Bad Hair – Review

I’ve been noticing recently that Hulu has a decent amount of films that have came out this year that are available for streaming. So if you are looking for new movies than Hulu is a great place to watch them.

The film I chose to watch is Bad Hair. A horror comedy set in 1989 about a driven young women who gets a new weave to help further her career in the world of musical television. As she gains success and superiority in her position, she begins to suspect something evil about her new hair.

Writer/Director Justin Simien has two feature films under his belt, and I have not seen Dear White People yet, but Bad Hair feels very unique. First and foremost the production design in this film is very well executed. It genuinely feels retro, and that you are in a different time period. The music, dialogue, set pieces, and camera angels make it immersive, and bring the audience into this distinct world.

No time is wasted, and we jump right into the plot, right into the mind of our main protagonist. Simien does an adequate job at establishing our main character, her wants and desires, and most importantly her hardships. When she first makes her transition with getting her weave, there is some quick editing, graphic visuals, and scary imagery, that act as the birth of this evil entity. Now with that being said it is a horror comedy, and the hair itself acts as serial killer from a slasher movie. So there are some over the top kills, cheesy acting, and bizarre sequences. I’m putting it out there, that I didn’t find this film in the least bit scary or frightening. However I believe it still worked simply because of how baffling and eccentric it is. I understand that people may take issue with this, if they themselves do not like the ludicrous nature of the film as a whole, but within its confines, it succeeded.

A flaw I had with the film is the pace. At times there was some nice build up, and it is admittedly nice to look at. But there were moments where you could feel the weight of the runtime, despite the length being an hour and 42 minutes.

Bad Hair is a fun, campy, entertaining horror comedy flick, with a dash of competently framed retro atmosphere. It suffers from flaws that any average movie goer might take issue with, but it you are a horror comedy fan, that this is for you.