Bad Things - Movie Review

Comparing this to The Shining in all of the reviews and promotion probably hurt this film more than helped it. People have been saying that this film is “inspired” by The Shining when it’s really just an unofficial reimagining of Kubrick’s original vision. This film feels like someone watched the classic film and took all the wrong things out of it. I want to break down all of the things that this film rips from The Shining and how it all leads to a misunderstanding of the original material.

For starters, the lead is clearly suppose to be a play on Jack Nicholson in the original film but without any of the dimension that is present in that film. In The Shining, Jack starts out as a loose cannon with a bad past and slowly goes insane. Because of his past actions, it leads many of the character choices and the ghostly visions to be in question as the audience has to decide if it’s his deteriorating mental state or actual ghosts. This film does the same thing, but the character has no layers. Both characters start out the same, but by the end of the first act, I absolutely despise Bad Things’ lead for the wrong reasons. Jack Torrance was a piece of shit but you were with him on the ride and he was a complex person with so many layers. Bad Things tries to do that same thing but with a super unlikable character that you start to hate instead of relate to.

Hari Nef plays the Shelly Duvall character and she’s probably the only good part of this film. She plays out her motive super well and it’s as believable as Shelly’s in The Shining. The girlfriend/wife who gets dragged into it when she should just really leave the lead. Hari was one of the reasons I watched this film and she didn’t really disappoint.

The film is set in a hotel like The Shining, but a vastly less interesting one. The Shining felt almost like the haunted mansion at times as you felt like you could get trapped in the hotel and it actually felt lived in. Bad Things tries to do the same idea with the hotel and the ghosts but doesn’t understand the point of why they used them in The Shining. The ghosts in The Shining were an extension of the waning sanity of Jack while Bad Things has the ghosts as the thing that begins the chaos. The element only begins after about 35 or 40 minutes of the characters walking around the hotel and getting mad at each other for real generic and uninteresting things. The use of the ghosts also gets super annoying right away as there’s no real nuance to how they are used.

The film also doesn't utilize the hotel when it comes to the feelings of isolation. The group of friends leave the hotel at one point which kills the trapped feeling for the audience as opposed to The Shining where they were physically and mentally trapped in the hotel throughout the winter. The ability to come and go diminishes the feelings of social, mental and physical isolation. The connection that the audience feels is weaker based on that decision.

The Shining is a film that is shrouded in mystery as so many people have come up with different theories to what it’s actually about. The plot of Shining is straight forward but the layers under it lead to some wild and complex discussions. Bad Things seems to think that being weird without any real payoff is actually what the shining was trying to do. The Shining paid everything off and the love from the fans led to more. Bad Things confused but not in the right way.

There’s also a cruel element to the film that I can’t get behind. Hari Nef is the heart of the film and does nothing wrong and they decide to brutally massacre her for no reason. The Shining could also be viewed as a film about a mother and a son trying to get out an abusive situation. Bad Things takes the general idea of that and completely mistreats the victim and uses them as just meat for slaughter. That gets this film a lower score as well.

The Shining was a film that had layers, that had multiple pieces of subtext that strengthened the film and was masterfully crafted in every way possible. Bad Things is a film that takes elements of the classic film and doesn’t take any of the real juicy stuff that made the film work. It’s a pale imitation of a horror classic that uses other elements almost as brownie points. The film is a completely female cast and the queer and trans representation are great, but it doesn’t save this film. The film is decently made on a filmmaking standpoint, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t safe from criticism. Bad Things to put it simply is a boring and meandering Shining ripoff who’s best elements are that they feature women and LGBTQ+ individuals as their main characters. It’s like taking a juicy steak and draining the juice out culminating in the customer getting a super dry meal. I remember hearing from festivals that this was not the greatest thing in the world, but the idea of a shining inspired gay horror flick still had me hooked. I kinda wish that people would have just said that this was a ripoff instead of an inspiration, because maybe I would have saved my time and checked out something else. Bad Things is truly a Shining ripoff without anything that made that original film special. A film that opens up so many doors and ends so poorly in the pursuit to be weird and puzzling that it leads more to frustration. As much as I love Hari Nef and great LGBTQ+ representation, this film is definitely not it.

The Rating