Baghead (2024) Movie Review - Serious Potential Squandered

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to our review of Alberto Corredor’s Baghead from 2024. Can I start off by pointing out how much I hate that title? Where I’m from, a baghead is someone who will rob their own granny blind for a bag of scag. In the world of movie making; a baghead is a woman who lives in the basement of a pub and can grant people the chance to speak with the dead. 

Well, that’s the basic outline, anyways. Baghead follows the story of Iris (Freya Allan). Down on her luck and recently evicted from her flat. Iris sees no way out of her tough situation. After learning of the death of her estranged father, she heads over to Berlin to tie up some loose ends. While there, she learns that she has inherited the deed to an old pub.

Little does she realise, the pub harbours a dark secret in the form of a woman who lives in the basement. This woman can help people communicate with deceased loved ones. The only catch is that, once you sign the deed, you are tied to her forever. Whether you like it or not.

So Much Potential

Wow! What a great idea for a horror movie. Of course, it’s not a completely original idea. Talk To Me did something similar only a couple of years ago and other movies have approached the concept in one way or another. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t immediately drawn in. This is one of those stories that has the potential to go in so many different directions. Not to mention a story with so much potential for some serious scares.

Unfortunately, Baghead chooses to go in the direction of completely squandering said potential and leaving the viewer utterly disappointed. The idea at the heart of Baghead is repeatedly pushed to one side. Instead of focusing more on talking to the dead and creating a creepy psychological horror. Corredor chooses to turn the movie into a basic, run of the mill, supernatural monster horror. It’s such a tremendous waste of a really fascinating concept.

So Disappointing

Baghead kicks off with some of your usual human drama that drives a lot of horror. It then quickly gets into indulging in the driving force behind the story; the communicating with the dead. Baghead is a pretty creepy character and Anne Müller’s physical performance is sufficiently otherworldly. She comes crawling out of the wall in admirably scary fashion and most horror fans will probably enjoy much of the build up. So far so good.

We see a character using Baghead to talk to a deceased loved one and the execution is, actually, pretty cool. The loved one wakes up confused and scared. A really nice touch to emphasise the strangeness of the situation. But the movie is in such a rush to get to the bullcrap that the shit hits the fan almost immediately.

From this point on, we are just in a straight sprint to the finish. The intriguing human drama element and communicating with the dead is pushed to the side. With Baghead, instead, keen to focus on just what a terrifying monster the titular character is. Sure, we do see a few more interactions with deceased people. But they are predictable and rather tame. Outside of one particular encounter, Corredor never manages to tap into just how much depth the concept really has.

Just a Boring Monster Movie

The rest of Baghead devolves into a simple monster movie. The fact that said monster can help people communicate with the dead barely even matters. It might as well be a werewolf or a simple witch down there for how little is done with that fact. Expect predictability, jump scares and for the movie to quickly turn into a very run of the mill Hollywood style horror. And, like most Hollywood horror, it’s just not that scary and really not that interesting.

Baghead began life as a 15 minute short back in 2017. Something which helps explain just how thread bare the story here feels. Stretching these concepts out to full length feature movies often fails. What works as a creepy burst of horror goodness doesn’t always work as a drawn out tale. The scares wear off quick, the plot lacks development and the decision to not focus on the more interesting parts of the story takes an enormous toll on the film, as a whole.

On The Plus Side

Focusing on some of the positives. Freya Allan is fantastic as main character Iris. She is one of those actors that manages to make acting look effortless. Her performance is very natural and believable throughout. Jeremy Irvine, as Neil, is similarly capable and both add some quality to the movie. 

Cale Finot’s cinematography is occasionally fantastic. Baghead is, for the most part, a great looking film. Set design is sometimes great and there are decent shots scattered throughout. Sound design is okay and not too obstructive and some of the communicating with the dead scenes are genuinely interesting.

And More Negatives

The character of Katie feels utterly redundant and only there to pad things out a bit. On top of that, actor Ruby Barker doesn’t bring much, at all, to the role. With her performance feeling every bit like that of an English Soap Opera bit character. Writing is tremendously lazy with some of the dialogue being remedial and even farcical in parts. Characters constantly break the very simple rules provided purely to create drama and scares. Something which actually gets annoying pretty fast.

The character of Baghead is seriously underdeveloped. Her backstory is lazily put together and rushed through just to give some lore to the character. Very little thought is actually put into her motivations and her actions feel strangely inconsistent at times. CGI effects are terrible. Genuinely early 2000s level in parts and completely overused. A few of the shots share this problem, as well, with one in particular looking like it was ripped right out of a 90s Hellraiser sequel. Plastic looking set and all. Baghead is, unfortunately, a real mixed bag throughout.

Should You Watch Baghead?

The main audience, I think, that would actually enjoy Baghead is that of teens looking for an easy to digest horror. It’s not too graphic, there is no sex and it is fairly easy to follow. Despite this, serious horror fans will likely be disappointed. It features such an interesting concept and an antagonist with tons of potential but Baghead drops the ball consistently. It’s boring, repetitive, there is limited focus placed on the more interesting parts of the story and it just isn’t that scary. Overall, Baghead is a complete disappointment that could have been so much more.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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