Brandy Norwood Shines in Offbeat Horror Movie

Max and Sam Eggers, siblings to Robert Eggers (The Witch, the upcoming Nosferatu), clearly appreciated the power of casting when selecting Brandy Norwood as the lead for their debut feature. Taking on her first substantial horror role since 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the iconic actress practically guarantees instant recognition for The Front Room, although the power of her performance alone would have been sufficient to assure attention for this oddball horror film.

Norwood plays expectant mother Belinda, who along with her husband Norman (Andrew Burnap), can barely keep up with the mortgage payments on the somewhat decrepit old home they’ve recently purchased. The couple appear to catch a break, however, when Norman’s stepmother Solange (Kathryn Hunter) offers them a sizable inheritance after the passing of Norman’s father. In return, she persuades them to commit to caring for her in their home — even though Norman is inordinately reluctant to be reunited with Solange, a fervid evangelical Christian who claims to communicate with the Holy Spirit and who willfully terrorized his childhood.

Indeed, Solange is an imposing, if diminutive figure: Appearing to be well into her 80s, she’s hunchbacked, deeply wizened and nearly disabled, wielding her twin wooden canes with disruptive assertiveness. Taking pity on the old woman, Belinda attempts to accommodate her demands, agreeing to let Solange have the front room of their home that she’s been redecorating for the baby and even accepting her insistence on naming the child Laurie. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Solange’s objectives are focused on psychologically overwhelming her daughter-in-law and assuming control of the family by replacing Belinda as the primary maternal figure in the household.

Belinda is already in a vulnerable state after getting forced out of her position as a university anthropology professor while striving to overcome the earlier stillbirth of her first child, so she’s initially an easy target for Solange’s determined campaign of attrition. Chief among her tactics is her alarmingly undisguised racism, a glaring character flaw that she gleefully celebrates when Belinda finally calls her out for displaying a certificate identifying her as a member of the “United Daughters of the Confederacy” and bragging about her cousin in the Klan. Norman, a public defender focused on getting ahead in his career rather than caring for his pregnant wife, seems too traumatized by his past history with Solange to effectively challenge her.

A raging case of incontinence ­— whether feigned or chronic — becomes another weapon that Solange leverages to force Belinda into an unwanted role as caretaker (although with the considerable wealth she’s passed along, it’s unclear why the couple can’t pay for skilled eldercare). In a somewhat odd stylistic choice, the Eggers brothers gleefully lean into a repetitious series of gross-out scenes intended to demonstrate Solange’s attempted humiliation and subjugation of Belinda, to decreasing effect.

These directorial techniques introduce an element of transgressive humor that directly competes with the film’s horror elements, diminishing The Front Room’s impact as an undiluted genre experience without substantive compensation for the loss. Nevertheless, the filmmakers display a distinct visual style through an effective combination of skilled cinematography and imaginative production design that’s consistently intriguing.

Norwood is fiercely focused as a beleaguered mother defending her own safety and sanity against a stealthy and unpredictable opponent. Belinda’s gradual transformation only becomes evident once she returns from the hospital with baby Laurie. Forced to face Solange’s unremitting attempts to separate her from her child, Belinda discovers a newfound sense of determination to protect her family and assert herself.

Hunter (Poor Things, Megalopolis) provides a searing turn as the nefariously meddling mother-in-law with an ominous Southern drawl and a killer smirk. Solange’s ornate diction and rhythmic delivery reveal the imprint of Max Eggers’ collaboration with his brother Robert on the script for 2019’s The Lighthouse, although to more frequently humorous effect in this case.

While the movie’s marketing name-checks some of A24’s better-known elevated horror releases, including Talk to Me, The Witch and Hereditary, The Front Room perhaps leans more toward the repulsive than the highbrow, potentially carving out its own distinct genre niche.