The most frightening world premiere to occur at Fantastic Fest 2024 was undoubtedly Daddy’s Head. Written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot (Double Date), Daddy’s Head is a haunting examination of grief in the same vein as films like The Babadook. After an accident, a widow and her stepson are grieving their loss while also trying to figure out their own relationship. When a strange creature appears with the face of the boy’s father, the pair find themselves thrust down a sinister path of chaos, trauma, and danger.

The film opens in the moments after the accident. The son, Isaac, and his stepmother, Laura, are able to say goodbye before the man they care about sadly passes away. From there, Daddy’s Head allows the audience to get to know these two individuals and their relationship. It’s clear these two are at least cordial, or they were before the accident, but now they’re forced to rely on one other. Isaac has no other living relatives, his mother having passed away years before, and now Laura is faced with a life-altering decision. Will she raise her stepson, the child of the man she loved and married, or will she relinquish her guardianship so Isaac can be placed with a new family? With so much grief, trauma, and big decisions that need to be made, the house Isaac and Laura share is overflowing with tension. Daddy’s Head does a great job of highlighting the different ways in which people grieve for someone they love, showing the characters often at their worst, but still in an empathetic light. The emotion behind the plot grounds the film, allowing for the horrors that occur to really deliver the scares.

Throughout Daddy’s Head, the origin of the creature remains a mystery. There are hints that suggest it could be an alien that crash landed from outer space, yet an argument could also be made that perhaps Isaac manifested this entity through his grief, especially when one notices how similar the creature looks to the drawings all over Isaac’s bedroom. Wherever it came from, the creature is drawn to Isaac. Much like its origins, the intentions and motivations of the creature are also shrouded in mystery. The only thing that’s for sure is the creature is connected to Isaac, using his father’s face to lie to and manipulate Isaac to some mysterious end. While the many unanswered questions surrounding this creature can be frustrating at times, and I do wish some things were answered, the unknown certainly adds to the menacing, unsettling feeling every time the creature appears on screen. With such a great build up of terror, the ending may feel rather abrupt, and perhaps even anti-climactic, to many audiences. It’s the kind of ending that forces viewers to make their own conclusions, but with so many other unanswered questions it’s unfortunate the film didn’t reach a more decisive, exciting end.

Daddy’s Head has a striking visual style, adding beauty and terror into every scene. Barfoot wisely opted to never show the dad’s face when he was alive, instead only showing a glimpse of his head completely bandaged and bloody just before he dies. This makes the moments when the audience sees his face more frightening because we only associate it with the creature. The creature design is the stuff of nightmares, plastering the unhinged, smiling face of the father on an otherwise pitch-black, leathery body that moves unlike any human. Not only is it a horrifying sight, but using the father’s face to trick Isaac adds a layer of cruelty and trauma that makes the situation even more disturbing to behold.

Daddy’s Head also utilizes the set design and lighting to enhance the story. The film takes place almost entirely in a remote home with walls of concrete and large, expansive windows overlooking a pond and large forest. The home is beautiful, but with all those windows it creates the sense of Isaac and Laura always being watched by what lurks in the woods. It also emphasizes how unsafe they are and how easily someone, or something, could break in. There is also a structure in the woods that is as iconically beautiful as it is unnerving. When it comes to the lighting, some of the most gorgeous scenes are dream-sequences showing a repeated motif of flashing red and blue police lights in the darkness. In contrast to those bright lights, Daddy’s Head relies heavily on shadows. This mostly comes into play with the creature, keeping it in the darkness until it’s time to give the audience a little peak, but even then focusing on the human face it wears as a mask. These are the kind of visuals that are sure to have audiences grabbing their neighbor in fright.

With a relatively small cast, the performances in Daddy’s Head are vital to the success of the film. Julia Brown (World on Fire, Shetland) stars as Laura. One thing Brown convincingly conveys is that Laura is not ready to be a parent. While she loved her husband, who obviously had a son, she always thought he would be there to take care of Isaac. Brown is wonderful at showcasing how Laura drowns her sorrows in alcohol once Isaac has gone to bed, how overwhelmed she is having to care for a young boy who is also grieving, and her turmoil at trying to decide what is the best living situation for both her and Isaac. Rupert Turnbull (Professor T, Tin Star) plays Isaac. What makes Turnbull’s performance so powerful is the way he balances grief with angst. Isaac is understandably upset after losing his father, but after seeing the creature he begins to question everything the adults have told him, making him mistrustful of his stepmother. These two individual performances are fantastic, but the way these two perform together, full of animosity and resentment with a deeply hidden affection, is what drives the emotional weight of the film.

Daddy’s Head uses a nightmarish creature to tell a terrifying tale of the many stages of grief. Barfoot has a great visual style to his storytelling that is just as scary as it is emotionally charged. Despite some of the unanswered questions and the abrupt ending, the heart at the center of this film still delivers a compelling plot. The creature design, lighting, and set design all add both to the visuals and to the plot, as well as to the scares and the sorrow. With performances from both Brown and Turnbull that are absolutely breathtaking, audiences are sure to connect with this film. Daddy’s Head will be available exclusively on Shudder beginning October 11th.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10