Come to Daddy

 Come to Daddy is a twisty thriller with a deadpan comedic tone. It's... all right.

 The story follows one Norval Greenwood (Elijah Wood) who gets a summons from his father to a remote cabin in the beautiful American northwest. Seeing as to how he hasn't seen his dad since he was five, the meeting is a bit awkward.
 And dear old dad (Stephen McHattie) doesn't make things easy. The film's at its best here, with both actors expertly playing off each other- Norval's anxieties and full-of-shit-ness against dad's ruthless assholism. Then... well, I'm going to have to spoil an early development, because otherwise this review would be even shorter: an attempted filicide turns into a death by heart attack, and Norval is left in the cabin alone, dealing with the local authorities to take care of his father's corpse.

 Of course there's more - this is all done by the half-hour mark. So weird stuff happens as Norval is stuck at the cabin; Strange sounds coming from below the cabin, figures in the woods, a cheesy ringtone going off at weird hours in the night.

 After a series of twists the guy is fighting for his life against a couple of thugs, most notably a guy who looks and acts like reject from Spinal Tap (Michael Smiley). Things have a decent explanation, and while the mystery lasts it's kind of interesting, but it's hard to avoid the sense that the movie ran out of steam as soon  as McHattie got out of the picture.

 The humor and over-the-top, bloody violence keeps it aloft, somewhat. This is one of those movies that operates at a remove or two from reality, where every character is a container of quirks and off-kilter responses. Some of these work, like local coroner Gladys (Madeleine Sami) - an awkward, oversharing, friendly sort. Others, like a policeman that profiles people by the shapes of their eyes, not so much. There's a few laughs here and there, but not a lot of jokes; It's got more of a barrage of weird situations and bizarre details approach going on, aiming more for absurdity than punchlines. I guess it never got weird enough for me.