Mother, May I?

Emmett (Kyle Gallner) inherits the family home from his estranged late mother. He and his girlfriend Anya (Holland Roden) head off to the remote extensive home to prepare for a quick sale. They have an usual relationship which gets stranger when she seems to take on the personality of his mother.

The writer/director is Laurence Vannicelli. I don't know anything about him or his work. I do like the tone and the simmering tension of this movie. Most of all, I love these two actors. I want this to be great. At last, it simmers, but it never cooks. There is a way to get there, but the story takes a less compelling turn. The ending is somewhat poetic, but has no intensity. This is marginal.

This is another one of those movies that has nothing seriously wrong with it beyond being a 100-minute movie with about 20 minutes of script, tops. Kyle Gellner is a very good actor who singlehandedly achieves some moments of real interest; Chris Mulkey is always a welcome presence, although wasted in a nondescript role. I wasn't familiar with the female lead, and she's decent enough. But the film makes her "possessed" by the male lead's dead mother (or is she really....???) too fast, too soon, and as written/played that character is a trite Mommy Dearest stereotype of haughty, controlling divahood.

There's no real plot, just a premise, and not enough psychological or directorial complexity to make the central ambiguity (is this a supernatural situation, or is the girlfriend just role-playing as part of her "therapy"?) at all interesting once we've grasped it. This is also one of those movies where you wait and wait, hoping that something will finally "happen"...and then it just ends. Pffft. Your time has been wasted, and that of the cast, though this very thin material is handled competently enough.

But should it have been handled at all? Not without extensive rewrites first. This director needs a screenwriting collaborator next time out. He's not a talented enough stylist to make something substantial out of almost nothing.

Mother, May I, or paraphrasing, Mother, Should I give this a go?

I think so yes, first of all, for our new male lead horror actor, Kyle Gallner, emphasis on male. A lot of new scream queens lately, which of course is a good thing, seeing people embracing this genre and becoming a symbol of it. But we do lack on the male part, we still rely heavily on Tony Todd, Lance Henrikssen, Robert Englund and so on.

But honestly if you remove Mr. Kyle from the equation, I have to say, Mother, May I is overall a little bland. I won't call it generic, it just doesn't offer as much as it promises, yet it does manage to hit some soft spots, just without a real echo to them.

So for a die hard horror fan, yes, for a one time view, this movie should be on your list, with the clarification that it is a psychological war here, with a little bit of mystery, but no horror, or tension or scares.

If this is what you're looking for, you might actually be pleasantly surprised, I hope. A movie in the type of Goodnight Mommy, The Lodge, or It Comes At Night.

Definitely no The Ritual sadly.

So all in all, another piece of the horror puzzle has been found, take it or leave it.

Cheers!

In this movie, we follow a couple, Emmett (Kyle Gallner) and Anya (Holland Roden), as they visit Emmett's recently deceased mother's home. Soon, Anya begins to behave in a way eerily similar to Emmett's mother, who had abandoned him when he was a child, leading to a strained relationship. They originally came to the house to meet with a realtor and sell it, but with Anya's increasingly strange behavior, they now have something much more unsettling to deal with.

The premise had the potential to make for a decent movie, but the execution was dull and uninspired. The film focuses heavily on its characters, and both leads deliver solid performances. Kyle Gallner's involvement convinced me to watch this, as he is the male equivalent of a modern Scream Queen and usually chooses interesting roles. However, not even he could make this movie more engaging.

Labeled as a psychological horror, the film incorporates some psychological elements, but there is little to no actual horror. Instead, it consists mostly of dull conversations that escalate into arguments, leaving many unanswered questions. Even the final conclusion fails to captivate, making the 99-minute runtime feel like a waste. [3,8/10]

If you're looking to fashion a double feature, you could definitely pair this film with Run Rabbit Run.

Though, this film is neither as creepy, or well done as that film is.

One thing is for sure...they definitely share some thematic similarities.

With the wife taking on the characteristics of her husband's dead mother here; where the daughter takes on characteristics of her dead sister there.

And both focusing on the psychological toll it takes on the main characters- when they are forced to face a cognitive dissonance breakdown, when their understanding of the world falls apart.

The difference here being that we are looking at the effect it has on both parties, here.

With the mystery at the center of this film being much more confounding.

As two broken people use a shared traumatic experience to heal their underlying mental wounds.

While not a bad film, it doesn't quite live up to the mastery of Run Rabbit Run.

Which you can't help but compare it to (if you've recently watched both, like I have).

To be fair though, this one does have an air of darkly comedic undertones to it.

Despite it's sincerity.

Whereas Run Rabbit Run is a more pure psychological thriller.

Both films are great though!

So make a double feature out of it.

5.5 out of 10.