The fate of Dad's head is explained

The Shudder original horror movie Father's head received acclaim upon its release on October 11, hailed as a portrait of deep sadness. The horror-based streamer has a reputation for releasing some pretty decent movies under its own name, and Father's head is the last of his strong line. The film tells the story of a young boy and his stepmother grieving the death of their beloved patriarch who becomes the target of a mysterious shape-shifting creature. It attracted attention for its eerie atmosphere, intense performances, and terrifying creature features. After a descent of grief (and monsters) threatens to destroy this broken family, writer/director Benjamin Barfoot delivers a surprising ending.

Father's head unfolding almost like a dark fairy tale, it centers on a young man named Isaac (Rupert Turnbull), who has just lost his father James (Charles Aitken) in a tragic car accident, after losing his mother a few years earlier. . James' younger wife Laura (Julia Brown) tries to comfort Isaac, but finds it hard to see his grief, spending the night in a wine-drunk haze. Shortly after Isaac is visited by a strange creature that looks like his dead dad and tries to lure the sad boy into the woods and into a strange geometric tree structure. Convinced that his father had returned to his new form, he was almost drawn to whatever the creature intended for him.

End of Dad's Head

At the peak of Dad's head, Laura is pushed to the beach after the family dog ​​dies and her helpful friend Robert (Nathaniel Martello-White) is attacked and nearly killed when Isaac lures him to the creature's home. Finally, she decided that she would not be the mother Isaac needed, so she decided to give up custody of the boy. Moments later, the creature enters Isaac's room, when Laura catches him in the act and knocks him unconscious as he closes the door.

Isaac finally spots the animal, and calls Laura for help. After Laura recovers from her head injury, she stumbles into Isaac's room and, finding a kitchen knife not previously seen in the film, stabs the monster several times, and ran away. The scene ends with Isaac shouting Laura's name as she stares blankly ahead in shock.

Dada's moving coda

Instead of showing the audience the immediate aftermath of the attack, Barfoot changes the action dramatically, as a young man (James Harper-Jones) lives in the remains of Isaac's childhood room. , looking down the canal where he encountered the creature. Next, the young man went through the woods near the house, found the ruins of the creature's house, and went inside. In the inner chamber he finds a picture of Isaac's father and the strange, invisible skeleton of the creature, who appears to have died from his wounds. He studies the empty space where a face should be, then leaves. Finally, he went back inside and knocked on his mother's bedroom door, asking if he could come in. When her mother wakes up in the morning, the audience discovers that it is a slightly older version of Laura, which means the young man we have been following. it was indeed Isaac, and the two bonded after his ordeal.

For a film that deals with scary, surreal images and heavy themes, this final scene is a surprising and terrifying coda to the story. This means that Isaac and Laura bond through their terrible experiences, and Laura is able to find the source of strength she needs to save Isaac as well as step up as a mother. Instead of being torn apart by the abusive agency, Isaac seems to have grown into a young man who carries the scars of his life without letting them destroy or define him. The importance of the creature's bones fits into a larger meditation on grief. It never really goes away, but over time, its influence on a person's life can diminish. It allows Isaac to see who he really is: not his father, as he had hoped, but an invisible being who tried to take on his appearance for his own purposes.

Barefoot allows most Father's head open to interpretation. The monster's true intentions for Isaac are never fully revealed, and the impact of the experience on Isaac's life moving forward is only hinted at. Through a quiet and hopeful refrain, the film implies that although sadness and despair are inevitable, everyone has the ability to choose how they will move forward from this experience. Do they let it define them, or do they include it and move on?

After such a dark and unrelentingly scary movie, ending the story on a hopeful note is a smart idea from Barfoot. Many horror stories have explored the theme of grief in recent years, and many of them, such as hereditary or Pet Sematary, look at the character it consumes. Father's head able to separate themselves by choosing a different path, where grief can unite as well as divide.