Nightbitch (2024) We imagine any woman enduring her first pregnancy would find this film more horrific than all three "Terrifier" movies combined.
'Mother' (as we only know her by) is a stay-at-home mom coping with an adorable but impossibly rambunctious toddler son. She gave up a promising career as an artist for a life of perpetual attention to her child's constant needs.......literally a 24/7 job that's driving her to the brink of madness.
'Husband' (as we only know him by) travels all the time for work and even when he's home, he contributes the bare minimum of co-parenting tasks. In one of this film's many worn out "It's what she was thinking but not what she actually does") tricks, she fantasizes slapping Hubby when he emits another clueles
s insensitive observation.
(This same tired shtick starts off the movie when Mother bumps into a casual friend and then lets loose a corrosive evaluation of her own dashed dreams and diminished life.....until we realize what she only said was 'I love being a mother'. Yeh, sure you do)
Hmmm....let's see. What else could go wrong here?
How about Mother sprouting hair on her ass and turning into a dog? Not just any canine, but a full fledged Alpha Dog leading a the neighborhood pack on the hunt for squirrels and bunnies. Hold it.....is this happening for real or just another film festival culture vulture metaphor for the after-screening audience to discuss?
Beats us. Feel free to figure it out and discuss.
We don't want to sound like we love trashing this film so let's talk about the good stuff.
Amy Adams as Mother gives the very definition of what they call a fearless, bravado performance. She put herself out there for this role and you can't take your eyes off her for one second.....(neither does the film)
And as the perplexed, hapless Husband, Scoot McNairy does his best, but the role is as thankless as playing a white racist villain in a 1970's Blaxsploitation movie.
For horror movie curators the film does offer a special treat - the one and only Jessica Harper (of "Suspiria") as an enigmatic librarian who pops up for pivotal moments in Mother's already strange life.
There's no end of clever satire going on here, but we're thinking the whole dog thing doesn't do as much for the movie as writer-director Marielle Heller thought it would.
The surprise for us came when the movie swings into such a conventional third act, it could've been directed by Nora Ephron or Gary Marshall.
That is...until the final scene kicker.....or is it?
Depending on how you view the entirety of film, you'll either think that last shot is a warm hug, or a promise of horrors to come.
Which is it? You tell us. Discuss.
It's Amy Adams incredible performance that makes 'Nightbitch' worth a look for all cinephiles....and for her work alone, we'll bark out 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)
Amy's not a sick puppy here.....just a sick-and-tired one.
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