Bad Girl Boogey: Review

8th July 2023

Angel (Lisa Fanto) is a teenager with some serious problems. The way that her family has responded to her coming out has led to a decline in her mental health and this has also meant she has started to self-harm and think about suicide.

She still has friends though, people that she can relate to and have a good time and one night she goes out with Dario (Iris Mcerlean) and Blair (Em Bleby). Unfortunately, somebody else is out that night and Blair gets killed, leaving Angel and Dario to console each other.

Rumours start to circulate however, and talk of a serial killer who appeared around Halloween several years ago start to circle. So, with very little choice and nowhere else to turn, Angel and Dario try to unmask the killer.

Bad Girl Boogey is a serial killer horror directed by Alice Maio Mackay and co-written by Benjamin Pahl Robinson. Following her feature directorial debut, So Vam, Mackay again focuses on the queer community in Australia, bringing up some strong issues surrounding sexuality and other people’s attitudes towards it.

Something that doesn’t shy away from its darker side, Bad Girl Boogey focuses on the pain that Angel is going through as she’s made to feel terrible for her sexual orientation. This makes the film something deeper than audiences may expect, especially considering the lighter tone of director Mackey’s previous work.

What works is the strong bond between the two friends. Fanto and Mcerlean have a good chemistry and the audience may feel for their close bond. However, among all the moments which talk frankly about how bigotry can affect their lives, the matter of the plot is a little less complex.

Meaning that the film does feel a little more stretched out than it should be, something which may become evident with a 15-minute prologue and a few scenes of exposition. However, where other slashers may focus on the killings, almost glorifying the violence, Bad Girl Boogey clearly does not. This gives a different tone to the entire film and one which ends giving its audience some well thought out characterisation.

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