[FrightFest 2026]: Bad Karaoke

Kate Miner as Melissa

It’s arguable that every possible item has been the source of a haunting or a curse. And so, it is the turn of a karaoke machine in Chris Lightbody and Robert J Steinmiller Jr’s horror comedy. Bad Karaoke follows a cover band who come into possession of the central machine and find their lives on the line as it takes control of their weekend, forcing performances that could very well prove deadly.

The tone is established early on here with an opening scene of an accident that proves integral to the karaoke machine’s turn to evil – a short, sharp sequence that is sadly too silly to be as nasty as you want it to be. And this feels like what Bad Karaoke does regularly. It works up to being a nasty piece of cinema with bloody violence, that includes viscera and gore erupting from various parts of people, but an increasingly sentimental last act prevents it from sticking the landing of an early promise.

Kevin Clayette as Logan

Lightbody co-writes with Spencer Yaras and they often struggle to find the balance between horror and comedy for a script that feels like something left in a drawer for the past twenty years. It’s not necessarily bad, but it does feel rather quaint as a film, particularly in a finale that seeks to explain just why the karaoke machine is the way it is.

It’s a shame because there is some charm in an ensemble led by a likeable performance from Lexi Underwood’s Emily. And for portions of its run time, Bad Karaoke is a compelling, interesting watch, with enough blood and mean-spirited developments to satisfy horror fans. They even manage to get permission to use a handful of well-known songs for the karaoke scenes, allowing it to feel more than just a cheap horror knock off. Regrettably the film runs out of steam as it progresses, and one can’t help but end up concluding perhaps not every item needs to come with a curse. 

2 Screams out of 5