Bad Things

By: Maggie Stankiewicz 

Bad Things follows four friends and their cargo-plane-sized baggage through a bloody weekend in an abandoned hotel. Written and directed by Stewart Thorndike of Lyle notoriety, this violent psychodrama delivers dread in spades but stumbles when it comes to maintaining narrative cohesion. The movie presents audiences with fun interpretations of horror tropes, suspense, relational trauma and mommy drama, making it a haunting, emotionally driven foray into the halls of your local Doubletree Inn.

Ruthie (Gayle Rankin) is the unlikely heiress of an abandoned motel that her estranged mother (Molly Ringwald) is hell-bent on commandeering and selling. When Ruthie, her girlfriend Cal (Hari Nef) and friends Maddie (Rad Pereira) and Fran (Anabelle Dexter-Jones) decide to stay at the hotel to assess its viability – they get a little more than they bargained for. Bad Things dips its toes into the meta waters, referencing pop culture’s obsession with creepy motels before projecting these very tropes to viewers. These nods come off as an inside joke with audiences rather than a contrived attempt at subversion, which isn’t always an easy feat.

The four friends at the core of this film aren’t really friends at all. At least not completely. They’re messier than that. They are lovers and dirty secrets and exes who insist on marinating in their interpersonal drama make them vulnerable and ripe for the picking at the hands of the hotel’s ghostly guests. Their secrets, lies and deepest desires fuel the demonic fire that resides within the hotel’s walls. The result is part homage to The Shining and part whodunnit. Is the killer doing these bad things a member of the friend group? Are they cognizant of their actions? Are they possessed by a spirit or sick and violent? These questions are never fully answered.

The disharmonious quartet is by far the film’s most interesting and frustrating throughline. Though deftly portrayed and well-acted, Ruthie is not a particularly likable main character – but her disagreeable nature isn’t compelling enough for audiences to care whether she survives the weekend. The remaining three friends do a lot of heavy lifting. Cal is a deeply sympathetic character, Fran is deeply disconcerting, and Maddie is the pinnacle of desperation and yearning. Their dynamic is extremely complementary and enough to stoke the fire of any malicious entity feeding off unsuspecting energies.

In the moments between Ruthie’s mommy issue-induced meltdowns, Bad Things relies on well-executed horror motifs and composition to visually complement the story’s emotional beats. Director Thorndike’s lingering tracking shots of empty hallways, ephemeral visions of the hotel’s permanent residents and clean cinematography build on the psychological suspense of the storyline; making the horror elements effective even in lieu of narrative pitfalls. Perhaps the script could have benefitted from one more pass – one where the friendship drama was a little less complex to make room for more genuine scares and clarity in the ultimate killer’s motivations and activation.

Bad Things is not a bad thing at all. It is an important entry to the horror genre and will make for a serviceable addition the Shudder’s original library. While it relies heavily on horror tropes and homage, this film brings something powerful and unique to the table. It features a core group of queer characters who do not fall into the trap of queer stereotypes or overly precious representation. Instead, they are all given the freedom to be messy, unlikable, complex, resilient and damaged. This is a feat and one worth mentioning when discussing the film’s successes. This waking nightmare is worth checking out once it hits Shudder, but don’t expect it to leave you with warm fuzzies. You might even want to lock up your chainsaw before pressing play…just in case.