I recently popped to the cinema to check out the new “horror” Baghead which after seeing the trailer I had high hopes for and that it was going to be a jumpy movie!
After the passing of her distant father, Iris (Freya Allan, The Witcher, Gunpowder Milkshake) discovers that she has inherited an old pub, which is in disrepair. She travels to Berlin to identify her father’s body and meet with The Solicitor to discuss the estate. However, she soon finds out that signing the deed has tied her to an unspeakable entity residing in the pub’s basement – Baghead.
This shape-shifting creature can transform into the dead and can provide two minutes with a loved one for a fee of two thousand dollars. Iris is tempted to use Baghead’s powers to help people in need and earn a profit, just like her father did before. But she quickly realizes that breaking the two-minute rule can have terrifying consequences. Along with her best friend Katie (Ruby Barker, Bridgerton, COBRA), Iris must fight to keep control of Baghead and find a way to destroy it before it destroys them.
It seems that we are getting lots of movies in the horror genre lately, but for me, it seems that they are watering down the genre with many offering very few if no scares and working with many of the old tropes that may have worked so much in the past and are now wearing thin for those of us that love a good horror.
Sadly Baghead is one of those movies that offers plenty in the trailer and then falls short when it comes to the feature itself. The movie is based on the short film from 2017 of the same name that was also directed by Alberto Corredor, this updated and longer version has some nice touches that some may find a little jumpy as Iris (Allan) copes with not only the loss of her father but also that she’s been made homeless and now has a pub that she has been left to her that has a dark entity on the cellar.
Her friend Katie (Barker) comes to Berlin to help her and soon the two have more than they bargained for as Neil (Jeremy Irvine, War Horse, Benediction) arrives at the pub asking to see “her” and pays a hefty sum of money to Iris to be able to speak to his dead wife one last time and tell her goodbye, but there is more to Neil than he is leading them to believe and he has other reasons for wanting to speak to his wife.
But as the movie moves along Lisa becomes more connected to Baghead (Anne Müller, The Perfumier, Dogs of Berlin) which will lead to more than just having people paying £2,000 for only two minutes with the witch.
Baghead is nicely shot with some good cinematography in the dark scenes which most of the movie is, the sound mix works well which adds to the creepiness of the production, it’s just a shame that the movie just didn’t grab me as a good horror. I found myself drifting at one point waiting for something to make me jump out of my seat, but despite the unnerving moments from the sound and the occasional moment of something appearing when you may expect it, Baghead was a rather predictable movie.
If you aren’t that into horror movies then you could Baghead a try to ease your way into the genre, sadly for me this was a movie that I didn’t enjoy as much as some of the other creepy movies such as Malignant and the superb Talk To Me.