Mother's Milk

I saw "Mother's Milk" at the North West Ohio Film Festival last week. After reading about the film I thought I was going to see a horror film of the likes of "hostel" or something, about a psycho torturing a woman. Boy was I wrong. This was an eerie yet almost beautiful film with 2 mind blowing central performances.

It's the story of a disturbed man who captures women to observe his fetish of breast feeding. Sounds pretty rough huh? Well after about 15 minute you settle into the feel of the film. It is at times uncomfortable but when you think it's going to go one way - it veers the other way. The central performance of Claude is the reason the film works. There are times during the film where you actually feel for his character. The actor Casey Chapman humanizes the role, pretty remarkable performance. And he is matched by Mackenzie Wiggelsworth who is also fantastic as the woman he kidnaps.

After listening to the director and actors at the Q&A I will be keeping my eye out for this film. I think it could hit it big. See if you can.

I like "smart" horror films – and I got one.

Mother's Milk is about the psychological unraveling of a deeply troubled teacher (Claude,) who fights personal demons that he's no match for.

Claude is a character study in "quiet/mild-mannered" meets "savage brutality" (with a little bit of Anthony Hopkins-esque "sexy" thrown in). A young woman (Mackenzie Wiglesworth as Kim Rodgers) is abducted by Claude early in the film. Despite the odds (I think only "Beauty" ended up with "The Beast") – you hope somehow love will conquer all.

In my favorite scene, Claude becomes a petulant five-year old when a dish he serves isn't embraced by his captive. A war of wills ensues, and oddly - you find yourself somehow championing Claude's culinary dictatorship. Here the director is absolutely skilled in capturing the right balance of tension and comic relief in the tug-of-wills between Claude and Kim.

But what anchors the terror of the story - is an at first quiet, then frenetic build to a horrifying scene which I still can't get out of my head (no spoiler alert here – you've got to see it to appreciate this level of "disturbing"). I couldn't look, but I couldn't look away.

The debut film of director Edward Pionke is a trip to the dark side for the viewer. As with many direct to streaming services release, this one again falls victim of misleading a careless cover art. What we are lead to believe is we are about to see a horror film, and this is quite simply not what were given. The only reason I cannot rank this film a perfect 10 is because of the misleading cover art and synopsis. The tag line "family is forever" is a bit more fitting, however what we have here is a glimpse into the mind of a truly disturbed man - not a horror film to please the fans of the Saw franchise or the Hostel franchise. If that's what you're looking for, stray away.

We meet Claude, a professor who seems to live a solitary and lonely life. Early on we find out that he holds a woman captive in the basement of his modest home, we are unsure why. As the film dives down the rabbit hole we learn that he deals with issues from being raised by a mother who perhaps drank too much and perhaps nursed too long. Due to an unfortunate accident, Claude is left a broken and disturbed man.

The film takes place mainly in one room, the dank basement of Claude's house. And besides a few very minor side characters, the film circles around two characters, Claude and Kim. Kim is an attractive woman kidnapped under the wrong circumstances and forced to take the role of "mommy" to Claude.

There's no explosions, no high gore, no jump scares or BOO moments. This is a film that hinges upon the audiences ability to allow themselves to be locked in a room with a borderline psychopath and wonder what you would do in similar circumstances. Would you risk dying alone by fighting against your captor or would you get to know who this man is and find your own way out. In many ways the film is a cat and mouse thriller. It's very much Kim Vs. Claude. And as the film goes on it's very much Claude Vs. Claude.

There's not a lot of movie making like this out today. The film was probably dumped direct on video because a studio would be afraid of how to market the film, afraid there would be no audience for it. I cannot imagine that there was a big budget behind this however, so I wouldn't believe it would be hard to make back its budget, because it is a highly interesting film that could be marketed towards an art house crowd - I know they exist.

Besides featuring an interesting and fresh script and solid directing, it contains a performance that you just don't see even in mainstream films. The actor who plays Claude, Casey Chapman, does the unthinkable. Personally, although he does some unforgivable things, I was rooting for Claude. The actor has sympathized the devil. It's a remarkable performance.

With solid support from the co-lead Mackenzie Wiglesworth, Mother's Milk amounts to a solid art house film that's perfectly worth the price of a rental. Besides the weird marketing angle, this is a dark dark gem.

I came across this at the video store (yeah they still exist) and rented it sight unseen. It sounded interesting and looked pretty screwed up due to the title and the woman on the front of the box clawing to get out. As an avid horror fan, I figured it would be a little torture experimental film to pass a few hours.

I will admit as it started, I thought there was a chance I could fall asleep. It seemed as if nothing was happening after a pretty mysterious and exciting opening sequence where our leading man watches water boil and mysteriously seems to destroy a woman in his basement. But it's all done "behind closed doors" - offering a much classier experience than the DVD cover alluded too.

After that though, it seems to plod along. There is a scene at our lead professors classroom, he plays cards with a friend, were introduced to our lead female, she is kidnapped. It all seemed pretty run of the mill after the exciting beginning.

If I am being honest, I almost turned the film off wondering where it would go from here - it just wasn't holding my attention. Well I am so very pleased I did not. After about the 30/45 minute mark I was hooked. Not to a horror film, but to a truly sad character piece. If there is any reason to watch this film (and there are more than one) its the leading performance. I have never heard of Casey Chapman before, but I cannot imagine not hearing about him again. This is the kind of performance an actor would die for with so much material to sink his/her teeth into.

So go into this film looking for a killer leading performance, not so much a killer killing people off film. (This is NOT to say this film isn't disturbing .. it is. Perhaps more-so than the type of film I thought I was getting into)

I would recommend the film to those who enjoy something a little darker, a little quieter.

I was able to catch a screening of Mother's Milk recently and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The subject matter seems rather dark. It revolves around a lonely man who has a dark fetish for breast milk who kidnaps women. Although that may sound off-putting, don't fear. This isn't your typical horror or torture film at all. In fact, I would say this is a love story. At its core its about two desperate people who find themselves forced to connect with one another. I saw that it was about to hit the festival circuit and I hope that more people will be able to view the film, as it could really be a hidden indie gem.

The writer/director, Edward Pionke, really shows promise bringing a fresh and new type of film I hadn't seen before, and the cast was equally as strong. The two leads were fantastic as well (Casey Chapman and Mackenzie Wiglesworth). I would recommend this film to you if you enjoy character studies, and dark films. It can be rather slow moving, but I think that is intentional. Although it can take a while, I was pretty much hooked halfway through and wouldn't spoil the ending for you. So if you get a chance to see it, I say go.