ANDY WARHOL’S BAD

(A.k.a. BAD)

Hazel (Carroll Baker) runs two businesses from the kitchen of her New York house. The first we see is her front as the provider of electrolysis beauty treatments for ugly neighbourhood women.

The second, evidenced primarily by her constant interruptions from incoming telephone calls, is a disposal service proffered to these same women: Hazel runs an all-female hitman racket.

With her son having done a flit leaving his simple wife Mary (Susan Tyrell) and her wailing baby behind, and her husband always mentioned but seldom present, Hazel’s life is comfortably dominated by female company and employees.

She is understandably perturbed, then, when young hustler LT (Perry King) turns up on her doorstep looking for work. He says he’s up for some killing – even providing photographic proof of his earlier jobs – and she’s been recommended as a good source of employment.

Reluctantly, Hazel agrees to try LT out. Even more reluctantly, she gives him a roof over his head – on the understanding that he pays her rent out of his first pay packet.

Unfortunately the first job assigned to LT is helping out Ingrid (Tere Tereba) with a domestic problem, and she can’t raise the funds for him to fulfil his task for several days. So, much to Hazel’s increasing chagrin, LT slobs around her gaff watching TV and soaking in the sleazy ambience in the meantime.

This suspicious character isn’t Hazel’s only concern: we, along with LT, get to glimpse into her world, where we discover an array of morally bankrupt women who work for her; the intolerably whiny Mary; customers who require the killings of pet dogs and even babies; a corrupt cop who wants a cut of Hazel’s ill-gotten gains, along with the occasional arrest to show his bosses he’s doing his job.

BAD unfurls from there in rambling, episodic fashion. This affords the viewer the opportunity to take in dubious characters such as arson-loving sisters Glenda and Marsha (Geraldine and Maria Smith), and sultry foreign assassin PG (Stefania Casini).

The story doesn’t really develop so much as treads water, alternating between Hazel’s bickering with LT and/or Mary, and the odd hit carried out by her girls, until finally coming to a head and revealing whether LT really has got it in him to carry out Ingrid’s dastardly request.

Scenes of acerbic argumentative dialogue and tasteless humour make BAD an obvious comparison to John Waters’ films of the 1970s (DESPERATE LIVING, PINK FLAMINGOS etc). But director Jed Johnson’s vibe is less camp, opting instead for a darker, more squalid and arguably disturbing tone than in the films of Baltimore’s finest.

King (CLASS OF 1984) is a likeable lead. He never quite convinces as the rogue he’s trying to be, but has an easy charm to him that lends him the look of a less brooding Joe Dallesandro. Apparently the role was written for executive producer Andy Warhol regular Dallesandro but he was too busy to take it. Rick Nelson and Jackie Curtis were then considered for the role; King ultimately got it, and does it justice.

Seeing Baker and Tyrell bouncing abuse off each other is endlessly enjoyable, and it’s great to see a SUSPIRIA-era Casini in a role so different to those she’s most well-known for.

The screenplay, co-written by Pat Hackett and George Abagnalo, is loose enough to allow for some entertaining ad-libbing. It’s been suggested (even on the DVD’s back cover) that the film could now be viewed as a precursor to NATURAL BORN KILLERS, but I don’t see this connection. If anything, the film simply comments on the lack of morals in contemporary society and asks who is worse: the killers, or those who require their services.

Not that any of that matters too much. The film will be best remembered for its "shock" moments, such as when a fraught mother tosses her screaming baby out of a high-rise apartment window. Clearly the bundle that splatters on the sidewalk below is fake, but it’s an admirably unflinching moment of gross-out dark comedy regardless.

More shocking in this day and age are the not-so-fake scenes of Mary smoking over her child, and a worryingly authentic-looking moment where a young boy is flung across his bedroom and into a cupboard door.

Cheezy Flicks have released BAD onto this region-free DVD in its uncut form.

The film is presented in 1.33:1 full frame and looks suitably grubby for the most part. Blacks are faded and the general look of the film, in terms of colours and brightness, is worn. It’s not a great transfer, but a film like BAD doesn’t require one.

English mono audio is adequately clean throughout.

The disc’s static main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 10 chapters.

The only extras on offer are a 2-minute promo reel for Cheezy Flicks, a page of text spelling out the company’s intentions, and a ropy old ‘intermission’ segment complete with cartoon and advertisement.

BAD is like an extremely fucked up soap opera populated by sick characters and filmed in a deliberately artless, ‘fly on the wall’ manner. Its shock scenes are still capable of raising eyebrows today, and it’s still fun to see such a great cast playing against type.

Review by Stuart Willis