Synopsis
Dweller of the threshold
A young nurse gets entangled in the occult cabal of her aristocratic patient, the Baroness Heidenreich who resides with her devoted groundskeeper, Otto. Their dark secrets will soon be revealed.
2022 Directed by Marie Alice Wolfszahn
A young nurse gets entangled in the occult cabal of her aristocratic patient, the Baroness Heidenreich who resides with her devoted groundskeeper, Otto. Their dark secrets will soon be revealed.
Mother Superior: Dweller of the Threshold, Madre Superiora
Really cool sound design and score, but the idea that the challenge would be "wow, these Nazis had feminist views" and not "these so-called feminists were straight up Nazis" felt very weird. I hope I'm just reading that from poor articulation during the Q&A.
The aesthetics were superb; in terms of feeling like a movie set in 1970s Europe, this movie can rival the Suspiria remake. All the details work together: the desaturated colors, the impeccable prop work, the abandoned hunter's villa which the filmmakers repurposed to become the sinister baronial estate where a young woman arrives to become a nurse. The viewer is agreeably clobbered on the head with a sense of "retro Gothic."
But this story required the ingenuity of a Ira Levin to navigate between the obviousness of the premise and its darker historical implications. I've never seen a horror movie that tried to draw on our unnerving collective memories of the Third Reich to punch up its scares and blew…
2023 Ranked | BRUGGGORE FESTIVAL 2023
Before the screening there was a live Q&A with the director. She spoke about the villa in the film and you could see how much fun she was having while working on it. She also shared how her mother helped make the costumes. That really increased my anticipation for the film and you could really see how proud she is of her first film. Maybe that's why I rated it half a star higher than I initially wanted, who knows.
I also have to admit the film looks really damn good and the look and atmosphere of Austria in the 70's is captured really well. The film itself is also a really good slow…
this joined The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Man of Steel in films i’ve fallen asleep to in the theater (to be fair i fell asleep literally during the short film before it, so does it count?). the guy next to me said i snored. love that for me
note to self: do not work 7:30am-11pm or later 10 days in a row and then go to a midnight screening
Unfortunately just seemed like a worse version of Saint Maud but with Naxi’s involved
Really disappointed by this honestly, was one of my most anticipated films from Frightfest’s lineup this year and unfortunately just dragged on and on and felt like it was 4x the length of the short 70 minutes it was
Excited to see what Marie Alice Wolfszahn does next, but I desperately hope it’s something more entertaining
Mother Superior
Im Kino (Brugggore #3)
Der Film ist sehr langsam und plätschert die erste Stunde nur vor sich hin. Die Charaktere sind aber solide und das Schauspiel ist aber ganz gut. Ein typischer Slow-Burner halt.
This had an interesting story, but the director was more interested in making the movie look as nice and creepy as possible. This leads to not much happening and a side character just shows up so the main character has someone else to talk beside the bad guys. Wasted potential is the best way to describe Mother Superior.
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
Mother Superior's attractive sound design, enchanting score, gorgeous cinematography, and a strong performance from Isabella Händler as Sigrun are its shining elements. However, the story undoubtedly screens as pro-Nazi with the Baroness' ramblings about "racial purity," drastically overshadowing its folk feminist undertones.
I often find myself drawn to folk stories and occultism, which is why I immediately drew parallels to The Skeleton Key (2005) while watching this film. A skeleton key is intended to open doors to anywhere, not unlike the rituals of the Baroness. Examining the characters and circumstances in both films, each depicts the same story. If you've seen The Skeleton Key, you've seen Mother Superior sans all the Third Reich of Nazi Germany…
Loved the atmosphere, the symbolic and the view on the Lebensborn story from a fantastic point of view.
Awesome actors and great great Schmusechor - thank you for this brilliant performance ✨