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Daddy's Head

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Daddy's Head
Promotional release poster
Directed byBenjamin Barfoot
Written byBenjamin Barfoot
Produced by
  • Patrick Tolan
  • Matthew James Wilkinson
Starring
CinematographyMiles Ridgway
Production
companies
  • Stigma Films
  • Arthrofilm
  • Capture
  • Onsight
  • Quickfire Films
  • Shout Loud Creative
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 22 September 2024 (2024-09-22) (Fantastic Fest)
  • 11 October 2024 (2024-10-11) (Shudder)
Running time
97 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom[2]
LanguageEnglish

Daddy's Head is a 2024 folk horror[3] film directed by Benjamin Barfoot. It premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2024, and was released on Shudder on October 11.[4]

Premise

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After the funeral of his father, James (Charles Aitken), who was the victim of a car accident, Isaac (Rupert Turnbull) and his stepmother Laura (Julia Brown) are haunted by a strange creature that starts to walk around the house.[4]

Cast

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  • Rupert Turnbull as Isaac
  • Julia Brown as Laura
  • Charles Aitken as James
  • Nathaniel Martello-White as Robert
  • Mary Woodvine as Mary
  • Nila Aalia as Heather
  • Matthew Allen as The Creature
  • Lexi Austin-Jones as Alex
  • Delta as Bella
  • Lucy Doyle as Dr. Alice Way
  • Phillipa Flynn as Louise
  • Stella Gonet as Ava
  • Kaisa Hammarlund as Miranda
  • Alice Handoll as Bridgette
  • James Harper-Jones as Older Isaac
  • Deepica Stephen as Saanvi

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 32 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3/4 stars, noting its similarities to The Babadook and Under the Skin. He wrote, "it all works primarily because of Barfoot's oversight of the film's sharp technical elements, including fantastic production design, cinematography, and editing."[7] The Guardian's Phil Hoad gave it 3/5 stars, writing, "A monster, or the supernatural, as a manifestation of uncontainable emotions is hardly a new idea, especially as so-called elevated horror has leaned into the concept... Daddy's Head adopts this increasingly familiar tactic, and just about succeeds in freshening it up with a superlative creature and great production design."[8] Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave it a B grade, saying it "isn’t likely to stick around as a film that genre fans will revisit often, but as far as haunting and half-baked ghost stories, Shudder subscribers could do worse than this sort-of-good-sort-of-bad pain in the neck."[9]

Spencer Perry of ComicBook.com gave the film 2.5/5 stars. He wrote, "As far as derivatives of Jennifer Kent's The Babadook go, there have been worse, but this one doesn't do enough to stand apart from the other films that have tried to ape that movie's success, either."[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Daddy's Head". KinoPoisk. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Video Interview: Benjamin Barfoot Discusses the Eerie Imagery and Frayed Family Dynamics of DADDY'S HEAD". Daily Dead. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
  3. ^ Navarro, Meagan. "Reviews'Daddy's Head' Review – An Ultra Creepy, Enigmatic Creature Feature [FF 2024]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 26, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "'Daddy's Head': Review". ScreenDaily. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  5. ^ "Daddy's Head". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  6. ^ "Daddy's Head". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Tallerico, Brian (October 11, 2024). "Daddy's Head movie review (2024)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 2024-09-29. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  8. ^ Hoad, Phil (2024-10-08). "Daddy's Head review – a creature emerges from grief in clever British psychological horror". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  9. ^ Foreman, Alison (2024-10-10). "'Daddy's Head' Review: Truly Terrifying Images Recommend This Maddening Enigma from Shudder". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 2024-10-10. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  10. ^ Perry, Spencer (September 26, 2024). "Fantastic Fest Reviews: Daddy's Head & The Severed Sun". ComicBook.com.
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