Motherly (2021) User Reviews

Not bad

[samwillis-86658 · 6/10 · 8 December 2021]

Better than I thought it would be. The acting was pretty good all around. However, the storyline was predictable. I knew when I watched the trailer. Just hoping I was wrong.

Still, not bad at all.

Motherly

[marinaant-36217 · 6/10 · 20 November 2021]

It was really nice I never thought I was gonna like it but wow it had some nice plot twists and I didn't know how it was gonna end I couldn't predict it. The girl playing the daughter was really getting on my nerves though I'm not gonna spoil anything, but overall the acting was good enough and the plot as well, it is one of the few watchable horror movies of 2021.

a little gem...

[ops-52535 · 6/10 · 18 November 2021]

For the viewer that like some small bonussurprises in the end. Its the silent killer that roams the house in a cat and mouse game of lie and deceift.

Its a lowcost production with of the hook actors, that does a pretty decent job after all, there are too much monologue and some clutching flashbacks in the start that may come to loose some viewers. But the production is ok, a bit overwhelming on the loud ambient score that lurks the background like a tummy full of laksantia.

A well chosen location, where there are loads of hideaways possible and it all turns out freekin evil in the end. The grumpy old man gives a small recommend.

Good start, then a big plunge

[ofumalow · 5/10 · 17 November 2021]

This little thriller starts out well, with a mother and daughter sequestered in the countryside--which the latter is growing bored and petulant about, while the former is clearly afraid of whatever they're running from, which we assume is a violent husband/father. Eventually there are intruders, and this home invasion soon changes the dynamic of who did what and who should be afraid of whom. Those factors keep changing, and "Motherly's" plot twists would be decent enough if it didn't make a big mistake. I won't spoil that here, but suffice it to say the script eventually places far too great a burden on the sole child actor, who can't pull it off (no one her age could), and it turns the whole thing ridiculous. The film ends on notes that are both mean-spirited and cheesy, really destroying its modest but real initial potential. It's all decently crafted and acted, and resourceful considering a low budget. But when a plot goes this far off the rails, it takes the whole movie down with it.

Definitely a decent flick to stop on

[wlevyiii · 6/10 · 25 October 2022]

With all the TOTAL JUNK movies constantly being released this was a good watch! I figured out the ending before the big reveal but it was still a nice plot! The acting was good although the mom totally got on my nerves. Add another flick with the dumbest cop ever. I get sick of movies portraying cops as buffoons but this guy was definitely a loser. And where was the rest of the police force after he called them? That house must have been 50 miles from civilization. I'm not sure how realistic the plot actually was given the holes, but it was entertaining and better than most movies I watch. Anyone who rated it extremely low is not being fair...

Will keep your interest

[okpilak · 5/10 · 26 June 2023]

I take a middle position on the rating. Kate is writing a book, stuck in a small farmhouse out in the sticks. Her daughter Beth has just celebrated her ninth birthday, but seems sullen about it. We find that there was a gruesome murder of a child, and Kate and Beth are in the witness protection program, the husband convicted of the murder of the child. We are shown in flashbacks bits and pieces of what happened. Meanwhile, there seems to be sinister things happening around the house. Kate sees danger everywhere, while Beth doesn't, and simply says the house is haunted. The rest of the movie may be standard movie fair, while others may appreciate the bits and twists in it. Most will remember the acting of the Beth character.

Not great, but not bad.

[atwiththestars · 6/10 · 5 June 2022]

The first half was very slow & boring even though the writing, acting & direction are perfectly fine. The second half is pretty good. If you can make it through the first half, then the second half is worth the wait.

Waste of time

[tbridges-51557 · 3/10 · 21 February 2022]

Watch this during the next pandemic when they quit making new garbage.

Honestly, mom protects murderous child until child murders her.

Now no one is left to protect child. Mom, you wasted your life and got additional people killed.

Entertaining?

Nope!

Brilliant we thriller!

[braids-10242 · 7/10 · 18 November 2021]

What can I say, wasn't expecting that. Top class acting, plenty of blood don't want to say to much more in case I spoil it. You might ask why only 7 stars but I have noticed that many people get carried away when awarding stars in their reviews, you only give 10 stars to the likes of SEVEN,SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION,GOODFELLAS and many more.

Everyone in this turd should've died

[draftdubya · 1/10 · 8 January 2022]

The adults were just stupid. You know who the real villain was in the first 5 minutes. Witness protection officers are just a joke in this. The cop guy calls them and tell they have a possible home invasion, but no one didn't even bother to call the local cops. The dead girl's parents were just as bad.

I really enjoyed it

[westpointmajorette · 9/10 · 18 December 2021]

Whether you think you've guessed the ending or not there are still surprises that will get you. If you enjoy thrillers/psychological movies you'll enjoy this. The setting is nice to look at and the acting is good. Deserves a much higher rating on IMDb.

Motherly

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 15 November 2021]

Kate (Lora Burke, Lifechanger) and her daughter Beth live alone in an isolated house in the woods, but something dark is intruding into the hide-and-go-seek games they're playing on Beth's ninth birthday. It turns out that they're in this home in witness protection, as Beth's father may have killed a young girl. Or maybe Kate did it. Or maybe the vigilantes who appear and capture Kate did it. But people are going to get their nails ripped out and lives are going to be destroyed if it means discovering the truth.

Craig David Wallace and co-writer Ian Malone worked on the fun series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, but this film comes from a much darker place. I honestly don't want to reveal all that much of what happens next, except to say that no one in this film is trustworthy other than they all want what is best for their children. And that takes makes them manipulative and destructive beyond belief.

Kristen MacCulloch is great here just as she was in a completely different role as the central villain (well, perhaps even worse than the hero) in Psycho Goreman.

thumbs down

[Horror_Flick_Fanatic · 3/10 · 13 February 2022]

Good premise but poor execution. The film is too predictable because it relies on overused horror tropes everyone has seen a million times before. The screenplay isn't particularly good, and neither was the acting. So, it's a thumbs down from me.

Been Done Before

[Foutainoflife · 5/10 · 19 November 2021]

This isn't bad. It's just familiar. There's a lot of foreshadowing that was too obvious and took away from the ending. Not awful. Not amazing. It was an average watch for my night on the couch.

The movie starts a bit slow, but about halfway through it starts to pick-up.

[gunn-wrights · 7/10 · 21 May 2023]

It's like a 'who-dun-it' film, where there's questions about missing/dead children - both from today, and from decades ago. The Father of the main family is already serving a long jail sentence as he confessed to killing a child recently, leaving the mother and their little girl alone together. Of course the girl is seemingly having issues with her Father being gone, but Mom tries to do her best.

From the middle to the end there are situations of blame from the living parents, as well as the haunted house. As that plays out - more information is learned, and some confessions are made. ENDING WAS GREAT - I gave it an extra star just for that! That's all I'm saying without spoiling anything.

Definitely Recommend.

Different, but also.....not

[queenrobinsnest-25324 · 5/10 · 15 December 2021]

I gave this 5 stars, because it's quite a good idea for a story, and the mum is a good actress, only thing is that it's totally obvious what the outcome/twist will be.

I didn't enjoy watching this film as I was distracted and annoyed from the start at how horrible the kid is. She should spend the whole movie on the naughty step. I suppose it does make a change from the usual goody goody kids in American films, but she so rude it's actually annoying that the mum doesn't spend the first half shouting at her for being a total brat.

the premise has something

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 22 July 2022]

Kate is celebrating her daughter Beth's birthday. There is only the two of them on a remote farm. Beth's father was apparently a killer and they're in witness protection. A couple breaks in and takes them hostage. They accuse Kate of actually doing the killing.

This is a horror indie thriller. I guess. It's not really a horror. The thrills are not really that thrilling. This movie needs to start with Beth solidly as the lead. It should not be Kate's story. Kate is a bit too complicated. I'd rather not dig into that too much. This is all about the twist. It's a great twist but it's not done well enough here. This movie needs bigger actors. It needs some re-arranging.

Slow paced, monotonous nonsense...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 7 February 2022]

I was lured into watching the 2021 thriller "Motherly" given the movie's cover/poster. And yeah, I found that to be rather interesting and nicely constructed. Had I heard about "Motherly" prior to watching it in 2022? No, not even a single word. So I didn't know what to expect from writers Ian Malone and Craig David Wallace.

And I will say that "Motherly" started out alright, but then the movie quickly fell into a monotonous pace and trot, from where it never actually recovered. So you are not in for a grand experience of thriller cinema here. In fact, the pacing of the storyline rather took away the majority of enjoyment from the movie.

The storyline was just too mundane and bland for my liking, and the slow monotonous pacing didn't really help one bit. So I wasn't particularly entertained or impressed with director Craig David Wallace's 2021 movie. Sure, I managed to endure it to the end, but I wasn't particularly enjoying the movie.

And while we are talking about endings, then there is a surprise twist to "Motherly". Was it a good or bad ending? Well, that it certainly up for debate and something of a personal preference, of course. I wasn't particularly impressed with the ending, though it was a surprise ending that I didn't see coming. But I have to admit that I just didn't care about the movie or the characters in it enough to actually be swooped away by the surprise ending.

One thing that "Motherly" has working for it is the acting performances. Despite of having a subpar script and storyline to work with, then the acting performances in the movie were actually quite good. And that has to count for something, right?

For a thriller then "Motherly" was a swing and a miss. And my rating of director Craig David Wallace's movie lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

pretty decent movie

[buckeyefanohiostate · 6/10 · 2 December 2022]

First this movie is pretty good, the acting tho not the best is passable ,i enjoyed the few characters we do get are pretty interesting you can see why everyone does what they do in this movie thier reasons are made very clear. The movie def wraps its self up in a very different way, i watch a ton of these kinds of movies so i spoted the twist a mile away but i still enjoyed it! Its kinda funny it seems like evey single young child is wrote as the same trope, disrespectful, mean, spoiled, ect you know the trope lol maybe i just started paying attension but that spoiled kid is in just about every single movie i watch lol!! Overall tho id give this movie a 6 out of 10 it kept me entertained the whole time!

Can I get another advance?

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 15 December 2021]

Kate (Lora Burke) and her daughter Beth (Tessa Kozma) live isolated in a farm house in some sort of witness protection program. The neighbor girl was murdered in their closet and her husband Brad went to prison for it. There is a home break-in scene which makes everything clear (to any fan of the genre) long before the so-called twist ending is revealed.

This isn't a bad film unless you figure things out too early.

Guide; F-word. No sex or nudity.

Twisty

[westsideschl · 9/10 · 16 June 2022]

The usual setup of females held hostage in a remote house, but in this case the background and ending denouement were creatively different than what we usually see. Acting was good.

Not really horror

[mailtaskservice · 6/10 · 25 November 2021]

A movie about murders and question who is the real murderer. Not really story nor investigating type.

A little bit no sense and a little no realism.

Lack of interesting moments and murders movie scenes.

Would not recommend to watching cinemas but rather watch it on nothing else to watch at home.

Ready or Not!!!

[lavatch · 5/10 · 19 May 2023]

"Motherly" was a depressing combination of whodunnit and horror genres. The most interesting character was Kate, the deeply troubled mother of young Beth.

Kate is apparently a published crime novelist who is living with her daughter in a farmhouse as part of a witness protection program. A police detective named Hal looks in on them, and there may be a romantic connection between Kate and Hal. Whatever the case, the mother and daughter appear to be living in near complete isolation from the world.

Kate's ex-husband Brad dies by his own hand in jail. He was convicted of killing a little girl. But the parents of the child track down Kate at the farmhouse. Their investigation leads them to think Kate was the killer. Chaos ensues leaving a stack of bodies. Flashbacks allow us to reconstruct a game of hide-and-seek gone sour. Ready or not!

The strength of the film was the character of Kate, who was living in constant fear. The question is why? Although the pacing was sluggish and the film was far too violent, it was nonetheless a compelling story of a mother who will stop at nothing to protect her child.

Not the worse movie. I don't regret watching.

[danielserrano-19027 · 5/10 · 14 August 2023]

So this wasn't the worse movie I've seen, but it definitely wasn't the best. The acting wasn't bad, some of the camera shots were really good, but the storyline I felt was very weak. The double twist at the end was decent considering my opinion on the storyline itself. I try my best with these suspense movies to have a clear, open mind, so I don't figure out the twist at the end. This movie was a little difficult to do that with. I wish they delved a bit deeper on the characters and their backgrounds specifically the daughter. I feel for a "psychological thriller", the movie was way too short. I don't regret watching it, but I wouldn't freely recommend. If you stumble upon the movie like I did-then sure, I think it's worth a watch.

It's a good adrenaline booster

[dannilippertlarsen · 6/10 · 4 May 2024]

I was surprised by this movie! It reached higher than my expectations. I went into it being sceptical. But it delivered.

The acting was great, the mother did a good job, and the child lacked a bit, but it wasn't distracting the story. The other characters did well.

Good use of horror elements at the start. Such as suspense with music and acting. The last bit didn't build much on the same horror elements.

Decent camera work with good composure. Nothing extraordinary.

The screenplay is written well in terms of character choices. In horror movies, characters usually make stupid decisions. I found this movie an exception, with every choice backed up by something.

In terms of the plot, it was decent enough, with some twists throughout, but they flopped it halfway. The movie does play with your thoughts well, with the use of the mother's book, the flashbacks and whatnot. But it makes a mistake halfway through by showing the viewer what truly happens, therefore spoiling the entire ending. If that isn't enough, they don't bring it up until the end. It tries to make another statement later, which comes off as messy because they've shown what happened before that. I would have waited until the end with that sequence and instead shown what's already in the viewer's thoughts, a false confirmation.

Give this movie a shot, you won't be disappointed. It's a well-built movie that lasts about 1 hour and 20 minutes.