Mentions of trauma and abuse.

Summary

• Bagman shares eerie similarities with Stephen King's Pennywise in feeding off children's fears.
• Both Bagman and It address childhood trauma, abuse, and unresolved issues in their storylines.
• The urban legend of the Bagman draws inspiration from various cultures, adding to the movie's terror.

Sam Claflin stars in the 2024 horror movie Bagman, and its first trailer shows some strange but interesting similarities to one of Stephen King’s classic and most popular villains. The horror genre continues to go through an excellent run with remakes, reboots, sequels, adaptations of other works, and original stories. Something that continues to be a source of inspiration for horror movies is urban legends and myths, with 2024 already seeing some of these in movies like The Watchers. Continuing this line is Bagman, directed by Colm McCarthy and starring Sam Claflin.

Bagman follows Patrick McKee (Claflin), who has carried a lot of childhood trauma for years after an encounter with the mythical Bagman. To Patrick’s horror, this legendary tormentor is back, but Patrick is now a father, and so it’s his turn to keep his son safe from the Bagman – but for that, he has to confront his trauma and biggest fears. The first trailer for Bagman has now been released, giving a taste of the type of horror it will have and an idea of what the Bagman wants, and he’s weirdly similar to one of the most popular Stephen King villains.

Bagman's Villain Sounds Too Similar To Stephen King’s Pennywise

Bagman Shares Many Characteristics With Pennywise

The Bagman feeds off a child’s fear and anxiety and lures them to his cave with toys and candy.

The trailer of Bagman begins with Patrick and his wife Karina’s therapist explaining who the figure of Bagman is. She explains that the Bagman is said to eat children, but has a predilection for children who are “nice”. The Bagman feeds off a child’s fear and anxiety and lures them to his cave with toys and candy. Once the child is at their most terrified, the Bagman takes them away in his bag – and what happens after that isn’t mentioned, but he might either eat them or kill them in some other way.

Although the Bagman is an old myth (more on that later), the description given in the Bagman trailer makes the villain too similar to Stephen King’s Pennywise. In 1986, King’s It novel was published, in which he introduced readers to the title creature, an ancient, shape-shifting, trans-dimensional evil entity who arrived at Earth centuries ago, landing in what would become the town of Derry, Maine. It originated in a void outside the regions of the Macroverse, and it is from a species called Deadlights.

It takes the shape of the deepest fears of its victims, hence why it prefers children.

It’s real shape is quite complex, and it has been described as orange lights, but if a human sees It’s true form, it would drive them insane or even kill them. The closest to it that the human mind can comprehend is a giant female spider, but It can take any shape it wants. It awakens every 27 years to feed, and it feeds on people’s fears, especially those of children. It takes the shape of the deepest fears of its victims (though its preferred one is Pennywise), hence why it prefers children, as the fears of adults are more complex.

It is also known for luring children with tricks, as he did with Georgie Denbrough. It presented himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and made him believe he had balloons and gifts for him so he would get closer. Bagman and Pennywise target children, feed off their fears and anxieties, and capture them when they’re most vulnerable, and their stories seem to also address similar themes.

Bagman & It Share Similar Themes

Bagman & It Are A Lot Deeper Than They Might Seem

Bagman addresses the topic of childhood trauma, unresolved trauma, and how this affects a person for years after the traumatic event.

As mentioned above, the Bagman trailer establishes that Patrick had a close encounter with the title villain that left him traumatized for years. The weight is such that he and his wife are attending therapy, where their therapist explains the story of Bagman. Patrick’s nightmares and uneasiness about the Bagman return when he and his family move back to his hometown, and he starts fearing that his young son will be taken away by the Bagman. The biggest question is, of course, why the Bagman is still going after Patrick after all these years.

One of the biggest topics in It is also trauma, specifically childhood trauma, as well as abuse.

Bagman addresses the topic of childhood trauma, unresolved trauma, and how this affects a person for years after the traumatic event. Although the Bagman is a physical entity in the movie (and is shown at the end of the trailer), he will most likely be a representation of trauma and how it’s catching up with Patrick after all these years, even affecting his family. One of the biggest topics in It is also trauma, specifically childhood trauma, as well as abuse.

Each of the Losers came from a home where they were neglected or abused in some way (yes, the overprotection of Eddie’s mother was also abuse), and most of them had gone through a traumatic event before they came face to face with Pennywise. All this made them the perfect targets for Pennywise, which added even more trauma for them. The Losers carried all that into their adulthood, where some of them continued to struggle with abuse, neglect, and other problems.

Bagman’s Patrick, like It’s Losers, never treated his childhood trauma involving the Bagman and that affected him many years later – and just like the Losers, he will face the Bagman one more time now as an adult, but he now has a lot more to lose as his family is involved. None of the Losers could have children, but their issues with Pennywise got a lot more personal after Stan’s death and how It continued to torment them through their pain.

Bagman's Urban Legend & Lore Explained

The Legends Of The Bagman Inspired The Movie

Bagman is a figure similar to the bogeyman who appears in different cultures all over the world.

While It is a completely fictional character (and generations of readers and viewers are surely glad it is), the Bagman carries a lot of history. Also known as the Sack Man or the Man with The Bag/Sack, Bagman is a figure similar to the bogeyman who appears in different cultures all over the world. The figure of the Bagman is more prominent in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Eastern Europe, and he’s represented differently. In Spain and Latin America, the Bagman is an ugly, skinny old man who takes children who misbehave, though what he does with them changes depending on the country.

In Eastern Europe, the Bagman is also a man who kidnaps misbehaving children and carries them in his bag, though in Czech Republic and Slovakia, this character doesn’t have a defined form and doesn’t usually take children, instead it just scares them. Many countries use the Bagman as the counterpart of Father Christmas, with the famous Krampus being a representation of the Bagman. The Bagman in the movie is more in line with the legends of an ugly man with a creepy grin who carries his victims in a bag, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t terrifying.