🐌 Slow Horror 🐌 | 💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gem #116 | 🏆 2023 Ranked

"Eat this, and you will truly be free."

In my Mother's Skin is an absolute success, but you can't really tell this from the first 45 minutes. The latter half reminds me of The Boy Behind the Door meets Tigers are not Afraid in Hell. It's important to know at the outset that when this film gets dark, it gets very dark indeed.

This is about as slow-burn as it gets, but the last half hour is a shocking bloodbath that crosses boundaries that I suspect could not be crossed today in an R-rated Hollywood film. I'm not seeing other people having this reaction, so perhaps I'm wrong, but my sense is that the ending could be very upsetting to some young viewers, so keep that in mind. It may look like just a fairytale, but it goes a lot further than you might expect.

I'm very excited to be recommending this one. I had seen it on a top 50 2023 horror list for a good while and just let myself be put off by some of the reviews. I expect that some people really would not enjoy the majority of the film, but I think some others may have tuned out due to the very long lead-up to the horrific meat of the film.

The most impressive part is the performance of two lead actors, both children, who do a remarkable job here dealing with extremely dark material. It is hard to imagine putting a child of that age through acting of the sort that was required here, at least in any mainstream film, and Felicity Kyle Napuli's performance alone makes In My Mother's Skin worth seeing. It reminds me of All the Moons, which somehow I only stumbled on this year, which is carried by Haizea Carneros's performance. It's very different acting that is required, but we are getting a lot of strong young actors in challenging and creative roles.

There is a lot to find enchanting about the film in general, including its first half. It's not only good as horror. The wooded environment and the estate that make up the film's setting are enjoyable to explore with the children, and the film has a cultural feeling I'm unfamiliar with, not knowing that part of the world.

I recommend giving this a shot, even if you don't usually like horror with this long build-up. There is some grim material that is not to be missed that more than makes up for the time spent getting there.

Unequivocally recommended to anyone who can make it through a film with this sort of pacing. This was such a wonderful surprise.

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