Baghead (2008)

Directors:

Jay Duplass
Mark Duplass

Writers:

Jay Duplass (written by) &
Mark Duplass (written by)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Horror | Romance

Plot:

Four struggling actors retreat to a cabin in Big Bear, California in order to write a screenplay that will make them all stars. Problem is: What happens when their story idea -- a horror flick about a group of friends tormented by a villain with a bag over his head -- starts to come true? |

Plot Keywords:

Cabin | California | Actor | Bag On Head | Writing

Cast

Ross Partridge	...	Matt
Steve Zissis	...	Chad
Greta Gerwig	...	Michelle
Elise Muller	...	Catherine
Jett Garner	...	Jett Garner
Anthony Cristo	...	'Priest' the Bouncer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stephanie Huettner	...	Girl in the Front Row
Jennifer Lafleur	...	Kristen Thompson
Cass Naumann	...	Cass
Amy Quick Parrish	...	Festival Audience Member

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content and nudity.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16

Company:

Duplass Brothers Productions

Quotes:

[last lines]
Chad: Goodnight, movie girlfriend.
Michelle: Goodnight.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Soundtrack:

3 of Harts

Indie Hubris At Its Most Ridiculous

This movie is one of the more dire examples of indie filmmakers thinking that ANY film which is low-budget and unscripted is automatically brilliant. I am an art school graduate with a very high tolerance for experimentation, and I can dig a very low-key movie if there is some kind of point to it. Even for the "mumblecore" aesthetic, this one tests the limits of just how irrelevant a story can be. It features thoroughly unlikable characters who have minor romantic issues (one has a low-level crush, another a vague sexual attraction) sitting around chatting listlessly in a generic mountain condo. To add insult, this apathetic dialog is captured with hyperactive, aggressive camera-work which never stops moving, favors extreme close-up for 95 percent of the shots, and leaves the very few events that happen in the film out of frame. The "scares" literally involve the characters occasionally startling one another. A barely feature-length film in which even the actors themselves grow visibly more and more bored and sleepy as the movie goes on. If you genuinely do like zero-stakes, zero-production value, shapeless and pointless indie movies, then this may be for you. But do not watch it expecting it to be a horror movie, or a comedy, or a relationship drama, or a parody. It is mostly nothing.