MOM – Movie Review (3/5)

MOM is a psychological horror movie that hits hard. I was looking away several times just because it made my skin crawl. Obviously, it’s different for everyone what hits hard, but I think this will work for many viewers. Read our full MOM movie review here!

MOM is a new horror movie that was made a few years back. This is made very obvious by the fact that Christian Convery who plays the title character in the Netflix series Sweet Tooth co-stars in the movie and looks very young. We’ll be seeing him again very soon in the horror movie The Monkey.

I don’t know why this psychological horror movie has been slow to come out, but it certainly isn’t because it’s bad. It is, however, quite brutal to watch. To me, it was so extremely uncomfortable that I wanted to look away. That’s when you know it’s striking a nerve. Maybe even a little too hard!

Continue reading our MOM movie review below. Find it out on Digital now!

A postpartum horror story

In MOM, we meet a struggling new mother (Emily Hampshire) as she does her best to make it work. She is clearly having a very hard time bonding with her son. Nursing isn’t working and she isn’t getting much sleep, while her husband also fails to see that she is obviously coming apart.

Things evolve and escalate in dangerous ways that her husband continues to ignore. Or, more likely, he believes it will get better. The problem is that he believes it will somehow magically get better rather than actually help her get better.

After a horrific incident – that you feel coming long before it actually happens – everyone leaves her behind. Well, not at first, but I don’t want to give everything away here. In any case, the result is that she isolates even more while feeling haunted by a strange entity.

Emily Hampshire delivers the horror

Overall, MOM isn’t the best horror movie featuring a postpartum depression story, I’ve watched. In some ways, however, this is the most brutal overall. It’s like watching a terrible tragedy play out in slow motion. You keep waiting for someone to help and interfere, but it never happens.

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The movie Baby Ruby starring Noémie Merlant and Kit Harington >

Despite the fact that I feel I’ve watched better postpartum depression stories in horror, MOM is definitely an extremely efficient psychological horror movie. Also, Emily Hampshire delivers a very powerful performance.

Alongside Emily Hampshire (The Rig), we have François Arnaud (The Borgias) as her husband, and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth, Cocaine Bear) in a key role across from Emily’s mom character.

Watch MOM on Digital now!

Mom was directed by Adam O’Brien, who previously directed many short films and segments of horror anthologies. It’s based on an original idea by Albert I. Melamed, Nathan Oliver, and Taylor Sardoni.

The story comes from director Adam O’Brien and the screenplay from Philip Kalin-Hajdu (producer of The Sacrifice Game). I’m surprised that no women were involved in creating the story, but it doesn’t show in the movie. In fact, the husband is blamed and blames himself for his lack of action.

If you’re pregnant or want to start a family, you may want to skip this one. It takes a nasty deep dive into the darkest corners of motherhood. I can stomach most things, but this was difficult for me to watch. As it was clearly intended.

One thing is the tragedy you can see coming, the other is a fingernail focus that always gets to me. In several ways, this movie made my skin crawl, which is a compliment for a horror movie. Still, it may not be for everyone to watch this kind of attack on the senses.

With a runtime of 95 minutes, it doesn’t drag on for too long, and the ending even offers a final blow to the gut.

MOM is out on digital in the UK and Ireland from February 17, 2025. It’s already out in the US.

Details

Director: Adam O’Brien
Writers: Philip Kalin-Hajdu, Albert I. Melamed, Adam O’Brien
Stars: Emily Hampshire, Christian Convery, François Arnaud