Mother of Flies Review: Eerie and Resonant Horror is Frustrating in its Repetitousness

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The Adams Family – Toby Poser, John Adams, and their daughters Lulu and Zelda – are a remarkably productive force in American independent horror, much like the band The Bee Gees. They’ve consistently exceeded expectations for low-budget films. Their latest movie, which won the top award at the Fantasia festival in the summer of 2025, is their most collaborative effort yet. While Lulu still stars, the film is co-written and directed by the rest of the family, and deeply informed by John and Toby’s personal experiences with cancer.

Despite being made quickly, during Zelda’s summer break, and on a very tight budget, the film is surprisingly well-made. The family’s struggles with a life-threatening illness feel very real, particularly in scenes between Zelda and her father, Jake, where they openly share their fears about the diagnosis. While the film effectively builds tension and delivers emotional moments, it unfortunately becomes repetitive and lacks energy at times. This is odd, given the personal connection the family has to the story, but a strange sense of detachment often hangs over the scenes.

Mother of Flies Is Creepy, But It Lacks Deep Enough Characterizations

Mickey is a college student who has been battling cancer since she was fifteen. She initially overcame a tumor in her stomach, but it has returned, and doctors have given her a prognosis of about six months to live.

Mickey appears strong and surprisingly mature for her age, likely because she’s faced a lot of hardship. Despite this, she hides the fact that she’s seriously ill from her friends at school. She tells her father she isn’t afraid of dying, and even believes death could be as rewarding as life. However, she’s not giving up; she plans to find a reclusive woman in the Catskill Mountains rumored to have power over life and death, hoping for a solution.

Mickey doesn’t reveal how she found out about Solveig, but Jake surprisingly trusts his daughter to decide how she wants to deal with her illness in her final days. It’s nice to see such a trusting parent-child relationship, though it feels odd that Jake doesn’t ask any questions until they reach Solveig’s remote home.

Despite my initial reservations, he was pretty much willing to try anything. We were met by this fascinating healer who lived in the most incredible house – imagine a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but built around a giant tree! She was a bit strange and formal, but definitely not unfriendly. Long, flowing black curls and a dark grey shawl completed the look, and… well, she had a constant cloud of flies around her. Honestly, she looked exactly like what you’d picture a witch to be, which, as it turns out, she more or less was. Even though I was skeptical, I figured I’d play along and see what happened.

The process Solveig uses is strange and mysterious, even her patient doesn’t fully understand it. It’s hard to explain what she does – often, we just see her close her eyes and seem to call upon something, while quietly speaking to herself. When we can make out her words, they sound like a mix of ancient prayers and poetic verses.

It can also get old to see a charming witch playfully touch objects while mumbling mysterious phrases.

The film definitely uses unsettling visuals and disturbing flashbacks of Solveig’s past – including a particularly graphic birth scene – but often hints at things without showing them directly. While this ambiguity creates a sense of unease, leaving you unsure whether to trust her or not, it can also become frustrating to watch her act mysteriously and offer cryptic pronouncements.

Jake’s constant negativity quickly becomes draining. Despite being a close family, we surprisingly learn very little about what each member truly desires or needs, beyond just getting by. Mickey repeatedly asks her father to stop ruining things for the death doula, and eventually, so do we as viewers. We wish he’d either accept what’s happening or simply step aside, but by the time Mickey voices this, he’s already been difficult for far too long.

What makes Mother of Flies truly compelling isn’t always obvious; it’s found in the subtle details. When the film is at its best, it suggests that life, death, and recovery are magical – drawing on both traditional Western beliefs and the power of witchcraft. The natural world around us, with all its processes, shouldn’t be dismissed just because it’s familiar. In fact, we should value the wisdom of the earth, which solved problems centuries ago, long before the advent of technology and our tendency to interfere. For the family in the film, everything is imbued with significance, simply being alive is special, and even when the movie doesn’t explicitly state this, hints of it are present, like the delicate beat of a fly’s wings.

Mother of Flies premieres exclusively on Shudder on January 23rd, 2026.

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2026-01-19 17:00