Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Daddy’s Head’

10/14/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Rupert Turnbull as Isaac in Benjamin Barfoot’s DADDY’S HEAD. (Photo Courtesy of Rob Baker Ashton. A Stigma Films Production. A Shudder Release.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the motion picture, ‘Daddy’s Head’.

One particular subject that is being explored heavily in popular media currently, is the power of grief, and it makes sense as to why. For we are finally coming to realize that all the old school advice on how to deal with it, is a bunch of utter nonsense. For we simply cannot power through our grief, and time does not heal all wounds. No instead, powering through just buries our pain deep enough that it takes years to resurface. Not to mention, time just lets the pain and the resulting trauma from it, grow. Allowing for dark days down the line when it resurfaces through a triggering incident with a vengeance. So, to better understand how to properly heal from it, through confrontation and resolution, it is being showcased in every genre imaginable.

To the point where even police serials are exploring the nature of it and how it impacts those who have little time to process its power, and of course… it is popping up often in horror. Simply because the smartest genre on the planet can use monsters and ghoulies, and ghosts, to become the allegory of our grief. So, we can explore its power and its dangers before the story shows us how to conquer it. But what’s fascinating about these many explorations, is that none of them have yet to ponder upon a fundamental question/fear regarding grief. Specifically, what does it feel like? Because answering that question, can help us truly understand it, and prepare us for it so we can seek help when it brings us to our knees, and at last… a new horror film on Shudder explores that all-important question.

A feat that Daddy’s Head accomplishes by plunging us into the heart of grief, all by introducing us to a family shattered by death. For Isaac and his stepmother, Laura, just lost James. The patriarch of the family and someone they both deeply loved, and their pain is fresh, and they are besides themselves. For they did not expect him to go, and quickly try to put the pieces back together with him out of their lives. But as they try to do so, something sinister appears to be preventing their healing process. In fact, Isaac believes that his father’s spirit has returned and is eager to be embraced by them. But Laura, is deeply worried instead that this is nothing more than something within Isaac, that exists as a result of his broken spirit, and she simply does not know how to stop it from persisting.

Which is the perfect plot in which to explore… what grief feels like. Because those early days is where its fresh and where it consumes us quickly and writer/director Benjamin Barfoot takes full advantage of that moment to bring about a stunning exploration of its power. Going so far as to showcase the hollowness we feel when we initially grieve, the stunning ache that fills that void and how we are just not ourselves when it hits us hard. For we are simply broken in that moment, and all of that is expressed here in stunning detail, even the stuff that freaks us out after we’ve lost someone. Since so many of us think we hear the voices of the departed and/or see flashes of them. Courtesy of the fact that grief can be a fickle bitch like that… and play tricks upon our mind.

Oddly enough, it is those tricks that Benjamin uses… to make this a true horror story. Because Isaac really does believe he hears his father and sees his horrific visage post death and that leads… to some genuinely scary moments. The kind that makes use of shadows and the less is more mentality to outright shock us. Through moments that reveal more than we want to see, and this twist also allows for the story to explore the horror of what grief turns us into. Since it does indeed put us in a dark place where we are bitter and verbally vicious because we are struggling to process the waves of emotions that are surging through our veins at absolute warp speed. All of which brings forth, a stunningly brilliant and powerful motion picture.

One that really does do the impossible and exposes to the world the true power of grief. Of the emotional rollercoaster it takes us upon. Which in turn allows those who haven’t battled its power and its strength, a chance to steel their nerves and prepare for the inevitable. And for those who have dealt with it, this is a stark reminder of why telling people to ‘get over it’ is a terrible idea and that they need care and grace. Because this is a scary experience, one that is properly sold via amazing performances that at times feel a little too real. But that is what great horror does, it paints a picture that stays with you, and this is that rare horror film that will haunt you long after it’s come to an end. Courtesy of a stark reminder that grief is a monster that is very real… and waits patiently for us in the shadows.

Watch ‘Daddy’s Head’

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