Hulu originals ‘Bad Hair,’ ‘Totally Under Control’ address different horrors
New horror movies flood the streaming services every October, though most feature the typical assortment of genre villains - ghosts, zombies, psycho killers, etc.
Many will be forgotten by Nov. 1, but streaming service Hulu has at least two unforgettable options (though one takes on the horrors of real world 2020).
“Bad Hair” won’t keep anyone up at night, as writer/director Justin Simien (known for both the “Dear White People” film from 2014 and its subsequent Netflix series) takes a campy, comedic approach to his subject matter.
It’s easy to understand why once you hear the set-up: A young woman working at an upstart music video network circa 1989 gets a killer weave… as in her hair begins to literally kill people.
Anna (Elle Lorraine) desperately wants to be a producer and TV host at the network, and new boss Zora (Vanessa Williams, essentially channeling her “Ugly Betty” antagonist) encourages her to straighten her hair in order to appear more “mainstream.” Her new weave makes an impression at the office, but it also appears to crave human blood.
It takes some time before “Bad Hair” leans into its own silliness, focusing instead on the dynamics of being a Black woman in a workplace that shifts from being a place for African-American authenticity into something that prioritizes superficial beauty standards. The charismatic supporting cast is stacked with familiar faces, including Blair Underwood, Laverne Cox, Kelly Rowland and an especially funny turn by Lena Waithe, so the eventual ridiculousness is grounded by dynamic characters.
As the horror elements become more pronounced, “Bad Hair” loses some of its nuanced cultural observations, and Simien resorts to some lazy dramatic conclusions. The overall message just feels a bit tone deaf coming from a male filmmaker. Nevertheless, the audacity of “Bad Hair” will help the film endure well beyond most horror entries, and there are enough ideas here to spark a broader conversation about the subject matter.
Meanwhile, the subject of “Totally Under Control” may be a bit raw for audiences at this particular moment of 2020. Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” the Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side”) takes a detailed and damning look at the early response to COVID-19 in the United States.
Hypochondriacs and news hounds (like me) already know the details of the disastrous first quarter of 2020, as this country’s numerous missteps were well-documented by multiple, legitimate news outlets. “Totally Under Control” packages that information in an efficient and easy-to-follow format for those who maybe weren’t paying attention (or have since been crushed by the subsequent information overload of all things COVID-19).
The bulk of the movie focuses on what didn’t happen between the initial emergence of the virus in China in December and the eventual shutdown that occurred in the U.S. in mid-March. Among those missteps - testing lapses, PPE shortages, mixed public health messages and an overall assumption that things simply “couldn’t get that bad.”
The mere mention of this title will surely infuriate some supporters of the current federal administration, and certainly not all the blame can be attributed to any one person or department. I would argue that “Totally Under Control” isn’t attempting to be “anti” anything. but is instead providing a fact-based breakdown on what led to a health crisis that is still not anywhere near being under control. Maybe much of it was unavoidable, but there’s value in understanding the early, crucial decision points that started this country on such a grave trajectory.
Regardless of whatever information you choose to trust about the pandemic, please just be careful out there, as the horror show that is COVID-19 will continue to be with us for a while.
Both “Bad Hair” and “Totally Under Control” are available now on the Hulu streaming service.
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Tyler Wilson has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
