You Are Not My Mother (2022)

"Gritty, Grim, Childhood Nightmare Art House Horror"

Fresh from its UK premiere at Glasgow Frightfest, Kate Dolan's YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER is getting a UK cinema and digital release this month.

When Char (Hazel Doupe) was a baby, her grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) tried to burn her alive in a ritual in the nearby forest. Now a teenager, it's Char's mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken) who is Char's greatest concern. Only occasionally surfacing from the near-coma of profound depression, things reach crisis point when Angela disappears. But a few days later she's back, and a brighter, happier Angela she seems to be. But is it her mother that has returned, or something else?

Meanwhile Char has other problems. She's doing well at school but is repeatedly bullied by a group of girls on her way home, and on one occasion she accidentally interrupts their scavenging for material for the imminent Halloween bonfire. Is everything going to tie together? Are supernatural forces at work? And what's Char's grandmother actually up to in that opening scene?

YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER is slow burn, possibly a bit too slow for some. But those who have shorter attention spans are advised to stick with it because the final act is excellent - scary, unnerving, and with all kinds of implications. For older readers of this site, it's the kind of story that would have been ideal as part of the BBC's Play For Today strand with its combination of social commentary, coming of age story, and a good dose of the weird as well. Dolan knows how to set up (and build up to) some properly disturbing sequences, and there's imagery in here that will stay with you long after the film is over. Good stuff. Here's the trailer:

YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER is out from Signature Entertainment in UK Cinemas and on Digital on Friday 8th April 2022