Intensity 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed By Oliver Bernsen
Written by Henry Bernsen
Bagworm is intensely uncomfortable. Carroll is a loser living in a burned-out bungalow in decaying squalor. His love life reflects his living situation: rotting and getting worse. When this hammer salesman, ironically, steps on a rusty nail in his front yard, it adds a third leg to this stool of personal destruction. Tetanus overcomes him due to personal neglect, leading to madness and hallucinations. It is a story well told, and though it sprinkles in some humor, it is wrought with cringeworthy moments. Bagworm had its North American debut at SXSW.
Bagworm is a tale of a personal apocalypse. Our central character is an unlikeable, toxically masculine blowhard who allows his emotional frustrations to become completely self-destructive. The decline is rapid. Carroll keeps adding fuel to the fire of his own demolition. If he would only step back for a brief self-evaluation, he could spare himself further disrespect and deterioration. He is given plenty of chances to check himself, but he plows through. Will he accept help and goodwill when it is offered, or will his toxicity spread to all he comes into contact with?
To set the mood, Bagworm opens with a heaving sphincter that spits out a bagworm cocoon. It is a grotesque and unsettling image that suggests a crysalis, but surprisingly is not echoed in Carroll’s story. If a worm were to enter a pupal state and emerge in worse shape than it started… that would be a more accurate reflection of the situation.
The Cast of Bagworm
- Peter Falls plays Carroll, a lovelorn hammer salesman whose entire life is unraveling in a spiraling descent of illness and insanity.
- Robbie Arnett plays Teddy, Caroll’s former best friend, whom Carroll blames for stealing his girlfriend. Despite his betrayal, Teddy continues to maintain the friendship.
- Sydney Winbush plays Mary, Carroll’s ex-girlfriend who is now pregnant with Teddy’s child.
- Michelle Ortiz plays Cassia, Carroll’s first blind date in the movie that sets the stage for his fall.
- Francesca Galassi plays Analeigh, an insightful second blind date whom Carroll bails on when he ties himself in knots of lies.
- Stephen Borrello plays Nash, part of Carroll’s old cadre of friends, along with Teddy. They are getting the gang back together for a trip to Vegas.
- Corbin Bernsen plays Rusty, who, during a minor traffic incident, humiliates Carroll.
- Jessy Morner Ritt plays Lou, a rideshare customer of Carroll’s who sees past his flaws and is attracted to him… but that, too, falls apart.
- Brendan McCarthy plays Remmy, whose bachelor party brings all the gang to Las Vegas. Remmy manages to pull Carroll out of his self-loathing and despair.
- Brenda the Drag Queen plays herself, who rescues Carroll at his low point, and then does something unspeakably awful to him.
A synopsis of Bagworm:
When we meet Carroll, we learn that he’s an awful date and lover. He is a salesman without charisma. But he’s not unpleasant in appearance. He is a moderately handsome man with a loathesome personality. In a date with Cassia, he dominates the conversation with mansplaining and shames Cassia for ordering the fish dish. She teases out Carroll’s recent failed relationship as the reason he’s in the dating pool, and agrees to spend the night with him. Carroll sneaks a peek at a text exchange on Cassia’s phone and learns that he was a sexual letdown. And so, the emotional spiral downfall begins.
Caroll’s home is literally a burned-out wreck. Charred and riddled with exposed openings, its decaying structure is a marvel that it is still standing. The house echoes the emotional destruction of his soul. And, it has a trap lying in wait for him. The neglect of his home and well-being comes to a point when he steps on a rusty nail in his front yard. It is shown in a graphic medical section and in slow motion. OWWWW! Ironically, his life as a hammer salesman is the inverse of his situation. Carroll is not the hammer. He is the nail.
Par for the course, Carroll fails to properly care for this wound, and tetanus looms large. Fever sets in, and he combats his illness not by going to a doctor or cleaning his wound, but by chugging Nyquil. Adding insult to injury, he loses his job as a hammer salesman. He succumbs to lying in a filthy recliner (the scene where he acquires the soiled seat was truly disgusting) and sweating through his condition.
One last hope for him arrives when his old buddies, including his best frenemy, Teddy, invite him to a big event in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, madness adds to his physical ailments. Illusions and hallucinations stack on humiliation, and he ends up lashing out at those who might be able to help him as he decays day by day.
Evaluation of Bagworm:
Carroll is a cross between Travis Bickle (Robert Deniro in Taxi Driver) and Dom “Woogie” Woganowski (Chris Elliot in There’s Something About Mary). He is a mild sociopath with a grotesque infection. Sadly, he is not a lovable loser. He is a loathsome loser. It doesn’t help that he has a personal moral crusade that runs counter to the way he lives his life. He is a manosphere conspiracy theorist, and with all of his bad habits, it’s no surprise that women find him so unappealing. He is unaware of these internal inconsistencies. And yet, I was compelled to see him pull out of his destructive path. This film is full of social anxiety. There are so many moments when you know that he’s going to do the wrong thing, and he steps into the trap every single time.
Peter Falls has taken the golden opportunity at the top of the call sheet and delivered a bravura performance. Falls captures his pathetic persona perfectly, and his physical and emotional performance erodes perfectly as the story goes along.
Bagworm has the tendency to meander, however. This is the first feature-length film from Oliver Bernsen, and clearly, it is a labor of love. Carroll’s story may be a bit overstuffed, however. There are a few tertiary scenes and characters who don’t easily stitch into the main plot. The Logline states that “… he must determine whether the world’s sudden and violent turn against him is real or the result of an infection consuming his body and mind.” It is difficult to see where he questions his madness. Carroll seems to just absorb the emotional and physical toll. He doesn’t question what is happening. He becomes a punishment sponge.
Concluding Thoughts:
This is a compelling film, but it is not an easy watch. A mostly unsympathetic lead protagonist doesn’t help, but it is central to the concept. You just have to be willing to watch the sad self-destruction. There are a couple of moments when Carroll may escape this horror, including the conclusion, but clearly, fate has a firm hold on the rug being pulled from beneath him.
If you are looking for a good comparison film, think of the STD body horror film Contracted. Both films feature protagonists who, when confronting disfiguring health issues, fail to properly care for themselves. What I really appreciate about Bagworm is the layers of symbolism, particularly the house and the man. There is a lot of thought in the creation of this film, so full credit to the Bernsen Brothers. Speaking of Bernsens, keep an eye out for Corbin Bernsen, formerly the dashing but morally ambiguous Arnie Becker from LA Law, who has aged really well, but is almost unrecognizable with his golden locks long gone. It’s a family affair!
Baghead is not rated by the MPAA, but would certainly earn an R rating for grotesque body horror, language, and a wild single shot of male full frontal nudity. Baghead featured at the SXSW 2026 film festival, and will have its wide release on May 22, 2026.
Review By Eric Li
