Baghead Movie (2023) - It Never Really Gets Going After A Strong Start


Baghead is a safe movie that never really delivers on some early promise

Baghead explores the haunting question of how much we are responsible for the mistakes and sins of those who came before us. 

The story follows Ivy (Freya Allen), a young woman who unexpectedly inherits a dilapidated pub after the death of her estranged father. Though the pub seems more like a burden than a blessing, Ivy is drawn to it, yearning for the stability and ownership she’s never had in her life.

When Ivy arrives at the pub, she discovers it’s not as empty as she thought as a mysterious squatter named Neil has taken up residence there, and he reveals to her the pub’s dark secret.

The pub is haunted by a ghostly figure known as Baghead, a witch with the unsettling ability to channel the dead and help families of the deceased have one final conversation with their loved one, but after two minutes, the witch turns the spirit against the family. 

Iris realizes that, like the witch who longs to escape her prison in the basement of The Queen's Head pub, she too is trapped by her destiny, as she now controls Baghead, a burden her father couldn’t get rid of.


Some mild spoilers ahead.

Despite its intriguing premise, Baghead is a film that doesn't really deliver and never fully realizes its potential as the film lingers on some slow, drawn-out scenes that would have been better if they were tighter and more focused. 

The story is very uninspired, with familiar themes that are unremarkably executed as Iris spends much of the film wandering around a dimly lit pub, following strange noises with just her phone light or a lantern. 

I did find the story quite engaging to begin with, but it always feels like it’s holding back, and never really goes past the intrigue stage, and is a film that gets worst as it goes on and doesn't really offer much as it relies on some tired horror tropes and a silly ending that is incredibly simple.

The main problem with the film though is that it becomes clear what the ending will be long before the halfway point, and to achieve this ending, the movie abandons its own rules and logic as it turns out that the entire story has been manipulated by Baghead using her witchcraft, and the whole thing didn't really make much sense.

Baghead was expanded from a 2017 short film by writers Christina Pamies and Bryce McGuire and and falls into a predictable pattern of tired horror clichés, shallow characters, and obvious scare attempts. 

It's a very safe horror movie, that never really delivers on some early promise. [Baghead on IMDB]

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