The Reel Review
The relationship of a cash-strapped pregnant couple is tested when the husband’s estranged stepmother Solange moves into their home following the death of his father, in exchange for her inheritance. As the creepy Solange tries to gain control over the home and then couple’s newborn infant, Belinda starts to experience hallucinations, questioning her own sanity. Brandy, Kathryn Hunter and Andrew Burnap star in this horror/thriller with darkly comic overtones.
Perhaps intended as a tribute to women forced to endure incredibly difficult in-laws, The Front Room is one strange movie, unsure whether it wants to be horror or a dark comedy, and not succeeding at either. Written and directed by Sam and Max Eggers, younger twin brothers of director Robert Eggers (Nosferatu, The Northman, The Lighthouse), the characters are unlikable, ranging from Hunter’s (Poor Things, The Tragedy of MacBeth) portrait of the difficult, grossly incontinent stepmother more annoying and revolting than scary to Burnap’s portrait of the infuriatingly wishy-washy husband. A Rosemary’s Baby-type supernatural subplot is toyed with but never gets off the ground.
There will be some who say this movie is so bad its good – not so. Even the not-so-surprising (but satisfying) ending can’t save this bizarre film from itself. In the words of Solange, this is one M-E-double-S mess.
REEL FACTS
• Andrew Burnap (The Inheritance) won the 2020 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play.
• British-American actress Kathryn Hunter is an associate at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, where she regularly directs student productions.
• The Front Room was filmed in New Jersey.
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