Official Trailer for Queer Psychological Thriller / Slasher ‘Bad Things’
by Alex Billington
July 31, 2023
Source: YouTube
“Bad Things answers the call for female Jack Torrance types to air their rage.” Shudder has revealed the official trailer for indie horror film called Bad Things, the second feature made by queer American indie filmmaker Stewart Thorndike. After first premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier in the summer, the film is now set to debut on Shudder streaming in August if anyone is curious. A group of female friends end up at an old hotel for a weekend getaway and soon discover that “women do bad things here.” This hotel trip for a weekend getaway might not turn out as this group of friends thought it would… The film is described in reviews as a “queer take on The Shining” and “a refreshing twist on slashers.” This chilling psychological thriller stars Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Rad Pereira, and Molly Ringwald. This certainly looks like a low budget indie, though it has plenty of unique quirks and horror twists anyway.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Stewart Thorndike’s Bad Things, direct from Shudder’s YouTube:
When a group of friends escape the city to spend the weekend in an abandoned hotel, a pervading eerie energy begins to illuminate the cracks in their little family unit. Ruthie Nodd (Gayle Rankin) inherits the hotel from her grandmother and with bad childhood memories threatening to burst to the surface, Ruthie wants to sell the hotel and never return. But her partner Cal (Hari Nef) drags her there with the hopes of returning it to its former glory. They’re joined by their friend Maddie (Rad Pereira) and grifter Fran (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), whose unhinged seduction threatens to drive a wedge between the couple. As the friends dance, cook, flirt, and fight up and down the halls of the hotel, they begin to find themselves indelibly entwined in the hotel’s seductive embrace and start doing bad things. Bad Things is both written and directed by American writer / filmmaker Stewart Thorndike, her second feature after directing Lyle previously, plus a few short films. This initially premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. Shudder will release Thorndike’s Bad Things streaming on Shudder / AMC+ starting August 18th, 2023.