'Father's Head' Review: Grief evokes fear in this atmospheric creature feature

Grief haunts a boy and his stepmother Dad's headDirector Benjamin Barfoot's second feature (Double date)

The film premiered at 2024's Fantastic Fest, where attendees also celebrated the 10th anniversary. Jennifer Kent The BabadookAnd it's hard not to put movies into conversation. Both deal with the grief of losing a father figure and husband, both center on a woman struggling to raise a troubled boy, and both feature a terrifying creature that could have jumped straight out of a child's imagination. Still Dad's head Creates its own path, mixes it up Babadook Folk horror influences to create an unsettling portrait of how grief can tear us apart.

what Dad's head About?

Before Dad's head Introducing us to a monstrous creature aspect, it introduces us to a dream that is all too real. Young Isaac (Rubert Turnbull) must say goodbye to his father James (Charles Aitken), who is removed from life support following a devastating car accident.

Isaac has already lost his mother, and since James has no next of kin, his legal guardian is now his stepmother, Laura (Julia Brown). Although Isaac and Laura are not close, Dad's head Ignores the evil stepmother trope. Instead, while James was alive, the opening scenes of the home video depict Laura trying to understand Isaac, who enacts the arrival of a new maternal figure. At one point, seeing that he really likes to draw, Laura gives him a gift of colored pencils. Isaac was not thrilled. It's a quietly brutal moment in which you can empathize with both Laura and Isaac. While she is still struggling with massive life changes, she looks forward to the connection.

The disturbing distance between Laura and Isaac is rife in the wake of James' death. Laura certainly wasn't ready to lose her husband, let alone mother his son. Each night, she distracts herself with alcohol and home videos, weighing the option of surrendering Isaac to social services. Unsure of his own fate, Isaac plays games and longs for his father's return.

Given the fact that the film opens with flashes of his bloodied, powdered face, you might think there's no turning back. Yet some aspects of James follow Isaac and Laura back to their sleek, ultra-modern home, turning their misery into a true horror show.

Dad's head He finds horror in the grieving process.

“In Dad's Head” by James Harper-Jones.
Credit: Courtesy of Rob Baker Ashton

Scary events Dad's head Flashing lights reminiscent of police cars exploding through Laura and Isaac's windows and inexplicable fires appear in the forest around them. Here, the film falls into a pattern: daytime scenes that heighten the tension between Laura and Isaac, followed by creepy night scenes where a drunken Laura experiences these strange occurrences. Between this method and a series of jump scares, Dad's head Once falls into a bland routine.

Fortunately, things pick up with the arrival of the titular monster, a grinning, grinning replica of James' head. (Or maybe it's even the real thing?) It's reminiscent of, yes, the Babadook, whose voice lurks in the air and calls out to Isaac from the forest. Of course, Laura believes the creature is a figment of Isaac's imagination. Specifically He gave all the grotesque monsters painted around his room. Its shape – and the film's own title – suggest a fun, childish monster.

However, as evidence of the creature's existence soon grows indisputable, how Laura and Isaac choose to deal with it will define their relationship going forward. Will they submit to the devil? Will they continue to deny its existence? Or will they come together and find common ground in this shared, traumatic experience? In this, the monster becomes a stand-in for grief, and the emotional limits it pushes us to. Brown and Turnbull deliver moving work as two individuals with very different ways of moving through grief. Brown brings uncertainty and insensitivity, while Turnbull brings a vulnerable anger to Isaac's pain.

Apart from the sadness, Barfoot is up for grabs, especially when it comes to atmosphere. James designed the house where Laura and Isaac now languish, effectively imprisoning his family. An unsettling wooden structure that Isaac discovers in the woods creates a rustic horror-filled counterpoint to the main house, and the monster lurking inside is in a perfect lair. The slightest flicker of James' smile in the dark depths of the structure is enough to scare you back into your chair. Isaac was not frightened by this sight, but rather comforted, his very view of the world distorted by loss. Yes, he may be haunted by a dismembered head, but grief and its effects are the real monsters here.

Dad's head It was critically acclaimed outside of its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. It screens on October 11 on Shutter.