Movie Review: Bad Apples (2018)

Synopsis: A set of "bad apple" twin sisters kill their school principal and go on a Halloween killing spree in a suburban cul-de-sac.

Who's in it? The movie stars Brea Grant, Graham Skipper, Aly Fitzgerald, Heather Vaughn and Richard Riehle.

Review: It had been a few days since my wife and I had time to sit down and watch a movie together. So, while she did her virtual kickboxing, I once again looked for one on VUDU. I wound up picking out this on because it looked somewhat intriguing.

There are a lot of reasons why a movie in this particular genre may not live up to expectations. In this particular case, the film had a lot going for it but, ultimately, was doomed by some incredibly bad acting.

Let me start out by saying I loved the killer twins. I thought they brought just enough of a mix of energy and creepiness to make them potentially memorable killers. And, while I did think they needed a slightly better backstory (other than they are evil because they were born on Halloween after their mother was murdered), the fact they were punishing people for not celebrating the holiday was reasonably plausible, at least for a horror film.

The main problem with this movie is it doesn't make them the primary focus of the film. Instead, the movie gives way too much screen time to Ella and Robert, one of the most uninteresting married couples in the history of horror films.

Robert (Skipper) just didn't win me over. I couldn't tell if he was some sort of man child or if he was an abusive husband because, at times, he seemed to fit both roles, especially when he found excuses to criticize Ella (Grant) when he, himself, was doing stupid things.

As for Ella, I honestly don't know where to begin. I've never seen Brea Grant in any other films so I'm not sure if she really hated this role or is just a terrible actress. Regardless of the reason, there was nothing about her performance that was believable. The few times she showed emotion, it seemed forced and, at one point, her character has a knife stabbed deep into her back and then continues to move around as though nothing happened (yeah, sure, she starts acting like she's in pain later, but by that point, the illusion was already ruined).

Let's put it this way, Robert eventually tells their backstory to one of his co-workers (after Ella is stabbed, by the way) and it is so dull and full of cliches (especially the whole losing a child part), I started to wonder if the actress playing his co-worker needed coffee just to stay awake in the scene. She certainly seemed as uninterested as I was.

Final Opinion: I think this is a film that could have been genuinely entertaining had the focus remained on the weapon-wielding twin sisters. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and the movie wasn't anywhere near as good as it could have been.

My Grade: D+