David Lowery’s Mother Mary just hit theaters this weekend, but is it horror enough for you to go drive to the theater and spend your hard-earned money on? Let’s get into it.
In the most basic sense, the story of this movie is about a pop star (Anne Hathaway) who is trying to launch her comeback. It is maybe the most important performance of her career, but she doesn’t have the right outfit for the show. She believes she has just recorded the best song she’s ever written, maybe the best song ever written, but the costume that her team has put together for her just doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like her.
“…if you’re a fan of the Suspiria remake or Neon Demon, you might be in the right frame of mind for Mother Mary.”
In hopes of getting the help she needs, and find the perfect dress in time for the performance, she travels across the ocean to see an estranged friend (played by Michaela Coel) who was at one time her sole costume designer, and after a messy falling out, has become one of the most important names in fashion. They were once close creative partners, but their relationship has been fractured and neither has spoken to the other in several years.
The movie takes place over three days where they reconnect and exercise the demons of their relationship. It is a lot more dialogue than you would expect in your average horror movie but I think if you’re a fan of something like the Suspiria remake or Neon Demon, you might be in the right frame of mind for a movie like Mother Mary.
Largely, it is just two people sitting in a room but the dialogue is very good. And sure, there are plenty of incredible sequences in the movie that have great spooky visuals, but if you’re going into this expecting like an Exorcist style story, then you are coming at the movie all wrong. If you show up expecting a rich character study that has some interesting elements and some hidden genre components, I think you might be primed to like it a little bit more.
That said, Mother Mary is not exactly my cup of tea, or what I’m really looking for when I go out to the movies, but I did enjoy it. I thought it was really well made but it’s going to be a hard movie to rewatch. Some of my favorite movies are hard movies to rewatch but this one in particular, didn’t exactly have all of the horror elements that I was hoping for despite two great performances from Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.
“…didn’t exactly have all of the horror elements that I was hoping for despite two great performances from Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.”
David Lowery’s previous films include A Ghost Story (2017) and The Green Knight (2023). Those are both pretty artsy movies, so that might be enough of a hint as to what you’re getting in for when you sit down to watch this new picture. If you like philosophical metaphors, and super pretentious biting dialogue that feels like a horror-tinged Shakespeare play, go check out Mother Mary. If you think that’s not your speed, then maybe wait for streaming. But, a spooky movie nonetheless, and a really well written screenplay.
You can hear our full thoughts on Mother Mary on this week’s edition of the Nightmare on Film Street podcast. But we want to hear from you! Let us know what YOU thought of David Lowery’s Mother Mary over in the NOFS Discord. Join ussssss
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