By Imara Ikhumen
image source : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4798836/
Bad Hair is an extremely unsettling and simultaneously campy addition to this year’s strong collection of black horror films. In fact, it was such a unique viewing experience, that I felt compelled to come up with a new word to describe the genre that it seemed to fall into: “FUNsettlling” (after looking it up, I am not the first to use the term).
Regardless, what makes Bad Hair funsettling is the fact that it manages to make you laugh even as you’re feeling nervous and on edge about what’s to come. Much of the unsettling quality is derived from very creative cinematic camera movements and angles that build up a sense of unease and tension. Somehow, almost every moment had a creepy factor to it. For that, I see the film being looked too for visual and stylistic inspiration by independent and even big budget filmmakers for years to come.
The fun quality comes from the jokes, gags, and the visuals effects which are not actually all that scary, but rather appropriately, call to mind the visual effects of 80’s B-horror movies which many film lovers look at as cult classics to this day.
Those cult classics are still adored contemporarily not in spite of, but specifically because of their campy qualities– mainly being ambitious somewhat beyond their indie budget’s means, but succeeding enough in their techniques, that the viewer still identifies with and appreciates what they are seeing, maybe even more so than if the budget were huge enough to accomplish everything with ease. Like with those beloved films, writer/director, Justin Simien, had a budget that was not low, but was definitely not high, and he turned it in much more than what one may have expected.
In addition to that, there was quite a bit of fun to be had in watching a film by black people and for black people as well. There were countless jokes and references to black culture that would likely go over the heads of people of other races. As a black person, it is wonderful and rare to watch a film that is made for me in this way. Simien’s film exists in our (black people’s) world, rather than in the world of many white films which attempt to diminish and exclude us at almost every turn.
While film has always been and always will be an important medium, pertinent to activism and social commentary, Bad Hair shows that no one should underestimate the delight that comes from simply feeling your community is
being seen and spoken to on screen by its own members, using your own inside jokes. However, this is not to say that the film does not have something valuable to say. The battle between straight/fake hair and natural hair is played both for scares and for comedy, but in real life, it is an intense battle that all members of
the black community, especially women are familiar with. The theme of this battle runs deep through text and subtext. The actual severity of it can be encompassed in one particular quote from the film “From the moment you are born, you are so thoroughly indoctrinated by the insanity of Western European worldviews that you can’t even see yourself the way nature would have.” This statement is striking and represents a moment in this horror comedy that uses the unsettling mood to make one feel compelled to do a bit of reflecting.
Bad Hair is very well acted, very funsettling, and after watching it, I am looking forward to seeing more of Justin Simien’s work in the future.
