In recent years, there’s been an influx of movies about the dark truths of motherhood. Last year, Die My Love examined the mental state of a mother dealing with newfound motherhood. And 2024 saw a more comedic take on the difficulties of motherhood with Nightbitch, where a mother gets in tune with her animalistic side. This year is no different, with Nightborn premiering at the 30th Fantasia Film Festival. Hanna Bergholm’s second feature is a bleak fairy tale about the horrors of motherhood.
Releasing on July 31st on Shudder, Nightborn is already a hit with audiences. Winning the top prize, the prestigious Cheval Noir, at the Fantasia International Film Festival this year. Bergholm’s newest film takes place in the deep forests of Finland with a young couple, Saga (Heidi Haarla) and her husband Jon (Rupert Grint). Their move to Saga’s childhood home poses many challenges for the pair. Jon is focused on the upkeep and remodeling for the arrival of their first child. The house was in a fixable state of decay, but Saga’s memories remained strong. Almost like the house, or the location, was calling to her.
A Mother’s Fear Comes True
Right off the bat, Bergholm injects a heavy emphasis on the foliage around the house being alive. With distant growls of lumbering trees and whispers floating on the breeze. It really helps audiences get into Saga’s mindset as she becomes closer to the land of her family home, something that she’ll desperately need after the gruesome birth of her son, Kuura. When her son doesn’t come out the way she expected, Saga questions whether the stories she was told as a child were true.
Similar to other birth horror films, the depiction of Saga’s pregnancy is raw, and Bergholm doesn’t show Saga snapping back to her old self. Nightborn spends a lot of time with Saga post-birth and explores dark corners of the mind of a mother. One where there are fears of never connecting with your child, or of doing whatever it takes to get them to eat. Though the film takes a more primal avenue, where Saga is seen communicating with her son in ways that would make anyone scratch their head. It’s an effective portrayal, and the film is at its most engaging when it focuses on a mother navigating her postpartum world. Her son isn’t what she expects, with his sensitivity to light and the unkempt dark hair covering him.
Sins of the Father
Though the cruelty that Bergholm crafts for Saga’s character isn’t just at the hands of being a mother, but also a wife. One thing that Nightborn does exceedingly well is the duality between being a mother and a father. While Saga feels like she’s failing as a mother and is clearly struggling, Jon comes across more like a speed bump on her journey of being a mom. He starts out as a sweet, doting husband willing to help, but turns sour as Saga struggles more and more. Seen through his stubbornness in accepting her solutions to their son’s fussing and speaking over her at doctors’ appointments.
At one point during the film, I thought to myself, “Would it kill someone to be nice to her?” Grint is serviceable enough in the role, but he doesn’t do much that stands out. Most of his time is spent at work, or gaslighting his postpartum wife. It’s hard for his character to garner much sympathy, coming off as more whiny than anything. Haarla, on the other hand, is sensational as Saga, and gives a fully committed performance filled with visceral screams and commanding grunts. She goes through bliss, terror, and desperation sometimes in the same scene, making her easy to root for.
Nightborn’s Fight Between Parent & Child
Most of the film’s bloody moments are with Kuura and Saga, and yet again reflect on the lengths mothers go to for their children. Latching onto breastfeed leaves Saga nearly nipple-less and dizzy from a lack of blood. It’s clear that Bergholm wants to point out the stress women’s bodies go through not just during pregnancy, but after as well, and trying to do it all while trying to heal yourself is impossible without the right support. Choosing to make Kuura a faceless and bloodthirsty infant was the right choice, and when Saga doesn’t think she’s connecting with him, we understand because to us he’s just a faceless demon child terrorizing his mother.
For those looking for a deeper look into the film’s folklore, there’s more to be explored. What starts out as an almost mystical aspect of the film loses its intrigue the longer it goes on. There are moments in Nightborn where Bergholm goes over the same story points to make sure audiences don’t forget. Such as Saga’s family having a past with the forest through her grandmother, and while it’s an interesting thread, there’s far too little emphasis on the power of the forest beyond that. Especially when the mention of fantastical creatures and utterances of evil litter the conversation around their child.
The Beautiful Horror That Is Nightborn
Visually, Nightborn shines the most in the outdoor scenes. The lush greens of the forest breathe life into a home long neglected. Like the home was cut off from the world around it, but the forest kept on thriving. Pietari Peltola, the film’s cinematographer, brings us right into the eerie and almost ancient world that lives within the film. Cold rooms with a lack of warm light fill her home, creating a home that feels as dark as the thought that Saga is having. Peltola creates the perfect claustrophobic atmosphere to pair with Saga’s mind.
Bergholm’s second feature is one that shows a promising career in female-centered stories. It highlights the pain mothers experience in nearly every imaginable corner. While the film loses some of the folklore that makes it special, it’s still a solid entry into the motherhood horror genre that is only rising in popularity.
