Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Madres’ on Amazon Prime, a Blumhouse Creepfest That Insists Living People are Scarier Than Dead Ones – Decider

Like Nocturne in 2020, Madres is the true head-and-shoulders standout among 2021s Welcome to the Blumhouse class. The series offers a quintet of scary movies annually, and like Blumhouses Hulu outing Into the Dark, it frequently gives a platform to underrepresented filmmakers and stories. This is especially true for Madres, the story of a Mexican-American couple who moves to a small California town and cant quite put their finger on a local mystery, which seems to involve both human and supernatural forces. Now guess which of the two is worse.

The Gist: Diana (Ariana Guerra) had a bad dream on the drive to Golden Valley. This being a scary movie, we can safely interpret it as a premonition. She and hubby Beto (Tenoch Huerta) left Los Angeles for his new job managing a farming operation in a rural California town thats so small, it doesnt even have a McDonalds. Hes a first-generation immigrant from Mexico, with five years in the U.S.; shes second-gen, but she doesnt speak Spanish, because her parents were ostracized for not knowing English. She lost her job as a newspaper reporter, most likely because she got pregnant; she cant be sure, but Beto seems pretty sure about it. At least his job will keep them afloat, and maybe she can write a book before the baby gets here. Its 1977.

Theyre a nice, loving, believable young couple who find themselves in a typical Movie Situation: pulling into a dusty driveway with all their stuff in tow, moving into an old house sight-unseen. Its a little beat up and a lot dusty. A little paint, some curtains and maybe an exorcism later, and itll be just like home. See, crosses hang above every door, things go bump in the night and out in the shed is a box of stuff belonging to the previous occupant and its the type of sentimental stuff that one doesnt usually leave behind, including diaries, photographs and a music box, and as every person in a movie does when they find a music box, they have to wind it up and listen to a beautiful song made eerie by the context, and as it winds down, it makes that disturbing warped noise and stops smack in the middle of the tune. Its not too long before Diana finds a little burlap sack hanging from a tree in the yard, and inside is a bloody eyeball. Seems kinda not cool, although Beto writes it off as a prank, and remember, the place is free, a perk of his new job, so some compromises have to be made. Theyll just have to live with the eyeballs, I guess!

As Beto works, Diana stumbles upon a possible topic for her book: Among the among the previous occupants belongings are numerous news clippings about the use of harmful pesticides on local farms. Curious. Then the local Superstitious Woman, Anita (Elpidia Carrillo), stops by to give her a weird necklace for protection. EXTRA curious! Beto and Diana go to a cookout for his co-workers and their families, and shes ostracized by the other women for not knowing English Poor white girl, one of them snarks in Spanish. She ends up at the local maternity clinic, where the doctor and nurses seem nice, but one of the other patients is anguished, and Beto isnt allowed to stay there overnight, because thems the rules. SUPER extra curious! Oh, and Diana is now officially seeing ghosts in the house, and she has a curious rash on her arm, both of which Anita says derive from a curse. So, inventory: Pesticides, ghosts, curses, strange things at the clinic. Is all this going to add up to something that makes sense?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Well, Marge Gunderson sure seems to have inspired Diana to get significant shit done while significantly pregnant. Otherwise, the movies a lot like a non-white-privilege version of Things Heard and Seen, with a significant Get Out influence and a Guillermo del Toro is-it-benevolent-or-is-it-gonna-eat-me Crimson Peak-type ghost.

Performance Worth Watching: Guerra admirably shades her strong-willed and determined character with the complexities of self-doubt and vulnerability a sturdy performance that helps the movie supersede some of its cliches.

Memorable Dialogue: Did you just use symbolism on me? Diana playfully banters with Beto as the movie uses metaphors on us

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Madres isnt 100 percent functional, but its admirable for its ambition. Youll see some of its plot maneuvers well ahead of time, and its otherwise hair-raising conclusion relies on just-in-the-nick-of-time coincidences that might bring us out of the picture for a moment. But it poignantly addresses the immigrant experience by exploring subtle facets of Beto and Dianas new social dynamic, from their feelings of alienation to awkward experiences with Caucasian doctors experiences that successfully cultivate our empathy and concern for their well-being. The movies sinister religious imagery and distorted apparitions are corny spookfest cliches (nobody ever really explains the eyeballs, but the movie is less interested in jump-scaring us with dead people than it is with creating an atmosphere of unease around those who are so terrifyingly alive.

The apparitions return for a terrific climactic sequence that puts the capper on all-too-timely modern themes: How systemic racism leads people of color to distrust institutions, channeled through the experiences of a mother-to-be fighting for the immediate and future safety of her child. The film quietly takes righteous aim at cultural stereotypes by taking the time to develop its characters into complicated people in complicated situations stuff thats far from typical horror-movie fodder. Ryan Zaragoza directs with an assured, occasionally artful hand; check out that nifty shot in which Beto opens the music box and its lid covers the camera lens, or the scenes when he toys with our nerves by having Diana rapidly chop carrots or lean back in her dining room chair. The movie could use a few more such provocative, nerve-jangling moments, but as it stands, its a horror story with relevance, which is something that doesnt come along often enough.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Madres might just be the smartest thing youll watch this scary-movie season.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Madres' on Amazon Prime, a Blumhouse Creepfest That Insists Living People are Scarier Than Dead Ones - Decider