A One Mann’s Movies review of “Hatching” (2022). (Original title “Pahanhautoja”)
This was the latest in Cineworld’s “Secret Screening” where the audience don’t know what the film will be before it runs. What would it be? “See How They Run”? “Don’t Worry Darling”? When the audience found out it was the subtitled Finnish horror film “Hatching”, there was a mass exodus for the doors! Probably about 50% of the (pretty full) screening left! Shame on them! For they actually missed what I thought to be an engrossing little Scandi-horror-lite.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) is a young teen living in what appears to be an idyllic Finnish suburb. She lives with her vlogging mother (Sophia Heikkilä), father (Jani Volanen) and younger brother Matias (Oiva Ollila). But under the glossy surface there are ripples of discord. And when Tinja makes a strange discovery in the woods her teenage years are about to take a dark turn.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen, Reino Nordin, Oiva Ollila.
Directed by: Hanna Bergholm.
Written by: Ilja Rautsi, based on a story by Hanna Bergholm.
Twitter Handles: #Hatching
“Hatching” Review:
Positives:
- This is a movie that artfully delivers on its premise. We probably all have a vision of the perfect Scandinavian life: saunas; nice cosy wooden houses; a hot blonde wife/hunky reliable husband; perfect blonde daughter; intellectual son; fine clothes; fine fixtures and fittings. And the movie fills in all those expectations wonderfully at the start with the cheesy “Isn’t our life simply wonderful” blog videos. But we very quickly get into alien territory with the arrival of a destructive crow, and a darker side to the mother emerges. From that point, you never quite know where the story is going to go: what is real; what is just a metaphor for the changes that the pubescent Tinja’s mind and body are going though.
- There’s an emerging realisation of where the story is going (no spoilers here). The relationship with the creature brought to mind strongly where ET and Elliott would have ended up if ET had been a malignant little f***! I was also reminded of the splendid “A Monster Calls” – where the creature is a manifestation of all the mental trauma that Tinja is having the process under the thrall of her overbearing mother. It was also reminiscent of Prano Bailey-Bond’s wonderful “Censor” in the way the sense of disquiet is progressively ramped up.
- The acting of the lead females here is exemplary. Siiri Solalinna is terrific as the troubled teen and Sophia Heikkilä as her mother makes for a towering and terrifying middle-class monster. Despite her monstrous side, she also manages to be super-sexy in the role, leaving to your imagination the scene where she has a massive screaming orgasm within earshot of her quivering daughter! In a quieter part, Jani Volanen also does a good job as the father. A scene where he quietly reverses out of Tinja’s bedroom on seeing ‘tell-tale’ blood marks on her bed is a tour-de-force in acting.
Negatives:
- As with all horror, this will not be for everyone. It’s also clear (from the exodus to the doors as the first title came up) that some ‘moviegoers’ (I refuse to call them cinephiles!) are totally allergic to foreign language films with subtitles. (Their absolute loss, the small-minded losers!) But there are some body-horror scenes in here that will disturb some viewers, and also the deaths of some animals which some may want to avoid. But otherwise, there is a lot of tension but little outright horror (with a capital H). (I am SO SO grateful I didn’t take the illustrious Mrs Movie Man to this one. Else I would have had to follow her out of the cinema and miss it!)
- By definition, when you have a ‘creature-feature’, the animation team have a tough job to create a convincing vision. What they came up with was alien and grotesque, and I personally think they (the teams led by special effects make-up supervisor Conor O’Sullivan and creature effects supervisor Gustav Hoegen) did a great job on what was (presumably) a very low budget. But it wasn’t so for everyone: the early stages of the hatchling proved hilarious to some very loud woman in our audience. And a bath scene also had her in stitches. That does somewhat spoil the mood!
- Does the film hammer home its metaphors a tad too firmly, particularly in the last scene? Perhaps. But because you’ve been working through the plot yourself, I found there to be an intellectual satisfaction to closing out that loop. And it’s a scene that many a parent of teenage girls will relate to!
Summary Thoughts on “Hatching”:
This proved to be a really interesting little horror film, beautifully shot (cinematography by Jarkko T. Laineby), fitting and well chosen music (by Stein Berge Svendsen) and – above all – skillfully directed and paced by Hanna Bergholm. Bergholm doesn’t play her cards too fast. She lets the direction of the story wash over you with a “see don’t tell” approach that I loved. Amazingly, this is Bergholm’s debut feature film! So she goes very firmly onto my “one to watch” list for the future.
Any good movie will stay with you long after you’ve seen it. And this is one such movie. I’d personally love it to get some Oscars attention. And I thought it was so well done that it might be a contender for my “Films of the Year” top-10 list come December time.
Recommended, if you like your horror.
Trailer for “Hatching”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk9qMZQaHDY .
This is a great trailer if you’ve seen the film – nicely edited and with a great creepy soundtrack. But it gives too much of the plot away, particularly with some scenes towards the end. The first minute is safe to give you a view of the quality of the movie without giving much away.
