Matriarch (2022) offers slow simmering suspense, a sinisterly supernatural twist, and Kate Dickie in frightening form, in this Halloween season horror well worth watching.
Matriarch (2022) Story Synopsis
After an overdose nearly takes her life, Laura Birch escapes from the high-stakes pressure of the advertising world to return to her roots. Accepting an invitation home from her estranged mother, Laura hopes the time away in the secluded English village will help calm the demons raging inside of her. She soon discovers that the locals of the town are all protecting an unspeakably dark secret--a secret that involves not only her mother but her own terrifying destiny as well.
Jemima Rooper is wholly convincing in her role as Laura - a desperately unhappy & overworked,
drug addict whose spiraling sense of hopelessness leads to an unfortunate overdose - a spooky scene in which a mysterious inky substance slowly slivers into her mouth while unconscious.
For the most part, Matriach maintains its early momentum, slowly simmering its sense of suspense in preparation for an explosive finale. Sometimes, its slow-burn style lacks bite, but the film's oppressive atmosphere and ominous tone make for a spooky substitute.
Meanwhile, a chillingly cold and disturbingly detached performance from Kate Dickie delivers shivers, as do a series of freaky supernatural revelations displaying some harrowingly horrific imagery.
Now and then, though, Matriarch cleverly confuses real-world scares with the psychological scars of an abusive upbringing. The mother Laura frighteningly encounters, for instance, eating her baby's face, seems disturbingly metaphorical of the mental wounds she has harbored since childhood.
Offering both short-term scares and longer lingering frights that torment the psyche over time, Matriarch makes for a scary watch for thrill searchers. But equally, its more thought-provoking frights offer an unsettling window into Laura's traumatic past by cleverly conflating demonically supernatural terrors with past psychological afflictions.
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