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Baghead

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Baghead (2008)

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Reviews Counted:87

Fresh:67

Rotten:20

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Pitting actors against murderers in a self-aware struggle for stardom, Baghead successfully skates the borders of horror and comedy.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, some sexual content and nudity.

Runtime: 84 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Jun 13, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: Following up on the surprise success of their micro-budget production THE PUFFY CHAIR (2005), brothers Jay and Mark Duplass turn their handheld DV camera toward skewering the pretentiousness of the... Following up on the surprise success of their micro-budget production THE PUFFY CHAIR (2005), brothers Jay and Mark Duplass turn their handheld DV camera toward skewering the pretentiousness of the independent film world while tossing in a few horror film scares for good measure. The result is entertaining and unique, with enough laughs, insight, and excitement for adventurous viewers. After seeing the accolades heaped up on a colleague for his laughable film (WE ARE NAKED) at a Los Angeles film festival, Matt (Ross Partridge) decides that he can do better. With his sometime girlfriend, Catherine (Elise Muller), and friends Michelle (Greta Gerwig, HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS) and Chad (Steve Zissis) in tow, they immediately set off to a cabin in the woods for the weekend to create the film that will make them all famous on the festival circuit. While Chad focuses his energy on winning the affections of uninterested Michelle, Matt comes up with the cinematic construct of a stranger with a paper bag on his head terrorizing a group of people in the woods. After the initial evening of alcoholic brainstorming, though, the idea becomes reality, and the friends' relationships are tested as they find themselves in a truly scary situation. The idea for BAGHEAD was hatched on the set of the THE PUFFY CHAIR when, during a discussion requesting those involved to think of the scariest thing imaginable, someone said, "A guy with a bag on his head staring into your window." Though it may be a flimsy starting point for a film, the Duplasses surround the idea with a believable cast, truthful insight into relationships, and a few genuine chills. The result is clever, funny, and refreshingly difficult to classify. [More]

Starring: Steve Zissis, Ross Partridge, Greta Gerwig, Elise Muller

Starring: Steve Zissis, Ross Partridge, Greta Gerwig, Elise Muller

Director: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Director: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Screenwriter: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Producer: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, John Bryant
Composer: J Scott Howard
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Dec 27, 2008

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Reviews for Baghead

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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I felt like putting a bag over MY head.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment 1 Comment
08/08/08
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

Delightfully unpredictable.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
07/25/08
Michael Ordoņa
Michael Ordoņa
Chicago Tribune

The co-directors and co-writers, Jay and Mark Duplass, appear to be saying, 'Hey, we are the new emperors of the independent cinema. And guess what? We have no clothes.'

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment 1 Comment
09/05/08
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun

[A] clever insider's riff about life on the lo-fi end of the indie spectrum.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
01/28/08
Peter Debruge
Peter Debruge
Variety
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In this interview, filmmakers Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass talk about the road to their first distributed feature, the process of their filmmaking and the meaning of the term mumblecore.

Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | comment Comment
08/06/08
Adam Fendelman
Adam Fendelman
HollywoodChicago.com

I want to persuade you to see Baghead, but I don't want to overhype it, because in many ways it's a delicate construction best served as a surprise.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
07/25/08
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Takes an ingenious -- and perhaps necessary -- shift into more accessible filmmaking. Okay, it's less of a shift than a sort of yawning amiable slouch, but you get my drift.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
08/06/08
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Baghead is at its best when it captures the subtleties of romantic machinations, macho power plays and the indignity of women aging in Hollywood.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
08/21/08
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

The truth eventually comes out, as it must, and it's not exactly a stunner.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
09/18/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic

For all the use of first takes and jerky camera moves, the John Cassavetes invoked by Baghead is not the indie pioneer saint but his Faustian thespian-husband character in Rosemary's Baby.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
04/26/08
Bill Weber
Bill Weber
Slant Magazine

The directors like dissonant relationships: Here, their spectacularly self-absorbed protagonists step on each other, jockeying first for position and ultimately for survival.

Full Review Source: NPR.org | comment Comment
06/13/08
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello
NPR.org

Once the threat arrives, I was praying to return to the childish mating rituals of these monotonous characters. Watching lousy actors try to express heartache through limited gifts is far more frightening than any masked, crazed killer.

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment Comment
07/24/08
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

Baghead is an original, confident piece of filmmaking that isn't easily categorized or even summarized.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment Comment
08/01/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

Baghead's got exactly one joke to exploit -- it's a relationship movie masquerading as a horror movie -- and proceeds to beat it to death.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal | comment Comment
09/05/08
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Although it displays some mumblecore characteristics, such as a performance from Hannah Takes the Stairs star Greta Gerwig, Baghead distances itself from the movement by being â€Ķ well, watchable.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/09/08
Chad Greene
Chad Greene
Boxoffice Magazine

Baghead works on the same principle Lucy used when she kept promising she would hold the football for Charlie Brown but kept moving it before he could kick it.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
08/08/08
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Baghead delivers more scares with its paper masked stalker than Jason and Michael Myers combined in their respective reboots.

Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | comment Comment
07/05/09
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
What Would Toto Watch?

When the origami model of the plot finally unfolds, and the well-justified surprises are disclosed, there are still a couple of revelations up the Duplass brothers' sleeves.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
08/08/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Baghead is a mumblecoreish meditation on the increasingly permeable boundaries between movies and life.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
06/13/08
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
 
 
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Latest News for Baghead

June 20, 2008: Baghead: A Mumblecore Mix of Laughs and Screams Opens in new window
A guy with a bag on his head can play out a couple of ways. The Unknown Comic went for laughs. Recent films such as "The Orphanage" and "The Strangers" go for straight scares.... More...

May 11, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
More...

May 06, 2008: trailer and trailer review Opens in new window
More...

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