Baghead (2023) Review – Intriguing premise is let down by overexplaining

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[tabs slidertype=”top tabs”] [tabcontainer] [tabtext]Movie Synopsis[/tabtext] [tabtext]Directors & Writers[/tabtext] [tabtext]Cast[/tabtext] [tabtext]Cinematography, Editing & Music[/tabtext] [tabtext]Distribution & Release[/tabtext] [/tabcontainer] [tabcontent] [tab]A young woman inherits a run-down pub and discovers a dark secret within its basement – Baghead – a shape-shifting creature that will let you speak to lost loved ones, but not without consequence.[/tab] [tab]Directors: Alberto Corredor

Writers: Christina Pamies, Bryce McGuire, Lorcan Reilly (based on the short film by)[/tab] [tab]Freya Allan, Jeremy Irvine, Ruby Barker, Peter Mullan, Anne Muller, Svenja Jung, Ned Dennehy[/tab] [tab]Cinematographer: Cale Finot

Editing: Jeff Betancourt

Music: Suvi-Eeva Aikas[/tab] [tab]Distributed by: Shudder

Release Date: April 5

Platform: Shudder[/tab] [/tabcontent] [/tabs]

Baghead is disappointing. I can’t miss the big attention-grabbing headline since  I’ve been looking forward to this film for some time. Considering an excellent premise based on a short film and an intriguing cast, there was plenty to look forward to.

Baghead stars The Witchers’ own Freya Allan as Iris Lark, a woman who travels to her father’s pub following news of his death. On her first night there, she meets Neil (Jeremy Irvine), who is begging to visit her cellar, and an apparent woman who is down there. Iris plays into his request, thinking he’s probably insane, but is a man offering a lot of money, and she takes him down to visit the women. Of course, the woman turns out to be real: a witch with a bag on her head, who can turn into whoever you want if you feed them an item belonging to them.

It’s hard not to compare Baghead to last year’s Talk to Me. Both films are thematically similar, with people becoming obsessed with the power to talk to loved ones they have lost and dealing with grief. However, where Talk to Me emphasises its characters, and how they are dealing with grief, Baghead chooses to spend the majority of its time falling into trappings over plotting the entire film and having to explain the origins of the witch who put her there, what would happen if she got out, how long you can talk to her, the boundaries of Iris’ control over here, how old the pub is and more. 

There are a few good performances here, mainly from Peter Mullan as Iris’ father and a surprise appearance of Ned Dennehy as the solicitor for the pub. This is very much a case of “longer isn’t always better,” Alberto Corredor’s expansion of his short film of the same name leaves a lot to be desired, with none of it being in the plot, which there’s plenty of.

(Screener provided to Explosion Network.
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