Mother of Flies
Mickey's (Zelda Adams, "Where the Devil Roams") dad Jake (John Adams, "Where the Devil Roams") is supportive of his daughter's controversial cancer treatment choice when he picks her up from college, but once he has been exposed to Solveig (Toby Poser, "Where the Devil Roams"), who is referred to locally as 'the witch in the woods,' he questions Mickey's faith in the "Mother of Flies."
Laura's Review: B+
After their anomalous creature feature "Hell Hole," the elder Adamses reunite with their daughters for another of their DIY films and this one stands alongside their best, "Where the Devil Roams." With its three stars writing and directing, father John and daughter Zelda directing photography, mom Toby producing, John responsible for editing and sound design, music scored by the family band H6LLB6ND6R and elder daughter Lulu pitching in to build sets, this is one ambitious way for a family to spend a summer. Their movie is also a personal reflection of Toby's own experience with reproductive cancer, a monstrous, bloody vagina one of the film's practical effects (visual effects by 'member of the family' Trey Lindsay).
The film opens with a series of troubling images - a nude woman drenched in blood feeding off bloody body parts, three dead mice lined up in a row, a swarm of flies at a window - before cutting to Mickey's hand hovering over piano keys, the last image backlit to startling effect. As father and daughter drive toward Solveig's house, we will see her all clad in black walking through a verdant forest, her hair long and gray, haloed by the light behind her. They will pull up to a multi-storied house festooned with moss, a witch's house straight out of a fairy tale (the Adamses own, digitally tweaked by Lindsay), a stone cairn marking the end of its dirt driveway.
Solveig will greet them, offering to show them to their rooms. Mickey is delighted with hers which looks something like a treehouse, a moss covered wooden slab for a bed, but Jake immediately begins to question things, noting the lack of a modern bathroom and running water. Dinner is another strange affair, Solveig speaking in archaic, poetic terms about blood rituals, horrified when Jake returns 'Amen,' insisting he 'spit the word out onto the floor.' When he expresses a liking for mushrooms, Solveig will indulge, with the trippy kind. Dialogue features such gems as 'Those who pray have a lack of faith' and 'The difference between a poison and a cure is the dose, my friend.' The screenplay's parallels play with words, time and even astrology, Solveig's reference to cancer as a 'canker' akin to a crab coming full circle.
Flashbacks involving a birth will progress to fill in Solveig's history, something which is now entwined with Mickey's potential for a future. As Solveig's rituals evoke seemingly dire physical consequences for Mickey, her resolve grows stronger than Jake's objections and she forces him to leave. Checking into a motel (where the desk clerk is played by daughter Lulu) he'll learn something frightening about Solveig and promptly rush back. And if you think you know where everything is headed, guess again.
The Adams' folk horror tale is full of stunning imagery, from practical effects involving a python to a Caesarean birth, a climatic one something akin to a magic act. John and Zelda proved their talent behind the camera with "Where the Devil Roams" and they confirm that here with mood enhancing lighting and meticulously composed shots. H6LLB6ND6R's heavy metal folk rock adds to the atmosphere.
Solveig will tell Jake that in order to woo death, one 'must love it, lie with it.' Horror fans should love "Mother of Flies" a lot.
Robin's Review: B-
"Mother of Flies" begins streaming on Shudder on 1/23/26.
