Shudder does not just stream horror movies, it also supports indie filmmakers working in the genre through its Shudder Originals brand. On Friday, it debuts the latest Adams Family film, "Mother of Flies," an occult horror film.
Meet the Adams Family
They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, but this Adams Family spells its name with just one "d" and makes horror films completely outside the studio system. They don't need Hollywood because they can do everything themselves, and without the constraints of studio executives looking over their shoulders.
They created Wonder Wheel Productions, an artistic collaboration between Toby Poser, John Adams and daughters Lulu and Zelda Adams. They embody a DIY attitude, where they do pretty much everything — from writing, directing and starring in their films to editing, scoring and doing effects.
They began making films in 2010 when they bought a camera and hit the road to make their first feature, "Rumblestrips," about a family coping with loss, love and an impending prison sentence.
"Mother of Flies" marks the third film Shudder has picked up from them, the other two being "Hellbender" and "Hell Hole." I discovered their films in 2022 when Film Geeks (a programming group I volunteer with) screened "Hellbender" as part of Secret Morgue's Witches Night film marathon. It turned out to be a favorite of the attendees.
'Mother of Flies'
Their latest, "Mother of Flies," not only draws on the allure of the wilderness around them in upstate New York, but also on personal battles with cancer.
The story follows Mickey (Lulu Adams), a young woman who is facing a terminal diagnosis. She has exhausted all her medical options but is not yet ready to accept that she only has months to live. So she decides to try something unconventional. She heads into the woods with her father, Jake (John Adams), to seek a possible cure from a mysterious recluse named Solveig (Toby Poser).
Jake wants to be supportive, but he is also extremely skeptical of Solveig's ability to help. But Mickey is determined and insists, "I want to do this. I know it sounds like a scam. I doubt it will even work. But I gotta try."
But trying means subjecting herself to three days of Solveig’s extreme rituals of death magic. And, as the tagline for the film promises, "Every cure has its cost."
One of the locals tells Jake that Solveig is a witch who "can trick death." But is she also tricking a desperate woman? "Mother of Flies" evolves into a film about faith, magic and science — where they intersect and where they conflict. It is also a film about grief and loss.
The Adams' films tend to embrace the occult, the mysterious and the other. And Solveig's backstory encompasses all three. And the rituals prove to be not just about curing Mickey of her cancer, but also about Solveig possibly finding a cure for what ails her soul.
Written and directed by the husband-and-wife team of John Adams and Poser, along with their daughter Zelda, "Mother of Flies" is easily their most stunningly beautiful film. Nature is depicted in vividly saturated colors that pop off the screen. Solveig's house seems to grow out of the forest, with branches forming bedposts. Mickey's room has some light and greenery, but Jake's looks dark and creepy, yet still somehow beautiful.
In the press notes, they state, "As a family whose personal narratives serve as fuel for our imaginations, it was only a matter of time when we faced our stark history — pretty much every family’s history — with cancer. 'Mother of Flies' offered us a creative avenue to reclaim these dark stories, these very personal, ugly truths, and to transform them into something viscerally new, resurgent, alive — and yet, inevitably, still brutal."
So, in contrast to the beauty of nature, the film also delivers visceral body horror. In a sense, cancer is a form of body horror here — real body horror
By working outside the mainstream, the Adams Family has been able to create a unique body of work, always pushing themselves to try new things or ramp up productions. "Mother of Flies" has been on the festival circuit, but it is a shame it is not getting a theatrical release, because even on a small screen it looks amazing. So check out "Mother of Flies" for truly indie and exciting genre filmmaking.
