chinton
07-26-2008, 09:10 PM
Just got back from seeing Baghead. I expected to enjoy it but it was even better than what was i expecting. Its a low budget film and for the people who haven't seen it i'll run through the plot in as little detail as I can so I don't ruin the surprises. Essentially its about four film extras who are best friends. After seeing a terrible low budget film from a friend of theirs and seeing the huge praise it gets they decided to go up to a secluded cabin to bang out a movie written by them and staring them. They decide on a slasher movie idea of a man who wears a bag over his head who stalks 4 people holed up in a cabin. After a while someone mysteriously shows up with a bag over their head in the woods. Is it one of them playing tricks on each other or is it real.
From what I just described it sounds like a horror film but what's fascinating about the movie is that its really about 4 different genres of movies put into one film. For a very low budget film its fairly ambitious. Usually when you have a film especially a low budget film attempting so many budgets it usually only gets one right. What's great about Baghead is that it manages to be several things at once. Its clear that the movie is improvised in some way as far as the conversations go between the four characters in the cabin. The dialogue is loose but defined. What's refreshing is that the four character are engaging and likable and the dialogue is funny, interesting and well-written. As the weekend wears on and things get weirder and weirder the two guys and two girls relationships wear thin and get significantly more complicated.
The movie really does its drama section well especially as the relationships fall apart. As I said before the characters are engaging and all the actors are quite good. I haven't seen the directors previous films but I wonder if this is their usual company as everyone seems very comfortable.
Its also very very funny. Not only did they have funny dialogue, but its playful jabs in the beginning about low budget cinema is knowing and smart. The Q&A of the pretentious film at the beginning (called "We Are Naked if you can believe it) feels like a dozen Q&As I've been to particularly at Sundance.
It also has some nice discussions on the relevance of the horror genre and relationship drama. When they get to the cabin one said clearly wants to do the slasher film and one clearly wants to do the relationship film as they feel is more literary. Its quite smart. Its also quick so look out for it.
Then of course there's the horror elements. Its fairly basic stalker in the woods type thing. Also, I knew the twist at the end. Despite all of this though I was shocked at how tense I was. The few scare scenes are incredibly well-done. They are simply but effective and they worked.
It takes a bit to get going and the final scene fell a little flat considering how breathless the last 15 minutes of the movie is.
All in all though I loved this film. Its whip-smart, ambitious, very funny, and very scary.
I highly recommend it.
8/10
From what I just described it sounds like a horror film but what's fascinating about the movie is that its really about 4 different genres of movies put into one film. For a very low budget film its fairly ambitious. Usually when you have a film especially a low budget film attempting so many budgets it usually only gets one right. What's great about Baghead is that it manages to be several things at once. Its clear that the movie is improvised in some way as far as the conversations go between the four characters in the cabin. The dialogue is loose but defined. What's refreshing is that the four character are engaging and likable and the dialogue is funny, interesting and well-written. As the weekend wears on and things get weirder and weirder the two guys and two girls relationships wear thin and get significantly more complicated.
The movie really does its drama section well especially as the relationships fall apart. As I said before the characters are engaging and all the actors are quite good. I haven't seen the directors previous films but I wonder if this is their usual company as everyone seems very comfortable.
Its also very very funny. Not only did they have funny dialogue, but its playful jabs in the beginning about low budget cinema is knowing and smart. The Q&A of the pretentious film at the beginning (called "We Are Naked if you can believe it) feels like a dozen Q&As I've been to particularly at Sundance.
It also has some nice discussions on the relevance of the horror genre and relationship drama. When they get to the cabin one said clearly wants to do the slasher film and one clearly wants to do the relationship film as they feel is more literary. Its quite smart. Its also quick so look out for it.
Then of course there's the horror elements. Its fairly basic stalker in the woods type thing. Also, I knew the twist at the end. Despite all of this though I was shocked at how tense I was. The few scare scenes are incredibly well-done. They are simply but effective and they worked.
It takes a bit to get going and the final scene fell a little flat considering how breathless the last 15 minutes of the movie is.
All in all though I loved this film. Its whip-smart, ambitious, very funny, and very scary.
I highly recommend it.
8/10