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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
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Reviews for Baghead
The truth eventually comes out, as it must, and it's not exactly a stunner.
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.
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.
What could have been an amusing short subject, the Duplass Brothers' not-quite-horror/not-quite-comedy drags its one note premise out to an almost mind-numbing 84 minutes.
The Duplass brothers waste a perfectly good porno premise by getting meta on our asses
The problem with Baghead isn't that it's cheaply made but that it's sloppily composed.
The plot is tired, the actors are not much good, the situation is way too familiar, there is no humor or fright in sight.
Too bad the characters are so rote. The women are almost nonentities, and the bond between the men borders on the maudlin. The actors are often better than their lines.
The Duplass brothers find themselves sucked into conventions that even their too-cool detachment can’t compensate for.
It's clear that horror isn't really the Duplass' forte: The simple scenes of these four aspiring filmmakers sitting around a table, brainstorming ideas while tearing each other apart are more interesting than all that running and screaming.
Jay and Mark Duplass -- the brothers who wrote, directed and produced this bauble -- take literally two-thirds of the film to come to a very small point.
Trouble is, it's never really funny or really scary, and a lot of it is hugely predictable.
Satire, you see, requires the sort of artistic discipline that is anathema to mumblecore filmmakers.
For the Duplass' film about these talentless slackers to work - both as a drama and then as a horror film -- it's essential that we care about the characters. I couldn't do it.
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.'
He [baghead] is obviously simply a device to make the movie long enough to qualify as a feature, and the denouement will be one of stunning underwhelmingness.
Even in the spookiest woods in the dead of night, there will be no difficulty figuring this one out.
Latest News for Baghead
June 20, 2008:
Baghead: A Mumblecore Mix of Laughs and Screams ![]()
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 ![]()
More...
May 06, 2008:
trailer and trailer review ![]()
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