Daddy's Head (2024)
October 17, 2024 7:18 AM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] A newly widowed young woman (Julia Brown) and her stepson (RupertTurnbull) fear for their safety after an eerie creature resembling the boy's recently deceased father visits them.
Also starring Nathaniel Martello-White, Charles Aitken, Mary Woodvine, Kaisa Hammarlund.
Written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot. Produced by Matthew James Wilkinson, Patrick Tolan, Jamie Harvey.
90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Shudder. JustWatch listing.
Also starring Nathaniel Martello-White, Charles Aitken, Mary Woodvine, Kaisa Hammarlund.
Written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot. Produced by Matthew James Wilkinson, Patrick Tolan, Jamie Harvey.
90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on Shudder. JustWatch listing.
I don't want to oversell this, mind you. But this film landing at around 2.5 or 3/5 when it started off making me groan is a weird little achievement. I think I'd like to see this director work from a fresher initial idea.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:46 PM on October 17 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:46 PM on October 17 [1 favorite]
thanks for warning about the doggo. i won't be watching :-/
posted by lapolla at 5:17 PM on October 17
posted by lapolla at 5:17 PM on October 17
I liked this a lot, but whose idea was it to give this picture such an awful title? I almost didn't watch it because I thought it must be a horror comedy. It didn't even make sense in context because the kid called his father "Dad," not "Daddy."
posted by holborne at 6:55 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]
posted by holborne at 6:55 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]
It really is a shit title.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:19 AM on October 20 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:19 AM on October 20 [1 favorite]
I definitely expected this to be yet another "horror as a manifestation of trauma" movie, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's pretty much just a straightforward creature feature (albeit one with an enormous debt to The Babadook, as noted). In some ways I wanted an explanation for where the monster came from, but I actually think the movie works better without one.
posted by whir at 8:51 PM on October 23
posted by whir at 8:51 PM on October 23
Two ways this diverged from the Babadook is that dear departed Daddy was super-wealthy, and mom and son are stepmom and stepson. Which leads to weird scenes where various people urge the mom to boot the kid out of his unbelievably beautiful home and into the foster system. What the hell??
posted by ejs at 5:03 PM on October 25 [1 favorite]
posted by ejs at 5:03 PM on October 25 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
- ...is yet another horror movie about grief/trauma.
- ...is in some ways, a retread/reworking of The Babadook, which was a great, recent film. Generally, doing things like that... is not a good idea.
However, this is executed perfectly, with excellent actors in the leads, sharp within-scene writing, top-notch handling of scares, very good cinematography and use of sound, memorable images, and perfect pacing. So whatever hole it starts in with its familiarity, it digs itself out and then some. Fairly impressed with the writer/director here.I'd say this movie started out at about negative one star for me, then did so shockingly well, it made it up to about 3.5/5 stars... and then gets docked a half star because the dog doesn't just die, he gets slashed to pieces.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:25 AM on October 17 [1 favorite]