Review: ‘Daddy’s Head’ depicts the staggering stages of grief

Grief is woven into the fabric of horror. From Don’t Look Now to The Babadook, many of the genre’s best depictions perfectly blend raw humanity and sheer terror. It’s a balancing act to get it just right — and you can now add Benjamin Barfoot’s Daddy’s Head to the pile. Giving real “burn it with fire” energy, the film dips the viewer into an agonizing and frightening fear bath about how grief fractures relationships and the will it takes to tread through the rising tide waters. Whether it’s dark imaginations coming to life or the simple nature of existence itself, the indie feature makes great use of horror mechanics to transmit its story and tighten the airway.

A young boy named Isaac (Rupert Turnbull) reels from his father’s death. He cuts himself off from his now-widowed stepmother Laura (Julia Brown). But their relationship was already tenuous from the start. Isaac’s mother died many years prior, and he never recovered from her sudden departure. Now, with the loss of his father, he pulls further away from Laura, who is only trying her best. She never wanted kids of her own, and her new circumstances test her patience and ability to care for a grieving child. While residing in a countryside home, they might live together, but they’re suffering separately. Their tangled emotions leave little room to forge a fresh start in their relationship.

As they navigate this new phase of life, a dark and twisty creature emerges from the shadows, a clear manifestation of their sorrow. The monster possesses the father’s head, but its body is that of a spider with many legs that allow it to contort and mutate. Isaac is the first to witness the bogey lurking in the air vent. It sneaks out into the woods and lures him away from the house. Despite the red flags, he’s not thinking clearly and fully believes the beast to be his father. Laura attempts to ignite a connection with him, but he pulls away. He embraces the fantasy that his father has returned, putting himself and Laura in grave danger. Laura, who turns to the bottle and replays homemade videos to cope, eventually sees the demented critter for herself. She’s unsure what to make of it and convinces herself it’s just a collective figment of their imagination.

Daddy’s Head unravels like a spool of thread. Laura and Isaac soon succumb to their loss; each grieves in their own way; and they disastrously forget how to live in the present. Their vulnerability entices Daddy Longlegs to slink closer and closer. Their pain feeds the beast. With its mishappen body, it embodies the complex nature of death and grief. It’s never a palatable or easy experience. Grief can be pretty uncomfortable, so we, as human beings, arrive upon various avenues to process loss. Sometimes, you die from your misery. And other times, you find yourself re-energized in your life and relationships. Laura and Isaac experience both within the span of the film. Turnbull and Brown inject such humanity into their performances that you might begin to experience their grief alongside their characters.

Barfoot confronts grief head-on. Daddy’s Head reads as intensely personal. Sooner or later, we all must endure the wringer, the machine that squeezes us until we’re completely devoid of all emotion. One thing is certain in life: death is an inevitability. There’s no avoiding it, and the film impresses upon the viewer that pain is essential for our growth. Out of ruin, there can be light. Capturing the tragic beauty of grief, Daddy’s Head packs in plenty of frights so you can better understand grief and how it operates within and without the body. It’s never easy to swallow, and Barfoot’s story makes it make sense.

Daddy’s Head plops on Shudder this Friday (October 11).

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