Another Take: ‘Bad Things’: Mommy issues lead to unraveling in slow-burn thriller

Psychological horror suffers from a slow beginning.

August 15, 2023

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.

The premise of Bad Things is as simple as the title itself. A group of friends get together at an empty hotel in a snowy and remote suburb. The hotel doesn’t have too sordid a reputation, but the friends soon discover that women do “bad things” at this hotel, the Comley Suites. While the premise seems simple, Bad Things is an anxious slow-burn that will have you second guessing character’s motivations.

Ruthie (Gayle Rankin) has recently inherited the hotel after the death of her grandmother. While she seems the most excited to arrive at the hotel, it becomes clear that it’s actually her girlfriend Cal (Hari Nef) who wants to break into the hospitality industry and is excited at the premise of owning a hotel with Ruthie. Ruthie and Cal are having other problems that Ruthie seems eager to sweep under the rug, too.

The beginning of Bad Things is a slow exercise in frustration. Why have these friends gathered here, and why do none of them seem happy to be on vacation? Besides Cal and Ruthie, there’s also Maddie (Rad Pereira) and Fran (Annabelle Dexter-Jones). Fran is the source of most of the contention between Ruthie and Cal; Ruthie had cheated on Cal with Fran not so long ago. It turns out Maddie doesn’t really like Fran either, and Fran seems completely oblivious to how everyone feels about her. That Ruthie doesn’t actually want to be at, or own this hotel, isn’t mentioned until more than halfway through the film.

Gayle Rankin’s line delivery is weird and stilted at times; it almost seems like she is supposed to be on drugs; it’s unclear if Ruthie herself is frustrated and having a hard time getting words out, or if this is meant to add to the feeling that this slow-burn will soon devolve into more chaos. It seems like not only do these friends not like each other, but they’re also completely incapable of communicating clearly with one another. There are lulls in the action and dialogue that work to create atmosphere, if you can manage to push through the film’s uneasy and slow beginning.

Bad Things

Bad Things is the second feature from director Stewart Thorndike since 2014’s Lyle, a brilliant film starring Gaby Hoffman as Leah, a woman who begins to unravel and become paranoid after her toddler dies. While Lyle has been proclaimed as a modern (and lesbian) Rosemary’s Baby, Bad Things bears an obvious resemblance to The Shining.

The hotel looks like it hasn’t been updated or touched since the 1990s, a callback to when these characters would have been children. Ruthie spent some time in this hotel as a child, and it’s slowly revealed that there’s a lot of trauma in her past tied to this hotel and her relationship with her mother. As their stay goes on, Ruthie begins to look exhausted and nervous; Fran becomes incredibly paranoid. Leaning in to referencing The Shining, Fran begins to see two joggers. While first she sees them lurking outside the hotel, eventually they’re inside; waiting for her in the hallway.

It’s unclear why Fran would be the one to hallucinate in the hotel instead of Ruthie, and the relationship between Fran and Ruthie becomes even more muddled as the film goes on and Ruthie’s relationship to reality unravels. Ruthie spends much of the beginning of the film trying to get in touch with her mother, who she apparently hadn’t spoken to for seven years until the events of the film. Eventually, Bad Things begs the question, who is real, and who is a stand-in for Ruthie’s mother?

Writer/Director Stewart Thorndike has explained that Bad Things is the second film in a trilogy of horror films about motherhood. In this context, Bad Things is a wonderful follow-up to Lyle. Bad Things explores how mothers can inflict trauma and how that can haunt their children. It’s a film that explores female rage, and does so with a queer/non-binary/trans cast.

As Bad Things becomes violent and the tension between the group of four reaches a breaking point, Bad Things becomes the film it should have been from the very beginning. It’s a smart film that leaves you with much to unpack.