When a sinister threat from his childhood returns to haunt him, a father desperately struggles against his deepest inner fear. Only this time, the fight isn’t for himself; it’s for his family. A film by Colm McCarthy, starring Sam Claflin, Antonia Thomas, Sharon D Clarke, Steven Cree, William Hope, Adelle Leonce, Peter McDonald, Henry Pettigrew, Frankie Corio, and Will Davis.

While practicing baseball with his daughter Emily (Frankie Corio), Don Greenberg (Henry Pettigrew) mentions that he had a long talk with her mother that morning. Her mother was worried about Emily’s recurring nightmares and said Emily needed to tell him something. Emily becomes frustrated and asks Don if he remembers letting her ride her bike to practice through the storm drain by the old mine. Curious, Don asks if something happened that day. Though it seems evident that something did occur or she saw something disturbing, Emily suddenly changes her mind and tells Don that nothing happened — she just freaked herself out.

That evening, Don persuades Emily to let go of her beloved Bunny Bear doll, suggesting it might help with her recurring nightmares. While Don goes into the shed to put away their gear, Emily places her Bunny Bear in one of the boxes behind her dad’s car. Suddenly, the parking lot lights begin to flicker and go out one by one, plunging the area into darkness.

Frightened, Emily decides to follow her dad into the shed. She calls out to him, but there’s no response. As she ventures further inside, she finds her dad lying on the floor, paralyzed. Don tries to warn Emily to run, but it’s too late—a hooded figure approaches. It grabs Emily, violently twisting and bending her body before stuffing her into a bag and disappearing into the darkness.

The Bagman, a mythical creature rooted in various folklore traditions, has terrified people for centuries. Often depicted as a sinister figure that preys on children, its characteristics vary across cultures, but the central theme remains consistent: the creature possesses the power to paralyze and incapacitate parents and adults, leaving their children vulnerable. It feeds off children’s fear and anxiety, which sustains and nourishes it. Using toys or candy as bait, the Bagman lures children to its lair. Then, when a child is at their most terrified, it steals them away in its bag.

The Bagman is a figure used to instill fear and encourage good behavior among children. Bagman is typically described as a tall, gaunt figure who carries a large, often rotting sack. This sack is used to abduct misbehaving children, who are said to be taken away never to return.

When Patrick (Matthew Stagg) was a child, his older brother Liam (Jordan Gubian) took him to an old copper mine, daring him to go near the entrance despite their father’s strict orders to stay away. As the atmosphere grew too creepy, they both agreed to leave. However, Patrick spotted a wild plum tree near the entrance and was determined to get a branch — their grandfather had once told him it was the softest wood in the world, perfect for his wood carving.

While Patrick focuses on cutting a branch from the wild plum tree, the Bagman silently emerges from the shadows behind him. Using scissors, it snips off a lock of his hair. Startled, Patrick drops his carved owl figurine and baseball cap as he flees from the mine. Jake later learns that the abandoned mine is believed to be the Bagman’s lair.

According to legend, the Bagman always snips a lock of hair from children who catch its fancy. Once a child becomes its target, the creature will not rest until it has them, as it can always sense their location. Jake’s father, Jake McKee Sr. (Peter McDonald), used to share a generations-old legend about the Bagman’s sole weakness: it cannot touch a child protected by a magical totem — an seemingly ordinary object that possesses great power created from a child’s love. Jake’s father assured him that his pocket knife, the one he used for wood carving, was such a totem. As long as Jake kept it with him, the Bagman could not touch him. The legend also says that if a child evades the Bagman’s grasp long enough, the creature will eventually rot away.

Years later, financial hardship forces Jake (Sam Claflin) to return to his childhood town with his wife Karina (Antonia Thomas) and their young son Jake (Caréll Rhoden). He joins his older brother Liam (Steven Cree), who has taken over the family business since their father’s death.

Soon, Jake begins experiencing a series of strange events that make him believe the Bagman from his traumatic childhood has returned—and this time, it has targeted his son. Yet he has no proof that the Bagman actually exists.

Directed by Scottish filmmaker Colm McCarthy from a screenplay by John Hulme, BAGMAN is a horror film based on the folklore of the Sack Man/Bag Man. The narrative starts off strong with an opening sequence where Frankie Corio’s character is brutally twisted and stuffed into a hooded creature’s bag.

Unfortunately, the film just went downhill from there. It’s puzzling why they cast Frankie Corio, who was brilliant in AFTERSUN, only to kill her character off in the opening scene. Why choose Caréll Rhoden, who is much younger than Jake’s character was in the flashbacks? Why not cast Corio as Jake and Karina’s daughter instead? Was it due to a weak screenplay? Did the screenwriter want to avoid writing good child dialogue? Or was Corio’s fee too high?

The film suffers from numerous repetitive scenes and lacks any meaningful character development. The characters’ actions are either unconvincing or absurdly illogical. For instance, why would parents keep their son in a separate room when they know he’s being targeted? How could Jake forget about his pocket knife, supposedly the only thing that could protect him?

The plot drags for nearly 40 minutes with no significant progression. The editing makes the story unnecessarily confusing, with flashbacks randomly introducing bits of information while deliberately withholding crucial details. The narrative would have benefited from a chronological telling rather than constantly jumping between present and past.

Ultimately, the film fails to fulfill its promising premise. It’s disappointing that it brings nothing new to the horror genre and ends up being just another forgettable horror film that fades from memory as soon as the credits roll.

BAGMAN was scheduled to premiere at the Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on 23 August 2024, but Lionsgate Films pulled it from the festival just before the event. A 4K remaster of The Hitcher took its place in the lineup. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2024.