I'm not sure where to begin with this psychological horror, as I have several thoughts on it and none of them are positive. It's great to see Brandy Norwood featured on the poster but sadly, this film doesn't do her talent justice.
Directed by Max and Sam Eggers, The Front Room (2024) is like the horrific viewpoint of an aged and somewhat insane mother-in-law residing with a young couple and whether their relationship would thrive or not. In this film, Belinda (played by Brandy Norwood) is an anthropology professor at a university, heavily pregnant and stressed about securing her position at the school.
While at home with her husband, Norman (played by Andrew Burnap), they receive a weird call from his highly religious stepmother, Solange, who reveals that his father is dying. Soon enough, Norman's father passes and the couple attends the funeral. Belinda meets Solange for the first time and the old woman proposes the couple take her into their home after she wills her all properties to them.
Once Solange moves into the couple's home, things take a weird and spooky turn. Will this young couple, especially the expecting Belinda, be able to handle this seemingly scary and insane woman?
Review
We're brought up to sometimes fear big, imposing figures or people but not a frail, elderly woman leaning on two walking canes. In this film, she's the one you should be running away from as fast as possible! The Eggers brothers are good at what they do and the plot of this horror is great. The storytelling however is where the fault lies.
For a ‘horror’ film that advertises a spooky theme in the synopsis, trailer and poster, I was a little disappointed after watching it. The pace of the film is steady and everything falls into place within the first fifteen minutes. However, the film falls short of the tension and scary suspense that defines horror movies. As the suspenseful music plays and the camera moves, the audience anticipates that the next image or scene will either make us jump or scream, but it doesn't.
I'll say most of the kudos goes to Kathryn Hunter who plays the part of the crazy mother-in-law (or monster-in-law). She embodies her role so well it's terrifying. She's loud, conniving, tries to alienate the young couple and her scene of intentional incontinence is funny at first but continuous recurrence makes it very gross. Without her excellent performance, this film would have been boring or mediocre at best.
I was glad to see Brandy on screen again (it's been a while) and had expectations but her role here isn't inspiring as much. Her skill wasn't put to effective use. I would blame that on the script and the directing, there's only so much this fine actress can do. She starts out as this demure wife and daughter-in-law and quickly turns into this almost-scary mother who must do what she can to protect her family. Still, her acting is not bad.
Overall, The Front Room is a psychological horror with a promising plot but lacks depth and action due to a lacklustre script and directing. I wanted more but was sorely disappointed. The actors’ skills were underutilised. All the same, it's worth watching even if just one time. I'll give it 2.5 stars out of 5.
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Thumbnail Image, Fair Use
Other images are screenshots from the movie
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