Come to Daddy Blu Ray Review (Lionsgate)
Come to Daddy is a 2019 horror comedy film produced & directed by Ant Timpson (Crab Boy & The ABCs of Death 1/2). It was written & produced by Toby Harvard (The Greasy Strangler, ABCs of Death 2, & Privado). It was produced by Daniel Bekerman (The Witch, The Invisible Man, Ready or Not, Xx, Anon, & The Prodigy). Norval Greenwood (played by: Elijah Wood from Maniac, The Lord of the Rings franchise, The Good Son, & Sin City), a privileged musician who still lives with his mother in a Beverly Hills mansion where he receives a letter from his estranged father asking him to come & visit him. Norval, who has not seen his father since he was five years old decides to make the trip to a secluded cabin overlooking a lake in Oregon. His father Brian (played by: Stephen McHattie from Watchmen, Rabid, Death Wish, & Shoot ‘Em Up) is initially welcoming to him but soon begins to display aggressive tendencies. He starts to taunt & insult Norval after catching him in a lie.
He takes it to the next level by threatening him with physical violence. All this comes to a head one afternoon when Brian attacks Norval with a meat cleaver. Brian has a heart attack & immediately dies in front of his son. Due to a lack of space at the local morgue, Norval is forced by Gladys (played by: Madeleine Sami from Perfect Strangers, Under the Moutain, Boy, & Slow West) to keep his father’s body in the cabin with him after having it embalmed. He attempts to stay in the house long enough for his mother to come & get him but keeps hearing loud sounds from somewhere beneath the house. After spending some time alone, Norval realizes nothing is what it seems & he can’t really trust anyone. He runs into a variety of shady characters including Jethro (played by: Michael Smiley from Kill List, Free Fire, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, & The Nun), Dandy (played by: Simon Chin from Birth of the Dragon, Outcast, Evil Feed, & Snowpiercer), & an unknown man (played by: Martin Donovan from Insomnia, Inherent Vice, Ant-Man, & Silent Hill: Revelation). Will he survive trying to reconnect with his long lost dad? Or Will he pay for his sins while trapped in that house????
Have you ever imagined what a horror film directed by the Coen brothers would be like? I think it would be very close to Come to Daddy. It has a great balance of violence & humor in it. It has plenty of hilarious moments & all the characters are larger than life here. The script is very creative & it keeps you on your toes especially when the twists start happening. Almost everyone is unlikable & full of shit in Come to Daddy. This is going to be like for what Jaws is to water, you will never want to meet your long lost parent after this. It’s a nice hybrid of horror, comedy, & crime. The tension & suspense is all over the place in this.
It’s really awkward & weird, you get caught up in all this madness. Elijah Wood is great at playing weirdos. For being such a big actor, I love that he does so many independent & strange projects like this. Character actor Stephen McHattie has always been a top notch villain. He goes from the dad excited to see his son after all these years to a cold blooded psychopath quick. Their chemistry kept your eyes glued to the screen because you never knew what was going to happen between those two. The small supporting cast that included Michael Smiley, Martin Donovan, & a few others boosted the quality of everything here. Smiley was a total scumbag & Donovan was beyond mysterious. This was so much fun & very entertaining, this what independent films are all about. RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation & special features from Lionsgate! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks fantastic on blu ray. It mainly takes place in one main location but it takes full advantage of his isolation setting here. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds great on this release. All of the dialogue is very clean, all of the chaos is elevated here, & the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. Unfortunately, this disc has no extras besides a few “Trailers”. It also has a slipcover & a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
