Fantastic Fest 2025: ‘Bad Haircut’ offers a decent good time

Striking the perfect balance between horrifying and hilarious is an arduous task. Too often, horror/comedies fail on one front or another, resulting in a half-baked result that is wholly unsatisfying. Writer/director Kyle Misak thankfully hits a bullseye with his latest, Bad Haircut, which played this year’s Fantastic Fest. Forged with the cheeky humor of early 2000s rom-coms, the film mostly achieves what it sets out to do: entertain. While the middle third sluggishly meanders, the rest proves to be a delightful horror treat.

Billy (Spencer Harrison Levin) is not cool. He can’t get a date, and his best buddies chide him when he fumbles being social. Oh, and he needs a haircut… badly. He’s hoping a new ‘do will shake things up. His friend Sonny (Beau Minniear) recommends a shop owned and operated by Mick (Frankie Ray), an eccentric and flamboyant hairstylist, who only charges $7 per cut. Sonny promises it’s a life-changing experience that Billy will never forget – and he’s not wrong. From the outset, Mick’s larger-than-life personality makes Billy feel at home, but once they’re alone, things insidiously turn sinister. The handsy barber invades Billy’s bubble, making him increasingly uncomfortable, and his lack of social etiquette leads to terrifying consequences.

As things unravel, Billy soon learns he’s not the only one trapped inside Mick’s sadistic barber shop. The second act introduces a romantic plot that gets bogged down with inert pacing that practically derails the whole narrative, like an Amtrak gone loose, and tests the audience’s patience to even finish watching. When you think the story has stalled completely, it rebounds and vaults to the finale. It’s easy to brush the film off totally, but it’s worth sticking with it for Ray’s wacky and unhinged performance alone. It’s both a charming and deliriously frightening turn that’s among the festival’s best (and probably all of horror) this year.

Perhaps, a bit of trimming would have produced a much finer short film, or a return to the writing room could have tightened the middle to offer a more satisfying story. With filmmaking that’s shiny and polished, courtesy of cinematographer Reid Petro, Misak delivers on the visual style and always keeps the storytelling fascinating and quite enticing. Where the story lacks, the film makes up for with its loony characters – Martin Klebba’s Wimp is an amusing addition – that keep you laughing and plenty invested. Bad Haircut isn’t perfect, but it sure does make a great midnight popcorn flick.