Ambiguous Moms
Horror movies are full of heroic moms (shout out to Diane Freeling) and evil moms (here’s looking at you, Margaret White). The moms here are a bit more ambiguous. Are they doing a bad job, or the best they can in difficult circumstances? Are they even who they say they are?
Goodnight Mommy (2014) d: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Pyewacket (2017) d: Adam MacDonald
Relic (2020) d: Natalie Erika James
The character design in Goodnight Mommy – Mutter’s face covered in plastic surgery bandages – is so creepy no wonder her kids distrust her. Twins Elias and Lukas begin to suspect something is wrong with their mother after she returns from the hospital. It’s psychologically twisty and frightening the whole way through (side note, the trailer’s one of the scariest I’ve seen).
I’m surprised that Pyewacket is still relatively unknown, because it is excellent. It’s the story of a mother and daughter dealing with the grief of losing their husband/father respectively, and – spoiler alert – it’s not going well.
Relic is a heavy movie that deals with the evolving relationship between three generations of women. It weaves together the dread of supernatural evil with the heartbreak that often accompanies aging. I recommend skipping the trailer, just dive right in.