For some viewers, the most enjoyable part of a good horror film may well be the dread atmosphere and deathly aesthetics of autumn. Think low, gray skies, trees becoming barren as they dump piles of colorful leaves and swirling winds that make characters wonder about the provenance of the wails carried along the breeze. The atmosphere of a horror film works best when it feels like perpetual twilight or permanent shadow on a low-light day, even if the climax of most scary movies only comes at night. It is getting to the night, to the apex of the drama, that concerns most of the runtime. On that basis, You Are Not My Mother, written and directed by Kate Dolan, is a superb horror film. The suburban housing estate on the edge of Dublin where all the action takes place is lit as if under a perpetual curtain and its tarmac lanes, rubbish-heaped alleys and junkyards gleam menacingly in dulled hues, as if a giant shadow just clings over the whole mise-en-scene.
The film is set in the week prior to Halloween, a now-nigh-global holiday whose ancient origins lie in the folkloric traditions of a pagan Ireland ruled over by mystical druids and fantastical monsters. Protagonist Char (Hazel Doupe) is a precocious student in an all-girls high school. Unfortunately, ever since she skipped a grade, she hasn’t been able to fit in with her older classmates; in fact, she and her family are the subject of rumors and nervous sidelong glances.
This classic coming of age set-up capitalizes on the subgenre’s conventions: the inciting incident blossoms out of the paralyzing embarrassment Char feels around her peers regarding her own lack of belonging and the strangeness of her family. What kind of strangeness? Char’s mother, Angela (Carolyn Bracken), disappears in the middle of the day after taking her daughter most of the way to school. Just as suddenly, mom reappears, but something seems…off. So, not only is Char is faced with teenager issues–she has to figure out what the hell is wrong with her mom.
You Are Not My Mother delightfully flits around the edges of several horror movie tropes—sinister dreams, bullying teenage girls, lots of allusions to fire and the deep well of material available in Irish folklore and history—as the plot careens towards its finale. It is not like the ultra-self-aware metafictional horror films of Wes Craven, but it is clear that Dolan is having a good time pulling random horror movie clichés—most of which resolve into red herrings—out of cinema history as a way of propelling the narrative forward.
The final act of You Are Not My Mother is fun and enjoyable as the mysteries surrounding both Angela’s vanishing and reappearance as well as the whispered rumors of the neighbors about Char’s family are solved in the middle of Halloween night itself. This is not so much a scary movie of jump scares and twisted, gory violence as it is a moody and atmospheric thriller whose horror bona fides lie in its setting, tone and plot elements.
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
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