It seems as though movies nowadays need to get more creative with their marketing in order to stand out in a crowd, especially in this, the year of staring at screens. Well,Huluappears to be on top of things with their horror comedy filmBad Hair. In collaboration with artist and game designer Momo Pixel, they’ve released a short pixel art game to grab the attention of potential audiences.
Contracted by Hulu, Pixel created a short, 5-minute browser game calledKeep it Togetherwhere the player must repeatedly style their hair as various unfortunate circumstances continually mess it up. The player character is on her way to an important job interview for anMTV-style video jockey (VJ) as this series of catastrophic coincidences threatens to ruin everything. Will she get there in time while avoiding a dreaded bad hair day? Yeah, probably.
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Pixel, perhaps best known for her viral 2017 gameHair Nahabout a Black woman’s struggles with other women constantly trying to put their hands in her hair, was clearly an inspired choice for this sort of thing. Not only is the subject matter relevant to her experience, but her visual and audio styles mesh perfectly with the film’s 1989 setting. The game’sextremely 80’s stylepixel-art aesthetic threatens to make players nostalgic for a time they may have never even lived through, while the dangerously catchy music rounds out the whole package.
The filmBad Hairitself is an intentionally bizarre horror comedy aboutvampirehair. Yep. Vampire hair. Don’t act so surprised, it’s 2020. Nothing is surprising anymore. Starring Elle Lorraine, Jay Pharoah, and Laverne Cox among other heavy hitters, the movie seems to be going all in on the strange and questionable, which appears to have paid off with generally favorable reviews from critics thus far.
Taken by itself,Keep it Togetheris a slightly frantic but mostly low key and fun little distraction with striking pixel art and a banger of a soundtrack. The whole vampire hair thing doesn’t come into play, at least not overtly (any hair that refuses to play fair like that must be sentient), so even those with no intention of checking out the film might find something to enjoy in the game. There’s even a basic character creator.
Either way, both the film and game seem to warrant experiencing at least once. Whether viewers/players plan to just put them on and then continue with their lives or make a day out of it, there’s something to be said for the creativity on display here. So maybe check them out. Besides, the movie hasJames Van Der Beek, the man with the most unnecessarily spelled name. That’s got to be worth something.
Bad Hairis currently available for streaming on Hulu.
Anyone interested can check out the game for freeon Hulu, as well as Momo Pixel’s other workon her website.
