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Anthony Cristo, Cass Naumann, Elise Muller

While the Duplass Brothers were shooting their last feature film "The Puffy Chair," a crew member raised the question "what's the scariest thing you can think of?" Someone immediately said "a guy with...( read more  read more... ) a bag on his head staring into your window." Some agreed, but some thought it was downright ridiculous and, if anything, funny (but definitely not scary). Thus, "Baghead" was born, an attempt to take the absurdly low-concept idea of a "guy with a bag on his head" and make a funny, truthful, endearing film that, maybe, just maybe, was a little bit scary, too.

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48% liked it

1,599 ratings

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77% liked it

87 critics

R, 1 hr. 24 min.

Directed by: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Release Date: June 13, 2008

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DVD Release Date: December 27, 2008

Stats: 316 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (316)

  • jamilyn0276
    July 22, 2009
    jamilyn0276
    Four struggling actor friends seek shelter in a woodland cabin for the weekend to brain storm a movie. One girl dreams of a man with a bag over his head, and they decide to go with that idea. But, the man shows up to terrorize them...
    I am all for B Rates and Thrillers. I like to...( read more) scream as well as the next person. There was just one problem, this movie was neither scary or entertaining. I could see how this would be good story, but it was just all over the place. Shot very shaky with people who need to go back to acting school. Besides, I saw that twist coming ten miles away, a red haring or something a little less predictable would have been better. At least The Blair Witch Project had people fooled for a little while.
    I did like the DVD cover, kind of a throw back to Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Also, for the guys there was one boob shot. But, that hardly redeems this painful mess.
    A note to Jay and Mark Duplass who wrote and directed this movie. Next time you get another brilliant idea and want to make it into a movie...Don't.
  • DrZeek
    March 8, 2009
    DrZeek
    Matt: Hey. What's that?

    An ultra low budget human drama that contains elements of comedy and horror. Its simple, nothing too amazing, but the improved performances make it seem natural, along with some actual tension in parts.

    A group of four struggling filmmakers decide to spe...( read more)nd their weekend up at a cabin to hopefully develop a script and make a movie. The group includes two guys and two girls. One guy is more successful with women. One girl doesn't show the feelings for the other guy who desires her. Basically, there's a handsome guy, a funny guy, a slutty girl, and the cute girl.

    Some mystery ensues when a mysterious figure keeps appearing outside the cabin with a bag over their head. Whether its one of the four or someone else completely is the source of a mystery that begins to run throughout.

    The movie is shot with a digital camera and makes no attempt at having clever visual tricks, its about what its about, and I thought it worked.

    Chad: Goodnight, movie girlfriend.
    Michelle: Goodnight.
  • ceWEBrity
    February 26, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    Worth its weight in gold as a curiosity - kind of a mumblecore Bubble, if Bubble wasn't mumblecore as it is. As a movie about movies, it feels incessantly "filmed," and the viewer never forgets what they're watching. This approach may seem intrusive, but considering that this is ...( read more)a movie about intrusion on many different levels, the filming is a positive influence more than a detraction. The amateur actors are charmingly shitty, which sort of endears them to you all the more, and the characters they put forth are distinct and unabridged. The plot itself isn't terribly original but the execution is what to watch here - the Duplass brothers do an admirable job spinning a compelling tale from a simple foundation and without spending too much money.

    Nothing here will blow your mind, but it functions adeptly as a lo-fi genre meld, and at only 70 minutes it's not a huge waste of time even if you don't find something worth championing. An inspiring tidbit of indie cinema.
  • StaisilD
    February 7, 2009
    StaisilD
    After attending a C-level film festival which features the film of one of his high school friends, struggling actor Matt and his friend and fellow non-star Chad, along with Matt's on/off girlfriend bit player Catherine and Michelle, an extra Chad has been crushing on, get drunk a...( read more)nd decide to take their careers in to their own hands. They're not making it in Hollywood, so why not head up to a cabin in Big Bear and write their own film. They'll come up with a story with parts for themselves, which they'll make themselves and will no doubt jump start their moribund careers. So what is the best thing they could come up with? A horror film about a group of friends in a cabin in the woods terrorized by a guy wearing only boxer shorts and a bag over his head. Baghead shines some enlightening perspective on the scene, deploying effective comedy bombs to generously send up nitwit indie filmmakers and their insatiable predilection for no-budget, confused statements of artistic individuality. Baghead consists of watching four dreadful actors try to improv their way around the film, expecting their take on human behavior to offer the picture the dramatic nutrition it needs to piece together coherently. The film doesn't connect, preferring to battle the quicksand of personality inertia in place of convincing the audience these unemployed boobs are worth caring about or, at the very least, worth paying attention to. For a comedy to be considered a success, it needs to have more than a couple of funny moments.
  • her69eyes
    January 15, 2009
    her69eyes
    "Baghead", directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, is the newest addition to the so-called "mumblecore" genre. The concept behind the films is that they are low budget indies that rely on character interaction rather than actual plot. In that way, they mimic the way these sort of post-...( read more)college hipsters would talk: largely in random rambling anecdotes that have little to do with anything. Having only seen this film and "Hannah Takes the Stairs", i'm intrigued by this style of filmmaking - however, it's biggest problem is how uninspired the dialect is. While I don't expect profound insight for what is supposed to be a sort of cinéma vérité take on this sort of artsy city kid type, the relationships in "Baghead" and "Hannah Take the Stairs" seem to be about on par with junior high romance. "Baghead" is a better film than "Hannah Takes the Stairs", but there is still room for this genre to grow - and I, for one, have no problem watching these filmmakers evolve over the next few years.

    The film centers around four unsuccessful young actors who are looking to jump-start their careers with their own indie film. Inspired by a film at an underground film festival called "We Came Naked", the four set out to write a screenplay in a secluded cabin. Their concept? A murderer in the woods who wears a bag over his head. However, in a startling turn of events, reality starts imitating fiction, and they find themselves facing the killer right out of the story they've written. It seems too coincidental, and therefore the friends suspect it's one of them, or perhaps a friend who had been set up to it.

    Matt (Ross Partridge) is the leader of the group - he's the good looking and charming one. He's been dating Catherine (Elise Muller), who comes off as little more than a standard Californian blonde who has long since reached her peak. Matt's friend, Chad (Steve Zissis) is Matt's opposite. He's overweight, anxious, and terribly awkward in every which way. He's also hopelessly in love with Michelle (Greta Gerwig), who is far more interested in Matt than she is Chad. Gerwig's character is not far too different from Hannah in "Hannah Takes the Stairs" - while she gets all of the attention from the men in the film, she seems to have not aged a day since the sixth grade.

    Although "Baghead" seems like it should be a horror film, the scares are rather understated. The majority of the film centers around the love triangle between Matt, Chad, and Michelle. When the killer gets involved, it provides a temporary jolt into the story but it doesn't necessarily hold that tension when baghead is not seen on screen. That being said, however, all the horror movie cliches are here (and i'd imagine they are all conscious homages rather than cheap imitations) - the helpless heroin who thinks her boyfriend is the killer, a lack of cell phone service, and a car which becomes immobile leaving the victims stranded alone in the cabin.

    The cast is mostly adequate - none of the acting here is necessarily ground-breaking, but it's largely inoffensive. Ross Partridge was perhaps the most consistently good, whereas Elise Muller was underutilized and often seems like she belongs in another movie. Steve Zissis is okay, however is character was awkward to the point where it was legitimately frightening - the biggest scare of the film is not a chase by the killer, rather a scene where Chad explains to Michelle that she will fall in love with him. In there was a sequel, it would involve Chad tying Michelle up in his basement. Here is a character far more horrifying than baghead.

    Of all of these young actors, however, Greta Gerwig seems to have the most growth potential. While she's not very good in dramatic sequences (there are some cringe-inducing ones here), she has an amazing amount of charisma and the kind of infantile humor that would be fitting in films along the likes of Michael Cera and Ellen Page.

    "Baghead" is a very easy watch, especially given it's short runtime. I'm looking for these films to go into less familiar territory as they've yet to create a buzz on the indie scene - however, for what it is, this was fairly enjoyable. A mild recommendation.
  • mynameissupertramp
    November 19, 2009
    mynameissupertramp
    I don't know what "mumblecore" is, but I liked this movie.
  • blizzpirate
    August 19, 2009
    blizzpirate
    Pretty stupid movie, bad acting and dragged out...
  • JonathanMartin42
    July 22, 2009
    JonathanMartin42
    This movie has some problems that you don?t exactly realize until the film?s conclusion. Unlike a film like ?Spider-Man 3? where you at the exact moment of the problem you know what it is that sucks.

    ?Baghead? is going to a little difficult for me to review. I will have to br...( read more)eak my personal problems with the film up into sections so this review doesn?t feel all over the place at once. But knowing what this movie gives me to work with, this review will most likely come off as just that.

    Just listen to the plot. Four beginning filmmakers (Matt, Chad, Michelle, and Catherine) decide to head out into someone?s uncle?s cabin and write a film in a weekend. They all realize that it will not be as easy as they had thought and hoped and just laze around on the first night. Then Michelle thinks she has a dream in which she runs outside to puke (why not just use to toilet) and sees someone with a bag over his or her head walking through the woods. She wakes up in the morning to tell the group and they turn it into a plot for their movie. But as more and more strange accounts occur with seeing this person with a bag on his or her head, they all start to freak out.

    I want to take a moment to go through the characters one by one. Matt (Ross Partridge) is the ?cool? guy. No real depth comes to this character even though he is believable as a person. I never really liked or disliked him. To me he was just there. Then there is Chad (Steve Zissis). I thought he was a good guy and all, but he did come off as annoying sometimes. Very annoying. Also there is Michelle (Greta Gerwig). I liked this character a lot. She was one of those drunk, hyperactive, fun people who I felt was one of the only good things in this film, and no, not because I was forced to see her breasts (I covered my eyes). And last is Catherine (Elsie Muller). I really don?t want to pin this all on Elise Muller, who is a fair actress, but her voice was distracting to me. That pulled away from her acting. But that problem is nothing compared to what?s coming up.

    I was very excited when I rented this movie. I mean, from what I just said, to most people, it would sound like an interesting idea for a film. And it is. Let me say that again. This is a wonderful concept for a film. But there are a couple things in the trailer and in the critic?s reviews that they don?t say about this movie. From what I just described you would think that this is a horror film. This is not the case.

    The first 5 minutes of ?Baghead? was good. It was funny, I could see the characters as real people, and I was ready to see what direction the thing would take. Then after they were introducing the conflict (Chad likes Michelle but Michelle only sees them two as friends and Matt and Catherine not putting a ?label? on it, but they were obviously in love) then they showed the title ?Baghead?. They then cut to a scene of them heading to the cabin. I was already strapped in for a well-crafted thriller, but little did I know that I on the wrong ride. If I could pick a genre to place this movie in it would have to be ?soap opera?. Long, disappointing, soap opera.

    Almost all the movie is relationships. Which is sad, because the very few parts with the baghead where simple yet perfect horror. Two scenes I want to bring to light here. One is where the guys charge at baghead in the dead of night, hoping it would scare him away, then the baghead chases them with his knife back into the cabin. The characters then move the furniture in order to block him out. The other is at the end where the characters are walking to near civilization (they can?t call anyone because the phone is dead) when they find a car, try to hotwire it, and then the baghead appears and stabs Matt to death. I wondered why they didn?t stick to focusing less on the idiotic relationship shit and more on the horror after watching it and the only thing I could think of was that Jay & Mark Duplass didn?t want it to be a complete horror film.

    Okay, now for the ending. It turns out that Matt faked his stabbing. The baghead was a director making a hidden camera movie. But the others don?t know this yet. They just saw one of their closest friends get stabbed, and they are running for their lives. When they run across the street Chad tries to flag down a car but gets hit by it in the process. They rush him to the hospital. There, Matt visits Chad and apologizes to him for what he has done. Chad sees the footage and then says to Matt that he needs to edit it and enter it in festivals. Then the film closes to us knowing that Chad and Michelle will never be together.

    Let me go over that. I am still disappointed that the film left it at ?it was all a prank?. Why? That takes away from the few horror scenes we saw. That plot twist belongs in another movie. Not this one. Chad isn?t mad at Matt for making them all scared shitless, them having to walk all day to civilization, for fearing that one of his closest friends is dead, having a moment where he wonders if he is going to die or not, putting him in a hospital, and last but not least, filming all of it! It doesn?t matter if they?re close friends or not. It was not realistic for Chad to be this forgiving to his douche of a ?friend?. Then he gives permission to edit it and enter it into festivals. And last, Chad will always love Michelle, but she will not feel the same, and we can make a fair guess that Matt and Catherine will stay in their ?unlabeled? relationship.

    Why in all of hell would you go through this bullshit soap opera relationships story only to end it with the relationships staying exactly the same at the end as they were 80 minutes ago?! Why didn?t you use this time for chilling scenes of horror if you weren?t going to change a thing?! I hope your watching this, Duplass brothers! You have a brilliant shot at being masters of making a suspense thriller! Don?t waste your talent on shitty relationship things like this! Hopefully you guys realize this and become the next Coens! If not I can only say that I warned you.

    All I really have left to say is that the word ?hate? is a little strong to use here. There are some good things about this movie. Greta Gerwig?s character combined with her performance is not that far from the awesomeness of Lizzy Caplan in ?Cloverfield?. Also the few minutes of horror in this film is chilling. But all the problems fill this thing up to the point where it doesn?t let you remember the few good aspects of the film, but the boringness of the relationships. I don?t know what other films they made, but I think a transformation to suspense/thriller/horror, and even a remake of this film would be entirely appropriate for the Duplass brothers to do.
  • marylanenalyram
    May 30, 2009
    marylanenalyram
    Not as well thought out as it could have been. Like give a reason for the bad camerawork throughout instead of just at the end.
    Super nothing
  • grasp183
    May 11, 2009
    grasp183
    odd, but worth watching

View All Baghead Reviews

Critic Reviews

August 8, 2008
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

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

August 8, 2008
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Even in the spookiest woods in the dead of night, there will be no difficulty figuring this one out. full review

August 1, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Keep your eyes open, and there are lots of other, subtler things going on. full review

August 1, 2008
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The movie's cheap, it's clever -- it's even a little scary in places. full review

August 1, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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. full review

July 25, 2008
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

A very short and cheerfully scruffy comedy-thriller by the Duplass brothers. full review

July 25, 2008
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

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. full review

July 24, 2008
Marcy Dermansky, About.com

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. full review

July 21, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, it's very broad, but the satire -- and its attendant babble -- actually heightens the scares. full review

June 13, 2008
Bob Mondello, NPR.org

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

View more Baghead reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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