Hatching (2022) User Reviews

Weird, creepy and pretty awesome

[FeastMode · 7/10 · 5 May 2022]

This is a well-made movie all around. I was invested throughout. It's not so much scary as it is creepy and psychological. And it's filled with metaphors, which doesn't always work for me but definitely does here. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes this subgenre of horror. (1 viewing, 5/4/2022)

SPOILERS

At first I was going to give this 6 stars because I was disappointed in the ending. The movie made me hate most of the characters surrounding Tinja, and I REALLY wanted the creature to kill them in gruesome ways, especially the worst mother ever. I thought that's what it was leading to. But I don't like telling a movie what it should do. I like consuming what the artist gives me.

I also didn't fully understand what they were going for with the final shot of the creature becoming the new Tinja, but it finally clicked when I got home (at least I think). The way I interpret it is, this is the new, damaged version of Tinja, caused by the physical and psychological damage inflicted on her by her mother. She is a different, more hollow version of the person she could have naturally become if she grew up in a more supportive household. I like that.

Hatch, Match, Dispatch...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 3 November 2022]

Tinja's going through a bit of trauma, after mother killed a harmless naive fauna, now her innocence is migrating, there's a change accelerating, and there's nowhere she can run, or even hyde. The transition takes a wild and angry path, leaves her screeching with a vile and angry wrath, very tricky to conceal, makes her do things not ideal, as the feathers fly, becoming a bloodbath.

The cause and effect of parenting on the blank pages of a pre-adolescence young lady who struggles to come to terms with the ever changing physical and psychological side of evolving and growing up. Brilliantly performed and presented, anything but a horror flick, unless of course, you're currently riding the wave of change yourself (or have done).

Shell shock

[nikhil7179 · 7/10 · 19 May 2022]

This warped fairy tale from Finland hits the ground running with a wonderful opening scene that really sets the tone.

A perfect family (husband, wife, young son and daughter) enjoys a perfect moment in the perfect living room of their perfect home.

But then, an uninvited guest makes an appearance.

Like a Poe-esque harbinger of doom, a jet black raven swoops in through an open window and destroys this idyllic tableau of domestic bliss.

And then things get really strange.

Hatching is essentially a coming-of-age story, a little like ET, if it was directed by Ari Aster instead of Steven Spielberg.

With great performances by Sophia Heikkila as the selfie-stick wielding stage mom and her long suffering daughter, played by Sirii Solalinna, this is a very promising debut feature from Hanna Bergholm.

Uncanny, unsettling and unpredictable.

This was an outstanding horror experience...

[paul_haakonsen · 7/10 · 17 May 2022]

I never had heard about this 2022 Finnish horror movie titled "Pahanhautoja" (aka "Hatching"). But of course with it being a new horror movie, then I just had to sit down and watch it as I happened to stumble upon it.

And color me impressed. Writers Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi definitely put together a very unique and interesting storyline here. I will say that "Pahanhautoja" was certainly unlike any other horror movie I have seen before, and I have seen quite a lot, and I mean that in a good way.

The storyline told in "Pahanhautoja" is really extraordinary. It is rather peculiar and bizarre storyline, and I will say that it was a stroke of creative thinking and writing from Hanna Bergholm and Ilja Rautsi. This is definitely a movie that you don't want to miss out on, especially if you are a horror aficionado like myself.

The acting performances in the movie are good. And while it is a rather small cast ensemble, then the actors and actresses put on good performances and carry the movie quite nicely. And it was a treat to watch them bring the movie to life on the screen. Now, I am not overly familiar with Finnish cinema, so these were not actors and actresses that I was familiar with before this movie.

Something that really impressed me was the special effects in "Pahanhautoja". Wow. Just wow! I was blown away by the realism and the attention to detail. It was really amazing to see the special effects brought to life on the screen, and the creature effects were just phenomenal. Actually I will say, even if you don't enjoy the storyline, then watch the movie for the special effects themselves.

I was genuinely entertained by "Pahanhautoja", and trust me, this is a movie that I will and can warmly recommend you sit down to watch, should you find yourself with the opportunity.

My rating of director Hanna Bergholm's 2022 horror movie "Pahanhautoja" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

Bizarre, and all the better for it perhaps?

[ethanbresnett · 7/10 · 6 September 2022]

Love it or hate it you won't forget this film in a hurry. On balance I think I sort of loved it for the most part.

It is bold and brazen in its approach, unafraid to be unapologetically weird. Alongside the striking imagery there are some interesting themes to pick through, particularly surrounding motherhood and social media, which added an interesting layer to the film.

The plot is as bizarre a plot as I've ever seen. It is full of disturbing imagery, cleverly worked set pieces, and just obscene ideas. Some of it didn't quite work for me but it was a gripping film from start to finish nonetheless. When it starts to feel a bit too out there it quickly whips you back in with a wild scene.

If you like your horror to be more edgy, surreal, and on the down right odd end of the spectrum, then you'll find a lot to enjoy with this one.

Great Finnish body horror

[killercharm · 7/10 · 12 June 2022]

Great Finnish body horror flick about a Tinja, a tween gymnast who finds the nearly dead bird that her mother had supposedly killed. But when the girl finds the barely live bird in the woods it is trying to care for its egg. Tinja puts the bird out of its misery and takes the egg home and hatches it. It comes out as a half bird/half girl monster who loves, and protects, her mama.

Ugly

[mamporrero · 3/10 · 29 May 2022]

I can think of other words to describe this movie, but none of them seem to fit it so well. You'd probably expect the ugliness to come from the body horror aspects - it is, after all, a movie where one of the characters eats vomit off the floor - but that pales in comparison to the disgusting individuals that make up the protagonist's family.

Unfortunately this isn't achieved by any clever or insightful writing, opting instead for a collection of clichés you've no doubt seen a million times before in made-for-TV dramas. Spoiled little brat you just want to punch in the teeth? Check. Sad, spineless husband in a unilateral open relationship? Check. Heartless, superficial mother living vicariously through her child no matter the consequences? Double check. As for the daughter, she lacks any personality outside of being a victim for the audiences to insert as.

On top of being simplistic archetypes, these characters don't evolve or show any depth throughout the story. There's nothing engaging about them, which strongly contributes to the feeling of tedium that permeates through it all. In fact, it is only the literal, physical growth of the creature, coupled with some beautiful puppetry, that provides an incentive to keep watching. Once the creature reaches its final form, what little momentum the film had completely evaporates.

3/10 (0 stars for the story and characters, 3 stars for the special effects)

Incredible Twisted Body Horror Fairy Tale with So Much Heart

[writejake · 9/10 · 23 January 2022]

Best movie I've seen at Sundance so far!

Without giving much away, the story details the experiences of a 12 year old girl (Trinja) dealing with an emotionally manipulative mother projecting her own dreams onto her child. In the perfect blog worth life Trinja must inhabit she has to put down and discard all her emotions and feelings to please her mom.

Everything changes when she discovers the egg and finally finds a place for these feelings. What follows from there is a truly scary story with more heart than anything I may have ever seen.

The metaphors and messages are never heavy handed but stay rooted in this incredible horror story. The director here isn't using horror to convey her message but making an amazing horror movie and then letting the viewer unpack the symbolism of each scene for themselves. It might be a truly flawless movie that I can't wait for the world to see it. It juggles the scary and disturbing between the sweet and tender in a way that must be seen to be believed.

See this movie when and however you can!

Something behind the traditional horror elements of Pahanhautoja

[beybeykestrel · 7/10 · 4 December 2022]

After hearing the good reviews of Hatching (Finnish: Pahanhautoja) (2022), I immediately watched it just now. It's a story about a teenage girl Tinja who decided to hatch an egg from a big crow out of sympathy and then this option changed her family henceforward. At first, it's just like a prototype of the family drama in a horror way as The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), revealing how a perfect and flawless Finnish family became into an ugly, impure and morally degenerated one. From utopia to dystopia, from function to dysfunction. And this type of setting had constantly reappeared in recent horror films. That's why I think the plot of this film is simple and its screenscript can't be praised as the most creative one, but the storytelling, editing and makeup are ok. The acting part is awesome and incredible to make me stunned. Just remain a pity that some visual effects are too fake.

That is, Pahanhautoja has two traditional horror elements like some of horror films: The first one is making/hatching and then destroying the monster, it can be traced from Frankenstein (1931) to Gremlins (1984) or Aliens (1986) (in a different way); the second one is the original human fear of replacement, it shares the same fearful point as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" series. And there's one film close to Pahanhautoja is Splice (2009), including the whole course of hatching, destroying and replacing. The difference between them is that Splice is about sex and propagating, its replacement is about the biologically social-substitution; but Pahanhautoja is about innocent violence and self-disclosure, its replacement is about revealing the subconsciously existence.

On the surface, it seems that Alli is the dark side of Tinja, growing up from Tinja's vomits and negative emotions (her nervousness and anxiety to the gym competition). Look into the deeper aspect, Alli is the symbol of the unconscious mind of Tinja. She reflected in accordance with Tinja's mental status so they shared an action connection with synchronicity. She did all evil deeds that Tinja was afraid but eager to do, causing Tinja to be extremely worried and anxious at all. Like one sharp fragment cruely tearing the hypocritical life, Tinja and Alli had to be appear in the same place at the same time, out of the dark closet, completing their self-disclosure. Hence the interaction of these girls and her family increased the tension of this film.

Though Tinja holded the terrible attitude toward Alli and still blamed her and tried to destroy her, she knew that their life is connecting through an attentive hatching. If Alli died, she died too. In the final scene, Mother incautiously stabbed Tinja and went to a breakdown. Soon the body of Alli sitted up after receiving Tinja's blood and recepting all of her exterior (and interior). The film goes to an open end.

Is she Tinja or Alli ?

Refer to some endings of horror films, I would choose Alli or their life is combining to ONE. Because it's a whole course of replacement and life issues of an individual's life. Just like humans especially fear the one who is alike with their appearances and they have to confront these mental conflicts for good. From the self-disclosure of these two girls to Alli's replacement, it means that Tinja accepted the other side of her and the FEAR soothed and "LIFE" would go on.

The concept of this film is ok. So I score it "7".

this was just okay

[stylss · 5/10 · 30 April 2022]

Interesting, ambitious, creative, weird, and well-made but something just didn't sit right for me. My favorite part was the wallpaper in the girl's room. This wasn't scary but it was gross in a body horror and lots of vomit way. Overall, this was just okay.

Excellent metaphorical story telling

[mammadhmh · 9/10 · 23 June 2022]

This movie is an excellent metaphorical story of a modern family with people ignoring their real life and family for an online presence.

If you dont look at it as just another horror movie full of jump scares and nonsensical decisions of the actors, and instead see the monster character as the secondary personality that the girl developes, its a good movie.

Absolutely disturbing movie

[kyubidzns · 7/10 · 20 April 2023]

The movie is one of the most disturbing movies i have ever seen, and i have seen many movies. The movie starts off by having the mother seemingly kill a crow, because she flew into the house and destroyed some things. The crow is not dead yet though and flies into the woods, where the daughter Tinja finds the crow nearly dead. She finishes the crow off by killing the crow with a stone, which is absolutely disturbing, she completely destroys the head of the crow, really hard to watch. Then Tinja finds an egg next to the crow which she takes with her. We find out that the mother is cheating with a man called Tero. The mother is my most hated character i have ever seen in the least amount of time, i absolutely despise her, she is disgusting!

At least it's not too long.

[Otkon · 4/10 · 19 May 2022]

But I am not entirely sure anything about it is pleasant. The plot is kinda like Pod People if done by someone who really really wants to be David Cronenberg.

The mother is quite a loathsome cliche from the get-go. So I really wasn't too interested in the story almost immediately. The animal killing is off-putting. Plus, there is no comeuppance for the antagonist.

The gymnastics stuff looked realistic though.

Unique Small Film

[JayDeeezy · 7/10 · 7 July 2022]

This was quite an interesting watch. The story slhas a compelling social commentary and there are a lot of themes in this allegory that are pretty heavy to take on. It's very impressive to think that this is the first film for the director as well as the main actor who plays the lead. While most of the cast play their odd roles well, the girl who plays Tinja was so good - she really makes you feel for her.

Aside from the undertones, the horror in this film was pretty bonkers. It tows the line between ridiculous and disturbing a little shakily but you're never bored.

I overall felt like the narrative bit a little more off than it can chew in all the things it was trying to tackle but maybe the ambiguity was the point. This film didn't awe me to the level that it did others but I certainly thought it was a unique one definitely worth a watch for horror fans.

This is a fresh entry into the horror genre that I would consider a must see

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 1 May 2022]

Hatching (2022) is a Finnish Horror movie my wife and I caught in theatres this weekend. The storyline follows a little girl who finds a unique crow and it's egg and decides to bring the egg home and nurture it through birth. She would never guess what comes out of the egg... Meanwhile her parents are going through a divorce and there's troubles at home.

This movie is directed by Hanna Bergholm in her directorial debut and stars Sophia Heikkilä (Invisible Heroes), Jani Volanen (Rumble), Oiva Ollila and Siiri Solalinna.

The storyline for this is very creative and unique. The characters are very well cast and the mother is portrayed perfectly by Heikkilä. The little girl was a bit annoying at times, but there's so much to like about this movie. The creature evolves well over time and they use great special effects to make it happen. The feeding scenes were ultra gross and hard for me to watch. The use of sound effects were excellent and made me cringe in many scenes. There's also some really good jump scenes and sequences that make you uncomfortable. There's a lot going on in this movie.

This is a fresh entry into the horror genre that I would consider a must see. I'd score this a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

Solid Body Type Horror Movie from Finland

[chenp-54708 · 6/10 · 20 April 2022]

Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Finland cinema isn't common for me to see as there isn't many Finland movies that are really widely known in the United States. Having only seen a few films from director Aki Kaurismäki which I really like, I was looking forward to seeing another film from Finland. Especially a horror movie from Finland. After viewing the movie, it was a solid horror movie.

Director Hanna Bergholm understands how to make the movie engaging with some interesting writing aspects of the movie and including some really amazing disturbing make up for the costumes. The set production is really colorful and bright. Making the feeling of the world is like some kind of fantasy. The musical background fits the tone pretty well and the performances from the cast is pretty good. Even the child actors did a pretty good job. Usually I am picky on child actors but here they did a pretty good job. There's a good level of decent gore and tense presented in this movie which helps add the movies tone and thrills. While being said, there's still potential that was missed and wasted.

The characters unfortunately were really uninteresting. Characters are important in order to keep the movie flowing. But here the characters felt really basic and just boring to witness. The main character is pretty bland with basic purpose and the main characters mother is highly unlikeable and annoying throughout the movie. Some of the dialogue really felt fake as if an adult had written lines for a kid that no kid would even sound like. The writing itself was already interesting but it never really took advantage of what it wants to be. Instead it decided to go through the basic way to present the story, just like "Jojo Rabbit" where it takes a very interesting subject but instead becomes basic because the filmmaker was trying to be safe.

There are some decent symbolic moments and weird tones provided throughout this movie but it wasn't too strong to carry. Nevertheless, it was still a solid horror movie.

Rating: B-

Ambitious and intellectual Finnish horror movie

[terhitapiainen · 5/10 · 6 March 2022]

This horror movie was interesting, ambitious and smart.

The basic idea of a young girls's struggle to have acceptance and love from her demanding mother was extremely well made. The leading actress, young Siiri Solalinna does a perfect job. There is something really sinister in the suburb of white immaculate houses surrounded by a dark Finnish forest.

The movie is quite intellectual which makes the film to be rather unattached from the emotional side of the audience. I mean that I did not really care on emotional level what happens but was curious about the plot development the whole time. Accordingly, the ending is satisfactory on intellectual level but not on emotional level.

This is one of the first high-quality horror movies ever made in Finland. I was quite delighted about the freshness of the film. I hope that this is a good start for others to follow. It is always interesting when something new emerges in the film scene here. Kudos to the whole team who made this nice horror film!

Every end is a new beginning

[kosmasp · 10/10 · 10 April 2022]

I am critical of a person I only see smiling - especially when it is clear it is done for the camera. Even more suspicious when the whole family is involved to be or become huge influencers. There are many things hidden here or touched upon. The relationship mother/daughter is the main thing. Not just the obvious one - although I am not sure I knew the gender of the other "kid" when it first appeared.

That being said, this is horror, but in a pure form - while it does mix elements of creature and body horror into the whole process. A really well done movie that is able to avoid cliches (mostly) and be unique in its telling of how not to parent. You may not dislike the father for example, but he is not a good parent or should not be viewed as such.

The acting is incredible, the special effects are great too. The movie delivers on its promise and premise. While I do not talk about plot, I think no one goes in blind to see this one. The poster alone was quite revealing - still there are so many surprises that await you on the journey ... it is a delight. Overbearing love can be suffocating ... no affection can result into a void that needs to be filled ... there is no explanation for the supernatural element of the movie. But we don't need one ... not everything has to make sense. Free your mind of that notion, suspend your disbelief and just go with the flow.

Hatching from its species

[demonblade-37792 · 7/10 · 2 May 2022]

A Finnish film about a young, Finnish girl growing an egg inside her household what turns later into a living nightmare. It has some good jumpscare aspects and horror elements in it as well. Stick around until the ending because I did not expect the ending to go that far. It is a good horror film overall.

Weird, odd, bizarre but ultimately boring

[omendata · 4/10 · 19 May 2022]

I love the Nordiv movie scene and this was looking good from the start with some good puppet animatronics and acting replete with the usual oddball Nordic liberal family values which is often found in Finnish and Swedish dramas but it all went nowhere in the end and soon became tedious and repetitive.

Yes some of it was disgusting, yes there were some deaths but not really much horror and crucially, it was not really very scary and soon became a bit of a body horror bore. Not really much of a horror movie but perhaps this is the Finnish version of horror and maybe they find it very frightening but it seems to me it was just made for shock value and by someone who has some arty pretentions but the premise of the Cuckoo in the nest plotline really fell pretty flat, pretty quickly and in the end lost a star for every 10 of the last dreary, turgid 50 minutes!

It's movies like this that make me love Independent film!

[johnparkerfilm · 8/10 · 4 May 2022]

I watched this little gem at my local Independent Theater last night. When the movie ended and people were walking out of the theater, I noticed that at least half of the people had big smiles on their faces, as did I. I was thinking about this movie the rest of the night and the first thing when I woke up this morning. This is such a gutsy movie to have made and I applaud everyone involved.

The Is a Wet Puppet and I Know That's the Important Part for Certain Audience

[h79423 · 7/10 · 1 March 2022]

... and it's actually an excellent wet puppet at that.

But the film is about more than that. It does have a very topical theme as we have been learning more and more about how manipulative social media can be and how depressing seeing the seemingly perfect lives of others can be. Well, the calculated image the family is forced to maintain by the domineering matriarch might not reflect reality, or from another point of view, living a public life brings it's own burdens.

In the first act we see the mother maintaining the branding she has cultivated for the family on her blog. While shooting more material, a blackbird smashes into the room and causes plenty of chaos before Tinja, our main character, manages to catch it. While Tinja would like to set the bird free, mother just kills it instead and instructs Tinja to get rid of it. Next night, Tinja hears the cawing of the bird, which hadn't died after all and managed to get out of the compost bin. Tinja tries to help it, but can't, so she ends up mercy killing it. To her dismay, she finds an egg in a nest, which she decides to care for. As it happens, it's not just a normal egg. It begins to grow at an amazing speed before hatching into something that breaks Tinja's routine and is the cause for much mayhem.

Nothing here is subtle. You can see the ending coming miles away, but at the same time, this is a topic that needs to be talked about in the media and horror is often the right medium for discussing complicated subjects like this.

The movie feels more like an opening argument than a discussion, but it also manages to not be as simplistic as it might seem early on. The parents are more complex than expected based on the first act. Not much, mind you, but there is more going on than first meets the eye.

I'm not sure the movie quite hits the tone it wishes. There are some fairly comedic scenes, but I'm not sure the levity works in favor of the overall goals of the movie. Also, Tinja doesn't get much of a chance to be funny, so in this sense she feels somewhat out of place in her family.

Overall, I did like it, but I also felt that there is some amount of wasted potential. But the puppet is very cool.

Emminantly Okay

[iboso64 · 5/10 · 3 May 2022]

If this was in English, the rating would be half of what it was. It's just okay. It's there, it moves, and then, it's over. You can read deeper meaning into it if you want, people have told me things about my scripts that I'm pretty certain weren't there, either. Nicely made and acted, but eventually, it's a big so what?.

a bird in the hand

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 27 April 2022]

Greetings again from the darkness. The exceptionally creepy creature leads us to believe this could be a terrific new addition to the creature feature genre. However, director Hanna Bergholm and screenwriter Ilja Rautsi expend so much time and energy on the metaphor aspect that we feel a bit bludgeoned by the end. Despite some wonderful horror elements, we find ourselves thinking, 'alright, already ... just stick with the creepy stuff!'

We open in a beautiful home with pristine design features, where a beautiful mother (Sophia Heikkila) is filming her beautiful family for her vlog, appropriately titled "Lovely Everyday Life." Of course, we all know what happens to perfect little families in movies - the façade cracks. We get our first taste of beautiful mother's not-so-beautiful true nature as she deals with the crow that flies in through an open window and destroys some of the beautiful decorations displayed in the home. Things get interesting when Tinja (a superb Siiri Solalinna), the 12-year-old gymnast daughter, recovers an egg from the intrusive bird's nest and "mothers" it until the egg (the metaphorical façade) cracks open after growing to an enormous size. Out pops a bizarre looking "baby" bird that Tinja names Alli, after the song her family sings.

It doesn't take long for Tinja (and us) to figure out what's happening. The bird not only assumes Tinja is her mother, but it also takes on the emotions that Tinja keeps bottled up inside so as to not upset her overly-demanding mother. See, mom is a former skater and projects her dreams of glory onto her daughter through gymnastics. We never even get the impression that Tinja enjoys the sport, and it's likely she does it because that's the only closeness she gets from dear old mom ... especially when compared to her little brother Mattias (Oiva Ollila) or dad (Jani Volanen). In fact, mom is so dominant over dad, that she's taken on a side lover in handyman Tero (Reino Nordin), who she admits to loving in yet another inappropriate moment with Tinja.

Soon the bird is acting out Tinja's private thoughts to extremes (a true monster in the closet), and no one is really safe. There are some creepy elements that tell us an excellent horror-comedy is in there somewhere. Watching Tinja sponge-bathe the creature and the replicant effects are both imaginative. Ms. Bergholm's film premiered at Sundance, and if anything, it's just a bit too ambitious with the metaphors. We can view this as a coming-of-age story for Tinja as she breaks the shackles of childhood for more independent thinking. And the most obvious interpretation is that of a mother so obsessed with perfection - especially as to how her family is presented to the outside world - that it requires an ugly incident (bird) as a dose of reality. This is clearly commentary on social media and how some become so committed to presenting and maintaining a certain image. As a horror-comedy, the film from Finland offers neither jump-scares nor laugh-outloud moments, but there is enough here for a decent midnight offering.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 22 May 2023]

The first act really draws you in with a captivating premise. The second act starts to lose a bit of steam, and by the third act, it's all too predictable and pedestrian. Finnish director Hanna Bergholm was outstanding in her first full length feature film (prior to just over a handful of short films and TV shows) and captured every scene brilliantly. Even the cinematography and score were excellent, as were the casting and performances, specifically Siiri Solalinna as Tinja, and Sophia Heikkila as the overbearing and proud mother. But Bergholm's screenplay, who co-wrote this with Ilja Rautsi, starts to drag out in the last two acts, and made the 91 min runtime feel much longer. Its inspiring concept becomes underwhelming past the great prosthetics and gore effects, and just falls flat by the ending. Nevertheless, it's a decent one-time watch if you're into this genre.