Bad Hair Review: A Horror Satire With A Unique Hair Raising Message

Release date: October 23, 2020
Running time: 102 minutes
Starring: Elle Lorraine, Vanessa Williams, Lena Waithe, Laverne Cox, Jay Pharoah, Kelly Rowland, Blair Underwood, James Van Der Beek and Usher Raymond
Written and Directed by: Justin Simien

In this horror satire set in 1989, BAD HAIR follows an ambitious young woman named Anna (Elle Lorraine), who gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career comes at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.  

Perhaps the best thing about Bad Hair is that it feels like a very different kind of film, especially in the horror genre.  The movie has a air of empowerment about it.  The film is set in the music television industry in the 1980s, when black artists and hosts were defining what black music and culture would be.  There is this great push and pull between the idealists who want to keep black music and culture unique, and the business folks who are trying to push everything more mainstream.  I really loved the writing in these parts too: the coworkers calling each other sister and brother was a nice touch, as were some of the cultural issues that the film approached at the start.  In fact, this film is best when it is not focusing on the horror aspects, which is a sad thing to say about a horror film.  I loved the message of nonconforming, and of looking at what people will do to rise up the corporate ladder.   And because this is set in a music television show, the music is just fantastic.  It is a lot of fun to hear some of these songs, and many feel like they could have been ripped from the 80s and 90s.  And the fashion was just fantastic.  Really, this film did a great job recreating this time, from the clothes, the colors, the music, the technology, and the general mannerisms.  

However, when Anna gets her weave to try and change her appearance and please her bosses, the film takes a different turn.  At the start it stays true to the culture clash at the heart of the film, but when the hair starts to exhibit other properties, the film loses some of its charm.  The hair parts are interesting enough and can be pretty funny, but when they go over the top it seems a little silly.  And they are accompanied by some intentionally funny effects that break you out of the horror mood.  And some of the sequences dial it up to 11, with some very crazy circumstances and consequences to this hair raising situation.  The whole film is satire, so I believe all of this was intentional, but I also think this would have been better as a satire without the horror elements.  Some stories are fun to tell through a horror lense and this one just didn't feel like it.

Bad Hair's message of empowerment and fantastic commitment to weaving in style, music, and technology of the 80s and 90s make this horror satire with a unique message. 

Rent it.

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Bad Hair is available to stream on Hulu starting October 23.