September 24, 2024
Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) lived in an isolated old cabin in the woods with their protective Momma (Halle Berry). They believed that they were the only survivors of an apocalypse, so they had to keep themselves safe from an unseen being she called the Evil. She made sure that the three of them were always connected to each other with rope. While Samuel steadfastly believed his mother, Nolan began to have doubts.
The isolating situation that trapped Momma and her boys in their house started four years ago. It seems that the filmmakers meant to create a scenario that will resonate with an audience who just emerged from a crippling pandemic with quarantine precautions meant to keep households apart from each other. This film delivered an all-too-familiar atmosphere of suffocating anxiety we all shared recently, given our common experience as a planet.
The far-reaching influence of a mother on her sons is also given much emphasis in this film. As children, our mother is our very first teacher. Everything our mother said was gospel truth to us as we were growing up. We would never dream about going against our mother's lessons and her wishes. Here, the two boys believed all the stories their mother told and all the rituals their mother taught them to do. At least, until critical thinking eventually sank in.
When I started to watch this movie, it gave me the apocalyptic vibe of "Bird Box" (2018) where a mother was trying her best to keep her children safe from the monsters that threatened to kill them all. It briefly became a horror thriller, as the music turned creepy and a grotesque monster was made show its face. Later, it settled into a tense and stressful psychological thriller, when a character's deteriorating mental health became more and more apparent.
Halle Berry can really portray these women in harrowing situations very well, and the two child actors who play her sons also step up to an impressive level of acting performance. Director Alexandre Aja allowed the story to twist around itself, but never really revealed the real score in the end, which can be interesting, but also quite frustrating. Anyhow, the scene most viewers remember surely had more people looking away than those with a human victim. 6/10
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