You Are Not My Mother Review | Road Rash Reviews

3 star disturbing and dark psychological thriller.

You Are Not My Mother is a 2022 Irish folk horror/thriller deeply steeped in Irish folklore. It is written and directed by Kate Dolan in her very impressive feature debut.

It is available in the UK in cinemas and on Digital Platforms from 8th April 2022 courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

“She said something in the car today. She said ‘I can’t do this any more.'”

Char (Hazel Doupe – Michael Inside) is a bright young teenager with an excellent academic record, who struggles with bullies as a result of being moved forward a year. Her home life is not so great, her family have something of a reputation locally, of which Char is not yet aware. She lives with her mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken – The Lodgers) who suffers from depression and her grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie – 7 Days in Entebbe) who tries to look after them.

Their lives are thrown into chaos one day when Char is forced to ask her mother for a lift to school. All seems well until the walk home when she spots the car abandoned on the Green with the door open and no sign of Angela. The police are called and Char’s Uncle Aaron (Paul Reid – The Ritual) comes to help out. They go out looking for her but to no avail.

It’s not long before she returns in the night, but Char soon begins to notice differences in her behavior. She wears a dress, she cooks food (although Rita destroys it before it can be eaten) and her whole demeanor changes, going from happy to manic at the flick of a switch.

Char and her new friend Suzanne (Jordanne Jones – Rebellion) initially put it down to her meds, but as she becomes more aggressive, could there be something more sinister afoot?

“Mam, where did you go when you left your car on the Green?”

You Are Not My Mother is a well written film, with some excellent acting performances. Tense and nerve wracking from the start, it uses the everyday backdrop of a housing estate in Dublin as a counterpoint to the sinister goings on, making it seem all the more plausible. The sense of otherworldliness is tangible which is impressive in such a mundane setting.

The uneasy relationship between mother and daughter is well handled and relatable and the special effects, when they happen, are pretty good. The whole thing feels very creepy and while it’s certainly more a thriller than out and out horror, it’s still pretty scary.

A good film and well worth a watch.

“You are now in a liminal space. An in between place. Why were these sites considered sacred? These thin places were seen as a space between our world and the other world.”