BAGMAN (2024)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Colm McCarthy
Cast: Sam Claflin, Antonia Thomas, Sharon D Clarke, Steven Cree, William Hope, Adelle Leonce, Peter McDonald, Henry Pettigrew, Caréll Rhoden
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 October 2024

Synopsis: For centuries and across cultures, parents have warned their children of the legendary Bagman, who snatches innocent children and stuffs them into his vile, rotting bag-never to be seen again. Patrick McKee (Sam Claflin) narrowly escaped such an encounter as a boy, which left him with lasting scars throughout his adulthood. Now, Patrick's childhood tormentor has returned, threatening the safety of his wife Karina (Antonia Thomas) and son Jake (Caréll Rhoden). 

Movie Review:

We don’t really understand why anyone would want to live in a big house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lush greenery. Maybe it’s the vast space it offers or the quietness of things. While we do not have a clear answer to that, the premise does provides a solid location for a horror story.

Along with his wife Karina (Antonia Thomas) and toddler son Jake (Carnell Vincent Rhodes), Patrick McKee (Sam Claflin) has to move back to his childhood home and work for his brother Liam (Steven Cree) at their family lumber yard due to some financial problems.

It’s not just the lack of money that is haunting Patrick. Someone or something sinister is making loud noises at his yard. Light starts to flicker on and off in his house and his long lost childhood carved wooden owl somehow appears in his room. Even a creepy doll is found. Patrick suspects it’s the “bagman” that is coming after Jake. The evil entity that feeds on good kids in which Patrick himself encountered when he was young is back haunting him and his family.

Bagman is portrayed as an evil folklore horror figure in the vein of The Curse of the Weeping Woman and The Babadook. Though it’s barely seen in the entire movie, it’s basically a dark hooded figure with a set of really bad teeth and carries a sack. Since Patrick’s father and the grandfathers that came before him attest to it, we believe bagman did exist even if three quarters of the movie is set in the dark.

However the movie’s biggest shortcoming is that the whole movie plays like a cheap home invasion thriller. Majority of the happenings took place in the prior said house. Loud strange noises. Flickering lights. Police being called numerous times. Patrick getting pissed. There isn’t much Sam Claflin and Antonia Thomas can do with the cliched and limited script despite the two being far more capable actors than merely putting on some shock and frustrated expressions throughout. In this aspect, the house at least performs better.

Perhaps lacking a significant budget, the “bagman” is surprisingly humanlike, sprinting to his lair with a bag on his back like an evil Santa Claus. The monster is even portrayed like a psychopath breaking and entering a premise to kidnap Jake in a truly laughable sequence. Simply put, it’s not a particularly impressive and chilling way to justify a mysterious evil entity in this manner.

Largely devoid of true scares, little creativity to the story and character development, Bagman should have relegated straight to streaming. The mythology is too basic for any horror fans to latch on even the idea seems to be an interesting one.

Movie Rating:

(Bag this into your streaming list instead)

Review by Linus Tee