Bad Hair

Name: Bad Hair
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Released: October 23, 2020
Duration: 102 min
Rating: 60
Cast: Ashley Blaine Featherson, Blair Underwood, Corinne Massiah, Elle Lorraine, James Van Der Beek

2020

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Ratings

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4.4

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4.4	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Ratings

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Bad Hair

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Movie Details & Credits

Picturehouse Entertainment | Release Date (Streaming): October 23, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Ashley Blaine Featherson, Blair Underwood, Corinne Massiah, Elle Lorraine, James Van Der Beek, Jay Pharoah, Judith Scott, Laverne Cox, Lena Waithe, Madeleine Byrne, Michelle Hurd, Moses Jacob Storm, Steve Zissis, Vanessa Williams, Yaani King, Zaria Kelley

Summary: In 1989 an ambitious young woman gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career may come at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.

Director: Justin Simien

Genre(s): Horror, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 102 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Slashfilm Ben Pearson

Jan 24, 2020

Part Brian De Palma flick, part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, part Dracula, and part Stepford Wives, Bad Hair filters its influences through Simien’s hyper-specific passions and unique sensibilities to become a singular horror comedy from a singular filmmaker. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Oct 22, 2020

With a running time of 1 hour 55 minutes, Bad Hair might have benefited from a quick trim (sorry), and it’s a real mess at times, but you won’t soon shake off its genuinely scary and originally twisted delight Read full review

Johnny Oleksinski

Oct 30, 2020

Bad Hair is about 10 minutes too long. You don’t salivate over Anna’s home life as much as you do her office from hell, and a few of those scenes could have been trimmed. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see horror let its hair down again. Read full review

A.A. Dowd

Jan 24, 2020

The impression is of a provocative logline that Simien never quite figured out how to expand into a satisfying movie; once you get the thrust of the story, it’s mostly repetitions on a theme. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Odie Henderson

Oct 23, 2020

Where Bad Hair is not so successful, however, is in reckoning with the hornet’s nest it kicks regarding its subject matter. At almost two hours, Simien has time to interrogate the natural vs. processed hair argument instead of only hinting at it occasionally. Read full review

David Rooney

Jan 25, 2020

There's definitely a tighter, more disciplined movie trapped in here begging for a more rigorous edit. Like a head full of split ends, it needs trimming. Read full review

Angelica Jade Bastien

Oct 30, 2020

Bad Hair surprised me, ranking as the most stunning floundering of filmmaking in 2020 — a failure of empathy, intellect, and morality that I haven’t been able to shake. Read full review

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User Reviews

Charlenemingus

Oct 24, 2020

Loved it! Great set design and costumes. Less scare and more camp. Brilliant

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

Stream2BigScree

Oct 31, 2020

Hulu finally came through with something to watch during this never ending pandemic. Streamers, this week of pandemic was quite fruitful. A group of us were able to watch, Bad Hair. I found it only fitting to get a special correspondent to weigh-in and analyze this film. We are taking thisHulu finally came through with something to watch during this never ending pandemic. Streamers, this week of pandemic was quite fruitful. A group of us were able to watch, Bad Hair. I found it only fitting to get a special correspondent to weigh-in and analyze this film. We are taking this sibling to sibling movie reviews to the next notch. So this week I bring to you Nikki Starr. A jack of all trades has now added blogger to her repertoire. We both viewed Bad hair, which is a film set in 1989 about an ambitious young black woman gets a weave in order to succeed in her career. But what's the cost of a flourishing career and is it worth you hair and soul?

Now, I could review this film on own but I think it's best voiced from someone that's lived the nightmare. But from my point of view. This movie is spot one. I enjoyed the fact this movie was horror enough but not scary and it was funny enough but not a joke. The director, and writer, clearly came together and put a nice balance on the film. The feel of the '89-90s vibe was spot on. The story writing was compelling to me. The intensity and eeriness of scenes were moving for anyone to feel the main character's anxiety, pain, fear, pride, etc. And on top of that, the cast is filled with a diverse cast of actors and actresses. From Jay Pharoah to Usher and Vanessa Williams to Kelly Rowland and more, the cast was jammed pack with relevant talent for their roles. And yet, with a star studded cast the lead, Elle Lorraine stood out and gave us the full array of emotions throughout the movie. I've heard mixed reviews on this film and Rotten Tomatoes doesn't think that highly of it either. So I think it's time to bring in Vaughn. *Wild Thing music plays* Let's see what our special correspondent felt about Bad Hair.

Nikki Starr: This film seemed to be less about the hair and more about how black women are perceived in the workplace. Specifically, how they have to change to "fit in" or succeed. More importantly, there were a lot of ideas thrown out but none get fully fleshed out. The "weave sew in" scene is particularly effective and fully shows the pain people of color take on, and hide, to be seen as acceptable. This film seems to be saying, "It's ok to wear your hair/present yourself however you want, but if you wear weaves or wigs you're selling out." Which is it? She literally has natural hair and works at Culture but gets a weave to fit in at Cult. But even in that transition she never truly undergoes a transformation. The journey is implied but not shown. She has killer hair but the other people are zombies and killer hair? The story arc for the main character and her hair never made sense compared to the other cast members. And again if you want your natural hair then you're normal but if you have a weave then you're a zombie out to destroy culture? That is not cool. Worth seeing for free but not the best.

I want to thank The Starr for her insights and points. I agree but one interesting aspect I found the idea of being natural at Culture and being accepted with a weave in Cult in itself spoke volumes on the word play. You join the cult or your culture is taken over by this hair idea. Either way, its a good discussion piece whether you enjoy the movie, or not.

Long story short, I understand and agree with things Nikki said. Stream To Big Screen again thanks to her for being our special correspondent. But fortunately for Bad Hair, I still feel even with the negative aspects, this movie is worth seeing. Bad Hair was well-done (even though scant execution), well-cast, and a creepy joy to watch and giggle at. It was pegged as a horror/comedy and I enjoyed both elements as if I'm watching Thriller. Viewers can enjoy a handful to a bowl of popcorn watching this Hulu flick.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

JLuis_001

Oct 31, 2020

You need talent to make a horror-comedy work, because if one of those elements, throws the narrative out of balance, you're screwed.
And that's what happens to this movie and its mediocre results.
There was a good story here, but unfortunately, something I'm seeing recently, is that manyYou need talent to make a horror-comedy work, because if one of those elements, throws the narrative out of balance, you're screwed.
And that's what happens to this movie and its mediocre results.

There was a good story here, but unfortunately, something I'm seeing recently, is that many movies involving African-American directors and actors are desperately seeking to replicate Jordan Peele's formula, and that's a problem.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Big1

Oct 24, 2020

I hated it. The editing, the plot, the effects, the camera angles.. I can keep going. None of it worked.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

donnathejnkdiva

Oct 26, 2020

The trailer for the movie Bad Hair had me ready for a horror/comedy movie in the vein of Get Out. Something to make you think and scare the bejesus out of you. I even waited until daylight so that the movie wouldn't give me bad dreams. I was disappointed, I was not scared and it made meThe trailer for the movie Bad Hair had me ready for a horror/comedy movie in the vein of Get Out. Something to make you think and scare the bejesus out of you. I even waited until daylight so that the movie wouldn't give me bad dreams. I was disappointed, I was not scared and it made me think....the trailer was better than the movie. I'll just say this: it is a movie about hair, behaving badly for no good reason (IMO). It is a movie about hating your hair and no proclamation of love at the end. I thought that by the end of the movie everyone would have a big ole afro and be so in love with their hair that they would start a Black Hair Matters movement. Instead, by the end of the movie, no one had an afro (even the main character had hers covered), everyone was still trying to get a weave, all the natural sistahs were GONE, I mean like folk were dead and there was no mention of them. So, to me this is how the movie should have ended: It was all a dream, she wakes up and appreciates her beautiful crown and walks into Vanessa Williams' office with her hair picked out the the biggest afro possible, and says "No you light skinded, green eyed heffa, I will not change my hair!" and her and all the natural sistahs in the office storm out and start their own company. But that's just me… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Dandy-Mr-D

Apr 9, 2022

Remember my beautiful black ladies, it's important to love yourself and especially your hair. Wear it however you want!...unless you choose to wear it like a white women, then shame on you for hating yourself and your race!

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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