Streaming: Hulu (With Subscription)
Warnings:
Graphic Violence
Sex
Sexual Abuse
Explicit Language
Rating: Unrated
Bad Hair is a comedy horror film written, directed, and produced by Justin Simien. Justin is known for his writing for the movie and the show Dear White People. The film stars Elle Lorraine, Jay Pharoah, Lena Waithe, Kelly Rowland, Laverne Cox, Usher, and many other reputable stars. Bad Hair had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and it had a limited release followed by digital streaming on Hulu. The film received moderately positive reviews from critics which is understandable; Bad Hair has some interesting concepts, but the execution was uneven and there were some plot points that were impossible to ignore. The concept of the story is interesting, but the direction and the writing fell short, this kept the film from reaching its full potential. With the lack of direction, and cluttered writing the wonderful star cast were unable to make this film a good movie. The film is set in the 80s during the rise of new jack swing and follows an ambitious young woman named Anna from Compton. She aspires to be a producer, but she continuously gets overlooked because she doesn’t have the right hair, the right skin color, or the right image to succeed. A new boss takes over at the network Anna works for and the boss suggests that she gets a weave to receive a promotion. Surprise, as you might have surmised, the weave turns out to be evil. The concept of the film had a lot of potential, but the execution just fell flat.
The idea is interesting, along with highlighting the pressures that Black women are put through in the professional world to change their hair, the film does get some things right. Bad Hair exposed how much pain Black women are put through just to be able to have what is considered “professional” hairstyles in the workplace. The film also incorporated slave lore to tie the hair concept together with history, however one would argue that the writing did not support the combination of these two concepts, nor did it dive too deeply into the slave lore to fully explain the connection. Not only did the “Bad hair” origin make no sense, it also didn’t follow the same rules for every character, as the film progressed the hair’s abilities changed without explanation. There were too many unanswered questions to call this film cohesive or even worthy of the audience’s time.
The long list of star actors was entertaining to see in 80s glam, but it seems like Simien was depending on their presence to make the film enjoyable. The actors were entertaining enough but the writing fell short, not only was the story jumbled but as I mentioned before, the “bad hair rules” seemed to change throughout the film. In order to make a good horror film, the “evil” in the film needs to have rules and limitations, the hair in this film has some limitations but the “power” of the hair changed and was not consistent with each character. It almost seems as if Simien would give the hair new capabilities simply for shock value and a lack of imagination. Along with the inconsistent hair rules, the writing was an obvious attempt to cater to Black women. The writing was recognizably written by a man for women, and it didn’t capture the women in a flattering way. The main character is timid but once she “turned bad” she immediately started speaking up for herself, this seemed like an unfortunate way for this character to grow. She had to “whitewash” herself in order to become assertive for herself, and this became a theme for Black women in the film. Even though this theme is trying to make the point that Black women don’t have to do this to reach their goals, this message fell short in the writing and direction.
The gore and violence in the film fit the 80s theme but also seemed like it was only for shock value. Some of the gorier scenes seemed unnecessary and sometimes just disgusting, and I am writing this as someone who loves most horror films. There are a lot of comical deaths throughout the film but one big thing that was missing was the police following the trail of bodies that were circling around this TV network, throughout the entire film there was only one part where the authorities were involved with no follow up at all. Realistically this made no sense especially because the deaths were often in public spaces. Ultimately the gore could have been the savior of this film, but it just added to the confusion. The hair’s capability changed throughout the film which was only heightened by the over-the-top gore making the story less entertaining and more cluttered.
Overall, this film did not live up to its potential and was disappointing to say the least. Upon researching more about this concept, even the story isn’t unique. This unfortunate horror could have been a new cult classic but instead in result of the chaotic writing, directionless acting, and the pointless gore, it will be dubbed a waste of time. If you wish to waste your time through a 2-hour distraction, I recommend diving into this chaotic mess of a horror comedy.