Justin Simien takes a complex message about societal expectations and delivers it using a satirical horror film as his medium. Bad Hair started out with telling the story of a young woman in the entertainment industry who struggles to climb the corporate ladder and afford rent spikes in her recently gentrified neighborhood. Throughout the film, there is an embedded directive that shows the audience how POC's are expected to take their culture and force it into a cookie cutter mold to make other people feel more comfortable. This film also portrays how easy it is to lose sight of one's true self when striving toward a career goal, to the extent of becoming an entirely new person.
For the first half of this movie, I often found my thoughts bouncing between "i thought this was satire?" and "I thought this was horror?" Bad Hair definitely took a while to build to that point, but it was entertaining throughout the entirety.
Elle Lorraine's performance was excellent and came across as very genuine. Vanessa Williams was true to her villainous character and Lena Waithe was a great supporting actress who gave comedic relief at all the right moments. Usher made a few appearances, but they were short lived. Kelly Rowland's scenes were minimal.
The horror elements were quirky, unnerving, and suspenseful. Despite the absurdity of the concept of a "bad weave coming to life," Justin did well on this delivery without compromising quality.
