Mother, May I?

I rated this film a six because it is actually far above average considering what most movies today are. However I just couldn't bring myself to give it more than that because I couldn't get into it. I understand the basic premise behind the movie and what the director wanted; I just didn't really care for it in the end. You aren't exactly completely sure what is going on throughout the film but I think that is what they were going for. Letting the viewers decide for themselves if they think their take is correct or not. It just felt a bit too tedious to me. I think the film could have done more to bring the whole thing together more coherently and then it could appeal to a wider audience because of that. Overall I'm not pleased I watched it but I can't exactly call it bad, because it's not. It's just not my cup of tea.

Mother, May I, or paraphrasing, Mother, Should I give this a go?

I think so yes, first of all, for our new male lead horror actor, Kyle Gallner, emphasis on male. A lot of new scream queens lately, which of course is a good thing, seeing people embracing this genre and becoming a symbol of it. But we do lack on the male part, we still rely heavily on Tony Todd, Lance Henrikssen, Robert Englund and so on.

But honestly if you remove Mr. Kyle from the equation, I have to say, Mother, May I is overall a little bland. I won't call it generic, it just doesn't offer as much as it promises, yet it does manage to hit some soft spots, just without a real echo to them.

So for a die hard horror fan, yes, for a one time view, this movie should be on your list, with the clarification that it is a psychological war here, with a little bit of mystery, but no horror, or tension or scares.

If this is what you're looking for, you might actually be pleasantly surprised, I hope. A movie in the type of Goodnight Mommy, The Lodge, or It Comes At Night.

Definitely no The Ritual sadly.

So all in all, another piece of the horror puzzle has been found, take it or leave it.

Cheers!

Mother, May I is categorized as a horror/thriller. Just the mindset I was in tonight, a good, hopefully scary movie. Well it turned out to be a huge disappointment. It's not a horror movie at all, or I must have missed something, and even as a thriller it didn't do the job. Instead what you get is a boring story, very repetitive and at a slow pace. The acting fron the small cast was just okay, nothing mesmerizing at all. Writer/director Laurence Vannicelli didn't convince me at all. It for sure doesn't want me to watch other movies from Laurence Vannicelli. I really wonder why they would categorize this one as horror.

This is another one of those movies that has nothing seriously wrong with it beyond being a 100-minute movie with about 20 minutes of script, tops. Kyle Gellner is a very good actor who singlehandedly achieves some moments of real interest; Chris Mulkey is always a welcome presence, although wasted in a nondescript role. I wasn't familiar with the female lead, and she's decent enough. But the film makes her "possessed" by the male lead's dead mother (or is she really....???) too fast, too soon, and as written/played that character is a trite Mommy Dearest stereotype of haughty, controlling divahood.

There's no real plot, just a premise, and not enough psychological or directorial complexity to make the central ambiguity (is this a supernatural situation, or is the girlfriend just role-playing as part of her "therapy"?) at all interesting once we've grasped it. This is also one of those movies where you wait and wait, hoping that something will finally "happen"...and then it just ends. Pffft. Your time has been wasted, and that of the cast, though this very thin material is handled competently enough.

But should it have been handled at all? Not without extensive rewrites first. This director needs a screenwriting collaborator next time out. He's not a talented enough stylist to make something substantial out of almost nothing.

Emmett (Kyle Gallner) inherits the family home from his estranged late mother. He and his girlfriend Anya (Holland Roden) head off to the remote extensive home to prepare for a quick sale. They have an usual relationship which gets stranger when she seems to take on the personality of his mother.

The writer/director is Laurence Vannicelli. I don't know anything about him or his work. I do like the tone and the simmering tension of this movie. Most of all, I love these two actors. I want this to be great. At last, it simmers, but it never cooks. There is a way to get there, but the story takes a less compelling turn. The ending is somewhat poetic, but has no intensity. This is marginal.