Filmmaker Benjamin Barfoot brings the creep factor in Daddy’s Head, an eerie creature feature centered on grief. Set in the immediacy of a sudden, tragic loss, Barfoot’s sophomore feature initially appears to be yet another monster metaphor that draws clear parallels to The Babadook. Luckily, Daddy’s Head forgoes the obvious metaphor for a gnarlier, oblique story uninterested in handholding. While Barfoot’s refusal to overexplain may prove divisive, the filmmaker’s strong grasp of chilling horror imagery and pervading sense of dread gets under your skin.
Daddy’s Head introduces its leads, a solemn Lewis (Rupert Turnbull) and his stepmother Laura (Julia Brown), as they are summoned to a hospital bed to make their final goodbyes to Lewis’s father James (Charles Aitken), his face hidden beneath mounds of bloodied gauze. The sudden loss is shocking enough, but Lewis has no surviving family beyond his father’s new bride. That he hates her leaves Laura in a tricky spot: attempt to assume guardianship of a young boy deep in the throes of grief or let social services place him in foster care. As they both attempt to navigate their grief and tensions mount between them, their isolated, wooded home becomes haunted by a strange creature with James’ face, but is it just a fragment of Lewis’ imagination?
Barfoot draws from folk horror, both in setting and storytelling, for his unique creature feature. That means that the horror builds slowly, relying on atmosphere and the isolated, stunning wooded setting to create unease as Lewis and Laura struggle with their loss. Neither handle it well; the quiet Lewis has retreated into himself as Laura relies heavily on their wine cellar to cope with the empty nights. It’s an emotionally fraught environment perfect for horror to take root, further sowing division between son and stepmom.
That horror comes slowly, with Barfoot strategically escalating the creature’s invasion. When the creature does appear, always obscured enough to retain mystery, it’s effectively chilling. The filmmaker has a strong sense of editing that only enhances the visceral terror of the entity, though he is prone to pulling punches. The action cuts away on more than one occasion just as Barfoot dangles the possibility of full-throttle horror, opting instead to preserve the enigmatic nature of this particular creature.
That’s by design, of course, as Barfoot refreshingly refuses to handhold here. The filmmaker layers in enough subtle clues to flesh out the story and what’s happening while allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions about what exactly is tormenting this fractured family. The good news is that no matter your theory about the creature’s origins, Barfoot takes a definitive stance that pulls Daddy’s Head back from another cliched grief metaphor.
The small cast brings the emotional gravitas to carry the lulls between the visceral bursts of terror, with Brown earning easy rooting interest as the stepmom trying her best while crumbling under the mountain of anguish and expectations. Turnbull’s Lewis is so withdrawn and reserved that his outbursts and lashing out are understandable and authentic, ensuring the rare instances where he finds common footing with Laura land with the appropriate poignancy.
Daddy’s Head is handsomely crafted, with a creature design that’s pure nightmare fuel. Barfoot knows exactly how and when to employ it for maximum discomfort, though he is prone to cutting the horror scenes too early. The final coda, while sweet, doesn’t quite hit its intended note, either. Barfoot isn’t interested in spelling out everything, working heavily in its favor. While that ultimately makes for a sparser story, it’s one that rewards more depending on how much work you’re willing to put in as a viewer to decipher its details and clues. Whether you’re on this movie’s wavelength or not, one thing is certain: Daddy’s Head is creepy as hell.
Daddy’s Head made its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest and releases on Shudder on October 11.
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