Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)

I added Daddy’s Head to my list at the last minute, solely because the stills I’d seen on Bloody Disgusting looked creepy. Apart from that, all I knew was that it was a British monster movie, but that was enough. The unusual name didn’t hurt either, although The Innsmouth School For Girls still wins on that front.

Daddy’s Head is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

When young Isaac’s father is killed in a car accident, his stepmother, Laura, is left to look after him. There isn’t really a familial connection between the two, as Laura had only recently married Isaac’s father and they were just beginning their lives together. Isaac’s mother had died some years before, so Laura becomes his guardian by default. Laura is unsure that she is suited to caring for this young stranger, however, having no experience of raising children. She is also struggling with her own grief and addiction issues.

The two stay on in the family home — a huge, modernist house, surrounded by woodland. Isaac loses himself in isolation, spending all his time in his room, painting or playing videogames. Laura drinks herself into oblivion most nights. Before this can all become routine, however, a strange presence intrudes into their lives.

This dark, scuttling creature wants to form a bond with Isaac, sneaking into the house at night, or luring him out to its lair in the woods. It wears his father’s face, croaking endearments to him. What does the creature really want from him, however? And how far will Isaac go to please this weird echo of his father?

General Thoughts

The creature is definitely the highlight of Daddy’s Head. It looks like a bin bag come to life the first time we see it, sprouting legs and scuttling around the house like a giant spider. Its bursts of speed and love of dark shadows means we rarely get a good look at it, which keeps it mysterious. While it can imitate people, it can only adopt their faces, retaining its own inhuman body. This, combined with its creaky, artificial voice, make it feel truly monstrous.

The forest setting and the creature’s weird wooden lair lend the film elements of folk horror, but it ultimately falls into a quite different subgenre. It’s never made explicit what kind of entity this is, but there are strong enough hints. Categorising it neatly is not really the point, however.

Verdict

Daddy’s Head really should be a better film than it is. While the production is slick and polished, there is something terribly empty about it. For a film about high emotions, it rarely arouses any. There is a clinical, detached feel to almost every scene, like we’re gliding across the icy surface of a story. This detachment is only intensified by the sparseness of the dialogue and lingering establishing shots for almost every scene.

It’s interesting to compare Daddy’s Head to Pyewacket, another film about an angry, grieving child meeting something nasty in the woods and using it for petty revenge against their mother. There, the overpowering sorrow and anger of the protagonists was absolutely believable, making us care about their plight in a way Daddy’s Head largely fails to.

Perhaps Daddy’s Head might have made a better short film. The basic concept is strong, even if it’s not terribly original, and the creature design is creepy as hell. As a feature, however, the story rattles around in its runtime like its protagonists in their large, empty house.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.