Baghead Review
“You can’t kill it. You can’t let it out” – Owen Lark
On a rainy Monday afternoon in late January, I aimed the car north and headed to the multiplex for an afternoon’s entertainment, and escape from the elements because, well, January – right? On the schedule was Baghead, a horror movie I had only become aware of a couple of weeks earlier when I attended a screening of Night Swim
Okay, so it’s a horror movie – and I’m pretty optimistic about the year when we see a few original horror movies being released. Feeding the optimism are the trailers that I saw ahead of the feature this time. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could well be one of my films of the year, if the latest trailer is anything to go by. Blumhouse are stepping up with Imaginary (seemingly a teddy bear, enraged at being abandoned) and Lisa Frankenstein which appears to be a horror comedy. Good times ahead. (And this is why we NEVER miss the trailers, kids!)
But to the film in question – Baghead. Plotwise, it’s a pretty original concept, with some echoes of last year’s Talk to Me.
A girl inherits a pub from her estranged (and dead, obviously) father. I’m not entirely sure where this pub is, but the accents are British, but we see some left-hand drive cars around. I’m not sure that the location matters in the great scheme of things, but I like to have an idea where a film is set. I know it’s not London because that’s the starting point, and our lead character takes a flight to get to the pub in question.
Speaking of the lead character, her name is Iris Lark, played by Freya Allan known to many from her appearance in The Witcher streaming series, soon to be known to many more when she appears in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes this coming summer. Iris has inherited a pub from her estranged father, and as she’s penniless and due to a recent eviction, homeless, she really has no option but to borrow some money from her friend Katie (Ruby Barker) to go and check the place out.
As pubs go, this isn’t really the cosy type of place anybody could relax in, I know pubs like to use subdued lighting, but damn, this place is in almost stygian darkness in every scene. Great, I guess for creating an ominous mood, but as a member of the audience I found myself spending too much time squinting to see what was going on.
What IS actually going on kicks off when on her first night crashing at the place, a man appears wanting to talk to a woman in the basement. He offers £1000 to talk to his wife. He ups the offer to £2000, and is told to come back the next night.
The women investigate the cellar and find there’s a kind of a witch living down there. I’m not sure if it IS actually a witch, but calling her a shrivelled old hag with supernatural powers seems harsh. Whatever she is, she can summon the dead and can put the living in touch with them, taking the form of the deceased. But there are rules (aren’t there always?)
The going rate is £2000 for two minutes. After two minutes, she’s in control. She must have something owned by the deceased, and the more she is used the more powerful she becomes. Oh, and if your name is on the deed to the pub, you are then her guardian and it’s not the kind of job you can quit, if you get my meaning. Oh, and don’t enter the hole in the wall she appears from.
The movie is an expanded version of a short film by director Alberto Corredor, but at times it feels like a suitable premise for a short movie has been stretched a little thin. The concept is sound, but it feels like it needs a little more substance, and far better lighting.
When I arrived at the cinema, I was told that the movie had received some complaints that it was pretty bad. One patron had mistaken it for a horror comedy – which it really isn’t, in any way. That misinterpretation baffles me, but then so did being told that one of the complaints received at the multiplex was that some people didn’t like the carpeting (I mean, really, WTF?)
To be completely fair and impartial, for the most part, I enjoyed the film and it passed that gloomy, wet January afternoon very well. (Also, to be ABSOLUTELY, completely fair and impartial, I have no objection to Cineworld’s carpets.)
Yes, I’ve seen better horror movies, but I’ve seen a whole load of far, FAR worse ones as well. (Cough, Conjuring, cough)
Rob Rating = 6