Fantastic Fest Reviews: Daddy’s Head & The Severed Sun

The 2024 edition of Fantastic Fest is here, and ComicBook is once again covering this celebration of niche and genre cinema from around the world. We have two more reviews from the event, both horror films, including the upcoming Shudder release Daddy’s Head and the UK folk horror movie The Severed Sun.    

Daddy’s Head

It has become a bit of a trope in recent years that grief-based horror has become its own subgenre, and Daddy’s Head continues the trend for good and ill. Written and directed by Benjamin Barfoot, the film is about a grieving wife and her stepson who have been put in a near-impossible position: the boy’s father, her husband, has passed and left everything to her, with her final choice being should she even keep the kid around. Immediately it’s an interesting carve-out that sets itself apart from other films of the same ilk, and Barfoot starts to position it with unique, dreamlike imagery and some fun jump scares that give this its own identity. 

Despite solid performances and a stellar first half-hour, Daddy’s Head almost immediately tumbles into the mold of The Babadook and its many imitators. This can be seen not only in the creepy voice of the monster that is haunting this house, but also in the way it moves around. The trouble is that even with these big elements that feel like imitation, it leaves out any larger mood setting that can cement those elements even more. As far as derivatives of Jennifer Kent’s original movie go, I’ve seen 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.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

The Severed Sun

The Severed Sun is captivating largely due to the cast. Emma Appleton anchors the film as Magpie, a young member of a religious sect that dares to…march to the beat of her own drum. Though given a bit of leeway thanks to being the daughter of the main pastor (Toby Stephens in a tremendous turn), that doesn’t stop other members of the community (like Jodhi May in a paranoia-fueled performance for the ages) from speculating about what she’s really up to on the outskirts of where they live. The Severed Sun is at its best when getting into the personal lives of these characters and the web of weirdness surrounding them.

Dean Puckett’s folk horror film checks a lot of the boxes from the subgenre that viewers may be expecting, but doesn’t offer a lot of anything new to viewers. Shades of everything you’re thinking of can be found, from The Wicker Man to The Village, from The Witch to The Blood on Satan’s Claw; it’s all there. One place where it does excel is by not playing coy about the monster hiding in the wings as the opening credits immediately announce “JAMES SWANTON AS THE BEAST.” That said, playing as a greatest hits of this specific subgenre isn’t the worst thing in the world and clocking in at just over 80 minutes means that this thing is lean, mean, and fun to watch.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5