Baghead

Iris Lark (Freya Allan) is down on her luck having just been evicted from her home and is preparing to crash at her best friend Katie’s (Ruby Barker) house. Then she gets the news that her estranged father Owen (Peter Mullan) whom she has not spoken to for years has died and that she stands to inherit a derelict pub that he lived in. Thinking that this might give her a connection to the father she never knew she decides to explore the idea of keeping it. That is until she discovers the hideous secret held within its basement. An evil entity known as Baghead which can morph into any dead loved one you can provide it a sentimental belonging from. But only for 2 minutes. Beyond that and Baghead is in control and you do not want that. 

Based on a 2017 short film written by Lorcan Reilly and directed by Alberto Corredor, who returns to direct here, this feature has a fairly short running time of 94 minutes. However it does not really achieve anything in that run time other than a string of jump scares and some gruesome effects work for the dead or decaying humans that Baghead mimics. 

The evil entity rules are nailed down fairly precisely through the sequences with the estranged father character and the research that the best friend character does in an effort to work out how to break the curse. This feels both useful for the viewer to understand the curse placed on the owner of the building deed but also a bit too convenient that some quite complicated rule set is somehow understood for an evil spirit that is trying to escape. How they quite came to understand that 2 minutes was the limit or indeed why that length of time is the limit is something you really should not be thinking about during the film. It also seems odd that anyone would think 2 minutes was a sufficient length of time to get some vital new information from a dead loved one. The film also makes no effort to explore the morality of doing this or the emotional pain that might make you consider wanting to. 

Freya Allan is solid as the leading lady, although I hope she has more to do in her upcoming big break in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes than she does here. Peter Mullan adds some gravitas to the troubled previous caretaker of the entity. Ruby Barker has a fairly thankless task as the super nice best friend that the script gives fairly short shrift to. Whilst Jeremy Irvine who plays the role of the man who wants to use Baghead’s services does a passable job with a character who may as well have a note pinned to his head saying “this guy is trouble”. 

Ultimately it is one of those films that is just the equivalent of a shoulder shrug. Non-committal, low effort and not something to be remembered. The biggest compliment I could give it is that the effects work is proficient and there is nothing here to make you actively dislike it. 

Forgettable stuff.