Bad Hair: Sundance Review

Synopsis

From Sundance Institute:

Los Angeles, 1989. Anna Bludso (Elle Lorraine) is a scarred survivor of a scalp burn from a mild relaxer perm. She also has the smarts and ambition to be the next on-air star at Culture, a music video TV show. After years of struggling to be seen for her ideas and hard work, Anna fears the worst when her dreadlocked boss is replaced by Zora (Vanessa Williams), an ex-supermodel with a silver tongue. Zora warns Anna that her nappy look has got to go, so Anna bites the bullet and gets a weave. Turns out, her flowing new hair is the key to success—but it arrived with a mind of its own, and it bites back! 

Review

This film is wild and crazy as hell. You might get that from the tagline (a weave that's out to kill), but if you don't, once you see it, you'll agree with me. This film does own its campy feel and I feel that it helps the film. I really enjoyed this film. It's so much fun to watch. I’m not typically a fan of horror movies (with the exception of Jordan Peele's films and A Quiet Place) but the satirical elements in this made it work. I think that horror and comedy are great balances for each other and I feel that this film succeeds in doing both well. Justin Simien wrote the screenplay for this film and I think that he has such a good grasp on satire and how to send a message without it being overt and blatant. It is a little bit too long though. I guess one could say that it's in need of a haircut (ba-doom-ching). The film gets caught up in over explaining everything, only to then have an ambiguous ending. It might have created a better experience in the long run because it would have led to people having conversations afterwards. But, you know, hindsight is 20/20. Also, the horror elements aren't introduced early enough. It spend to much time wondering why the weaves are moving on their own, instead of getting to the horror part. Essentially, the scares are too concentrated towards the end of the film. They should've been spread out more. However, this film is still a really good time and it's just f*ckin' weird.