“Daddy’s Head” Review
Benjamin Barfoot’s eerie examination of the denial that frequently follows the unexpected death of a loved one is interwoven with references to folk horror, “The Babadook,” and even “Under the Skin.” The unexpected death of a loved one in a vehicle accident, for example, shatters reality, a concept that horror has long emphasized. There is a distinct subgenre of what could be called “Grief horror,” particularly in recent years. However, by emphasizing imagery over-explanation, Barfoot avoids the pitfalls of this classification, creating a movie that may perplex some viewers but still leaves them with lasting impressions.
Isaac, played brilliantly by the young Rupert Turnbull, is a small kid who, shortly after losing his mother, experiences the unthinkable loss of his father, James (Charles Aitken). He is now orphaned and effectively stuck at home in the middle of the country with Laura (Julia Brown), his stepmother, who makes it apparent that she never intended to be a single mother. She accepted her job as a stepmother after falling in love with a man, but now that things have changed, she is unsure if she still wants to be Isaac’s legal guardian and is thinking of giving him over to the state and placing him in foster care. She seeks solace from a divorced acquaintance named Robert (played by Nathaniel Martello-White) and drinks to dull the pain.
Something impossible—possibly literally—drops into this emotionally devastated terrain. There is a reading of “Daddy’s Head” that suggests what happens to James and Laura is extraterrestrial in nature because of the smoke in the woods and the nighttime lights, but one of the reasons I like the movie is that it doesn’t make all the connections. Let’s just say that when Laura and Isaac return from James’s burial, they discover something beneath the table. It zips out of the room and into the miles of ominous woods surrounding it through a window.
Laura assumes it was an animal, but in the most horrific scene of the movie, Isaac begins to see this gloomy monster in the most unlikely places, such as an air conditioner vent in his room. The fable/folk elements of Barfoot’s story are enhanced when everyone discovers what appears to be a witch’s dwelling in the woods. Nothing good dwells in a place like that, as thousands of years of stories have shown, but Isaac is determined to continue his inquiry for one main reason: whatever this creature is, it has Daddy’s head.
A fundamental motif of horror since its inception has been the extent we will go to—or the denial we are ready to accept—to spend more time with a departed loved one. How much does it cost to turn back time? Barfoot skillfully uses Turnbull and Brown’s outstanding performances to explore with this issue in a way that seems emotionally raw. Without ever using dramatization, the young Isaac makes us feel sorry for him and effectively conveys the mixture of fear and optimism that permeates his persona. He is aware that this is incorrect. It’s Dad, though! Additionally, as Brown begins to fear that Isaac may be concealing a violent secret of his own, her sadness over her new role as a mother is further distorted.
There is obviously a lot to analyze in “Daddy’s Head.” However, it all works mainly because Barfoot overlooked the film’s excellent technical aspects, such as its superb production design, cinematography, and editing. The movie’s general tone is more effective here than any one scene, even though I wish he had a few fewer jump scares and somewhat better computer-generated imagery. Most successfully, Barfoot and his group make this chilly, isolated mansion a character; going back there doesn’t provide the typical coziness of a contented house. The coolness in the air is palpable. He uses recurrent imagery, frequently using circles and straight lines to heighten the sense of anarchy and terror in the monster’s and its home’s chaotic fluidity. This isn’t the place for it. even though Daddy’s head is on it,
