Father of Flies (2021) Review

In a saturated genre, originality can be tough. From director Ben Charles Edwards, Father of Flies is a clever tale that manages to feel innovative whilst paying homage to some classic horror that it has drawn inspiration from.

The story opens to what should be a typical family home. The children watch cartoons and there’s an unspoken tension in the air, hinting at an underlying disconnect in the family. There is something lurking beneath the surface of the picture perfect American family and the film explores this dynamic as things progress.

We learn that the Stepford-esque woman isn’t mother, rather dad’s new partner, and the strain of this new figure within the family is palpable. Whilst any child is bound to feel a degree of animosity to an unfamiliar maternal; presence in their lives, the documentary that buzzes in the background centres on the parasitic nature of the cuckoo – and we begin to wonder if there is more to their distaste for this uncanny woman who is ostentatiously British and spends hours behind a mysterious masked device.

The strange stepmother is not the only curious character, as the film introduces the eccentric, elderly neighbour who, whilst friendly, seems privy to something as yet unknown.

There is difficulty fostering fear when so much has been done before, yet Father of Flies has some genuinely creepy moments that took me by surprise, along with some disturbing imagery that cultivates a growing sense of unease.

Nothing is quite what it seems with Father of Flies and the audience experiences the feature from the innocent viewpoint of a child. The emotional toll of grief is tangible and clouds reality, as the viewer ultimately ends up discounting what is starting them in the face.

As the film builds to its conclusion things start to feel a little disjointed. Additional elements are added that frankly feel a bit unnecessary and it begins to feel like the feature is trying to shoehorn in too much, where it would have been stronger remaining understated. From the potentially parasitic Stepford wife to the traces of the supernatural, things feel like different films stitched together to create a confused creature that can’t quite commit to one path.

Father of Flies is an ambitious feature that perhaps detracts by trying to do too much, but is still an enjoyable narrative with an emotional undercurrent that is well worth a watch.

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