You've heard of Candyman. You've heard of Batman. You've heard of Bicentennial Man (actually, maybe not that one!). But did you ever hear of Bagman? A child-snatching nightmare figure from Latin American, Eastern European, Asian, and African folklore, the Bagman — or Sack Man, as he's sometimes known — is a Pennywise-like force of evil who takes innocent kids and stuffs them, well, in his bag. And he's the central figure looming over The Girl With All The Gifts director Colm McCarthy and writer John Hulme's aptly titled folk chiller Bagman, which is set to see Sam Claflin, Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor), and Aftersun breakout star Frankie Corio among others come face to face with the eldritch terror. Watch the creepy first trailer below:
Dutch angles. Dark caves. Flickering lights. Rusty scissors. Creepy creaking sounds. Creepier dolls. Yup — consider us spooked! Now yes, this new trailer does play many of the folk-inflected horror hits, and yes, there is more than a whiff of IT about the idea of a child-snatcher who preys on fear and an intergenerational tale of childhood trauma, but lest we forget that this movie is coming from the man who masterfully subverted the zombie genre with his last film. And, with the acting chops of Claflin, Thomas, and Corio aboard, there's something to be said for a horror that seems to be acknowledging its resident evil's existence from the get-go and confronting it — alongside the aforementioned childhood trauma — head on and with a measure of seriousness. Suffice it to say, what we see here is enough to ensure we'll be sleeping with one eye open!
Here's the official synopsis: "In the dark horror film Bagman, a family finds themselves ensnared in a nightmare as they are hunted by a malevolent, mythical creature. 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 (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 (Thomas) and son Jake (Caréll Vincent Rhoden)."
Has McCarthy got another horror hit in the bag, man? Or will the temptation of the tropes see the filmmaker get, er, carrier-ed away? We'll find out when Bagman unzips its sack of scares in cinemas on 20 September.