Plot: What’s it about?
Jack Marshall suffered through a painful life, with horrific physical scars and even worse emotional ones. As a child, his house was burned to the ground and while he survived, he wasn’t unharmed. He was disfigured by the intense flames and when that fire broke out, his life was altered forever. Both of his parents burned to death in the fire and with body covered in hideous burns, he was never able to recover. His horror continued when he went back to school, as the cruel kids took aim on him. Even in such a fragile state, Jack wasn’t spared in the least and he was teased, tortured, and tormented on a daily basis. As if his life wasn’t bad enough, he met his demise when he was seventeen, at the hands of his classmates. He was brutally murdered by those same kids who tortured him all those years, though no one had to face the consequences. Ten years later, all of the former classmates reunite to catch up and relive old times, but someone out there wants to settle old scores instead. One by one, the classmates are murdered and signs point to Jack, even though he is known to be dead. The chance exists that he survived the vicious attacks, but no one is ready to admit that he could be back. Who is stalking the classmates, Jack back from the dead or someone who wants revenge for other reasons?
This is a low rent horror movie that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, instead The Bagman just wants to be a decent slasher flick. The kind of movie that fans of low rent horror movies can watch and have fun with. So if you expect a complex thriller or hold The Bagman up to high standards, then you’ll be let down. But if you can turn off your critical side and slide into slasher mode, this movie makes a more than decent watch. The presence of genre regular Stephanie Beaton (Blood Gnome, Witchcraft X) is reason enough to seek out The Bagman, as no one could tire of seeing this hottie in the nude, right? Beaton isn’t just a hot chick that drops top either, she has some chops and for a horror movie hottie, she’s quite skilled. The rest of the cast is passable, but this is a slasher movie, so we just need a hot naked chick and a maniac murderer, the rest is just body count fodder. In this case, the maniac is a fat dude with a burlap sack over his head, sort of like the elephant man with a blood drenched machete. I don’t think The Bagman has a lot of scares, but the atmosphere is decent, especially for such a low rent picture. The story is sheer slasher formula, but that’s fine here and the one by one approach works well enough. The Bagman isn’t a good movie, but for fans of low rent horror, the flick is worth at least a rental.
Video: How does it look?
The Bagman is presented in full frame, as intended. This was a direct to video project made with minimal resources, so as expected, the visuals aren’t pristine. This was a low budget production, which creates some limitations from the start. The main issue is that we see a lot of jagged edges and moire patterns, which never become too much of a distraction, but are quite obvious in a number of scenes. Aside from that though, the flaws are minor and the visuals never suffer much from those defects. The image is free from most nicks and pops, while grain is absent and the visuals even shine at times. I was pleased with how sharp and crisp the image was, given the low budget roots of the production.
Audio: How does it sound?
As you might imagine, this movie doesn’t call for much audio power, but the included stereo track still offers a fine experience. The eerie music comes across well and shows no distortion, while the sound effects also emerge in good form. The dialogue sound clean and at a proper volume also, which is always good. This mix isn’t active or memorable, but like I said everything comes through like it should, which is what matters in a stereo mix. Rest assured if you need to hear it, this mix will make sure you do.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes an outtakes reel, as well as the film’s trailer.
