The film follows Isaac and his stepmom, Laura, dealing with the death of Isaac's father. They're living in this isolated house near the woods, both struggling to process their grief in their own dysfunctional ways. Laura hits the bottle pretty hard, while Isaac is a typical moody kid who is convinced his dad is somehow still alive. Then this creepy entity shows up looking like Dad, and things get weird.

The good stuff first - Benjamin Barfoot knows how to craft atmosphere. The house and surrounding woods feel properly oppressive, and there are moments where the tension really works. The creature design, what little we see of it, is actually pretty effective. Those eerie sound effects are commendable also.

Rupert Turnbull and Julia Brown do decent work with what they're given. Their grief feels authentic, even if young Isaac's character can be grating at times (though I suppose that's kind of the point). The tension between them is palpable, and you can feel both barely holding it together.

But here's where things start falling apart.

The film seems allergic to giving us any real answers. What exactly is this creature? What does it want? Why now? The movie drops hints about the dad's work as an architect and some past trauma but never follows through on any of it. It's like they thought being vague automatically makes things deeper. I felt the film is trying so hard to be the next "Babadook" or "Under the Skin" -- it forgets to be its own thing.

The creature design is pretty cool. When you actually see it, the film is so dark at times that you're squinting just to make out what's happening on screen. I get that darkness can build tension, but there's a point where it just becomes frustrating.

The ending particularly left me cold. After all that slow-burning tension, it just kind of... fizzles out. The last-minute attempt at a resolution feels tacked on and contradicts the mood the film spent 90 minutes building.

Is "Daddy's Head" a bad film? No, not really.

It's competently made and has moments of genuine creepiness. But it's also a frustrating example of a film with all the ingredients for something special but never quite brings them together. Worth a watch if you're into slow-burn horror that prioritizes atmosphere over scares, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.