Mother of Flies is a stylish occult horror film that was completely made by a single family. Directed by John Adams and Zelda Adams, with Toby Poser in one of the leading roles, this family seems like a total powerhouse of creatives and filmmakers. If you don’t consider the talent it would take to work with your own family on a project like this, this film still delivers an truly atmospheric and disturbing look at a young woman, who, after being given six months to live due to a cancerous tumor, decides to embark on a quest to seek a witch in the woods, who apparently offers healing.
Even though this film can be intense and gory, there’s still a large portion of the film that is quiet and atmospheric, which really adds to the overall experience. Even when this film gets intense with gore, it ties in the gruesome realities that come with illnesses. A big example of this would be the film’s stab at the pain of chemotherapy, as it takes this and blends it with heavily surreal and obscene imagery to really show how fragile the human body is to these. There’s a part where the witch, or Solveig, mentions how much of a poison and a pain chemotherapy is on the body, and how many patients mindlessly undergo pain in expectation of better results. The character uses this as a way let us fully understand the depth of what is being done in this film. This young girl is letting this witch perform these disturbing and sometimes brutal rituals on her body in hopes of staying alive longer, alluding to faith-based healing.
Using this imagery mixed with the Adams Family’s truly amazing creative minds, this horror film is unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is extremely original, and the performances seen here, specifically by Zelda Adams, are tender and deep looks at a young adult who has very little time left, and how she wants to keep fighting for as much time as she can get. Despite that, the film handles death very intelligently. It’s used as a new beginning after life, and something not be feared by the living.
I simply could not get enough of this film. It’s probably one of the most elegant horror films I’ve seen, but yet, it’s not afraid to become one of the most brutal and gory ones I’ve seen, either, and I really praise that. This film also proves that independent horror cinema can be just as, or even more, powerful than blockbuster horror. The Adams Family offers yet another outstandingly creative film that is sure to have its audience deeply disturbed and filled with great excitement to see what these filmmakers will do next.
Mother of Flies is now available to stream on Shudder.
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