Father of Flies (2021) – Film Review
Director: Ben Charles Edwards
Cast: Camilla Rutherford, Sandra Andreis, Davi Santos
Certificate: TBC
By @Roger Crow
Savouring horror movies, or any film genre, is a little like wine tasting. With this creepy new bouquet, I get aromas of Halloween, Donnie Darko and top notes of Hans Zimmer’s foghorn score for Shutter Island. There’s also a whiff of Eyes Without a Face thanks to a creepy beauty mask, and so many other throwbacks to other films.
That’s the thing about making suspense thrillers, chillers, whatever you want to call them: certain rules are there to be exploited, whether it’s fear of clowns or things under the bed.
“Terrific touches”
It helps if the whole thing looks remote and wintry, where help might be a long time coming, and with diminished lighting, all the better, though don’t get me started on poor lighting in horror films and TV dramas. That said there are some terrific touches here; a gag with a selfie and a closet is hugely effective, as is the under-the-bed routine we’ve seen done so many times before.
Father of Flies centres on a vulnerable young boy who finds his mother pushed out of the family home by a strange new woman. He must confront the terrifying supernatural forces that seem to move in with her.
Okay, there might be echoes of Poltergeist and The Ring (TV static isn’t that scary despite what film makers tell us).
“Lingers in the mind”
However, there are some wonderfully haunting images, and if you’re looking for something to make your Halloween go with a bang, this ticks that box admirably.
That finale lingers in the mind long after the credits have rolled, though the flashing lights might leave some a tad irritated.
On the strength of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben Charles Edwards was asked to reboot the Poltergeist series, or just given a massive budget to craft more spine-tingling yarns.
