'The Confused End of Dad's Head, Explained

So, what did we see in Aniya Karma?

Is a family really haunted by the Frankenstein-esque form of their deceased loved one? A great metaphor for grief? Or a combination of both?

Despite the hilariously ridiculous title, Dad's head A disturbing (and sometimes confusing) film about a family trying to fix itself after an unimaginable loss and grief. Since this is also a film that raises questions within us, we have broken them down here.

what Dad's head About?

Well, let's recap: James (Charles Aitken) is involved in a horrific car accident and when he dies from his injuries, he leaves behind his young son Isaac (Rupert Turnbull) and his wife Laura (Julia Brown). As they try to come to terms with this shocking tragedy, and as Laura decides whether or not to become Isaac's legal guardian, strange things begin to happen around the house.

Their dog chases an invisible beast through the window. Although there is no obvious fire, smoke is billowing in the woods around the house. Isaac begins to have visions of his father – albeit an altered version of him – talking to him from the forest and a vent in his room.

As tensions rise and Laura believes she can't handle being Isaac's guardian, the creature's influence over the boy begins to grow.

What creature hunts them, is it true?

Isaac is haunted by a creature wearing his father's face as a mask.
Credits: Courtesy of Tremors. A Stigma Films production. Release a tremor.

We get a clear glimpse of the monster towards the end of the movie, and it actually looks like Isaac's father. But it's a dream version of him whose face changes, twists, and disfigures his limbs and looks like a spider. But the film suggests that while the matter may seem like a nightmare, it is not entirely psychological; Three different characters see the monster and it wreaks havoc on the real world. In short, it was completely out of Isaac's mind.

But it isn't Product A different question was on Isaac's mind. The creature's appearance is the first clue. We know that Isaac is an imaginary child, which is repeated throughout the film, and we know that he likes to draw ghosts as a hobby. But when Isaac visits his dying father at the hospital, James is covered in bandages from head to toe. Isaac never saw the extent of James' injuries before he died, so Isaac's mind imagines something terrible.

While the movie leaves the nature of the monster unexplained, our best guess is that the thing is a physical manifestation of Isaac's horror and grief over the sudden loss of his father. It's his most over-the-top emotions – not just death and shock, but the doubt and disbelief of those around him – brought to life. It turns him against Laura, and it makes him want to lash out.

But, importantly, as we see at the end of the film, that too can be overcome.

What's the deal with that skeleton?

For all its horrors, Dad's head Has a happy ending.

After Laura rescues Isaac from the creature and stabs it to death, we see an elderly Isaac (James Harper-Jones) return to his childhood home. He goes into the woods outside his home and sees the strange little tree structure that served as the creature's nest when he was a child. Inside, he finds a picture of himself and his dad, then he sees a skeleton on the floor, the skull split down the middle. Old Isaac returns to his new home and wakes up Laura, whom he now calls “Mom.”

It's not explicitly stated, but our best guess is that the skeleton belongs to the creature. Isaac's discovery of its remains shows that the creature is indeed dead, and while the terrible emotions he experienced after his father's death are still there, they cannot hurt him like they once did.

Laura risking her life to save Isaac from the monster might have been enough to prove to him that she loved him and that he could trust her – and it was this realization that ultimately killed his tormentor.

Dad's head Now streaming on Shutter.