inferi attack the intruder: which is exactly what happened to Harry.
Voldemort created and hid the locket in the mid-1940s, which means over 50 years had passed when Harry and Dumbledore sought to retrieve the horcrux in the late 1990s. Subsequently, this suggests the human corpses that were turned into inferi died over 50 years prior. The cleanliness of the lake water would make the stench harder to bear. While under the assumption that inferi don’t really decay, hundreds of dead bodies that have been sitting under a lake for over 50 years only helped to contaminate the smell and water.
I’m glad Dumbledore ended up not having to drink that water.
2. ‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
Larger than life pre-historic creatures are the subject of Jurassic Park, and in specifically one scene, a huge dino-turd fills the screen.
While Jurassic Park was recently re-released in 3D, fortunately it wasn’t re-released in 4D – because the scene where Dr. Ellie Sattler sticks her hand into a dino-dropping would be a scent our nostrils would never forget. The smell this dropping would produce would be equivalent to it’s gargantuan size and probably make at least half the theater re-regurgitate the popcorn and candy that they’ve been consuming.
However, examining feces is an important aspect of determining a sickness for any creature – which is exactly the reason why Ellie willingly dives her hand into the sick triceratops’ feces (which is why us Hypable writers are pursuing journalism rather than biology). Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to determine the cause of sickness by doing so, and what Jurassic Park didn’t mention is that her hand/lower arm probably smelled like twenty porta potties put together for the rest of the film. She probably wasn’t gaining any points (at least, hygienically) on her quest of winning Alan’s heart.
Luckily, Jurassic Park hasn’t been converted to 4D (yet?) so we can spare our nostrils from experiencing one of the worst smells in any film.
1. ‘Slumdog Millionare’ (2008)
Although most of Slumdog Millionare would be smelly because it’s set mainly in Indian slums, there’s one scene in particular that would scorn the 4D movie-goer’s schnozzle: the outhouse scene.
The first flashback Slumdog Millionare takes the viewer through is of five-year old Jamal obtaining the autograph of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan. While answering Mother Nature, a neighbor came banging on the door, demanding to use the outhouse due to an intense emergency. When Jamal refused to come out of the outhouse, Amitabh Bachchan landed via helicopter on the streets nearby – and the entire village went to go see him. Hoewver, as the outhouse caretaker was standing next to the outhouse as well, thought it would be hilarious to lock him in, and then run off to see the handsome movie star.
Therefore, with Jamal locked in the outhouse, and dying to see Bachchan to receive his autograph, he makes the quick decision to plop (pun intended) into the mountain of human ordure. But, the ends did justify the means, as Jamal did end up getting the autograph – although it took jumping into a pile of who knows how many humans’ excrements to do so.
I don’t even want to think about how long the droppings had been sitting there – most likely quite awhile, which would make the scent even more rancid than it probably already was.