Daddy's Head

Cast View all

	James Harper-Jones	Older Isaac
	Rupert Turnbull	Isaac
	Julia Brown	Laura
	Charles Aitken	James
	Delta	Bella
	Nathaniel Martello-White	Robert
	Nila Aalia	Heather
	Mary Woodvine	Mary
	Stella Gonet	Ava
	Lexi Austin-Jones	Alex
	Phillipa Flynn	Louise
	Kaisa Hammarlund	Miranda
	Alice Handoll	Bridgette
	Matthew Allen	The Creature
	Deepica Stephen	Saanvi
	Lucy Doyle	Dr. Alice Way

Crew View all

Director	Benjamin Barfoot
Writer	Benjamin Barfoot
Producer	James Atherton, Matthew Cooksley, Jamie Harvey, Paul Hillier, Matthew Jones, Tony Maher, Simon Lewis Marriott, M.J. McMahon, James Norrie, James Owen, Jan Pace, Bob Portal, Inderpal Singh, Patrick Tolan, Matthew James Wilkinson
Photography	Miles Ridgway

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My quick rating - 4.9/10. We got an interesting mix of family drama and creature folk horror here, but unfortunately doesn't stick the landing. Side note: Does just showing a forest now make movies automatically "folk horror" LOL? The story follows a boy and his alcoholic stepmother as they grapple with grief, only to be terrorized by a shape-shifting creature that resembles the boy’s deceased father. This premise sets the stage for an eerie and unsettling atmosphere, but writer/director Benjamin Barfoot seems to get lost in the storytelling, ultimately leaving you a bit unsatisfied. A significant portion of the film focuses on the strained relationship between the stepmother, played by Julia Brown, and her stepson. Their dysfunctional dynamic takes up as much space as the lurking monster in the woods, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The film attempts to explore grief, loss, and unhealthy coping mechanisms, with Brown doing a serviceable job in portraying her flawed character. That said, her character's parenting decisions are questionable at best—using home videos of the dead father to bond with the grieving child while drowning her own sorrows in alcohol. It felt like Barfoot might be drawing from personal experience, but the execution comes across as more uncomfortable than poignant. The creature design is effectively creepy, and there are a few well-timed scares that inject some much-needed tension into the film. The setup is good, with the eerie atmosphere slowly building to what should have been a nail-biting confrontation. However, just when things seem to be getting interesting, the movie abruptly deflates with a rushed and unsatisfying ending. It felt like Barfoot had no clear idea how to wrap up the story, leaving the tension and stakes that had been built up over the previous 90 minutes or so to fizzle out in disappointment. Ultimately, the film falls into the trap of being ambiguous for the sake of ambiguity, which only makes it feel unfinished rather than profound. While there are flashes of effective horror and character drama, it struggles to find a balance between the two. A stronger resolution could have made this a much more memorable film, but as it stands, it’s another middling horror that fails to deliver on its potential.

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