Motherly

I take a middle position on the rating. Kate is writing a book, stuck in a small farmhouse out in the sticks. Her daughter Beth has just celebrated her ninth birthday, but seems sullen about it. We find that there was a gruesome murder of a child, and Kate and Beth are in the witness protection program, the husband convicted of the murder of the child. We are shown in flashbacks bits and pieces of what happened. Meanwhile, there seems to be sinister things happening around the house. Kate sees danger everywhere, while Beth doesn't, and simply says the house is haunted. The rest of the movie may be standard movie fair, while others may appreciate the bits and twists in it. Most will remember the acting of the Beth character.

This little thriller starts out well, with a mother and daughter sequestered in the countryside--which the latter is growing bored and petulant about, while the former is clearly afraid of whatever they're running from, which we assume is a violent husband/father. Eventually there are intruders, and this home invasion soon changes the dynamic of who did what and who should be afraid of whom. Those factors keep changing, and "Motherly's" plot twists would be decent enough if it didn't make a big mistake. I won't spoil that here, but suffice it to say the script eventually places far too great a burden on the sole child actor, who can't pull it off (no one her age could), and it turns the whole thing ridiculous. The film ends on notes that are both mean-spirited and cheesy, really destroying its modest but real initial potential. It's all decently crafted and acted, and resourceful considering a low budget. But when a plot goes this far off the rails, it takes the whole movie down with it.

This isn't bad. It's just familiar. There's a lot of foreshadowing that was too obvious and took away from the ending. Not awful. Not amazing. It was an average watch for my night on the couch.

I gave this 5 stars, because it's quite a good idea for a story, and the mum is a good actress, only thing is that it's totally obvious what the outcome/twist will be.

I didn't enjoy watching this film as I was distracted and annoyed from the start at how horrible the kid is. She should spend the whole movie on the naughty step. I suppose it does make a change from the usual goody goody kids in American films, but she so rude it's actually annoying that the mum doesn't spend the first half shouting at her for being a total brat.

With all the TOTAL JUNK movies constantly being released this was a good watch! I figured out the ending before the big reveal but it was still a nice plot! The acting was good although the mom totally got on my nerves. Add another flick with the dumbest cop ever. I get sick of movies portraying cops as buffoons but this guy was definitely a loser. And where was the rest of the police force after he called them? That house must have been 50 miles from civilization. I'm not sure how realistic the plot actually was given the holes, but it was entertaining and better than most movies I watch. Anyone who rated it extremely low is not being fair...