Review - Bag of Lies

 Bag of Lies (2024)

Director: David James

Writers: David Andrew James, Nick Laughlin, Joe Zappa

Stars: Judy McQueen Bauer, Brandi Botkin, Aja Nicole

Where to Watch: Shudder

Synopsis: Desperate to save his dying wife, Matt turns to The Bag, an ancient relic with dark magic. The cure demands a chilling ritual and strict rules. As his wife heals, Matt's sanity unravels, facing terrifying consequences.

Thoughts: Bag of Lies and Baghead were both released in the same week - two creatures in bags rule-based horror movies. Weird, right? The concept here was pretty interesting though and before I even set my eyes on it, my imagination went wild with the possibilities of a cool genie-creature in a bag gone wrong. But wow, was the execution super boring. You know those movies where you’re just really uncomfortable watching it because every element feels off? This was one of those movies for me. First off, the characters are extremely unlikable. It’s not even that they’re bad people (necessarily) but the acting is stilted and there’s zero chemistry and the dialogue is super generic so just watching the two main characters interact feels icky. Even the apartment lacked personality and felt like it was being staged for a magazine photo shoot. Anyways… story, story, story. Let me see. Ah yes, rules-based horror, dude knows all the rules, dude breaks all the rules, shit goes sideways. I mean, you light a candle and pour blood into a moving bag, you’re given like five rules, you immediately break one, and then you’re surprised when weird shit starts to happen? YOU POURED BLOOD INTO A BAG. THAT WAS MOVING. Honestly, my guy. So, another irritating element was that Bag of Lies pulled a Smile and for some of the time the scary villain is just a maniacal version of one of the characters. ::deep sigh:: okay. Lots of movies “borrow” from each other but it’s just so insulting when it’s done poorly.  Yeah. This movie was hot trash.

Also, the poster is essentially the Bad Hair poster but upside down.

2 out of 5 💀s