A WOMAN CALLED MOTHER (2025)
Official synopsis
Torn internally between motherhood and womanhood, a single mother gradually turns into something sinister, terrorizing her two children.
Review
Indonesian feature A Woman Called Mother is a chilling supernatural fright-fare offering that features a stunning performance by Artika Sari Devi as Yanti, a woman who sought professional psychological help after abandonment by her husband led to a mental breakdown.
Yanti and her teenaged children, daughter Vira (Aurora Ribero) and younger son Dino (Ali Fikry), move to a rural area where Yanti’s new hair salon suspiciously, in Vira’s thinking, becomes wildly successful quickly, especially considering their location. Dino aspires to be a horror YouTuber and Vira happily serves as his cinematographer, but their rather innocuous video shenanigans are soon replaced by Yanti’s increasingly terrifying behavior.
Director Randolph Zaini infuses A Woman Called Mother with an escalating sense of dread and peril throughout. Devi is a huge part of that element as her character wavers between unhinged and loving, giving an absolutely riveting performance that nails every nuance marvelously. Ribero and Fikry are also excellent in their portrayals of caring children who watch their mother become ever more untrustworthy and dangerous.
A Woman Called Mother is a solid exploration of the psychological pressures on mothers through a horror film lens, and it also certainly delivers in the scare-fare department, including a third act that is absolutely bonkers. Aficionados of occult horror and foreign horror should put this one high on their “need-to-see” lists.
MĀRAMA (2025)
Official synopsis
A Māori gothic revenge horror set in Victorian England, 1859.
Review
New Zealand/United Kingdom coproduction Mārama focuses on Mary (Māori actress Ariāna Osborne), a young Māori woman whose real name is Mārama. She travels to Whitby, England after receiving a letter from a man who promises to tell her the truth behind her family history. On arrival, the wealthy Sir Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens) informs her that the sender has passed away, and telling her that she has few options in England, offers her a position in his stately home as a governess to his young granddaughter Anne (Evelyn Towersey). Cole acquired his wealth as a Pacific Ocean whaler, and his home and land are adorned with Māori mementos that make Mary increasingly uncomfortable. She suffers from nightmares linked to the past, and her terrors worsen as dark Cole family generational secrets are revealed — but so do her strengths.
Mary is no shrinking violet, and Osborne portrays the character in a top-notch performance that allows her to show a wide range of emotions. The supporting players all give first-rate performances, as well. Writer/director Taratoa Stappard’s screenplay has some plot points that will be familiar to seasoned fear-fare fans, but there is plenty of originality on display as well, and he paces the proceedings and reveals wonderfully. Cinematographer Gin Loane captures the beauty of the settings superbly, along with the ugliness that unfolds. An unsettling gothic-horror look at colonialism and an intriguing work that brings Māori voices and culture to the forefront, Mārama is an impressive debut feature at the helm for Stappard that comes highly recommended.
A Woman Called Mother and Marama screen as part of Fantastic Fest, which runs September 18-25, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
