Madres Review

PLOT: A pregnant Mexican-American woman begins to experience paranormal events in her new home, and begins to suspect malicious things are affecting not only her unborn child but also the residents of her new community.

REVIEW: Save the best for last, as they say, and in the case of the new round of Welcome to the Blumhouse movie, that’s just what I did with Madres. The fourth and final entry I watched of this new run of films is also the one I could most see having a good run in theaters, both in its ability to chill your spine and generate much-needed conversation as a blend of journalism thriller and folklore terror that combines for a chillingly effective depiction of timely, tragic themes. 

Set in rural ’70s California, Diana (Ariana Guerra) is a Mexican-American woman from Los Angeles who is still figuring out what to do with her life, having recently been fired from her job, having a baby very much on the way, and still not getting a chance to utilize her journalism degree. Adding to all that, there is an ever-present disconnect between her husband, Roberto, a Mexican immigrant (Tenoch Huerta), a manager of a local farm primarily worked on by other Mexican immigrants. Fearing the racism they would face speaking Spanish, Diana’s parents never taught her the language, so there’s a gap between her and Roberto and his co-workers that’s impossible to ignore, even getting called “gringa” by one woman.

To make matters worse, Diana and Roberto’s new country house is probably haunted, so between her experiences with her new community and the eerie business in her home, there’s a lot of tension no matter the setting. As the terrifying events increase with the presence of a ghostly woman in red, so too do unnerving things begin to escalate with both Diana’s pregnancy and the pregnancy of Roberto’s co-worker, Marisol (Evelyn Gonzalez). With the culture clash present, Diana uses her journalistic skills to hunt down a logical explanation for what’s happening, leading her to believe newly introduced pesticides are the cause. Meanwhile, Roberto and his co-workers believe it to be a curse, with a local shop owner, Anita (Elpidia Carrillo), trying and give Diana a necklace to ward off evil spirits. 

What makes director Ryan Zaragoza’s work so admirable is how well he weaves all the tension in Mario Miscione and Marcella Ochoa’s script together into an endless atmosphere of suspense. The sequences of paranormal terror have a classic feel, fit with a creaky house or a fog-drenched front yard leading to a creepy shed. Then there’s what happens between the characters, and the culture clash causes further rifts between Diana and Roberto, and with the former even viewing Anita as a potential villain as she uses rituals to try and protect Diana. That tension doesn’t lose pace as Diana — a pregnant force of nature — launches herself into an investigation into pesticides, pregnancies rates in female workers, and trying to uncover the possible link. Like David Fincher’s Zodiac, there’s a darkness and aura of malice to her investigation, aided by a Danny Elfman-esque score from Isabelle Engman-Bredvik and Gerardo Garcia Jr. As the ghostly presence follows Diana around, especially during her work, there’s always a sense that something is around the corner as the mystery itself unfolds. 

Throughout it all, you can tell Zaragoza and the screenwriters are trying to use this unsettling tale to illustrate an even more unsettling real-life issue. There’s a strong social consciousness woven into the terror that gives the movie a sense of purpose to match the dread. Sequences involving Marisol’s pregnancy, of which there is something clearly wrong happening, aren’t just chilling as execution in horror, but as a statement on the very real pain immigrant women have had to endure at the hands of malicious human hands in America.

While there’s a cast of great work, this is Guerra’s movie to lead and she does so remarkably. Diana is a woman dealing with her rational mind clashing with supernatural events, having to contend with the fact that curses may be real after all. Even as Zaragoza admittedly favors her work on the journalistic side than her dealings with the paranormal, letting a jump scare or two transition into a new scene as if nothing terrifying happened at all to her, Guerra takes on all of Diana’s stress, but she lets shine through her passion and courage in the face of everything, crafting a protagonist worth following and making her pain all the more palpable. 

One of the hallmarks of a great movie, the 80-minute runtime of Madres isn’t long enough, and a little extra time with these characters would’ve been welcome. It also would’ve helped pad out the ending, which in the rush to establish a true villain, loses its unnerving shock and becomes something a bit hammy, slightly blunting the finale. And yet, there’s no denying Madres is an excellent example of horror with something to say to its viewer, and its very final minutes will leave your skin crawling as they very well should.

Madres

GREAT

8