A24 continues its trend of pumping out weird flicks that don’t neatly fit into one genre with the new Brandy-led film The Front Room. The Front Room was written and directed by Max and Sam Eggers, younger brothers to frequent A24 collaborator Robert Eggers. Max and Sam have a unique style here but ultimately The Front Room fails to live up to its big brothers counterparts.

The Front Room has been billed and marketed as a religious horror film in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby or Hereditary. In reality, the film is closer to a dark comedy with juvenile toilet humor. Think Throw Momma From the Train meets Jackass. The film may be short on spooks but it is high on concept and religious imagery. Pair that with some stellar performances and the result is this weird, unsettling, but ultimately satisfying tale of the world’s worst Monster-in-Law.

The Circle of Life

The main plot of The Front Room follows Brandy as Belinda and her husband Norman. Belinda is pregnant with their second child after her first pregnancy ended in stillbirth and the family is struggling financially. Belinda works as a non-tenured professor, teaching anthropology to a group of disinterested students, and her husband is a struggling lawyer. The main conflict arises when Norman’s father dies, Belinda loses her job, and his stepmother graciously offers the family her entire inheritance in exchange for room and board.

Kathryn Hunter plays Solange, the unwelcome stepmother, and her performance is absolutely unhinged. The second Solange enters the film a sense of dread builds in the score and the house. Solange is an old curmudgeon hell-bent on saving her future granddaughter from hell and causing havoc throughout the family’s house. There is no empathy for the character as Solange soils furniture and commits juvenile acts of terror.

Mirrors and Religious Imagery

Throughout The Front Room, you’ll notice a lot of crosses and a lot of mirrors. The film lays the imagery on thick with the filmmakers taking every chance they get to portray the shadow of a cross or frame a scene in a mirror. All the religious imagery is a nice touch which adds some creep but these themes are never fully realized. The mirrors throughout the film however add to the overall theme The Front Room is attempting to portray.

Throughout the film, Solange refers to Belinda as both Belinder and a bad mother. During her stay in the titular Front Room, Solange grows more and more infantile. What starts as simply incontinence quickly escalates to loud cries, helplessness, and even biting. Belinda acts as an uncaring caregiver to the old Daughter of the Confederacy while attempting to retain her sanity through pregnancy.

The movie attempts to show us how life is a mirror. We start life in diapers and end life in diapers. An old woman completely infantile, unable to control even the most basic of human functions, needs constant care much like a baby. The Front Room loses the thread though as there is no redeeming quality for this old woman. She is a racist religious nut causing havoc and mischief throughout the house. Even Mother Terresa would have a hard time caring for Solange and nine-month pregnant Brandy is having none of it.

Not Quite Horror, Not Quite Comedy

The Front Room exists in a weird place for A24. This isn’t the first time they’ve billed a non-genre film as a horror movie and it hasn’t historically worked in its favor. Ari Aster’s third film Beau is Afraid leans much harder into comedy than his first two films but A24 marketed the thing as the new master of horror’s greatest scare-fest. A24 puts a lot of heavy lifting on the names of Eggers and Brandy trying to make this movie feel like another elevated horror flick. It’s not, and that’s fine, but it may rub some moviegoers the wrong way.

It’s a tough predicament to be in as the film does have a strong script, even if it relies too heavily on toilet humor. But there are enough horror elements and religious set dressing to cut a trailer that promises to live up to A24’s horror movie pedigree. It’s a safe marketing tactic but in the end may not have bode well for the film. Especially in a year that’s been chock full of excellent horror movies.

Unrealized Themes

The Front Room is a decent time at the movies and a strong film but I can’t help but shake there is something lying deeper beneath the surface. The film never outright explains anything and while there is a twist at the end, it’s not the supernatural one the film signposts.

Throughout the movie, there are weird dream-like sequences, uncomfortable touches from prayer groups, and an abundance of speaking in tongues. All of these religious themes and imagery ultimately go nowhere leaving the audience to wonder is Solange just a nut or is there something we missed.

Great films leave you wanting more and The Front Room does that. There are multiple interpretations of the ending that I won’t spoil but I hope audiences are keen and entertained enough to scour the film for clues. The Front Room may not be the horror movie we were promised, but it is a great film and a fun return for every millennial’s favorite Cinderella.