Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Elijah Wood, Stephen McHattie, Martin Donovan, Michael Smiley, Garfield Wilson
Intro:
... a film well worth seeing, for freaks, the freak adjacent and for fans of films unafraid to take some risks and blow the bloody doors off.
You’ve got to hand it to Elijah Wood, the bloke really loves being involved with weird-as-shit genre films. After playing Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), he could have so easily taken the safe route, and become a family friendly household name. Instead, Wood opted for major roles in films like the deeply underrated Maniac remake (2012), Grand Piano (2013) and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017), not to mention producing a slew of bizarre, violent flicks like The Greasy Strangler (2016), Mandy (2017) and Daniel Isn’t Real (2019). Point is, if Elijah Wood has lent his acting or behind-the-scenes talent to a genre project, there’s a better-than-average chance it’s well worth a look. And Come to Daddy is certainly no exception.
Come to Daddy tells the story of affable sad sack Norval Greenwood (Elijah Wood), who has received a letter from his estranged father, asking Norval to come and visit him. With a mixture of trepidation and confusion, Norval heads to a spectacular but secluded house overlooking a lake and meets his bizarre, oddly hostile daddy, played to malevolent perfection by Stephen McHattie. Except, as their time together becomes increasingly bizarre, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems and Come to Daddy takes a dramatic left turn into bizarre and twisted bullfuckery, which would be a deadset crime to spoil, but needless to say – shit gets weird, friends.
New Zealand director Ant Timpson [genre film tastemaker, and producer of Turbo Kid, The ABCs of Death, The Greasy Strangler], making his feature film debut at the tender age of 53, brings what is clearly a lifetime of genre film enthusiasm to Come to Daddy and the result is a bizarre belter of a flick. Buoyed by a typically excellent performance from Elijah Wood (whose haircut alone is worth the price of admission) and stunning support from McHattie, Martin Donovan and Michael Smiley, Come to Daddy is the kind of movie best experienced knowing as little as possible beforehand. But make no mistake, this is a film well worth seeing, for freaks, the freak adjacent and for fans of films unafraid to take some risks and blow the bloody doors off.
