Mom

It’s an idyllic scene that’s common in many films and not just the creepy and spooky ones. A young couple arriving home with their newborn, joyful in readiness for the next chapter of their lives.

However its not long before mum Meredith (Emily Hampshire) is starting to feel what could be postpartum blues over baby Alex. Father Jared (François Arnaud) is sympathetic but begins to lose patience so they seek professional and family help. Though the timelines get a little mixed here overall there’s no damage to the feel of the film.

As time goes on Meredith’s behaviour becomes more extreme with nightmares and seeing Alex as a young boy (Christian Convery) and talking to him. Is she hallucinating or is there something rotten in the house after her?

An increasing air of expectation builds around the couple and the house as Meredith’s condition worsens her behaviour now noticed by her sister Katherine (Erika Rosenbaum). It’s no spoiler to say that an incident divides the family only to trigger another set of complications.

With slowburn and almost unrelenting dread director Adam O’Brien and co-writers Philip Kain-Hajdu and Albert I Melamed develop a film that should have the viewer on the edge for the duration of the film.

The crisp, clean visuals help to change the house from a welcoming family home into one that becomes totally inhospitable. At times the colour is so drained as to appear black and white. There is no fresh territory being explored here genre wise, just that it is brilliantly done.

The performances are excellent with Hampshire in a difficult role that could have been melodramatic yet her mental collapse and attempts to amend, however pathetic, generate great sympathy. There isn’t so much of that for Arnaud though his attitude as the film goes on becomes slightly more understandable.
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The tensions between them and the desire to help Meredith are entirely believable. Even after everything seems to have fallen apart there’s still a lot of goodwill and longing to her, as in a dinner party sequence late in the film that is heartbreaking.

Mom received its world premiere at Glasgow FrightFest 2024.