The Justin Simien Movies Ranked
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE was kind of a moment. I worked at a movie theater when it came out in 2014, and although it had a limited run at my suburban location at least, I seem to recall a modicum of controversy from the Fox News and Co. contingent. Because of its limited time at my theater, I never caught it, something I’ve regretted here and there throughout the years. With the release of (the much different) HAUNTED MANSION, helmed by DEAR WHITE PEOPLE’s breakout director Justin Simien, I decided it was time to go back and do a quick dip into what Simien has made so far. That constitutes six films in the 17 years since 2006, although addressed here are only the three features made in the nine years since 2014. Omitted are the three shorts RINGS (2006), MY WOMEN: INST MSGS (2009), and INST MSGS (2009), which don’t seem to be readily available on the web.
#3 — HAUNTED MANSION (2023)
My decision to catch up with a filmmaker that has intrigued me in spite of never having seen any of his movies has yielded some distinct pleasures, but the impetus for the whole thing has not. Disney’s newest theme park ride adaptation HAUNTED MANSION is perhaps even less fun to watch than the notoriously bad 2003 Eddie Murphy starrer. It’s a shame that the monolithic company can gobble up talented and scrappy directors like Simien, but of course he made his choice and is responsible for this shameful “horror” “comedy.” Poorly lit in the worst digital trend of the day, full of set ups for jokes that never deliver a punchline past a repetition of a phrase (“uh yeah that just happened” humor), and acting as a constant commercial with tonally ridiculous product mentions, not even placements, HAUNTED MANSION starts out with a modicum of promise. It almost feels like a “baby’s first horror movie” attempt with some decently spooky visuals, but the movie quickly devolves into limp action. HAUNTED MANSION is far and away Simien’s worst movie so far, a big budget breakthrough, a box office flop, and hopefully an inspiration for better work.
#2 — DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (2014)
As mentioned, the buzz around scrappy indie debut feature DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, which I learned was partially crowdfunded, was my only insight into the content of the movie. Watching it nearly a decade after its release, I find it to be a college dramedy satire time capsule released the very same year I began college. That dramedy element is DEAR WHITE PEOPLE’s weakness, as its incredibly pointed commentary is somewhat hobbled by emotional resolutions that feel a little too tropey for the genre and setting. But that is a relative complaint, as on the whole the film is a funny and cringey (cringey because of how too real it is) takedown of neoliberal racism and Obama-era “progress.” DEAR WHITE PEOPLE’s numerous stylistic inspirations, from highly stylized symmetrical medium shots to wide landscape views, make the bland lack of visual identity of HAUNTED MANSION all the more painful considering this is where Simien started.
#1 — BAD HAIR (2020)
BAD HAIR came after the biggest gap between Simien’s film projects, feature or otherwise, at just about six years since DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, although he was very involved with the Netflix series of the same name based on the movie (2017–2021). And reflecting on the time since I watched it about a week ago, my esteem for this scrappy and campy horror movie has only risen, to the point that I upped its placement over the still good DEAR WHITE PEOPLE. There’s just something about the visual style of BAD HAIR that makes it without a doubt Simien’s most cohesive film, with a film grain and dramatic lighting that distinguish it from the intangible sludge of HAUNTED MANSION and the “first film” wearing-inspirations-on-one’s-sleeves tendency. BAD HAIR has been described as a horror comedy but I was surprised by how straight the movie plays what may come off as a ridiculous premise: a woman, spurred on by television aesthetics and Eurocentric beauty ideals, gets a weave that turns out to be a mind-controlling monster. That’s because Simien has a clear message to tell and a seriousness about it. But don’t get it wrong; BAD HAIR is not some kind of attempt to fit in with the “elevated horror” crew of filmmakers. It does revel in some form of camp and that’s its greatest success, developing an oppressive vibe while also delivering exploitative pleasures. The movie has some third-act pacing and story resolution problems not uncommon to the genre, or any film really, and that prevents it from being a true cult classic in my book. But BAD HAIR should still be considered in a pantheon of great, underseen recent horror and Simien’s best movie so far in a career that, in the wake of HAUNTED MANSION, I hope can revived in this vein.
