Discover the captivating narrative behind Director Alberto Corredor‘s inaugural venture into horror with “Baghead.”
Discover the inspiration, challenges, and eerie allure that distinguish this film from the rest, especially considering its origins come from an original award-winning short film helmed by Corredor himself.
SR: The first thing I wanted to ask you is that Baghead was originally a very successful short film. Were there any challenges from turning it from the short film into a feature length film?
AC: Yeah, but you always have challenges. And keeping in mind that it was my first feature movie, then even more … I think the main one was to find a story that was truthful to the spirit of the short, but that could expand on the characters that we were creating. And obviously the main challenge was for me to move from an environment where I had almost full control about what we were doing during the short to a different environment where there are many more voices, with producers, studios, everyone is involved. And to understand that it is a project that even if it’s it qualifies like a lower budget movie because it’s a horror movie – a little one for a studio – for me is one of these big projects, the biggest project that I’ve done so far.
So mainly there were logistic challenges for me, to understand the whole process of creating a feature and also trying to keep these truthfulness to the story, to the short, to the characters that we have created in the short.
SR: Fantastic! And so the pub that Iris inherits is, I think, a very unique and very cool setting for the movie. How important was location for you in telling this story?
AC: It was very important. It was very important because at the time – we were coming out of Covid – it was very difficult to find crew, to find locations and so on, and the producers from the picture Company had already created a relationship with Studio Canal, and they had already made movies in Berlin. So we made the decision to translate the story to Berlin, but that opened up also the production design of the pub and of the basement, because Berlin is a quite peculiar place. It’s a place where all the architecture is really fantastic and where can have places like our pub, which was actually a mansion that we kind of redecorated, we created our own pub inside of that mansion.
We sadly couldn’t find a basement that was really what we were looking for in terms of location. So we ended up building it in [our] studios just to create this eeriness that we needed in that space, because the space of the basement is for me like another character inside the story.
SR: It definitely is! And speaking of characters, the character of “Baghead” I think just so creepy but also so fascinating. What do you think makes “Baghead” such a good creepy “villain”?
AC: I think it was from the conception, from when I read the short story from Lorcan Reilly (on which the short is based) and I could see visually something that is down my alley.
I’m really a fan of Japanese horror movies and I could see the visuals apply into this kind of character of “the witch”, but it’s also about the thematic meaning that that you attach to that witch. For me, she’s a personification of grief and grief is something that we can all relate to as human beings because we either have been through grief or we will go through grief at some point in our lives. But it’s also this connection, this magic realism, that you can go to the basement of a dingy pub and find a witch that brings back dead people.
“…I’m really a fan of Japanese horror movies and I could see the visuals apply into this kind of character of “the witch”…”
For me, it was a very interesting concept that gives an eeriness to the whole situation. That is what I really wanted to create, not only the sheer horror, because there are probably movies or stories that are more horrifying, but it’s about this strangeness, this “uncanny valley” feeling that you get when you get to that basement and you confront that witch for the first time.
SR: Fantastic! And what reaction ideally would you like to see from Baghead audiences?
AC: Well, I think that is a very personal thing for the viewer. I have been asked the question many times and I agree with Freya too … When you go to watch a movie and you are in the cinema, we all kind of … it speaks to every single one of us in a different way because you try to give it many layers. Like grief, like family, the things that you’ve lost … having a witch that has been captive there, being a prisoner.
All of these things speak differently to different audiences. So what I want them to take [away] is something that they at least are not going to forget straight away after watching, something that is sticking with them like, “oh, I watched this movie about this witch and it was really weird”, that’s what I want [as a] take away for the audience, yes.