Upamanyu Biswas
The British horror film ‘Daddy’s Head’ follows a boy named Isaac, who loses his father in a tragic car accident. Subsequently, Isaac has to settle in with his stepmother, Laura, at their showpiece home in the middle of the woods. Although their relationship is somewhat estranged, matters get twisted when a mysterious entity starts haunting the pair, utilizing the deceased head of Isaac’s father to get closer to the boy. As the narrative progresses, they have to navigate their shared grief and build a degree of trust while the dark, unseemly force makes their life an anxious nightmare.
At the end of the movie, the distance between Laura and Isaac continues to grow as the mysterious creature becomes even bolder in its attempts to drive a wedge in the house’s inhabitants. Trapped in their issues, they fail to see the real monster lurking in the vicinity and preying on their insecurities. Even the efforts of Robert, the family friend, are not enough to make the pair come together in times of trouble. Ultimately, Laura is forced to make a decision about Isaac’s parentage, which is ultimately short-lived, as viewers are provided a glimpse into their future after an abrupt time jump. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Daddy’s Head Plot Synopsis
Isaac is the son of James, a well-off architect, who passes away tragically in a car accident. The boy and his stepmother, Laura, live together in James’ immaculately polished mansion in the middle of the woods. They grieve James’ death in their own ways, with Laura falling into her alcoholic habits and Isaac withdrawing into the world of video games. Laura is granted all of Isaac’s properties and wealth according to his will but faces a decision about Isaac’s custody. She has never wanted children and is unsure about taking him in or letting him go into foster care. At home, they barely speak to one another as Isaac is uncomfortable around her. Laura reads it as a clear sign that he secretly detests her.
One night, Laura wakes up from her sleep in the living room to see it bathed in blue strobe lights and a mysterious figure watching through the glass. Later, a forest fire breaks out in the nearby woods, and nearby firefighters occupy the family’s house. Over the following days, a dark creature starts breaking into the family home and stalking Isaac and Laura. Their pet dog, Bella, seems alert to the intrusions and chases it away one particular night when Laura wakes up after being intoxicated with alcohol. The creature escapes through a window in one of the bedrooms. A few days later, Isaac witnesses the same monster inside his room and mistakes it for his father because of its facial resemblance to his deceased parent. It tells the boy to go into the woods to find it.
Convinced that his father is still alive, Isaac becomes obsessed with finding him in the woods. Although hesitant to believe him, Laura goes into the forest with him and finds a strange-looking shelter made out of wood. Isaac insists that the creature is inside the shelter, but Laura drags him away, fearing he is losing his mind. That same night, Bella slips out of the house to enter the shelter and is killed by the creature. After finding her dead body with help from Robert, Laura starts suspecting that Isaac might have killed the canine companion with a missing knife from her collection. She is alarmed after seeing Isaac talking with the creature through his bedroom vent a few days later. Their rift grows even wider after Robert is injured in one of Isaac’s excursions into the woods.
Daddy’s Head Ending: How Does Laura Save Isaac?
After the creature begins visiting Laura and Isaac’s abode on a daily basis, it begins to grow more attached to the latter. It is likely that it views Isaac as an easily influenced target owing to his age and the trauma he has just suffered by losing his father. As such, it attempts to convince Isaac to believe his father is still alive by mimicking the dead man’s face. The more doubt it seeds within Isaac, the more distant he grows from his stepmother, with whom he has an estranged relationship anyway. It all comes to a head after Robert gets injured while running away in a terrified state from the creature in the woods. After his grave injury, Laura is forced into giving up custody over Isaac, revealing this to him in an honest conversation. However, the same night, the creature climbs into Isaac’s bed while he is sleeping.
Laura wakes up in the middle of the night, sensing something is awry. Despite her earlier fallout with Isaac, she shows her maternal instincts by being alert to any danger around him. As soon as she opens Isaac’s bedroom door, she sees the creature perching over Isaac. It tries to pounce on her, but she closes the door before it can get to her. However, her head is injured in the process. When Isaac sees the creature staring at him from the ceiling, he screams for help, which causes Laura to gather herself and rush to his aid. She embraces Isaac and waits for the creature to circle towards them. Armed with the knife that went missing earlier, Laura jumps on the creature and stabs it mercilessly, keeping it away from Isaac and her. After sustaining several critical blows, it scampers out of the bedroom and returns to the forest.
Subsequently, Laura and Isaac’s nightmare comes to an end after the showdown with the monster. After James’ death, the stepmother and son go through a series of emotional and mental turmoil, which is all related to their grief. In many ways, the creature personifies all their trauma in an external sense. Overcoming its attacks means that they have managed to surmount a great obstacle facing their relationship and closing the gap between them. More than that, Laura’s heroics at the end showcase that deep down, she cares for Isaac and does not want to let him go just yet. Even for Isaac, it is a moment of revelation as he realizes how the creature has duped him into believing his father is still alive. Instead, he moves past his denial phase, which would have been impossible without Laura helping him.
What Happens to the Creature?
After the fight with the monster, the story takes a leap through time as an older Isaac sits in front of his bedroom vent and stares into it expectantly. Subsequently, he heads into the woods in search of the monster’s shelter. Armed with the flashlight, Isaac enters the disturbing abode and sees a torn picture of him and his father in the creature’s lair. He also comes across a skeleton with the front of the skull missing. The boy deduces that it must be the remains of the creature as its primary ability was how it morphed its facial features to match someone else’s. Naturally, the front portion of its skull would be hollow. Although it is unclear when or how it died, Laura’s vicious attack on it might have played a pivotal role in its death. Thus, Isaac realizes that the creature is no longer alive to haunt him.
Do Isaac and Laura Reconcile Their Differences? Does He Call Her Mom?
‘Daddy’s Head’ ends with Isaac leaving the monster’s lair to visit a house in the town. He enters a bedroom and asks if his mother is awake. His mother turns out to be Laura, who seems to have taken up the responsibility of raising Isaac. The revelation proves that their relationship matured and healed over the years, and Isaac grew even to call her his mother. Despite the challenges they faced after James’ death, they seem to have pulled together somehow and accepted each other as mother and son. It makes sense, as the final fight with the creature must have opened Isaac’s eyes to Laura’s selflessness in protecting him. She acted just as his biological mother would have in a grave scenario, proving that he is not as alone as he thought initially. The enemy was never her, even if it was easier to deal with his pain by thinking so.
The seamless development in their relationship also proves that Laura has grown on a character level. She stated several times during the narrative that she is unwilling to be a mother. However, when Isaac needed her the most, she showed no hesitation in jumping to his rescue, even if it might cost her life in the process. Additionally, the pair might have understood that their various arguments and fallout during the primary narrative timeline were all exacerbated by the extraordinary scenario they were engulfed in. The creature made it tough for them to concentrate on getting past their grief and only made the situation even more difficult to bear. The fact that they made it through at all is a testament to the strength in their relationship, which is happily persisting into the future.
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