Supernatural Horror Bad Things (2023) Could Be Worse
Title: Bad Things
First Non-Festival Release: August 18, 2023 (Digital/Streaming Platforms)
Director: Stewart Thorndike
Writer: Stewart Thorndike
Runtime: 86 Minutes
Starring: Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Rad Pereira
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Many complicated feelings can arise when faced with big decisions and can allow other issues to bubble up to the surface. It can be difficult to wrestle with all these demons at once.
After her grandmother’s passing, Ruthie (Gayle Rankin) feels this way. Determined to sell what is now her and her mother’s inherited hotel property, she brings along her girlfriend Cal (Hari Nef) and friends Maddie (Rad Pereira) and Fran (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) for a weekend getaway that will double as a meeting with potential buyers. Fully aware of the hotel’s tragic past, Ruthie isn’t aware of just how ill-prepared she is to handle the trauma of the unfolding weekend.
A clunky narrative and underwhelming performances strike down Bad Things before its chilling supernatural premise can take root.
Supernatural horror with a hearty helping of slow-burn, Bad Things meanders through a series of arguments and visions before reaching its bloody finale. Much of the plot of Bad Things revolves around infidelity of the incestuous friend group and their determination to keep things private. While very much a real fear for gay friend groups, the lack of any other conflict makes the interactions repetitive and one-note. Every five to ten minutes or so someone from the group will admit or allude to the infidelity, wearing the idea thin quickly.
The languid pacing kills whatever tension is broiling over between its messy protagonists making Bad Things an exceptionally slow watch. Bad Things is chock full of interesting flashes of creeping supernatural terror, but it doesn’t escalate appropriately. Peppered in throughout the narrative, writer/director Stewart Thorndike opts to save most everything for the end to deliver maximum impact. It’s a choice that doesn’t pay off as the audience has little to invest in at that point. Clearly drawing inspiration from The Shining, Bad Things emphasizes the winter setting, twin jogger imagery, long hallway shots, and the general psychological descent of its protagonist. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to give credence to the group’s terror as they manage to take so many breaks to nap or sleep despite the presence of danger.
Dull characterization and performances drag the narrative down further, as the varying shades of awful friends/interconnected lovers hardly have much going for them beyond their relationships. Devoid of much personality or knowledge of any of these characters, the hotel only exploits their toxic intertwined relationships with each other except for Ruthie’s past trauma with the hotel and her issues with her mother. Fran is depicted as a psychosexual attention hog who doesn’t know how to read the room and may have a dark secret beyond the walls. Maddie is a chef that feels protective of Cal since they previously dated. And Cal really doesn’t have a personality outside of being a somewhat supporting girlfriend to Ruthie. Both Hari Nef and Rad Pereira give decidedly flat performances as a result, making the rest of the film feel awkward. Gayle Rankin and Annabelle Dexter-Jones fare better but still struggle to juggle the emotional beats of their performances appropriately. For a film so intimately casted, there should have been more work in making these people seem real beyond their paper-thin backstory.
While its story falls flat, Bad Things does a great job at emulating its chilly atmosphere inside and out of the abandoned hotel. Despite clearly being in a decently populated town, the hotel feels so isolated and disconnected from the world around it. The empty hallways and sterile rooms evoke a sense of familiarity without the feeling of comfort which perfectly explains why this hotel is so off to Ruthie. When the tension escalates, the camera glides through the building with ease making the confrontation scenes more intense and suspenseful. It doesn’t wholly make up for the scattershot narrative, but it allows the psychological horror to seep through enough in the end.
It doesn’t deserve the resounding hate it is receiving but understandably the chilly reception of Bad Things is generally warranted. Wishing to evoke the ideas and imagery of better films before it, Bad Things offers little in its story outside of confirming that queer people can also be bad to each other. Representation does matter and it is nice to see a cast of queer people not reduced to harmful stereotypes and instead reduced to two-dimensional characters. There is clearly talent behind the camera, and it is a shame to see it wasted on such a bland script. It isn’t the worst thing to unthaw on Shudder’s original streaming queue, but it doesn’t warrant a strong recommendation for anyone except those looking for indie horror that champions representation.
Overall Score? 4/10
