Mickey (Zelda Adams) is confronted with a fatal diagnosis, but she is not ready to die yet. Accompanied by her father (John Adams), she goes deep into the woods in search of black magic from Solveig (Toby Poser), a mysterious recluse whose connection to death is deep and whose roots are firmly planted in the earth. For three days, Mickey undergoes Solveig’s extreme macabre rituals. But every cure has a price, and every curse is a gift for someone else. As buried secrets resurface, the veil between the living and the dead begins to tear, and Mickey finds herself confronted with dark truths that only the dead and the dying can know.
With Mother of Flies, Zelda Adams, John Adams, and Toby Poser (the Adams Family) return with a gripping film that blends necromancy and horror to once again create an effective work, proving that staggering budgets are not necessary to make a solid film.
Mixing mythical horror with real horror
True to their habits, the Adams Family uses a judicious blend of mythology and realism to create horror that goes beyond jumpscares or the disgusting. It is through the use of macabre rituals of necromancy that the myth takes shape. But why would a young woman go to see this kind of witch deep in the woods? Because she has cancer and is now ready to do anything to try to get rid of this disease.
Moreover, it is not simply for aesthetic reasons that the film takes place in the woods. The symbolism of the forest represents both danger and the opportunity for renewal. It is this arrangement that makes the film captivating, as it makes it plausible. Are we not ready to take risks and face potential danger when it comes to surviving and granting ourselves this renewal, this new opportunity for life? The forest lives according to the principle of decomposition (a kind of death magic), which then offers fertile ground for new life above (the idea of necromancy comes from there, doesn’t it?).
Mickey (Zelda Adams)
The path between life and death is obscure and frightening, but for the Adams, love always hides in these shadows. And that is what they portray in this new feature film.
A large family
Mother of Flies was filmed almost entirely in the forests of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, where the Adams have their roots: the caves, the river, and the seas of ferns are just steps away from their home. Solveig’s house is actually their somewhat eccentric mountain home, stylishly furnished and overgrown with roots and trees that pass through it thanks to the work of visual effects artist Trey Lindsay.
Solveig is an officiant of death (necromancer); she too lives in the earth. She wields her deadly magic from the grave—but for whom? Behind every trick lies the truth; behind every suffering, love waits. The plot hinges on this. Why is the old woman performing this ceremony for Mickey? Obviously, I will not reveal the reason. But let’s just say the finale is original and breaks from norms and habits.
This latest work is probably their most “familial” since their debut. Not only do we find Zelda Adams, John Adams, and Toby Poser, but also Lulu Adams, the eldest, as well as other members of John’s family who play small roles. They all do a fine job.
A little more…
At the crossroads of breath, body, and belief lies magic. Ritual is at the heart of the Adams’ works, who love to draw from the depths of the most primitive imagination to bring forth rites of passage, and mythologies that are both mysterious and dangerous. Here, they indulge in fantasy, blending the tales of the living, the dead, and that shifting, shadowy realm that separates them. They explore the concept of necromancy through the prism of two women maintaining an intimate relationship with death.
On the surface, there is Mickey, a young woman defying a premature death sentence with stubborn and unnatural faith—a faith her devoted father does not share. Death gnaws at Mickey’s body, and she desperately wants to believe in a magical cure promised by a woods witch. Beneath the surface—and sometimes beneath the earth—hides Solveig, a woman who not only embodies death but makes her alliance with it her currency in life.
The result is a solid film that will hook its viewers and surprise them with a successful finale. A good choice by Shudder to start the year with this film.
