Movies to Watch on Father’s Day

By RodneyHatfieldJr for Movies

Since today is Father’s Day, we will be honoring fatherhood. Specifically, Horror Dads. Those nurturing and protective characters, but not always. In any case, this is their holiday, and we’re surely not trying to ignore anyone. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, but especially those dads who let us stay up after midnight to catch horror flicks mom never knew existed.


 Cargo 2017


Martin Freeman plays a “Good Dad” who must traverse Australian bushlands, with his infant daughter, during the zombie apocalypse. There’s even more emotional depth considering stakes, but that’s better left for a first-time watch. Cargo gets a lot right about humanity, parenthood, and selflessness when it comes to bloodlines, while also nailing the mark on zombie cinema. It’s a mixture of indigenous representation and fatherhood’s unrelenting gauntlet of responsibilities, and one of my favorite Netflix Original horror films.


Pumpkinhead 1988


You can hardly blame Lance Henriksen for wanting a little revenge on the kids who killed his son, admittedly by accident, and then fled the scene. Who wouldn’t want to see them pay? But maybe, going to the old witch, Haggis, and asking her to set loose the ultimate evil on them was a step too far! Yes? No? Maybe? Regardless, he’s the kind of dad that goes all in for his kid.


Train To Busan 2016


Enter another “Good Dad”, Yoo Gong. His role in Train To Busan as a divorced father trades workaholic neglect for the warmth of his daughter’s love. Again, there are zombies. Again, there is immediate danger. Yoo Gong’s mission of protecting his child adds more than base-value emotional stakes. We behold one of the most vicious, relentless, and outright exciting modern feats in zombie cinema.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3


Nancy Thompson’s police officer dad John Saxon fits that bill perfectly. Nancy told that man, numerous times exactly what was going on, who if you’ll remember was part of the mob that exacted a little vigilante justice on one Freddy Kreuger once upon a time. Then he spends the rest of the first movie running around trying to arrest a teenager.

Maybe it’s just too hard to look your own dirty deeds in the face. Maybe you just can’t believe something supernatural. Regardless, Lt. Thompson did show up in the third film and reluctantly tried to make up for some of what went down in the first round so we can give him a little credit anyway.


Pet Sematary 1989


You can’t really blame Louis for wanting to keep his family together. He was going through some serious trauma after the death of his little boy, and you have to admit if you knew there was a way to bring a loved one back you might at least consider it.

I mean I would have stopped after I saw what happened when the cat came back. That was a jacked-up cat. Unfortunately, Louis didn’t learn his lesson, and he paid for it dearly.


The Shining 1980


Poor Jack, his mind is warped by ghosts trying to get him to murder his family. Add in trying to overcome alcoholism, with no TV, or radio. I’m not saying I would chase my family throughout the resort with an ax if I was in the same circumstance. But I would think very hard about it. Honestly, can you really blame him? But in his defense, all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
If you want to really veg out on the couch, try the 1997 miniseries. Only 273 minutes.

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