150 Word Review: 'Mother of Flies' (2025)
The cure
This is a family affair. Directed and starring John Adams, Toby Poser, and their daughter Zelda Adams, with a screenplay by Poser and Zelda Adams, Mother of Flies is a wet, slithery, occasionally suffocating, and beautiful folk horror about a witch who lives in the woods. Adams stars as a college-age woman whose cancer is terminal. Her haggard, tattooed father, played by John Adams, accompanies her on a final attempt to find a cure. The cure is Toby Poser’s wild-haired Baba Yaga, a mysterious local hermit. This is contemporary folk horror with moody pop songs (courtesy of the filmmakers) and a strong father-daughter relationship.
The special effects are realistic and grimy. Bellies are split open. Babies are buried. Is this sorceress a fraud? A ghost? Can she heal? Mother of Flies dwells on grief. But also, hope. The performances are the secret to this movie’s dark heart: honest, raw, unforced.
Their first movie, Hellbender, is good as well, with many of the same themes.