Bad Things

Surprisingly unsettling execution. Took a while to warm up, but I found it to be spooky enough to raise my hackles.

The Shining homages abound in this LGBTQ+ fronted moodpiece-come-slasher about generational inheritance and mommy issues. Slow burn to a fault and almost trying too hard to be elevated and vague about it's true message, there seems to be only bad things to say about Bad Things. These actors feel like they genuinely disdain each other off camera, and it bleeds into their fake onscreen friendship to disastrous effect. If that was the intention and I've completely misread this friend groups dynamic, I guess the movies true message was lost on me and I'm usually a sucker for these deeper meaning horrors that don't beat you over the head with what they're trying to say. I'd give this one a miss unless you've got a free trial of Shudder and you've got literally nothing else left on the service to watch, and even then it's a strained recommendation at best.

[spoiler]My read on the plot is that Ruthie was neglected by her promiscuous mother from an early age and only reconnected when money or inheritance was involved. This distance "killed" her chance at making her own meaningful connections with friends and lovers, which we see play out when Ruthie literally kills her friends and lovers throughout the course of the movie. Playing into the movies themes of inheritance, we see that Ruthie inherited her mothers selfishness, promiscuity and possible mental illness during pivotal moments of the movie. Always acting in self interest, sleeping with Fran on a whim even though she's with Cal and seeing texts and web results that don't exist. I still can't place everything correctly, but I didn't like this movie enough to dedicate more time to psychoanalysing it, so I'll leave it here. [/spoiler]

Poor acting, directing, screenplay, and music...this movie is full of bad things.

As I only have bad things to say about this movie, I won't bore you with my negative feelings. But here's what I will say...avoid this boring and confusing misfire!

Definitely one of the ***Bad Things*** on Shudder! Takes a while before the horror kicks in and when it does it's a complete turn-off. Unscary and laughable (not in a good way). They didn't even bother doing any makeup for the ghosts. The characters are kinda interesting on their own but I can't say I liked any of the interactions between them. Incredibly confusing interactions, what was going on? Too much melodrama, the acting gets worse and worse, love *The Shining*-esque snowy location, boring third act and laughable ending.