February is spoken about as the cinematic dumping ground. With studios releasing films they have little confidence in during this period. Enter Baghead. A cookie cutter horror flick which brings nothing exciting or original to the genre.
Directed by Alberto Corredor and based on his own short film from 2017, Baghead tells the story of Iris (Freya Allan, The Witcher). A downtrodden young artist who is struggling to make ends meet. When Iris receives word of her estranged father’s “accidental” death, she learns that she’s inherited a gothic old pub in the middle of Berlin. Iris races to take possession of the brutal old place and make bank. Only problem is that this building houses a centuries old curse, a shape shifting witch, with the ability to channel the dead. Unwittingly, Iris just became guardian of this allegedly apocalyptic horror and must navigate the pitfalls of the haunted old joint before it swallows her up. Her soul and all.
Baghead is interesting in premise and the scant online promotional material made a few promises that the film cannot live up to. The film suffers heavily from the best bits being in the trailer. Freya Allan flexes her acting chops within the confines of an extremely limiting character and plot. Being supported by best friend Katie (Ruby Barker, Bridgerton) and manipulated by Neil (Jeremy Irvine, Treadstone), doesn’t offer enough for Allan’s character to break out from the confines of established horror tropes.
Speaking of tropes, Baghead leans into them all. There is no anxiety here, no dread. The gothic interior of the setting stands out as a character in itself. But it’s not enough to pull off the dull, scary faces in the dark routine. A hundred percent of all attempts to scare fall flat. Chock full of sudden loud noises that’ll give you a headache before jump starting your heart.
Baghead starts strong, taking time to set up the engaging premise while the characters coast about their expected paths. The story subverts expectations a little in the third act but quickly falls apart. A risky twist, mildly satisfying, but let down by poor execution. The biggest issue here is there’s not enough believable information offered through the hour and a half runtime to buy in that the stakes are high during the final ten minutes.
While Baghead doesn’t live up to hype, it is a serviceable horror movie. It’s just not a very good one. It’s a decent, mindless date movie though and people who rarely enjoy horror movies might like this one. Die hard horror fans may want to hold out for Baghead to hit streaming services.
Baghead is in cinemas now and rates a low key 6/10 stale bottles of piss, just for funsies. If it’s a choice between Baghead and The Rooster, more anxiety and dread oozes from the later.
You can also watch our interview with the films star Freya Allan here.
