If you haven't heard, the creator's behind Dear White People have teamed up with Hulu and released a horror movie called Bad Hair. There has been a lot of buzz, some good and some bad, about this hair-focused thriller that piqued my interest. So, a few days ago I decided to watch Bad Hair and I can't stop thinking about it.
Before diving into this thorough exposé about the horrors of weaves, fair warning: this post does contain SPOILERS!!!!!
Here's how Hulu describes the film.
Picture this, the movie begins with the most horrific scene possible for anyone who grew up in a black household in the '90s: a close-up shot of an at-home hair relaxer. Instantly, my body tensed up and I felt like I was 8 years old and some lady was slapping that foul-smelling, white cream on my precious curls.
To make matters worse, young Anna Bludsow's (Zaria Kelley) hair started falling out because the relaxer gave her a chemical burn.
There's an eerie montage of how hair extensions are made. Boom! It's now 1989 and Miss Anna Bludsow (Elle Lorraine) is all grown-up and embracing her natural tresses. But, the TV industry doesn't seem to enjoy her "ethnic look," and she is stuck being an assistant at Culture, a TV station that features black musicians.
We meet Anna’s friends, Sista Soul (Yaani King) and Brook-Lynne (Lena Waithe), both of whom work as video jockeys at Culture.
We also meet Grant Madison (James Van Der Beek), the station's owner. Grant fires Edna (Judith Scott) from her role as head of programming.
Edna is then replaced by Zora (Vanessa Williams), who's a former supermodel.
And we meet Julius (Jay Pharaoh), who is Anna's co-worker, ex-lover, and the definition of a fuckboy.
Once Zora takes over, everyone at Culture has to "interview" in order to keep their jobs. Luckily, our girl Anna rocks the interview. She shares her ideas to rebrand the station and add a live countdown segment, Cult Live. Zora loves the ideas, but tells Anna that she needs to get a weave if she wants to be one of her "girls."
Anna is given a business card to an upscale salon, Virgie’s, that specializes in hair weaves.
Before the life-changing weave can be installed, we get a brief lesson in a story titled, The Moss-Haired Girl, by the loving and slightly condescending Uncle Bludsow (Blair Underwood). Basically, the story details a young slave girl who fashions a wig from a tree, but the tree is cursed by dead witches. The wig begins killing people until it is strong enough to take over the slave girl's mind and body.
Anna goes to Virgie’s to get her new hair weave and the process is a scene out of my worst nightmare. The whole ordeal is so painful and bloody that Anna passes out from the pain, and I’m left squirming in my seat.
Luckily for Anna, Virgie (Laverne Cox) is able to complete the weave, and gives her a pink bottle of hair product with two instructions for maintenance: apply the product twice a day and don’t get the hair wet.
Anna’s new hair weave instantly transformed her life. Her concepts were approved by the station, putting her in the running to host the live segment. Everything was so great that she convinced the rest of the Culture staff to also get weaves from Virgie's.
Everything's going good, right? Wrong. Anna's weave starts killing people and drinking their blood like a vampire. First, Anna's pervy landlord tries to assault her, so she stabs him and her weave drinks his blood.
Then, before the celebration of the Culture’s rebranding, Anna gets her period and what happens next is the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed. Her weave ingests her menstrual blood from her lady bits.
After finding out that Zora stole her ideas and passed them off as her own, Anna has revenge sex with Julius (who was having an affair with Zora). During their dalliance, Anna stabs him to death, and her weave drinks his blood!
Finally, Anna realizes that the weave has got to go, but when she tries to get it removed, all hell breaks loose. The weave kills the stylist and Edna, then cocoons them and drinks their blood.
Instead of being a rational human being and calling the police, or a lawyer, or skipping town, what does Anna do? She goes to the Culture headquarters to talk to Zora. Why does she do this? Your guess is as good as mine.
Anyway, Anna finds Zora and it's revealed that everyone who got a weave from Virgie’s is experiencing the same thing. The weaves are killing people and taking over their wearer's body. When Zora tries to cut her weave out of her hair, the weave wraps around her wrist and hoists her in the air, killing her.
Cue Anna's awkward run.
You'd think at this point Anna would do something, anything different, but you'd be wrong. Seeing all of these people dead doesn't stop Anna from going into work the next day and taking over as the host of Cult Live. But, during the taping, Anna believes she sees Zora (who is supposed to be dead) walking around.
This is where shit gets real. Zora's assistant is snatched and killed by a possessed Zora.
All the Culture staff members are sitting in a room, zombified and covered in weave.
Then, we have Brook-Lynne (aka my favorite character) offering some much needed comic relief.
Finally, after all that drama, Anna is able to barricade herself in a studio room. She tries to shoot possessed-Zora, but the gun she found is actually a lighter. She's able to trigger the sprinklers and the weave starts "dying," allowing her to cut it from her head.
Fast forward a few days, Anna is moving out of her apartment and notices that the pink hair product contains pig's blood, which she considers an "appetizer" for her killer weave.
We also see a Cult advertisement featuring Zora, suggesting that she survived, but is now fully possessed by the weave.
Finally, we come full circle with the Moss-Haired Girl story. Turns out it's real, and the land that the cursed tree is on is owned by Grant Madison's family. They continue to farm the hair even though they know the outcome. Truly evil!
My Overall Thoughts:
Concept: 10/10. This movie is so imaginative and creative. I applaud the brains behind the film.
Horror Level: 6/10. This movie wasn't too scary, however it did have a creepy factor to it. I'm not too proud to admit that at certain spots, I might have been a little startled.
Overall Rating: 8/10. This movie is solid. It's funny, interesting, and entertaining. There are some spots that leave something to be desired, but overall it's a great movie.
Do I Recommend?: Heck yes! Everyone needs to watch this film. I was hooked from beginning to end and I am glad I spent two hours watching it. I will never not recommend this movie!