31 Days of Halloween: Come to Daddy

 2019, Ant Timpson (producer Housebound, Turbo Kid) -- download

So, New Zealand producer/director doing a movie set in the US, but shot (and obviously) in BC. This is becoming a rather familiar choice, isn't it? I'm sorry, its not like there is a venn diagram of New Zealand, America and BC, but I meant more of the "little from column A, little from column B..." concept of making movies these days.

So, yeah, Norval (what a name; Elijah Wood, Sin City) comes to a beach house in the middle of nowhere, a perfectly splendid woodsy architecture novel that doesn't even have a stairway leading up to its precipitous doorway. And Daddy Dearest (exceedingly vampiric looking Stephen McHattie, Pontypool) answers the door. Apparently he sent Norval a letter inviting them to reconcile after the abandonment some 30 years prior. But DD is a dick, in the highest degree. He won't tell Norval why he actually invited him, nor is it the warmest reunion. And that it ends with an attempted murder and subsequent coronary, is of no surprise. That the small town coroner embalms DD and gives him back to Norval is rather an eyebrow riser. And while Norval gets to deal with the death of his long lost father, and the dead body nearby, he begins hearing clanging and banging and scraping and other sounds from the cellar that does seem to exist.

That is the horror, as we begin to unravel what this movie could actually be about. Was DD a psycho? Is he now a ghost? Is Norval insane, a psycho himself, because you can make tons of assumptions based on his uber-hipster faux artiste look (seriously, it's a hideous look). And then the reveal...

The movie instantly shifts gears from mystery and perhaps horror to schlocky black comedy, as its revealed the noise is not a ghost or monster, but actual Long Lost Daddy (Martin Donovan, Ant-Man) who was chained up by his criminal ex-buddies, after they finally tracked him down. You see, 30 years ago, when he abandoned Norval and his mom, his criminal buddies had done a big kidnap job, and LLD absconded with all the money. But they found him, and have been torturing him, and DD was just one of the sociopathic criminals pretending at being DD. Now he's dead and LLD needs help escaping. Alas, there are more criminal ex-buddies.

Holy fucking fuck, the movie somersaults from uncomfortable situations to zany murder in an instant, initiating more "WTF am I watching" from me, which may end up being the theme to 2020's 31 Days. Again, its 2020 so are we surprised? Norval seems to no so much as revel in what LLD has gotten him into, but finds himself truly, really something to live for, as he had been barely hanging on before. Wood is wonderful, Donovan even more so, and the farcical nature of all the killing is worth a chuckle or two, but again, WTF did I just watch.

P.S. How many "glasses of scotch" movie poster is that this year? Three?