"BITCH ASS" // SXSW 2022
Let's start out with the obvious: BITCH ASS is a fantastic title for a horror film, especially a "Midnight Movie" selection at a film festival. And starting the film off with Tony Todd marks it with a strong start. Sadly, it doesn't keep that pace for long. Narrating the film at the beginning, Todd name drops some of his biggest hits, including Candyman, and begins the tale of "Bitch Ass," the first masked black serial killer. The main plot revolves around four friends who are trying to break into a house as part of a gang initiation. The house belongs to an old woman but what the friends don't know is that her grandson also lives there, and her grandson is Bitch Ass (Tunde Laleye), an abused boy who's now out for revenge. He starts this revenge by having them all compete in giant and deadly versions of board games like "Operation" and "Connect Four." One by one, they all fall prey to his strange games, but can anyone survive his murder spree?
BITCH ASS could work as a cheesy B-movie or a fun midnight horror film. But the script is so bad and the filmmaking so amateur and the flashbacks are so cheesy that you're constantly taken out of the film. Not to mention that the giant board games he makes them compete in is a very silly idea. It's as if the movie Escape Room discarded this idea for a future sequel and so they picked it up. Some of the ensemble turn in fun performances, but overall it's a slog, especially considering the potential it holds. I don't think Bitch Ass will be having any more killing sprees anytime soon.
GRADE: D
WRITTEN BY Bill Posley, Jonathan Colomb DIRECTED BY Bill Posley STARRING Sheaun McKinney, Tunde Laleye, Me'Lisa Sellers, Teon Kelly, Tony Todd SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2022 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: BITCH-ASS