Dad’s Dead
Director: Christopher Schier
Writer: David Schalko
Cast: Andreas Patton, Simona Sbaffi, Axelle Krieger-Ferrari, Peter Pertusini, Laurence Rupp
Seen on: 14.12.2025

Plot:
Hannes Brahms (Andreas Patton) sets out to buy a new TV with his daughter Maria (Axelle Krieger-Ferrari) while his wife Claudia (Simona Sbaffi) is working. While he talks to the store clerk at the electronics store, Maria suddenly disappears, leaving Hannes frantic to find her.

Dad’s Dead is apparently and obviously a marketing film for a big electronics chain here in Austria, but it is also a surprisingly decent horror short, albeit one with a predictable ending. Still, had I known going on that I was about to watch an ad, I probably wouldn’t have.

Dad’s Dead has a runtime of about 40 minutes, easily making it the longest commercial I ever watched. And it was planned as a commercial from the get-go (not, say, a creative way of financing a film). It is not subtle about that either, with most of the story set at a store from the electronics chain, casually showing off their products and just really hammering home brand awareness. There are moments that the film is actually funny with it, which is to their credit.

The script is generally pretty strong, although it doesn’t deviate too much from tried and tested horror tropes. Equally tried and tested is the relationship dynamic between Hannes and Claudia that is definitely not without sexism. Neither is the storyline about a father setting out on his own to save his daughter.

There is also some implausibility regarding the computer game mentioned in the film (a game self-referentially called Dad’s Dead) and that is apparently marketed to elementary school kids like Maria. It was interesting to hear AI mentioned in this context, though, now 20 years later when it has poisoned almost everything. The way it works here seems a lot more interesting.

The cast is good – most of them are known names in the Austrian cinematic landscape which was pretty nice. But does all of that warrant watching a 20 year old commercial? I am not sure. Still, I have to admit I have seen way worse things.

Summarizing: an ad, but a mostly good one