Review: "Daisy" (2024)

The new creature feature from Michael Rodriguez is hitting the festival scene. Daisy is about Felix, a veteran soldier turned mechanic who has a unique companion that he brought back from the middle east. Unfortunately, this companion has a taste for human flesh. We watch as the mechanic helps satiate this craving by using the unsuspecting folks passing through town. When two individuals come looking for a missing person, things get complicated for the man who is helping his demonic companion while also dealing with his own inner demons.

Daisy is a bloody, entertaining, and at times disturbing monster film that makes the most of the budget. The design of Daisy is adorably grotesque. I loved the look of the character and how feral, yet emotional, the creature could be. Jamie Krivobok is fantastic as Daisy and I really dug the character, even when Daisy was munching on her victims. Sparkle Soojian shows up at the beginning of the film playing Ginger, a thoroughly dislikable person, and steals the scenes she is in. Felix is played with slimy goodness by Michael Wainwright. You can almost feel sympathy for the trauma he went through. If it wasn’t for the Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre hitchhiker vibe, he could be likable. I did enjoy how over the top scuzzy he played the part. The rest of the cast put in decent performances and they sold the scariness of Daisy well.

I did not expect the subject of PTSD and survivor guilt to show up in a creature feature but it is there in the Felix character. While it does go heavy into these subjects, you can tell it is part of what motivates Felix to do what he does. It was a nice twist to a classic story, giving a layer to our killer besides just someone siccing their animal on people they don’t like. The rural town setting was very fitting to help explain how Felix was able to cover up Daisy’s violent dinners. The practical effects looked great from the blood spurting from Daisy’s victims to the design of Daisy herself. Make-up effects looked amazing on the title character, especially for the head prosthetic. The only thing that I wish had been a bit better designed were the wings, but that is minor. Rodriguez was working on a limited budget and took care to use the money in the right places.

Daisy is a fun indie monster movie that I think fans of the genre will enjoy. The cast is into it and that helps keep the audience into it. While there are some noticeable small budget aesthetics, it makes up for it with the story and characters. If you are a fan of Michael Rodriguez’s other works then you are sure to enjoy this one. Casual indie film watchers will also find a lot to enjoy. Daisy is making a festival run but keep an eye out for when it hits V.O.D.