Motherhood can test someone to their limits, to the point reality and surreality become blurred in a haze of pressure, sleeplessness, stress, and pent-up rage exploding forth. It's a subject that has become increasingly potent in horror over recent decades, with Huesera: The Bone Woman, Mother!, The Babadook, and Hereditary (to name just a few) exploring the psychological trenches of motherhood in terrifying clarity. The latest addition to the growing subgenre is chilling Indonesian horror A Woman Called Mother, which enjoyed its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025.
After suffering from a mental breakdown, Yanti (Artika Sari Devi) and her children, Vira (Aurora Ribero) and Dino (Ali Fikry), move to a new city to start afresh. Vira worries about her mother's fragile mental health, increasingly so when she suddenly decides to open a hair salon. While adjusting to their new lives, Yanti begins to exhibit increasingly erratic and violent behaviour, becoming worried that another breakdown is on the horizon. At the same time, Vira and Dino began investigating strange occurrences in the seemingly deserted local area, stumbling upon a dangerous ritual and demonic possession that may have claimed their mother.
A Woman Called Mother is a triumph from writer-director Randolph Zaini, exploring how mothers often lose themselves in the role of caregiver, stretching themselves thin to the point of utter annihilation while their own trials and tribulations are constantly put on the back burner. Artika Sari Devi delivers a career-defining performance as Yanti, perfectly embodying a woman on the edge in an utterly chilling turn that will stay with audiences long after the credits roll. While the supernatural elements of the narrative are suitably disturbing, it is Devi's performance that packs the biggest punch, commanding the screen with the sheer terror she induces at all times.
Her performance and the film's exploration of a mother's responsibility, frustrations, and lack of autonomy are where A Woman Called Mother excels most, so when the possession elements enter the fray, it can feel somewhat anticlimactic and an unnecessary diversion from the film's more gripping themes. However, Zaini's keen ability to drop revelations at exactly the right time to devastate viewers keeps the atmosphere taut, and the scares that much more impactful. Horrifying for reasons viewers may not expect, A Woman Called Mother is a devastating exploration of the hidden perils of motherhood that are rarely vocalised, and which can be the most detrimental to families. While its traditional genre elements may not quite hit the mark, Zaini's latest offering is a sobering slice of reality that is more terrifying than any demon.
A Woman Called Mother had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025 on 19 September
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