Tag: horror

Horror and humour achieve embryonic fusion in Australian director Glenn Fraser’s latest short film, Mother Tongue, written with wit and energy by Amelia Foxton. Alex (Chiara Gizzi) and Jade (Foxton) know all about parenthood from their hetero friends, who visit them only to sit slumped, exhausted—seemingly exsanguinated—by the ordeal. But this cutely clucky same-sex couple aren’t so easily put off. After repeated and steamily determined attempts at impregnation, however, they still don’t have a baby bump between them. Adoption holds no help, as the couple finds its woes compounded by process thick with prejudice.

They explore alternative options, but just how ‘alternative’ will they get? Enter Brian (Stephen Hunter), the black magic sorcerer who promises he can conjure these two a kid. He’s also a try-hard deadshit operating out of an unassuming beige-brick flat. From here, Alex and Jade find themselves entangled in the increasingly wacky world of the suburban occult because, surprise surprise, Brian may be less useless than he appears. Maybe this will work after all? However, we know from the film’s opening—from Jade and Alex’s friends—how enslaved parents are to their infant overlords, and there may be even greater sacrifices in store for this couple.

Fraser and Foxton’s film pulses along through its inspired and knowing embrace of horror tropes—here delightfully embedded in everyday domesticity. Involving and often very fun performances draw much richness from the full veins of Foxton’s script and, despite the film’s short running time, its characters are vividly drawn, with Alex the more reactive and intense of the duo, alongside the more patient and protective Jade, who finally accepts her partner’s pleas to explore every last option. The film also looks splendid, easily immersing us in atmospheres by turns erotic, alarming, and absurd. Parenthood sure seems draining, but you’ll be tickled and fulfilled by Mother Tongue.