Mother of Flies – Strong Ideas, Weak Performances

Directors: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser

Country of origin: United States

Spoiler status: Light spoilers

Sub-genre: Folk and Ritual Horror

Poster image courtesy of Shudder.

Mother of Flies is a visually stunning, moody, and surprisingly quiet movie. At first glance, it appears to explore the balance between life and death, acceptance and faith that one will somehow pull through. The filmmakers paid careful attention to these ideas and rendered them in a somewhat peculiar way. Faith portrayed as an otherworldly force with healing powers is nothing new in cinema, but Mother of Flies turns it into something dark and refreshing. The story itself has a lot of potential. A sick young woman travels to a healer with her father, but every cure has its price. Sadly, the uneven performance of the cast manages to flatten the plot. Most of the dialogue lacks basic emotional intelligence, and the pacing issues disrupt the story's momentum. It seems that, with a different cast, this could have been an amazing movie.

Nonetheless, if you don't mind a slow-paced film where you can bask in beautiful scenery, even at the cost of inconsistent acting, Mother of Flies may be just for you.

A Deep Dive Into The Dark

When it comes to folk and ritual horror, people expect a lot of visual and auditory cues, as well as silence to set the mood. This Shudder Original didn't miss any of those and managed to set the mood right from the start. A cryptic figure in the light of the street lamp, hidden meanings in vision-like dreams, and the life-like imagery of decay all helped to pique interest. But what really brought it together was the lack of music from the point when Mickey and Jake, the main characters, arrived in the woods.

Moviemakers often rely on sound and music to set the tone, when in reality, silence is more unsettling. In real life, the woods don't have a soundtrack; all you can hear is birds, bugs, and critters, which lead nicely into the visual cues of the woods. The imagery of decaying animal carcasses festering with insects was deliberately spread out throughout the movie, not to induce nausea but to make a point. Death is part of life, and should be accepted as such. When the directors put all these elements together, they created a dread-inducing atmosphere. Unfortunately, this feeling of dread didn't really take hold because every time it started creeping into the subconscious, the actors' substandard performance deflated the mood. But that's only one of the few reasons the attention keeps slipping from the dread.

Screenshot from Mother of Flies (2025), directed by John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser

Another thing that has to be mentioned here is the oversaturation in certain scenes. Whether because of faulty equipment or human error, in some shots, the color scheme was ruined by oversaturation. Once again, the focus on the darker side of the story was breaking, and every time it happened, the feeling of irritation seemed worse. When a person sits down to watch a horror movie, they expect it to pull them into its twisted world, and they want to stay there until the credits roll. When that twisted world starts cracking because of certain mistakes, light starts seeping in, and the movie magic is ruined. The directors should have paid more attention to this, but perhaps the fact that they were also cast as the main characters spread their skills too thin. Be that as it may, their writing skills still deserve praise.

The only part that could not be faulted was the writing. The story of a sick young woman looking for a miracle is nothing if not familiar to viewers. We've seen it done a million times, but the dark twist the Adams family put on it was, honestly, refreshing. The way they subliminally led the attention of the audience from one idea to another was quite impressive. From healer, to witch, to ghost, to then something else entirely, the story of Solveig is somewhat of a rollercoaster. Conceptually speaking, her character was the strongest and carried the story in ways the other two couldn't. She alone introduced intrigue, confusion, mystery, and in more than one instance, unsettling feelings. And even though she's the strongest character in the story, another character also had some strong ideas to carry.

Mickey, the young woman battling cancer, explored the idea of faith and prayer. Are those two things the same? Not necessarily. One needs to have faith to pray, but on the other hand, faith doesn't come from prayer alone. Her decision to have blind faith in Solveig and her ways of healing came from guilt. Once she revealed this about herself, the story turned darker. The idea of faith was twisted into something dark and torturous, which led to some truly eerie scenes at times. But was this enough to tickle the depths of the viewer's minds?

The horror of the story is silent and subtle, the kind that will creep up on you from the depths of your subconscious. The quiet of the woods switches between uncanny and calming, and the fact that it happens in such a subtle way makes it perfect. The viewers don't have to worry about unnecessary jump scares; there are only two minor ones throughout the movie, and they are perfectly placed to add to the story, rather than take from it. This works very well for the folk and ritual horror genre, where atmosphere is usually above cheap scare tactics. It's a pity this eerie mood couldn't stay unbroken from start to finish.

Final Verdict

Mother of Flies is a rough gem. It has many positives, but unfortunately, they are canceled out by the few negatives. The writers built up a beautifully haunting story about blind faith, resilience, and the dark that lurks underneath it all, but the vivid imagery deflates thanks to the unsatisfactory delivery of the actors.

With all that said, audiences could still enjoy this movie if they are looking for a low-budget indie horror. Once they manage to look past the subpar acting and some occasional oversaturation, the story can be quite enjoyable if one has enough focus to pay attention to its slow pace.

Rating: 🕯️🕯️

It's a one-and-done, which means it's a 2/5. The initial rating was supposed to be 0/5, but after thoughtful consideration, I realized the story and the visuals don't deserve such a low ranking. It's obvious that a lot of love was put into this project, so that alone deserves at least some commendation.

If you're interested in a sneak peek, check out the trailer below: