Body horror meets the supernatural in the latest from the Adams Family (John Adams, Toby Poser, and daughters, Zelda and Lulu Adams). It’s no secret that this family is passionate about horror stories and filmmaking, and Mother of Flies is proof of that.
Horror You Can Feel
After her cancer returns, Mickey (Zelda Adams) has six months left to live. Along with her father, who is skeptical, she contacts a spiritual healer, Solveig (Toby Poser). Holding on to any hope that there is healing on the other side, the two of them spend three days in a wooded retreat with Solveig.
The Adamses are experts at crafting an atmosphere that breathes dread. We can feel that there is something lurking as they ease us into the story, using imagery and the texture of the setting to draw us in. The visual storytelling is heightened by the sound design: buzzing flies, chirping crickets, and blowing of the wind. It all comes together to set you inside the horror that surrounds these characters.
The Circle of Life
As someone who loves mythology and folk horror, this story is dripping in all of the elements I crave. Symbols, visions, unsaid rules are all on display, though the script doesn’t commit to explaining it all. Ambiguity can work in a film like this, but here it feels like the filmmakers were holding back where we needed more. Still, Mother of Flies delivers an ambitious, visceral, and haunting tale.
Fueled by Zelda Adams’ performance as Mickey, what unravels is an unsettling exploration of life and death. She is in survival mode, holding on to life even though her body is not on the same page. Over three days, Mickey and Solveig practice a sort of ritualist worship that is slow and methodical. It’s a fantastical slow burn, sure, but the payoff is worth it.
The Adams Family once again have delivered an otherworldly folktale with witches, transformation and grief at its center. It’s about these big conversations that we all try to avoid. Mother of Flies plays with those feelings we usually keep inside and brings them to the forefront. As someone with aging parents, one of which is also battling cancer, this film taps on that emotional lever, a mirror of my own life. But they are good about that, making the horror real, something that starts to live with you (or may be already living with you).
