When Self-Isolation Leads to Horror
The most common horror movie tropes deal with supernatural evil, or sometimes a horror brought about by some high profile social ill like corporate greed or environmental pollution. There are, however, other potential sources of horror which are less often explored on film. One of them is loneliness, which is explored by first time director Nicolas Pesce in the film The Eyes of My Mother.
While some horror films have touched on loneliness and self-isolation to a degree, notably Stanley Kubrik's The Shining, few have tackled it as head-on as The Eyes of My Mother. The plot centers around Francisca, the daughter of a Portuguese immigrant family living in rural America whose mother is killed by serial killer and whose father descends into an alcoholic depression, leaving young Francisca isolated and lonely in an empty farm house. There are some echoes of Polanski's Repulsion here, as we are witness to Francisca's descent into madness when left alone. But unlike Repulsion, The Eyes of My Mother isn't about a rapid crash over a weekend, but a slow unravelling as Francisca grows from child to adult walled off from human interaction.
The film is part horror movie, part indie arthouse flick. Shot in black-and-white (with some gorgeous cinematography), the film is partially in English, partially in subtitled Portuguese. While this no doubt limits its appeal with both horror fans eager for ever greater Grand Guignol gore and jump-scares, and arthouse cinephiles who tend to look down on genre filmmaking, for the right audience The Eyes of My Mother delivers a wholly unique and haunting horror show set in the seemingly mot mundane of places.
***1/2 out of *****
