Bad Girl Boogey

Everyone deserves a chance to be brutally murdered onscreen without always having to carry the blame. And it is the highlighted details of the outcast group that is the filmmaker’s most prominent achievement here. The habit of self-cutting, dealing with junkie parents, and mutual disdain with authorities rings true. You would need to go back to films like River’s Edge to find depictions of marginalized teens this genuine. Mackay and Robinson also need to be commended over the screenplay’s clever way of intertwining the supernatural angle with the social themes in the finale.

It is these elements that elevate Bad Girl Boogey beyond the backyard blood-bag movie that it, unfortunately, looks like. Instead of having visual compositions, it has compost visions. The cinematography style is trying to achieve that raw look unique to indies. Unfortunately, it just looks sloppy. Clumsy handheld shots destroy the immediacy trying to be conveyed, making everything look like a rehearsal. It is almost impossible to judge the performances because they are shot so poorly.

“…the lighting is vivid and exciting…”

The tragedy is the lighting is vivid and exciting but is buried beneath the shoddy camerawork. It also makes the low-grade gore effects look even cheaper. Also, there is more than one instance of dragged-out montages where the song in the background is played almost entirely. It is like a high fashion garment with a great design that wasn’t sewn correctly; the sleeves are hanging by a thread. Yeah, it definitely has flashes of bloody brilliance, but that is hamstrung by looking like crap. An argument could be made that a ragged edge aesthetic is being used on purpose, just like the first punk bands who couldn’t play their instruments. To that, I would like to point out that even The Damned learned to play their gear by the second album.

Mackay contributes to both LGBTQIA+ cinema and slasher lore. Bad Girl Boogey is worth seeking out by hardcore fans of both. Just ensure you have your snazziest sunglasses on to protect you from the eyesore view.