Candyman legend Tony Todd — who introduces Bitch Ass like the Crypt Keeper in Tales from the Crypt or Guillermo del Toro in Cabinet of Curiosities — tells the audience: “This is the tale of the first Black serial killer to ever don a mask.”
It’s an intriguing concept, and the plot attempts to match it: when four teens break into a house as part of a gang initiation, they’re picked off one-by-one by Bitch Ass, a psychopathic serial killer who forces his victims to play deadly versions of children’s games like Operation, Connect Four, Jenga, Battleship, and rock-paper-scissors. As the cast is slowly whittled down, director Bill Posley unveils his antagonist’s traumatic past (reminiscent of Carrie White’s in Stephen King’s authorial debut) and how the characters drove him to madness.
Like Wes Craven in The People Under the Stairs, Posley is here to shoot a B-movie in all its lo-fi glory. Any subtext on institutional racism, class and social mobility, which, conversely, directors like Jordan Peele use to anchor their storylines, takes a backseat role in Bitch Ass. That’s absolutely fine (we’re watching a budget slasher, after all). What isn’t is the dismal dialogue that never allows the narrative to be as darkly witty as it wants to be.
Some memorable performances, but ultimately fails to make us squeal or laugh. Go in with low expectations to enjoy the ride.
FrightFest Presents & Signature Entertainment release Bitch Ass on digital platforms 19 December
CAST
Teon Kelley
Tunde Laleye
Me’lisa Sellers
DIRECTOR
Bill Posley
SCREENPLAY
Bill Posley
Jonathan Colomb
DIGITAL
19 December 2022
