Review: Bad Girls (2021)

Directed by: Christopher Bickel
Starring: Morgan Shaley Renew, Sanethia Dresch, Shelby Lois Guinn
Written by: Christopher Bickel, Shane Silman
Music by: Matt Akers
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray (independent release)
IMDb

Director, co-writer, editor, co-cinematographer, do-it-aller Christopher Bickel made a bit of a name for himself in the indie horror scene with his debut feature, the psychedelic head-fuck exploitation throwback The Theta Girl (2017). His follow-up, Bad Girls, threads a similar pattern, following Val, Mitzi, and Carolyn on an acid-burned road trip through an urban hell of drugs, crime, and ultra-violence. This film is very low budget, funded primarily through an IndieGoGo campaign, and driven by passion, ingenuity, and probably, well, drugs. Bickel and crew do a smashing job of fashioning something entertaining out of an amalgam of grindhouse influences while navigating just shy of pastiche. Bickel’s aesthetic acuity is evident right out of the gate and the somewhat repetitive action set-pieces are distinguished by his charismatically kinetic presentation and sound landscape that’s part punk rock, part grindcore, part retro-synth, but all underground. The travelogue scenes are interestingly shot, manipulating angle and tilt, and the colorful title cards that establish place and time are charming. Morgan Shaley Renew’s Val is a magnetic screen presence — supported by the oddballs that pepper the periphery of her psychoactive barrage, including a foul-mouthed septuagenarian cop with John Hammond vibes and a helium-voiced giant of a bouncer named Bill — though her “bad girl” persona wears after a while and I found myself wishing I had a reason to care about the fates of her and her compadres. It’s unfortunate that none of the characters get the shaded tones they deserve since Bad Girls is pedal-on-the-gas, senses-tazed the entire way. Considering the minuscule budget, the acting is actually pretty decent across the board, but the one small break from the frenetic gutterpunk shenanigans — a scene in the car when the main cast opens up and shares a dark secret — is underserved by the cast’s limitations. Although this movie is by no means designed for shrinking violets, a shocking moment of carnage near the start of the film sets up a level of insanity that unfortunately never shows up again. But what does show up at the end is a great parody of everyone’s favorite tiny-statured, meatballed metalhead. All in all, Bad Girls is a quite enjoyable if somewhat shallow DIY tour through the annals of exploitation cinema by a talented indie filmmaker.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10