‘Baghead‘ REVIEW: It was better as a short film
‘Baghead‘ REVIEW: It was better as a short film
Alberto Corredor’s Baghead (adapted from his 2017 short film of the same name) explores the feeling of grief and desperation, showing us the extent people will take just to get closure from their past relationships. It gives us a plot that has been told countless times in the horror genre wherein communicating with the dead has its consequences when certain rules are not observed. We follow Iris Lark (Freya Allan) who inherits an old pub from her late father, only to discover a shapeshifting woman capable of summoning the dead in the basement. This woman is then introduced to us as Baghead (Anne Müller).
The film begins with a hooking exposition that explains the lore behind the pub and its entities within ten minutes, accompanied by flashbacks and montages throughout the rest of the film. However, the quality of the story drops from here as it leaves no room for mystery. Mystery was a crucial element in horror films with similar plots, such as the Philippous’ 2022 film Talk to Me (which the film has been compared to repeatedly), because these horrors revealed their entities gradually, giving the story both the mystique and excitement required from horror. Instead, Corredor’s full-length adaptation becomes too predictable since we have a gist of everything from the very start and have enough information to predict how it all ends.
Breaking down the screenplay, it makes us question whether this film should have really been adapted or if it should have stayed a short film. A lot of the subplots felt underdeveloped. There was a tendency to introduce a new subplot each time a past relationship was summoned by Baghead. It can be argued that the human aspect of the story, including the relationship plots which could have been told in whatever genre, was more compelling in the film than its supernatural horror aspect. Overall, it’s worth questioning whether a full-length film was the best medium to tell this story, as opposed to a short film which often follows a singular plot. Perhaps all the exposition in the beginning was to make time for all these subplots between spouses, best friends, parents, and children, but it just did not work.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: Is it scary? The scariest thing about this film is grief and how vulnerable we become when we lose those we love. Since grief is a prominent theme in this film, it does give a certain extent of fear. Apart from that, the film is mostly dependent on jumpscares — and not too special ones either.
Baghead premiered in cinemas worldwide.
