The Bagman Trailer Already Reveals 5 Problems with the Plot

“Do you remember the Bagman?” the email subject line asked. It included a first look at the trailer, poster, and a still from the forthcoming horror movie.

The poster with the creepy cracked-hand finger pressed against the mouth of the doll with the voodoo-ish-looking button eyes intrigued me. No. I’ve never heard of the Bagman—either the movie or the…

Well, that’s the other thing that intrigued me. I feel I’m pretty well-versed in monsters, but who—or what—was the Bagman? Some kind of a boogeyman by a different name?

To find out, I did what any self-respecting person living in the 21st century does when they have a question. I Googled it. But nothing myth or monster-related came up.

Hmm. Maybe the trailer would explain. It did, but it also immediately revealed the first problem with Bagman‘s plot. Not that it can’t be overcome, but can the other problems?

If they’re even issues, that is. Maybe my Virgo self is getting hung up on technicalities again? Let’s explore and you can tell me what you think.

Problem #1: What’s a Bagman?

Clearly, it’s a new creation, one the trailer instantly sets out to explain while attempting to pass it off as an age-old phenomenon. Which it might be, but with an unfamiliar name.

“The so-called Bagman is a figure common to almost every culture,” a woman narrator says in the trailer. (Later we discover she’s talking to a couple, so she’s some sort of authoritative figure. Perhaps a therapist or folklore expert?)

“Curiously,” the woman continues, “his methodology is remarkably consistent. It is said he eats children, preferring to prey on those that are nice. He feeds off the child’s fear and anxiety, luring them to his cave with toys or candy. And when the child is at their most terrified, he steals them away in his bag.”

The bag made me think of Krampus while terrorizing children made me think of the Boogeyman. To me, it seems like the Bagman is a cross between both. What about you?

But the woman’s description, combined with the images in the trailer, made it super hard for me to suspend disbelief and buy into the plot of the movie or this new villain.

Problem #2: Which is it? Does the Bagman eat children, bones and all, or their emotions?

My immediate reaction to the woman’s take on the Bagman’s diet was, “Well, which is it? Does he eat children or does he feed off their fear and anxiety?”

Maybe fear and anxiety are an appetizer, and the child is the main course?

Problem #3: What’s the incentive to be good if the Bagman prefers kind children?

At another point in the trailer, Patrick McKee’s (Sam Claflin) wife Karina (Antonia Thomas) asks, “Bagman?” (Even she’d never heard of such a thing.)

Patrick responds, “It’s an old spooky story dad used to tell me and Liam to keep us in line.”

The first thing I thought of was The Village. Screen Rant highlighted at least three themes that movie explored, including “parental manipulation.” The adults in that movie convinced the kids that creatures lived in the forest. If you didn’t act right, they’d come and get you.

Just as Santa won’t bring you toys if you’re not a good little boy or girl, and if you’re really rotten Krampus might carry you away.

But again, we know from the woman’s description in the beginning of the trailer that Bagman prefers to prey on nice children. Which might also imply he’s not picky and he’ll take what he can get, good children or otherwise.

Problem #4: If he eats children, why is he hunting adults?

Something definitely seems to be coming for Patrick and Karina’s son Jake (Caréll Rhoden). But Jake’s parents clearly aren’t safe from the menace either. But if the Bagman’s focus is on kids, why does he bother with adults?

Problem #5: What kid would be lured by any of those creepy, beat-up old toys?

At the beginning of the trailer, when the woman is explaining what the Bagman is, it shows two kids standing outside what looks like the entrance to an old mine. Which basically suffices for the Bagman’s lair. And when she talks about how his MO is to lure kids with toys or candy to his cave, the trailer is perfectly timed to show some toys awaiting within.

But yikes. A wooden bird. A creepy-looking doll. And a forlorn-looking stuffed teddy bear. They’re not very enticing toys. None of those would’ve appealed enough to me as a child to venture into anywhere dark and scary. However, the dark and scary place would’ve been tempting.

But I can’t see any children doing anything except saying, “Nah. Pass,” if they were presented with these options from the Bagman. Maybe that’s why he has to go tapping on windows and hunting kids down on dark streets instead?

I don’t know, but all answers will be revealed when Bagman releases in theaters on September 20.

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Have you ever heard of the Bagman before?