Cría Siniestra

Greetings again from the darkness. The exceptionally creepy creature leads us to believe this could be a terrific new addition to the creature feature genre. However, director Hanna Bergholm and screenwriter Ilja Rautsi expend so much time and energy on the metaphor aspect that we feel a bit bludgeoned by the end. Despite some wonderful horror elements, we find ourselves thinking, 'alright, already ... just stick with the creepy stuff!'

We open in a beautiful home with pristine design features, where a beautiful mother (Sophia Heikkila) is filming her beautiful family for her vlog, appropriately titled "Lovely Everyday Life." Of course, we all know what happens to perfect little families in movies - the façade cracks. We get our first taste of beautiful mother's not-so-beautiful true nature as she deals with the crow that flies in through an open window and destroys some of the beautiful decorations displayed in the home. Things get interesting when Tinja (a superb Siiri Solalinna), the 12-year-old gymnast daughter, recovers an egg from the intrusive bird's nest and "mothers" it until the egg (the metaphorical façade) cracks open after growing to an enormous size. Out pops a bizarre looking "baby" bird that Tinja names Alli, after the song her family sings.

It doesn't take long for Tinja (and us) to figure out what's happening. The bird not only assumes Tinja is her mother, but it also takes on the emotions that Tinja keeps bottled up inside so as to not upset her overly-demanding mother. See, mom is a former skater and projects her dreams of glory onto her daughter through gymnastics. We never even get the impression that Tinja enjoys the sport, and it's likely she does it because that's the only closeness she gets from dear old mom ... especially when compared to her little brother Mattias (Oiva Ollila) or dad (Jani Volanen). In fact, mom is so dominant over dad, that she's taken on a side lover in handyman Tero (Reino Nordin), who she admits to loving in yet another inappropriate moment with Tinja.

Soon the bird is acting out Tinja's private thoughts to extremes (a true monster in the closet), and no one is really safe. There are some creepy elements that tell us an excellent horror-comedy is in there somewhere. Watching Tinja sponge-bathe the creature and the replicant effects are both imaginative. Ms. Bergholm's film premiered at Sundance, and if anything, it's just a bit too ambitious with the metaphors. We can view this as a coming-of-age story for Tinja as she breaks the shackles of childhood for more independent thinking. And the most obvious interpretation is that of a mother so obsessed with perfection - especially as to how her family is presented to the outside world - that it requires an ugly incident (bird) as a dose of reality. This is clearly commentary on social media and how some become so committed to presenting and maintaining a certain image. As a horror-comedy, the film from Finland offers neither jump-scares nor laugh-outloud moments, but there is enough here for a decent midnight offering.

Interesting, ambitious, creative, weird, and well-made but something just didn't sit right for me. My favorite part was the wallpaper in the girl's room. This wasn't scary but it was gross in a body horror and lots of vomit way. Overall, this was just okay.

Love it or hate it you won't forget this film in a hurry. On balance I think I sort of loved it for the most part.

It is bold and brazen in its approach, unafraid to be unapologetically weird. Alongside the striking imagery there are some interesting themes to pick through, particularly surrounding motherhood and social media, which added an interesting layer to the film.

The plot is as bizarre a plot as I've ever seen. It is full of disturbing imagery, cleverly worked set pieces, and just obscene ideas. Some of it didn't quite work for me but it was a gripping film from start to finish nonetheless. When it starts to feel a bit too out there it quickly whips you back in with a wild scene.

If you like your horror to be more edgy, surreal, and on the down right odd end of the spectrum, then you'll find a lot to enjoy with this one.

I never had heard about this 2022 Finnish horror movie titled "Pahanhautoja" (aka "Hatching"). But of course with it being a new horror movie, then I just had to sit down and watch it as I happened to stumble upon it.

And color me impressed. Writers Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi definitely put together a very unique and interesting storyline here. I will say that "Pahanhautoja" was certainly unlike any other horror movie I have seen before, and I have seen quite a lot, and I mean that in a good way.

The storyline told in "Pahanhautoja" is really extraordinary. It is rather peculiar and bizarre storyline, and I will say that it was a stroke of creative thinking and writing from Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi. This is definitely a movie that you don't want to miss out on, especially if you are a horror aficionado like myself.

The acting performances in the movie are good. And while it is a rather small cast ensemble, then the actors and actresses put on good performances and carry the movie quite nicely. And it was a treat to watch them bring the movie to life on the screen. Now, I am not overly familiar with Finnish cinema, so these were not actors and actresses that I was familiar with before this movie.

Something that really impressed me was the special effects in "Pahanhautoja". Wow. Just wow! I was blown away by the realism and the attention to detail. It was really amazing to see the special effects brought to life on the screen, and the creature effects were just phenomenal. Actually I will say, even if you don't enjoy the storyline, then watch the movie for the special effects themselves.

I was genuinely entertained by "Pahanhautoja", and trust me, this is a movie that I will and can warmly recommend you sit down to watch, should you find yourself with the opportunity.

My rating of director Hanna Bergholm's 2022 horror movie "Pahanhautoja" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Finland cinema isn't common for me to see as there isn't many Finland movies that are really widely known in the United States. Having only seen a few films from director Aki Kaurismäki which I really like, I was looking forward to seeing another film from Finland. Especially a horror movie from Finland. After viewing the movie, it was a solid horror movie.

Director Hanna Bergholm understands how to make the movie engaging with some interesting writing aspects of the movie and including some really amazing disturbing make up for the costumes. The set production is really colorful and bright. Making the feeling of the world is like some kind of fantasy. The musical background fits the tone pretty well and the performances from the cast is pretty good. Even the child actors did a pretty good job. Usually I am picky on child actors but here they did a pretty good job. There's a good level of decent gore and tense presented in this movie which helps add the movies tone and thrills. While being said, there's still potential that was missed and wasted.

The characters unfortunately were really uninteresting. Characters are important in order to keep the movie flowing. But here the characters felt really basic and just boring to witness. The main character is pretty bland with basic purpose and the main characters mother is highly unlikeable and annoying throughout the movie. Some of the dialogue really felt fake as if an adult had written lines for a kid that no kid would even sound like. The writing itself was already interesting but it never really took advantage of what it wants to be. Instead it decided to go through the basic way to present the story, just like "Jojo Rabbit" where it takes a very interesting subject but instead becomes basic because the filmmaker was trying to be safe.

There are some decent symbolic moments and weird tones provided throughout this movie but it wasn't too strong to carry. Nevertheless, it was still a solid horror movie.

Rating: B-