Bagworm

Bagworm

A grotesque and beautiful story about a rotting foot and a failing mind

A bitter hammer salesman steps on a nail, and a spreading infection begins to destroy both his body and his sanity. A repulsive, darkly absurd body horror about loneliness and hatred of the world.

Carroll is a perpetually sweaty, balding hammer salesman who hates his life, women, and most of all himself. Frustrated and bitter, he spews venom and spits bile, spending his evenings alone in his apartment, a stale, suffocating hole. One day, Carroll steps on a nail, and what initially seems like a harmless wound develops into a full-blown, revolting infection that begins to consume his body. The world around him starts to fall apart, and Carroll is about to lose not only his foot, but also his grip on reality. Is it a fever caused by the infection that is driving him insane? Or has the world around him simply started to rot, just like Carroll?

“Bagworm” pulls the audience into a world that is vile and repulsive. Almost every frame is designed to make you squirm, and yet the most off-putting thing of all is the protagonist himself. For more than an hour and a half, we watch him sink slowly into a sticky, damp, all-consuming collapse, a state of complete degradation that feels almost tangible. It is an unpleasant film, as nauseating as watching a foot slowly rot, yet strangely beautiful at the same time. “Bagworm” blends body horror with tragicomedy so deftly that it becomes difficult to decide whether to despise Carroll or feel sorry for him. This is a nihilistic, no-holds-barred ride with flashes of absurd humor, a celluloid case of tetanus that makes it hard to return to reality once the credits roll.

“Bagworm” was directed by Oliver Bernsen and written by his brother, Henry. Their father, cult actor Corbin Bernsen, also appears in the cast, known among other roles for the horror film “The Dentist” and the crime comedy “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.” Peter Falls commands every frame with an extraordinary performance, playing Carroll with his entire body, every drop of sweat, and every bodily fluid. It is a fiercely physical and fearless performance, and Falls, whom Polish audiences may recognize from the series “This Is Us” and “Nash Bridges,” takes over every scene with his charisma. The cast also includes Michelle Ortiz (“This Fool”) and musician Robbie Arnett.