'Baghead' Review: A Fun Idea, But Does It Make A Good Movie?
A reputation for horror isn't always a bad thing.
The genre is rife with tropes, some of which serve as convenient shortcuts to terror. Dark dungeons, ancient curses, and ways to communicate with the dead are just a few of them, and they all take place in Alberto Corredor's Baghead . There are a lot of things in the film that are incredibly familiar. The problem is that the rest of the film – everything that revolves around these old tropes – just isn't compelling enough. Instead of using these basic elements of horror to tell an interesting new story, the whole thing feels stale and boring.
What is Baghead talking about?
The original idea is not bad.
After the sudden death of her bereaved father (Peter Malan), unemployed Iris (Freya Allan) discovers that she has inherited her old pub: a dusty, dilapidated property with a permanent tenant in the basement. Bad news? As her father's dying VHS tape reveals, Iris will be forever linked to this underground creature and must follow a set of rules to prevent it from escaping. Good news? He has some interesting abilities that he can take advantage of!
Iris's father's inheritance comes with certain...conditions. Author: Studio Channel
If you think this story is pretty original, wait until you hear what the humanoid monster (Ann Mueller) with the titular headbag can do: When confronted, she can pretend to be a dead person. chatter beyond the grave. Just set the timer for two minutes or things will start to go wrong.
It's very reminiscent of Danny and Michael Philippa's Talk to Me , one of Mashable's favorite horror films of 2023, but unfortunately it doesn't have the suspense, danger, or shock factor to draw you in.
The stakes in Baghead are low.
The characters are a big part of the problem. Even though the film's cast is solid, it's hard to care about Iris, her friend Katie (Ruby Barker), or Neil (Jeremy Irvine), the stranger who desperately comes to talk to her dead man. The main plot of the film lasts 94 minutes, and apart from her strained relationship with her father, we don't learn much about Iris. He struggles to make money, which motivates him to stay on the property and try to use Baghead, but that's it. Cathy is Iris's trusted friend, but she's not around much now, and Iris' father is an adorable two-dimensional loner.
The characters are in a life or death situation, but it's hard to get too emotionally invested in people we don't know or don't know.
The acting is good, but it's difficult to get interested in these characters. Author: Studio Channel
Is it all bad for the bag head ?
Despite the lack of tension, Baghead still pulls off an impressive jump scare. The hallway direction is solid, with a few unexpected tricks to keep us on our toes and make the most of the material at our disposal. The screenplay by Christina Pemis and Bryce McGuire contains several twists and turns to surprise, despite the film's general flaws.
Unfortunately, saving Baghead isn't enough. The story is mostly flat and the modern setting clashes uncomfortably with the gothic atmosphere that surrounds the film. (For example, Iris uses a smartphone, but the characters talk to each other as if they live in Victorian times. This is probably on purpose: back at her father's bar, Iris is dressed in something so old that he's barely visible. - time... but the result is a bit creepy, it still is.) The final nail in the coffin is the end of the film where he collapses trying to do too much twists and turns. There's some openness in this one, but it's refined into convolutional layers.
Ultimately, Baghead has some promising threads, but the end result is a flawed bag. Watch Talk to Me .
How to watch: Baghead opens in UK and Irish cinemas on January 26.
